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Hidalgo was a Mexican priest. He didn't care about poverty compared to helping and freeing the Mexican people from Spain. He influenced many people to become agricultural farmers. Led a rag-tag army into Mexico City, and killed many Peninsulares. Even though he died, his influence helped Mexico become their own country.

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Revolutionary Priest: The Radical Life of Miguel Hidalgo

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The story of Miguel Hidalgo, the unconventional priest who led the Mexican War of Independence and became known as the Father of the Nation

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Bismarck, a skilled Prussian politician, used a combination of diplomacy and military strategy to achieve his goals. He is known for his realpolitik approach, prioritizing practical solutions over ideological commitments. He used many wars to gain land and unite the German people. Bismarck's manipulation of alliances and conflicts ultimately led to the proclamation of the German Empire in 1871. His legacy includes unification that influenced European relations. Bismarck and his policies set the stage for many European politicians to come.

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Who was Otto von Bismarck? What is he known for? And how did he unify Germany? Here's everything you need to know about the Prussian politician dubbed the founder of 'modern Germany'...
Who was Otto von Bismarck?

Otto von Bismarck was a Prussian politician who became Germany's first-ever chancellor, a position in which he served from 1871 to 1890. Through a series of wars, he unified 39 individual states into one German nation in 1871. His policies as chancellor were aimed at holding the newly-formed state together in the face of religious, political and social divisions - all while trying to maintain the fragile peace in Europe.

What is Otto von Bismarck's background?

When Bismarck was born in April 1815, Napoleon was about to be defeated for good by a coalition that included a collective German force with many enthusiastic volunteers. The warm afterglow of this joint effort coloured Bismarck's childhood with bloodthirsty war stories about heroism and sacrifice. His father Karl was a junker (Prussian aristocrat) with staunchly conservative views. By contrast, his mother Wilhelmine was the daughter of a cabinet secretary and was keenly intelligent and witty. Their son Otto would be a combination of the two: an arch-conservative junker with the Machiavellian mind of a politician.

How did Otto von Bismarck rise to power?

As a young man, Bismarck led a drifter's life, trying to find purpose and meaning as the second son of a minor noble family. But in 1847 his life changed forever. By chance, he was asked to step in for a member of the Prussian parliament who had fallen ill. There, he found his calling in the intrigues and machinations of the political world. He quickly made a name for himself as a sharp-tongued supporter of Prussia and its king, which gained him the position of Prussian envoy to Frankfurt (1851), St Petersburg (1859) and Paris (1862) before becoming Minister-President in 1862. In this position, he gained near-total control of the political course the kingdom would take.

How did Bismarck unify Germany?

When Otto von Bismarck was born in 1815, Germany did not exist as a single country. Instead, there were 39 individual states. As minister-president, he sought to bring more and more of the German-speaking lands under Prussian control. Having grown up in the aftermath of the successful fight against Napoleon's troops, he knew that the states would rally together when faced with foreign enemies, so Bismarck provoked wars against Denmark (1864), Austria (1866) and France (1870). All three victories gained Prussia increasing respect for its military strength and allowed the German people to feel a sense of common identity. After the Franco-Prussian War, Bismarck seized the opportunity to invite even the most sceptical German states in the south, such as Bavaria, to join his Prussian-led North German Confederation - having refused Bismarck's previous overtures, this time they agreed.

What was Otto von Bismarck like?

Bismarck is now mostly known for his political acumen; he was a good judge of character and unusually knew whether threat, bribery, argument or flattery was required. At 6ft 2in, he was also physically imposing with steely-blue eyes and broad shoulders. Sharp-tongued, witty and extremely eloquent, he knew how to reach the desired effect with almost any audience. Bismarck also had a strongly impulsive side, examples of which are his tragic love for Marie von Thadden-Trieglaff, the occasional pistol duel with political rivals, and the frequent tears shed in frustration, anger or genuine sadness.

Bismarck: why was the WW2 German battleship named after the Iron Chancellor so feared?

What were Otto von Bismarck's most notable policies?

Having unified Germany through war, Bismarck tried to hold the country together as chancellor by suppressing minorities such as Catholics with his so-called Kulturkampf policies, and by 'Germanising' the Poles, Danes and Frenchmen that ended up within the new boundaries. He also spun an intricate web of foreign policy connections in Europe that allowed the new German state to become a respected entity on the continent.

What is Otto von Bismarck's legacy?

When he died in 1898, Bismarck was an embittered man. His successors had allowed the new German kaiser, Wilhelm II, to direct policy from 1890. Thus, tensions in Europe began to mount and threaten to engulf the newly formed Germany. However, Bismarck also inspired a cult following that would continue long after his death. Hundreds of monuments, such as the famous Bismarck Towers, were erected in his honour across the German empire. Many people still regard him as a brilliant statesman today.

Katja Hoyer is a German-British historian and bestselling author. She specialises in the history of modern Germany with a focus on the Second Reich. Her book Blood and Iron: The Rise and Fall of the German Empire 1871-1918 is out now, published by The History Press. You can find her on Twitter @hoyer_kat

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Otto von Bismarck: a brief guide to the 'founder of modern Germany'

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As a Prussian politician, Otto von Bismarck transformed a collection of small German states into the German empire, his style of rule later gaining him the nickname the 'Iron Chancellor'. Katja Hoyer shares a brief guide to one of 19th-century Europe's most influential statesman...

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Key figures in this movement included Giuseppe Mazzini, Giuseppe Garibaldi, and Count Camillo di Cavour.

Giuseppe Mazzini founded Young Italy in 1831, promoting republicanism and national unity. His efforts were crucial in spreading the idea of Italian nationhood among the masses. Giuseppe Garibaldi, a master of guerrilla warfare, played a significant role in the military victories of the Risorgimento. Garibaldi's dedication to the cause of unification made him a popular hero. Count Camillo di Cavour, the prime minister of Piedmont-Sardinia, was instrumental in the diplomatic and political actions that led to unification. He worked to ensure that Piedmont-Sardinia led the unification process, balancing the radical elements of the movement with the interests of European powers. Together, these leaders led to the unification of Italy.

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Giuseppe Garibaldi, (born July 4, 1807, Nice, French Empire [now in France]-died June 2, 1882, Caprera, Italy), Italian patriot and soldier of the Risorgimento, a republican who, through his conquest of Sicily and Naples with his guerrilla Redshirts, contributed to the achievement of Italian unification under the royal house of Savoy.

Early life

Garibaldi's family was one of fishermen and coastal traders, and for more than 10 years he himself was a sailor. In 1832 he acquired a master's certificate as a merchant captain. By 1833-34, when he served in the navy of the kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia, he had come under the influence of Giuseppe Mazzini, the great prophet of Italian nationalism, and the French socialist thinker the comte de Saint-Simon. Garibaldi, in 1834, took part in a mutiny intended to provoke a republican revolution in Piedmont, but the plot failed; he escaped to France and in his absence was condemned to death by a Genoese court.

Exile in South America

From 1836 to 1848, Garibaldi lived in South America as an exile, and these years of turmoil and revolution in that continent strongly influenced his career. He volunteered as a naval captain for the Rio Grande do Sul republic during that small state's unsuccessful attempt to break free from the Brazilian Empire. Actually, he did little more than prey on Brazilian shipping. In the course of often harrowing adventures on land and sea, he managed to elope with Anna Maria Ribeiro da Silva (Anita), a married woman, who remained his companion in arms until her death. After a succession of victories by the Brazilians in 1839-40, Garibaldi finally decided to leave the service of Rio Grande. Driving a herd of cattle, he made the long trek to Montevideo with Anita and their son. There he tried his hand as commercial traveler and teacher but could not accustom himself to civilian life. In 1842 he was put in charge of the Uruguayan navy in another war of liberation-this time against Juan Manuel de Rosas, the dictator of Argentina. The following year, again in the service of Uruguay, Garibaldi took command of a newly formed Italian Legion at Montevideo, the first of the Redshirts, with whom his name became so closely associated. After he won a small but heroic engagement at the Battle of Sant'Antonio in 1846, his fame reached even to Europe, and in Italy a sword of honour, paid for by subscriptions, was donated to him.

He was in charge of the defense of Montevideo for a short time in 1847, when he first came to the attention of Alexandre Dumas père, who later did much to foster his reputation. Garibaldi also greatly impressed other foreign observers as an honest and able man. His South American experiences gave him invaluable training in the techniques of guerrilla warfare that he later used with great effect against French and Austrian armies, which had not been taught how to counter them. These first exploits in the cause of freedom cast him in the mold of a professional rebel, an indomitable individualist who all his life continued to wear the gaucho costume of the pampas and to act as if life were a perpetual battle for liberty.

War of liberation

In April 1848 Garibaldi led 60 members of his Italian Legion back to Italy to fight for the Risorgimento, or resurrection, of Italy in the war of independence against the Austrians. He first offered to fight for Pope Pius IX, then-when his offer was refused-for Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont-Sardinia. The king, too, rebuffed him, for Garibaldi's conviction as a rebel in 1834 was still remembered; moreover, the regular army despised the self-taught guerrilla leader. Therefore, Garibaldi went to the aid of the city of Milan, where Mazzini had already arrived and had given the war of liberation a more republican and radical turn. Charles Albert, after his defeat at the hands of the Austrians at Custoza, agreed to an armistice, but Garibaldi continued in the name of Milan what had become his private war and emerged creditably from two engagements with the Austrians at Luino and Morazzone. But at the end of August, heavily outnumbered, he had to retreat across the frontier to Switzerland.

For a time Garibaldi settled down in Nice with Anita (whom he had married in 1842) and their three children, but his resolve to help free Italy from foreign rule was stronger than ever. He was confirmed in his purpose by his belief-which he and only a handful of others shared with Mazzini-that the many Italian states, though often engaged in internecine warfare, could nonetheless be unified into a single state. When Pius IX, threatened by liberal forces within the Papal States, fled from Rome toward the end of 1848, Garibaldi led a group of volunteers to that city. There, in February 1849, he was elected a deputy in the Roman Assembly, and it was he who proposed that Rome should become an independent republic. In April a French army arrived to restore papal government, and Garibaldi was the chief inspiration of a spirited defense that repulsed a French attack on the Janiculum Hill. In May he defeated a Neapolitan army outside Rome at Velletri, and in June he was the leading figure in the defense of Rome against a French siege. There was no chance at all of holding the city, but the gallantry of the resistance became one of the most inspiring stories of the Risorgimento. Refusing to accept defeat, Garibaldi led a few thousand men out of Rome and through central Italy in July 1849, maneuvering to avoid French and Austrian armies, until he reached the neutral republic of San Marino.

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Giuseppe Garibaldi | Biography, Redshirts, Significance, & Facts

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Giuseppe Garibaldi, Italian patriot and soldier of the Risorgimento, a republican who, through his conquest of Sicily and Naples with his guerrilla Redshirts, contributed to the achievement of Italian unification under the royal house of Savoy. Learn more about Garibaldi in this article.

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The 1821 Mexican War of Independence marked the end of Spanish colonial rule in Mexico. It began in 1810 with Miguel Hidalgo's "Grito de Dolores," calling for an uprising against Spanish authorities. Over the next decade, various leaders, including José María Morelos and Agustín de Iturbide, had important parts in the struggle. The war concluded in September 1821 when Iturbide's Plan of Iguala stabilized Mexico's independence. This revolution laid the foundation for Mexico's emergence as a sovereign nation, though it faced big challenges in governance and stability.

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Mexican War of Independence | 3 Minute History

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The German unification culminated in the unification of numerous independent German states into a single nation under Prussian leadership. Key figures included Otto von Bismarck, who used diplomacy and strategic wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. The unification was officially proclaimed on January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles, following the victory over France in the Franco-Prussian War. This event marked the emergence of the German Empire, significantly changing the balance of power in Europe.

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The Italian unification in 1861 was possible with the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy. Key figures in this movement included Giuseppe Garibaldi, who led military campaigns, and Count Camillo di Cavour, the Prime Minister of Sardinia-Piedmont, who utilized diplomacy and alliances to achieve unification. The process involved the unification of many Italian states, often through wars and political maneuvering, resulting in the annexation of the Papal States and Rome in 1870. This unification also created a new nation-state along with fostering a sense of Italian nationalism that shaped the country's future.