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This tells us about the past of Giuseppe Mazzini and his early life

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Giuseppe Mazzini(1805-1872) was a writer and political activist who strived to found a unified democratic republic of Italy. Throughout his life, he founded and supported revolutionary groups who sought to free Italy of foreign powers and unite the different states. During his lifetime, his aspirations were only partially fulfilled, and he considered himself to have failed. But, when Italy was finally united, Mazzini was credited with playing a significant role. Mazzini also helped define early ideas of a united Europe and was a leading figure in the European movement for popular democracy in a republican state.

Mazzini has been referred to as 'the soul of Italy' and 'the beating heart of Italy.'

Early Life Mazzini

Mazzini was born in Genoa, then part of the Ligurian Republic under the rule of the French Empire. His father was a university professor, and the young Mazzini proved to be a precocious intellect and voracious reader. At the age of only 14, he entered university, graduating with a law degree in 1826.

Although he became known as a revolutionary, people commented that the young Mazzini was kind, gentle and compassionate. He had a magnetic personality which drew many to him.

After graduating from university, Mazzini worked as a 'poor man's lawyer' and also began a fledgeling journalistic career. Mazzini took an active interest in politics and was drawn to the movement seeking to unify Italy and throw off foreign powers.

In 1827, he joined the Carbonari, a secret organisation working for Italian independence. However, the Carbonari had limited influence, and Mazzini was betrayed as it was broken up. As a result of his involvement in revolutionary activity, Mazzini spent six months in jail in Savona (1830-31). During his time in jail, he became even more committed to the movement of working for an Italian republic. His term was "apostolate"- working to achieve "liberty of country" for "Italia." In 1831, he was released, on the condition that he would accept exile.

"A country is not a mere territory; the particular territory is only its foundation. The Country is the idea which rises upon that foundation; it is the sentiment of love, the sense of fellowship which binds together all the sons of that territory."

— Giuseppe Mazzini

Mazzini in Exile

Mazzini agreed to exile in Marseille, France. Here in Marseille, Mazzini became a charismatic leader of the Italian exiles, seeking to continue the struggle for Italian independence. Mazzini wrote a stream of articles, arguing for a Republic of Italian states. He also founded a new political society called 'La Giovane Italia (Young Italy) to support the goal of Italian unification. Young Italy's goals were

Unification of the several Italian states and kingdoms

A single republic (no monarchy)

One, independent, Free Republic.

The motto of Young Italy was 'God and the People'. Mazzini was not a Christian but believed in God and the power of the people. He declared:

"Neither pope nor king. Only God and the people will open the way of the future to us."

The movement gained influence and 60,000 members. Mazzini was influential in inspiring Giuseppe Garibaldi to devote his life to the cause of Italian independence. However, their attempted insurrections were unsuccessful and were ruthlessly put down in Chambery and later Piedmontese.

These failures were a great set back for Mazzini, who felt a sense of personal failure. However, although the revolutions were unsuccessful, it raised the issue of national unity in the public consciousness. As Mazzini himself prophetically said.

"Ideas ripen quickly when nourished by the blood of martyrs."

Young Italy disintegrated as a political organisation, but its ideas became disseminated throughout Italy. Mazzini moved to Switzerland, where he founded Young Europe and also Young Germany / Young Poland. Although Mazzini struggled with the setbacks in Italy, he continued to hold onto the ideal of a united Europe, which he felt had to come first through national unity free of foreign influence. Through his creation of Young Europe, Mazzini is seen as an early visionary of a united European Union, which only came into being after the Second World War.

In 1837, Mazzini moved to England, where he wrote frequently and even started a school for Italian boys. Mazzini became relatively well known in England, and there was considerable support for Mazzini from liberal figures - especially after Parliament admitted opening his letters. He re-founded 'Young Italy' to help strengthen the feeling of Italian solidarity. He continued to write to agents across Europe and was supportive of the Bandiera brothers who made an unsuccessful attempt to start a revolt in Calabria.

In 1849, Mazzini triumphantly was able to return to Italy after Tuscany and Rome were declared Republics. Mazzini was elected as triumvir of the new republic. Mazzini had fulfilled his lifelong dream of leading the beginnings of an Italian republic, and he began energetically reforming Italian society. However, the Republic was short-lived as the Pope appealed for military help from the French and the Catholic forces were able to destroy the fledgeling republic and restore the Pope. Mazzini again had to retreat to London and Switzerland. In the 1850s, Mazzini was active in supporting attempts at insurrections across Italy. Again these insurrections failed to achieve their immediate goal. But, there was public support for their ideas, and the insurrections kept the dream of Italian independence in the public mind. To some Mazzini was an inspirational figure. However, Mazzini also had serious detractors, some declared him a traitor. Others felt he achieved nothing worthwhile.

In 1861, the vision of Mazzini was partially fulfilled with the declaration of a new United Kingdom of Italy - only missing Venice and Rome, but also it was a monarchy rather than a republic like Mazzini wanted to see.

In 1870, he was arrested after leading a republican uprising in Sicily But, fortunately, was released after Italian troops occupied Rome.

Mazzini died from pleurisy at Pisa in March 1872, he was buried in his hometown of Genoa. He never married, though had an affair with the attractive Giuditta Bellerio Sidoli, a Modenese widow.

Mazzini's revolutionary beliefs

In the 1860s, Mazzini was in contact with Karl Marx and members of the Socialist First International. However, after initial contacts, Mazzini withdrew. He had a strong belief in God, and could not accept the 'atheistic' Communism of Marx or the Anarchism of Bakunin.

Marx criticised Mazzini saying his ideas were increasingly reactionary and represented "nothing better than the old idea of a middle-class republic."

Mazzini, in turn, described Marx as " a destructive spirit whose heart was filled with hatred rather than love of mankind. Despite the communist egalitarianism which [Marx] preaches he is the absolute ruler of his party, admittedly he does everything himself but he is also the only one to give orders and he tolerates no opposition."

Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan. "Biography of Giuseppe Mazzini", Oxford, www.biographyonline.net Published 8 Feb 2012. Last updated 11 February 2019.

Mazzini

Mazzini - Italian nationalist and radical reformer Guiseppe Mazzini (1805-72) was a leading political figure of his day and left an enduring mark on the history of Europe at Amazon.com
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Giuseppe Mazzini (1805-1872) was a writer and political activist who strived to found a unified democratic republic of Italy. Throughout his life, he founded and supported revolutionary groups who sought to free Italy of foreign powers and unite the different states. During his lifetime, his aspirations were only partially fulfilled, and he considered himself to ...

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This tells the full story of how Italy became unified going all the way back to Napoleon

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This talks about how Brazil came about from the king's son. Also about how it originated from Portugal

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Otto wanted to take over certain places but he didn't wanna take over the world like Napoleon

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Table of Contents

1. Otto von Bismarck: Early Years

2. Otto von Bismarck: The Iron Chancellor

3. Otto von Bismarck: Kulturkampf, Welfare State, Empire

4. Otto von Bismarck: Final Years and Legacy

Germany became a modern, unified nation under the leadership of the "Iron Chancellor" Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), who between 1862 and 1890 effectively ruled first Prussia and then all of Germany. A master strategist, Bismarck initiated decisive wars with Denmark, Austria and France to unite 39 independent German states under Prussian leadership. Although an arch-conservative, Bismarck introduced progressive reforms-including universal male suffrage and the establishment of the first welfare state-in order to achieve his goals. He manipulated European rivalries to make Germany a world power, but in doing so laid the groundwork for both World Wars.

Otto von Bismarck: Early Years

Otto Eduard Leopold von Bismarck was born April 1, 1815, at his family's estate in the Prussian heartland west of Berlin. His father was a fifth-generation Junker (a Prussian landowning noble), and his mother came from a family of successful academics and government ministers. Throughout his life Bismarck would emphasize his rural Junker roots, underplaying his considerable intellect and cosmopolitan outlook.

Did you know? Although German leader Otto von Bismarck wore a general's uniform in public for much of his later life (and successfully prosecuted three wars as chancellor), his only prior military service was a brief, unwilling stint in a reserve unit.

Bismarck was educated in Berlin and after university took a series of minor diplomatic posts before retiring, at age 24, to run his family's estate at Kneiphof. In 1847 he married and was sent to Berlin as a delegate to the new Prussian parliament, where he emerged as a reactionary voice against the liberal, anti-autocratic Revolutions of 1848.

From 1851 to 1862 Bismarck served a series of ambassadorships-at the German Confederation in Frankfurt, in St. Petersburg and in Paris-that gave him valuable insight into the vulnerabilities of Europe's great powers.

Otto von Bismarck: The Iron Chancellor

William I became Prussia's king in 1861 and a year later appointed Bismarck as his chief minister. Though technically deferring to William, in reality Bismarck was in charge, manipulating the king with his intellect and the occasional tantrum while using royal decrees to circumvent the power of elected officials.

In 1864 Bismarck began the series of wars that would establish Prussian power in Europe. He attacked Denmark to gain the German-speaking territories of Schleswig-Holstein and two years later provoked Emperor Franz-Josef I into starting the Austro-Prussian War (1866), which ended in a swift defeat for the aging Austrian empire. At the time, Bismarck wisely declined to levy a war indemnity against the Austrians.

Bismarck was less circumspect in his conduct of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71). Seeing the opportunity to unify Germany's loose confederations against an outside enemy, Bismarck stirred political tensions between France and Prussia, famously editing a telegram from William I to make both countries feel insulted by the other. The French declared war, but the Prussians and their German allies won handily. Prussia levied an indemnity, annexed the French border provinces of Alsace and Lorraine and crowned William emperor of a unified Germany (the Second Reich) in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles-a tremendous insult to the French.

Otto von Bismarck: Kulturkampf, Welfare State, Empire

With Germany unified, William I and Bismarck turned to entrenching their domestic power. For much of the 1870s Bismarck pursued a Kulturkampf (cultural struggle) against Catholics, who made up 36 percent of Germany's population, by placing parochial schools under state control and expelling the Jesuits. In 1878 Bismarck relented, allying with the Catholics against the growing socialist threat.

In the 1880s Bismarck set aside his conservative impulses to counter the socialists by creating Europe's first modern welfare state, establishing national healthcare (1883), accident insurance (1884) and old age pensions (1889). Bismarck also hosted the 1885 Berlin Conference that ended the "Scramble for Africa," dividing the continent between the European powers and establishing German colonies in Cameroon, Togoland and East and Southwest Africa.

Otto von Bismarck: Final Years and Legacy

William I died in 1888 and was succeeded by his son Frederick III and then his grandson William II, both of whom Bismarck found difficult to control. In 1890 the new king forced Bismarck out. William II was left in control of a flourishing unified state but was ill-equipped to maintain Bismarck's carefully manipulated balance of international rivalries. Respected and honored by the time of his death eight years later, Bismarck quickly became a quasi-mythic figure invoked by political leaders calling for strong German leadership-or for war.

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Otto von Bismarck - Biography, World Wars & Facts

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Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898)-also known as the "Iron Chancellor"-was Chancellor of the newly-united German Empire from 1862 to 1890. During his tenure he modernized the nation and helped set the stage for World War I.

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This shows the gradual process of what happened during the German unification

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German Unification - The Birth of a European Super-Power