EMPIRE and NATIONALISM in EUROPE, 1850-1900

Empire and Nationalism in Europe, 1850-1900

Franz Joseph, another pompous mediocrity who inherited power by accident of birth. He wanted to extend his God-given empire to Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Europe's other imperial powers approved, creating the conflict that would spark Europe's Great War early in the next century. (Wikimedia Commons)

Europe and distribution of ethnicities, 1848.

In Europe, two forces were at work each against the other. One was nationalism: the desire to be free of rule by foreigners, especially those of a different faith, such as Eastern Orthodox rather than Roman Catholic; or Roman Catholic, as were the Irish, rather than Protestant. The other was imperialism: the belief among rulers that ruling others was their privilege regardless of the will of the ruled -- a privilege they claimed or believed was theirs in accordance with the will of God.

Independence for Romania

The nationalism issue dating back to the early 1850s was the "Romanian Question." It was featured in European newspapers and was discussed particularly by Romanians in exile and by French writers and scholars. The Romanian lands of Moldavia and Walachia (Wallachia) were ruled nominally by the Ottoman sultan in Turkey and had been Russian protectorates since 1829. Attempts in 1848 to establish independence had been crushed, but the Crimean War (1853-1856) provided new hope for Romanian nationalists. At the Paris Peace Conference, which ended the Crimean War, Russia lost its protectorate status regarding Moldavia and Walachia, and the conference compelled the Ottoman Empire to grant Moldavia and Walachia autonomy, which was to be guaranteed by the conferring Europeans states.

In 1857, assemblies in both Moldavia and Walachia voted to unite the two regions. Austria and Turkey -- both imperial powers -- were opposed to the unification while Britain -- another imperial power -- found it in its interest to accept it. On January 24, 1859, the unification took place. A Moldavian born aristocrat who had fought for independence in 1848, Alexander Cuza, was chosen by assemblies as the ruler of the United Principalities of Romania. And the unification was formalized in 1861.

The Unification of Italy

For ages Italy had been divided politically, and since 1494 it had been a battleground for Europe's great powers. In the southern half of Italy was the Kingdom of Naples-Sicily, ruled by the amiable and intelligent but uncultivated and cynical Bourbon king, Ferdinand II. Just north of Naples-Sicily were Rome and the Papal States, ruled by Pope Pius IX, who depended on French and Austrian soldiers to maintain his position over his territories, and he believed that to fulfill the Church's spiritual mission the papacy needed to continue that rule. In the far north of Italy, in Venetia (including the city of Venice) and Lombardy (including the city of Milan), Austria ruled. And in the far northwest was Piedmont, a part of the Kingdom of Sardinia, a liberal constitutional monarchy, and a haven for Italian nationalists who had been involved in 1848-49 upheavals.

Like Walachia and Moldavia, Italy was impacted by the Crimean War. In that war, Sardinia-Piedmont fought with France against the Russians. And the ruler of France, Emperor Napoleon III (President Louis-Napoleon until 1853) believed in nationhood for Italians as well as for the French. In the wake of the Crimean War, Napoleon supported Piedmont-Sardinia against an opponent of Italian nationalism: Austria. The premier of Sardinia-Piedmont, Camillo Benso de Cavour, goaded Austria into a war, which France joined, Napoleon hoping to enhance France's position as a European power by helping to liberate those Italians ruled by Austria.

Austria's army had suffered from inferior leadership, from lack of preparation and training and from insufficient transport, with soldiers arriving for battle sick, exhausted and hungry. Italians and Hungarians in Austria's army deserted in large numbers, and in June, 1859, France and Piedmont-Sardinia defeated the Austrians at Solferino (near the town of Mantua in eastern Lombardy), the Austrian side losing 14,000 killed and wounded and more than 8,000 missing or taken as prisoners. France and Sardinia-Piedmont lost 15,000 killed and wounded and lost more than 2,000 as missing or as prisoners. Napoleon III recoiled from the bloodshed and deserted Piedmont-Sardinia, and to Piedmont's premier, Cavour, the cause of Italian unity appeared lost. But the war had given hope to urban masses down the Italian peninsula, who rose up against foreign rule, these Italians going into the streets, chanting "foreigners out of Italy," and chanting for "Victor Emmanuel," the king of Piedmont-Sardinia, whom they wanted as their king.

In July 1859 a compromise peace was established at the Conference of Villafranca. France acquired Savoy and Nice. Austria gave Lombardy to France, which then gave it to Piedmont-Sardinia. Then came a pro-democracy uprising across Sicily. A thousand nationalist volunteers led by Giuseppe Garibaldi arrived in Sicily on May 11, 1860, and in three months he and his volunteers were in control of the whole of Sicily. Then Garibaldi and his men moved into the southern half of the Italian peninsula, and, in early September, Garibaldi and his army triumphantly entered Naples. Plebiscites in the former kingdom of Naples-Sicily and in the papal states overwhelmingly favored these regions becoming a part of a united Italy. The new kingdom of Italy was proclaimed on March 17, 1861. Italy had become a parliamentary monarchy under king Victor Emmanuel II. Its capital was Turin, in Piedmont. That portion of the papal states outside of Latium were now a part of Italy, while Rome and Latium remained under papal control, and Venetia remained under Austrian rule.

please continue

to navigation at the top