What is a major difference between the unification of Italy and Germany?
Answer. 1. The unification of Germany was relatively easier than that of Italy. Unlike the Italians, the Germans had a Confederation Parliament and a Custom Union (Zollverein) which brought some form of political and economic unity.
Why is the German Empire important?
Economy. By 1900, Germany became the largest economy in continental Europe and the third-largest in the world behind the United States and the British Empire, which were also its main economic rivals. Throughout its existence, it experienced economic growth and modernization led by heavy industry.
Who brought the first ideas of nationalism to Italy and Germany?
Giuseppe Mazzini
What was the result of German unification?
The Wars of Unification resulted in the annexation of large populations of non-German speakers, such as Danes in Schleswig and French in Alsace-Lorraine. In addition, a large part of Poland had been part of Prussia since the eighteenth century.
How was unification of Germany ultimately achieved?
German unification was achieved by the force of Prussia, and enforced from the top-down, meaning that it was not an organic movement that was fully supported and spread by the popular classes but instead was a product of Prussian royal policies.
Why didnt Austria unite Germany?
The Austrian empire itself had too many nationalities/ethnicities in itself and was quickly decaying. It seems obvious that it could not last in its current state. The main part of Austria itself was a German state that was excluded from the unification.
What was the main force behind the unification of Germany?
Otto von Bismarck, also known as the Iron Chancellor, was the main driving force behind German unification after the failed revolution of 1848. He wished to see a strong but small Germany dominated by Prussia without Austria.
Why did Germany need unification?
In the 1860s, Otto von Bismarck, then Minister President of Prussia, provoked three short, decisive wars against Denmark, Austria, and France, aligning the smaller German states behind Prussia in its defeat of France. In 1871 he unified Germany into a nation-state, forming the German Empire.