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During this revolution, they changed their way of ruling and improved freedoms. A lot of immigration to North America happened at this time.

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The March Revolution in Germany (1848-1849)

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Otto Von Bismarck lead Prussia in many successful encounters. He was very smart and was a good leader. He also conquered many countries with the contries he had already conquered.

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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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Pedro was made the prince of Brazil by his father. Pedro was going to seperate from Portugal, but was then convinced to stay. Cortez in Portugal wanted to remove all of the changes Pedro had made to Brazil, and Pedro was not pleased to hear this. Pedro then declared independence against Portugal and traveled back to the captial of Brazil. Portugal did not get Brazil back.

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Brazilian Independence | 3 Minute History

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After Napoleon conquered Italy and tried to unite them, Italy separated again into six parts. After a bit some began to unite and after a while, all but the Austrian owned part of Italy were combined. Then, they were defeated and Italy became a whole country.

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Count Camillo Benso unified all of Italy in the end. He also acted in the final part of unifying all of Italy. He also remade the capital of Italy into Rome.

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Table of Contributors Table of Contents Return to Encyclopedia Home Page

Cavour, Count Camillo Benso di (1810-1861)

Cavour, Count Camillo Benso di (1810-1861) The figure who forged the Kingdom of Italy, designe d the constitutional structure of the unitary state and served as its first prime minister was the second son of an aristocratic Piedmontese family. Born in Turin when it was under French control, he was sponsored in baptism by Napoleon's sister Pauline, and her husband, Prince Camille Borghese, after whom Camillo was named. Both Camillo and his older brother Gustavo were initially educated at home. Whereas Gustavo, as the first son could expect a position in the administration or the diplomatic corps in Piedmont, Camillo, as the second son of a nobleman, was earmarked for a career in the army, even though his interests were more political than military. In 1820 he enrolled in the military academy of Turin, and in July 1824 was named a page to Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont (1831-1849), who opened the first war of independence against Austria. Camillo resigned from the army at the end of 1831.

He administered the family estate at Grinzane, some forty kilometers outside the capital, ser ving as mayor there from 1832 to the revolutionary upheaval of 1848. He traveled widely in Europe, though not much in Italy, visiting France, Switzerland and Great Britain. Convinced that economic reconstruction had to proceed political change, he stressed the advantages of free trade and railroad construction in the peninsula. Suspicious of the Papacy, he did not support the Neo-Guelph program which dreamed that the pope would play a leading role in the unification movement. Instead, Cavour in the 18 40s jo ined the ranks of those who looked to Charles Albert to effect the liberal and national program in Italy. Following the election of Pius IX in 1846, the Piedmontese monarch allowed the congress of scientists meeting in Genoa in September to issue a series of patriotic pronouncements.

In 1847, when Carlo Alberto introduced a series of reforms, Cavour took advantage of the revised press law to establish the newspaper Il Risorgimento. As 1848 opened with revolution in Palermo and dem onstrations in Genoa calling for liberalization of the Piedmontese state, a group of journalists met in Turin to support their demands. Cavour led the call for a Statuto, proclaiming the need for constitutionalism in the columns of the Risorgimento he edited. By a decree of February 8, 1848, Charles Albert complied.

As Piedmont initiated its constitutional regime under the leadership of Cavour's friend and business associate Cesare Balbo, word arrived that t he people of Milan on March 18 had initiated a war of national liberation by rising against the occupying Austrian forces. On March 23, 1848, in a momentous article in the Risorgimento, Cavour called upon his king to join the national crusade, arguing that the supreme hour for the Piedmontese monarchy had arrived. Carlo Alberto concurred and entered the conflict. Cavour, who entered the new Piedmontese parliament in June 1848, was dismayed by his country's military defeat at Custozza in July, the armisti ce with the Austrians and the evacuation of Milan. Cavour warned against resuming the war without French assistance, but his words were not heeded. The reopening of the war on March 20, 1849, was followed by the defeat at Novara on March 23 and the abdication of Carlo Alberto in favor of his son, Vittorio Emanuele.

Cavour capitalized on the anti-Papal sentiment in Italy following Pius IX's refusal to wage war upon Austria in 1848. The failure of 1848 also convinced him of the nee d for a powerf ul ally to dislodge Austria from Italy. In October 1850, at the age of 40, Cavour entered the ministry of Massimo D'Azeglio as minister of agriculture, industry and commerce. Following his connubio or political alliance with Urbano Ratazzi of the left-center, Cavour was able to dislodge D'Azeglio from power, becoming prime minister at the end of 1852. Seeking to project a liberal image abroad and to win the approval of patriots at home, Cavour continued his policy of limiting th e privileges of the Catholic church. During the course of the Crimean War, he ranged Piedmont alongside England and France, and in 1856 presented the Italian case before the Congress of Paris and the tribunal of world opinion. In Paris the Count sought to ingratiate himself with Napoleon, whose support of he considered crucial to avenge the defeat of 1848-1849, while seeking the adherence of exiles from the restoration of 1848 such as Daniele Manin, who formed the national society. The latter organization provided popular support for Cavour's anti-Austrian, national campaign in 1859-1860.

In July 1858 Cavour met Napoleon III at Plombières where the two plotted a war against Austria and the reorganization of the Italian peninsula. An enlarged Piedmont, forming a Kingdom of Northern Italy, as had emerged briefly in 1848-1840, would be united with Tuscany, a truncated Papal State, and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies in an Italian Confederation. For his efforts on behalf of the It alian cause, Napoleo n asked for the cession of Nice and Savoy. These provisions were concretized in the treaty of December 10, 1858. The Second War of Italian Independence opened in April 1859, approximately a decade after the close of the First War of Independence, and was decided by the battles of Magenta, San Martino, and Solferino. Following the Austrian withdrawal into the quadrilateral of fortresses, in July Napoleon signed an armistice at Villafranca with Franz-Josef, without consulting his Piedmo nt allies. Cavour, unw illing to accept the terms which left Venetia in Austrian hands, resigned.

Cavour returned to power in January 1860, and in March signed another secret agreement with Napoleon turning over Nice and Savoy to France, in return for French support for Piedmont 's annexation of central Italy. The count allowed Garibaldi's expedition to leave Genoa for Sicily, and following the collapse of the Neapolitan Kingdom, engineered its annexation. He also received French approv al to occupy the greater part of what remained of the Papal States, scrupulously avoiding the French occupied city of Rome and its immediate environs. On March 17, Cavour had the Piedmontese parliament proclaim Victor Emanuel II, king of Italy. Cavour also persuaded the parliament to proclaim the city of Rome the future capital of the kingdom, hoping to resolve the Roman question on the basis of an agreement with the church. He died shortly thereafter, and did not live to see the Italian occupation of Rom e in 1870.

Frank J. Coppa

Bibliography

Coppa, Frank J. Camillo di Cavour. New York: Twayne Publishers, 1973.

Il Carteggio Cavour-Nigra dal 1858 al 1861. Bologna: Zanichelli, 1961.

Mark Smith, Denis. Cavour. New York: Knopf, 1985.

Romeo, Rosario. Cavour e il suo tempo. 4 vols. Bari: Laterza, 1969-1984.

Ugolini, Romano. Cavour e Napoleon III nell' Italia Centrale. Rome: Instituto per la storia del Risorgimento Italiano, 1973.

Table of Contributors Table of Contents Return to Encyclopedia Home Page

Krista Durchik revised this file ( http://www.ohiou.edu/~chastain/ac/cavour.htm) on April 22, 1998.

Please E-mail comments or suggesti ons to chastain@www.ohiou.edu

© 1998 James Chastain.

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Cavour, Count Camillo Benso di (1810-1861)

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Table of Contributors Table of Contents Return to Encyclopedia Home Page Cavour, Count Camillo Benso di (1810-1861) The figure who forged the Kingdom of Italy, designe d the constitutional structure of the unitary state and served as its first prime minister was the second son of an aristocratic Piedmontese family.

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Pedro defied Cortes with a speech called Fico. Most Brazilians supported his decision in seperating from Portugal. Dom Pedro brought together a legislative and constituent assembly, and on September 7, he announced  the independence against Portugal. He was crowned king soon after. Portugal eventually recognized their independence, and the U.S. also did.