7.3 - National Unification and Diplomatic Tensions

The Crimean War

Background and Causes:

• The Crimean War began in 1853 and marked the end of nearly 50 years of relative peace in Europe, a period known as the Concert of Europe.

• The war started over religious tensions within the Ottoman Empire, which was in decline as a major European power. The Ottoman Sultan, under pressure from Napoleon III of France, granted special privileges to Roman Catholics in Jerusalem.

• Russia demanded similar privileges for Orthodox Christians but was denied, largely due to France's influence.

Political Motives:

• Both France and Russia sought to weaken the Ottoman Empire, which was already struggling due to nationalist movements within its territories.

• Russia had an additional strategic interest: gaining access to the Crimean Peninsula, a vital warm-water port that was essential for trade and military purposes.

War and Alliances:

• The war pitted Russia against the Ottoman Empire, which was supported by Britain and France.

• Russia called on its ally, Austria, for support. However, Austria declared neutrality, leaving Russia to fight alone.

• Ultimately, Russia was defeated and humiliated on the world stage.

Consequences of the War:

• The Crimean War had significant consequences for the balance of power in Europe.

• The war effectively broke up the Concert of Europe, the system that had maintained peace and balance among the major European powers since the early 19th century.

• Britain and Russia largely withdrew from continental affairs after the war, turning inward to focus on their domestic issues. This created a power vacuum in Europe.

• The absence of British and Russian influence on the continent provided an opportunity for leaders in Germany and Italy to pursue the unification of their respective states, which would have profound implications for European politics in the following decades.

The Unification of Italy

Background:

• During the mid-19th century, Italy was not a single unified nation but a collection of separate states, each with its own ruler. Efforts to unify these states had been ongoing for some time but had not succeeded due to the lack of a strong leader and external opposition.

Count Camillo di Cavour:

• The turning point for Italian unification came with the rise of Count Camillo di Cavour, who became the Prime Minister of the Piedmont-Sardinia region in 1852.

• Cavour was a shrewd politician and strategist who recognized that Piedmont could lead the unification effort. He implemented infrastructure programs that significantly boosted Piedmont's economy, enabling the region to build a powerful army.

Challenges to Unification:

• The primary obstacles to unification were the Austrian and French control over key regions in Italy. Austria controlled much of Northern Italy, while France held sway over parts of Central Italy, including Rome.

• Cavour recognized that Italy could not be unified without first expelling these foreign powers from the Italian Peninsula.

Diplomacy and War:

• To achieve this, Cavour forged an alliance with Napoleon III of France. He promised Napoleon that if France helped drive Austria out of Northern Italy, France could retain control over the territories it held in Italy and gain some additional lands.

• Although the alliance did not go entirely as planned, with Napoleon failing to fully deliver on his promises, a key development occurred: nationalist uprisings in Northern Italy led several regions to join Piedmont voluntarily. This effectively unified Northern Italy under Piedmont's leadership.

Giuseppe Garibaldi and Southern Italy:

• Meanwhile, in Southern Italy, another unification effort was led by the charismatic military leader Giuseppe Garibaldi. Garibaldi, commanding his famous Red Shirts, successfully unified the southern regions of Italy.

• After his military victories, Garibaldi handed over control of Southern Italy to Victor Emmanuel II, the ruler of Piedmont. This was a significant gesture that furthered the cause of unification.

Completion of Unification:

• By 1870, almost all of Italy was unified except for Rome, which remained under French control. However, the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War that same year forced Napoleon III to withdraw French troops from Rome to fight in the war.

• With the French gone, Victor Emmanuel II seized the opportunity to take control of Rome, and by doing so, he completed the unification of Italy.

The Unification of Germany

Background:

• The dream of a unified Germany had been alive since the Revolution of 1848, but the revolutionaries' hopes were dashed when their movement was crushed. The goal of unification would have to wait until a strong leader from a powerful state could emerge to bring it to fruition.

Otto von Bismarck and Realpolitik:

• That leader came in the form of Otto von Bismarck, the Chancellor of Prussia. Bismarck was a master of Realpolitik, a political philosophy focused on practical objectives rather than moral or ideological considerations. Essentially, it was about doing whatever was necessary to achieve one's goals, regardless of the means.

Prussian Reforms and Military Buildup:

• Like Cavour in Italy, Bismarck introduced reforms aimed at increasing Prussia's power, with a particular focus on strengthening the Prussian Army. He understood that a strong military would be essential for unifying the German states under Prussian leadership.

Wars of Unification:

1. The Prussian-Danish War (1864):

   • Bismarck's first step toward unification involved a conflict with Denmark over the control of two German-speaking provinces: Schleswig and Holstein. These provinces were under Danish control, but Bismarck aimed to bring them under German rule.

   • Bismarck cleverly secured Austria's support in this war, and together, they quickly defeated Denmark. As a result, Schleswig went to Prussia, and Holstein went to Austria, setting the stage for future conflict between the two powers.

2. The Austro-Prussian War (1866):

   • With Prussia's military strengthened and alliances in place to prevent interference from other major powers, Bismarck provoked a conflict with Austria. This war, also known as the Seven Weeks' War, saw Prussia emerge victorious.

   • The outcome was significant: Austria was excluded from German affairs, and the northern German states aligned themselves with Prussia. This victory marked a major step toward unification but left the southern German states still outside the Prussian fold.

3. The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871):

   • To bring the southern German states into the unification process, Bismarck engineered a conflict with France. He manipulated a diplomatic incident, the Ems Dispatch, to provoke Napoleon III into declaring war on Prussia.

   • The southern German states, feeling threatened by France, rallied to Prussia's side. The combined German forces defeated France, leading to the fall of Napoleon III and the capture of Paris.

German Unification:

• In the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War, the German states were united under Prussian leadership. Kaiser Wilhelm I was crowned as the Emperor of a unified Germany in 1871. This event marked the birth of the German Empire, with Bismarck as its first Chancellor.

Bismarck's Foreign Policy and Alliances:

• Following unification, Bismarck focused on solidifying Germany's power through a series of strategic alliances designed to isolate France and maintain peace in Europe. Notable alliances included:

  1. The Three Emperors' League (1873): An alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia aimed at stabilizing Eastern Europe.

  2. The Reinsurance Treaty (1887): A secret agreement between Germany and Russia, ensuring mutual neutrality in case of war, unless Germany fought France or Russia fought Austria.

  3. The Triple Alliance (1882): A military alliance between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy, which would later play a crucial role in the events leading to **World War I

The Balkans and Rising Tensions

Background:

• The Balkans during this period were a hotbed of nationalist tensions, largely due to the region's complex ethnic makeup and the influence of declining empires, particularly the Ottoman Empire, Austria-Hungary, and Russia. As nationalist movements spread across Europe, the various ethnic groups in the Balkans sought independence and the right to form their own nation-states.

Congress of Berlin (1878):

• Otto von Bismarck, recognizing the growing unrest in the Balkans and its potential to destabilize Europe, organized the Congress of Berlin in 1878. The Congress brought together the major European powers to address the "Eastern Question," which revolved around the fate of the Ottoman Empire's territories in Europe.

• However, the decisions made at the Congress of Berlin primarily focused on maintaining the balance of power among the great European powers rather than addressing the nationalist aspirations of the Balkan peoples. This approach only served to increase tensions in the region, as the desires for self-rule among the various ethnic groups were largely ignored.

Ethnic and Nationalist Struggles:

• The Balkans were home to a diverse array of ethnic groups, including Serbs, Bulgarians, Greeks, Albanians, and others, each with its own nationalist ambitions. The Ottoman Empire's weakening grip on the region further fueled these ambitions, as these groups saw an opportunity to assert their independence.

• The decisions made at the Congress of Berlin left many of these groups dissatisfied, leading to a series of conflicts and power struggles that would eventually involve the great powers of Europe.

Balkan Wars:

• The First Balkan War (1912) and the Second Balkan War (1913) were direct results of the unresolved tensions in the region. In these wars, the Balkan League, consisting of Serbia, Montenegro, Greece, and Bulgaria, fought against the Ottoman Empire and later against each other over the spoils of war.

• These conflicts highlighted the deep divisions within the region and the involvement of the great powers, who supported different sides based on their own strategic interests.

Path to World War I:

• The unresolved tensions in the Balkans, coupled with the alliances formed among the great powers, set the stage for the outbreak of World War I. The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary in Sarajevo in 1914 by a Serbian nationalist was the spark that ignited the war, but the underlying causes lay in the tangled web of alliances, nationalist ambitions, and great power rivalries that had been building up over decades.