Nationalism promoted the belief that people sharing a language, culture, and historical identity should belong to one nation-state. After the Congress of Vienna, both Italy and Germany remained politically divided, so nationalism challenged the existing territorial settlement.
| Case | Role of nationalism | Why nationalism was insufficient |
|---|---|---|
| Italy | Mazzini promoted a united Italian nation and helped turn unification into a popular political objective. Garibaldi later mobilized nationalist volunteers and presented military action as liberation. | The revolutions of 1848-1849 failed. Unification depended heavily on Cavour’s diplomacy, Piedmontese military power, and foreign involvement rather than popular nationalism alone. |
| Germany | Nationalism encouraged support for political unity, while the Zollverein strengthened economic connections among German states. Bismarck used nationalist enthusiasm to support Prussian leadership of unification. | Unification was ultimately secured through Prussian economic and military strength, Bismarck’s diplomacy, the Wars of Unification, and the 1871 Constitution. Liberal nationalist aims were subordinated to conservative Prussian authority. |
The key difference is that Italian nationalism was associated strongly with popular activists such as Mazzini and Garibaldi, whereas German nationalism was increasingly directed from above by Prussia. In both cases, leaders used nationalism to legitimize policies whose success depended on state power.
A common misconception is that nationalism automatically caused unification. Nationalism supplied the objective and popular legitimacy, but it required political and military mechanisms to overcome internal divisions and foreign opposition.
Exam technique: For a Paper 3 question asking “to what extent,” argue that nationalism was necessary but not sufficient. Compare its importance directly with leadership, diplomacy, economics, military force, and foreign influence, and support each judgment with specific evidence rather than narrating events.
