Analyze The Differences Between Italy And German Unification

In the nineteenth century, German and Italy both underwent radical unification movements to integrate the independent states. Each country’s unification efforts shared some similarities, in addition to some differences, due to the events occurring in Europe at the time, as a result of cultural diffusion. The consensus agreement of historians remains that the German and Italian movements drastically altered European society. Although the methods through which the newly formed nations contrast, the ideas of Europe at the time reflect the movements and changes of Europe. A key element of both nations is the principal state that allowed the new nation to have a strong military, political, and economic status. For the Italians, Piedmont was the leading and most important state in the fight for unity. The Treaty of Plombieres, negotiated by Cavour, not only gained the French support of the Piedmontese state against …show more content…
Italy, threatened by the army raised by Garibaldi, was able to become unified as one county at a single point in time. This was able to occur because Garibaldi gave up the lands previously conquered, therefore preventing a civil war, which allowed Italy to become one united nation. However, the Germans took a different route to unification. While the Italians unified at one time, the Germans took a gradual process to become one nation. Germany began to be united with the North German Confederation. After the effects of the Franco-Prussian War, however, the “Second Reich” was born, all of Germany became united, and the newly united nation became the most powerful in Europe. While the Italians became unified at one time, the path itself for the Italians, ironically, took more time than the German unification efforts. The acts of the Italians took about twelve years, compared to that of the Germans, which efforts lasted only about seven years and several short