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Realism

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Giuseppe was a very intelligent kid and he went to the University of Genoa at 14 years old. In 18,30 he was betrayed and was arrested. In 1831 when he was released, he chose exile and went to Marseille where he met other Italian exiles who chose him to be their leader. He found his patriotic movement for young men and named it Giovine Italy (Young Italy).

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Giuseppe Mazzini, (born June 22, 1805, Genoa [Italy]-died March 10, 1872, Pisa, Italy), Genoese propagandist and revolutionary, founder of the secret revolutionary society Young Italy (1832), and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. An uncompromising republican, he refused to participate in the parliamentary government that was established under the monarchy of the House of Savoy when Italy became unified and independent (1861).

Education and exile.

Giuseppe Mazzini was a doctor's son; his birthplace, formerly a republic, was annexed to the Kingdom of Piedmont in 1814. As a child, he gave promise of high intellectual ability, fully confirmed when he entered the University of Genoa at 14. Two years later, strongly influenced by seeing a patriot fleeing from Italy after an unsuccessful insurrection, he began to think "that we Italians could and therefore ought to struggle for the liberty of our country."

On graduating in law in 1827, he practiced as a "poor man's lawyer," wrote articles for progressive reviews, and hoped to become a dramatist or historical novelist. But his life was already shaping itself differently. His love of freedom led him to join the Carbonari, a secret society pledged to overthrow absolute rule in Italy. In 1830 he was betrayed to the police, arrested, and interned at Savona, where for three months he reviewed his political beliefs and conceived the outlines of a new patriotic movement to replace the decaying Carbonari.

When released early in 1831, he was ordered either to leave Piedmont or to live in some small town. He chose exile and went to Marseille, where his slight figure, handsome olive features, black hair and beard, and black velvet suit were soon familiar to the other Italian exiles, who accepted him as their leader. His first public gesture was an "open letter" to Charles Albert, the king of Piedmont, urging him to give Piedmont constitutional government, to lead a national movement, and to expel the Austrians from Lombardy-Venetia and their other Italian strongholds. The letter was circulated in Italy, but Charles Albert's only reaction was to threaten Mazzini with arrest if he returned to Piedmont. As a lifelong republican, Mazzini was afterward censured for this friendly approach to an autocratic sovereign; he explained that he had meant to expose Charles Albert as one who would never fight for Italian freedom.

At Marseille Mazzini spent two of his most rewarding years. He founded his patriotic movement for young men and called it Giovine Italia (Young Italy). It was designed as a national association for liberating the separate Italian states from foreign rule and fusing them into a free and independent unitary republic. Its methods were education and insurrection, and it had a moral basis derived from Mazzini's own belief in God (though he was not a Christian) and in permanent laws of progress, duty, and sacrifice. It was the first Italian democratic movement embracing all classes, for Mazzini believed that only a popular initiative could free Italy. "Neither pope nor king," he declared. "Only God and the people will open the way of the future to us."

The new movement captured the imagination of Italian youth. Branches were secretly formed in Genoa and other cities; by 1833 there were 60,000 members. Mazzini edited the propagandist journal Giovine Italia, which was smuggled into Italy with other revolutionary pamphlets. He also became the lover of a fellow exile, the beautiful Modenese widow Giuditta Sidoli.

Young Italy's attempted insurrections were failures. A projected rising in Piedmont in 1833 was discovered before it had begun; 12 conspirators were executed, one committed suicide, and Mazzini was tried in absence and condemned to death. He said prophetically, "Ideas ripen quickly when nourished by the blood of martyrs." A few months later, when he had moved to Switzerland to escape from the French police, he tried to rally 1,000 volunteers to invade Savoy (then part of the kingdom of Piedmont). Only 200 could be mustered, and the force was disbanded.

These failures destroyed Young Italy as an organization, though its spirit lived on. Mazzini turned to wider revolutionary plans, based on his faith in the brotherhood of man and his hopes for a world republican federation. He founded Young Europe and helped to establish Young Germany, Young Switzerland, and Young Poland, but his three years in Switzerland were unhappy and frustrated. Giuditta Sidoli had gone back to Italy to rejoin her children; he suffered an emotional crisis through doubts and disillusionment. In 1837 he went with a few Italian friends to live in London.

Stay in England.

England was now his real home. He lived in modest London lodgings, surrounded by books, papers, and the tame birds in which he delighted; he studied at the British Museum and wrote for English periodicals. Though he had little money, he started a school for Italian boys in London and a newspaper, Apostolato popolare ("Apostleship of the People"), in which he published part of his essay "On the Duties of Man." In 1840, with the help of Giuseppe Lamberti in Paris, he revived Young Italy, primarily as a means of building up a national consciousness among Italians everywhere. He wrote innumerable letters to his new agents in Europe and North and South America; he also became acquainted with Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle and other notable people.

In 1844 he was in touch with the Bandiera brothers, who made an ill-fated attempt to start a revolt in Calabria. After their execution, he told two friends who were members of Parliament of his fears that the British government was opening his letters and had passed on information about the Bandieras' plans to the Neapolitan authorities. The matter was raised in Parliament, and the government was compelled to admit that it opened private letters. There was much public indignation and widespread sympathy with Mazzini. The affair made him better known in England and brought him into contact with a notable liberal family, the Ashursts. Many English liberals supported him when he founded the People's International League in 1847.

In that year he wrote an "open letter" to the new pope, Pius IX, who had introduced liberal reforms in the Papal States. He urged the pope to unify Italy, but Pius made no comment. Mazzini returned to Italy for the first time in the revolutionary year of 1848, when the Milanese drove out their Austrian masters and Piedmont began a war to expel the Austrians from Italy. Milan welcomed him, but he was soon unpopular because he wanted Lombardy to become a republic and he thought that union with the kingdom of Piedmont, as proposed by the Milanese provisional government, was the wrong kind of pattern for the future Italy. When the Piedmontese armies withdrew and the Austrians reentered Milan, he served briefly with an irregular force under Giuseppe Garibaldi before returning to England.

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Giuseppe Mazzini | Italian Revolutionary, Nationalist & Political Activist

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Giuseppe Mazzini, Genoese propagandist and revolutionary, founder of the secret revolutionary society Young Italy (1832), and a champion of the movement for Italian unity known as the Risorgimento. An uncompromising republican, he refused to participate in the parliamentary government that was

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Impressionism

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Romanticism

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Napoleon Barnhart was one of the greatest military commander in history. Napoleon defeated a range of alliances with Austria, Britain, Russia, and Prussia. After Napoleon had lost so many battles they exiled him to an island called St. Helena where he died at the age of 51.

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Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821), one of the greatest military commanders in history, was the twice- emperor of France whose military endeavors and sheer personality dominated Europe for a decade.

In military affairs, legal issues, economics, politics, technology, culture, and society in general, his actions influenced the course of European history for over a century, and some argue, to this very day.

Fast Facts: Napoleon Bonaparte

Napoleon was born in Ajaccio, Corsica, on August 15, 1769, to Carlo Buonaparte, a lawyer and political opportunist, and his wife Marie-Letizia. The Buonapartes were a wealthy family from the Corsican nobility, although when compared to the great aristocracies of France, Napoleon's kin were poor.

Napoleon entered the military academy at Brienne in 1779. He moved to the Parisian École Royale Militaire in 1784 and graduated a year later as a second lieutenant in the artillery. Spurred on by his father's death in February 1785, the future emperor had completed in one year a course that often took three.

Early Career

Despite being posted on the French mainland, Napoleon was able to spend much of the next eight years in Corsica thanks to his ferocious letter writing and rule-bending, as well as the effects of the French Revolution (which led to the French Revolutionary Wars) and sheer good luck. There he played an active part in political and military matters, initially supporting the Corsican rebel Pasquale Paoli, a former patron of Carlo Buonaparte.

Military promotion also followed, but Napoleon became opposed to Paoli and when civil war erupted in 1793 the Buonapartes fled to France, where they adopted the French version of their name: Bonaparte.

The French Revolution had decimated the republic's officer class and favored individuals could achieve swift promotion, but Napoleon's fortunes rose and fell as one set of patrons came and went. By December 1793, Napoleon was the hero of Toulon, a general and favorite of Augustin Robespierre; shortly after the wheel of revolution turned and Napoleon was arrested for treason. Tremendous political flexibility saved him and the patronage of Vicomte Paul de Barras, soon to be one of France's three "Directors," followed.

Napoleon became a hero again in 1795, defending the government from angry counter-revolutionary forces; Baras rewarded Napoleon by promoting him to high military office, a position with access to the political spine of France. Napoleon swiftly grew into one of the country's most respected military authorities, largely by never keeping his opinions to himself, and he married Josephine de Beauharnais in 1796.

Rise to Power

In 1796, France attacked Austria. Napoleon was given command of the Army of Italy, whereupon he welded a young, starving and disgruntled army into a force which won victory after victory against theoretically stronger Austrian opponents.

Napoleon returned to France in 1797 as the nation's brightest star, having fully emerged from the need for a patron. Ever a great self-publicist, he maintained the profile of a political independent, thanks partly to the newspapers he now ran.

In May 1798, Napoleon left for a campaign in Egypt and Syria, prompted by his desire for fresh victories, the French need to threaten Britain's empire in India and the Directory's concerns that their famous general might seize power.

The Egyptian campaign was a military failure (although it had a great cultural impact) and a change of government in France caused Bonaparte to leave-some might say abandon-his army and return in the August 1799. Shortly after he took part in the Brumaire coup of November 1799, finishing as a member of the Consulate, France's new ruling triumvirate.

First Consul

The transfer of power might not have been smooth, owing much to luck and apathy, but Napoleon's great political skill was clear; by February 1800, he was established as the First Consul, a practical dictatorship with a constitution wrapped firmly around him. However, France was still at war with her fellows in Europe and Napoleon set out to beat them. He did so within a year, although the key triumph, the Battle of Marengo, fought in June 1800, was won by the French General Desaix.

From Reformer to Emperor

Having concluded treaties that left Europe at peace, Bonaparte began working on France, reforming the economy, legal system (the famous and enduring Code Napoleon), church, military, education, and government. He studied and commented on minute details, often while traveling with the army, and the reforms continued for most of his rule. Bonaparte exhibited skill as both legislator and statesmen.

Napoleon's popularity remained high, helped by his mastery of propaganda but also genuine national support, and he was elected Consulate for life by the French people in 1802 and Emperor of France in 1804, a title which he worked hard to maintain and glorify. Initiatives like the Concordat with the Church and the Code helped secure his status.

Return to War

Europe was not at peace for long. Napoleon's fame, ambitions, and character were based on conquest, making it almost inevitable that his reorganized Grande Armée would fight further wars. However, other European countries also sought conflict, for not only did they distrust and fear Napoleon, but they also retained their hostility toward revolutionary France.

For the next eight years, Napoleon dominated Europe, fighting and defeating a range of alliances involving combinations of Austria, Britain, Russia, and Prussia. Sometimes his victories were crushing-such as Austerlitz in 1805, often cited as the greatest military victory ever-and at other times, he was either very lucky, fought almost to a standstill, or both.

Napoleon forged new states in Europe, including the German Confederation-built from the ruins of the Holy Roman Empire -and the Duchy of Warsaw, while also installing his family and favorites in positions of great power. The reforms continued and Napoleon had an ever-increasing effect on culture and technology, becoming a patron of both the arts and sciences while stimulating creative responses across Europe.

Disaster in Russia

The Napoleonic Empire may have shown signs of decline by 1811, including a downturn in diplomatic fortunes and continuing failure in Spain, but such matters were overshadowed by what happened next. In 1812 Napoleon went to war with Russia, assembling a force of over 400,000 soldiers, accompanied by the same number of followers and support. Such an army was almost impossible to feed or adequately control and the Russians repeatedly retreated, destroying the local resources and separating Napoleon's army from its supplies.

Napoleon continually dithered, eventually reaching Moscow on Sept. 8, 1812, after the Battle of Borodino, a bludgeoning conflict where over 80,000 soldiers died. However, the Russians refused to surrender, instead torching Moscow and forcing Napoleon into a long retreat back to friendly territory. The Grande Armée was assailed by starvation, extremes of weather and terrifying Russian partisans throughout, and by the end of 1812 only 10,000 soldiers were able to fight. Many of the rest had died in horrible conditions, with the camp's followers faring even worse.

A coup had been attempted in Napoleon's absence from France and his enemies in Europe were reinvigorated, forming a grand alliance intent on removing him. Vast numbers of enemy soldiers advanced across Europe toward France, overturning the states Bonaparte had created. The combined forces of Russia, Prussia, Austria, and others just used a simple plan, retreating from the emperor himself and advancing again when he moved to face the next threat.

Abdication

Throughout 1813 and into 1814 the pressure grew on Napoleon; not only were his enemies grinding his forces down and approaching Paris, but the British had fought out of Spain and into France, the Grande Armée's Marshalls were underperforming and Bonaparte had lost the French public's support.

Nevertheless, for the first half of 1814 Napoleon exhibited the military genius of his youth, but it was a war he couldn't win alone. On March 30, 1814, Paris surrendered to allied forces without a fight and, facing massive betrayal and impossible military odds, Napoleon abdicated as Emperor of France; he was exiled to the Island of Elba.

Second Exile and Death

Napoleon made a sensational return to power in 1815. Traveling to France in secret, he attracted vast support and reclaimed his imperial throne, as well as reorganizing the army and government. After a series of initial engagements, Napoleon was narrowly defeated in one of history's greatest battles: Waterloo.

This final adventure had occurred in less than 100 days, closing with Napoleon's second abdication on June 25, 1815, whereupon British forces forced him into further exile. Housed on St. Helena, a small rocky island well away from Europe in the South Atlantic Ocean, Napoleon's health and character fluctuated; he died within six years, on May 5, 1821, at age 51.

Napoleon helped perpetuate a state of European-wide warfare that lasted for 20 years. Few individuals have ever had such a huge effect on the world, on economics, politics, technology, culture, and society.

Napoleon may not have been a general of utter genius, but he was very good; he may not have been the best politician of his age, but he was often superb; he may not have been a perfect legislator, but his contributions were hugely important. Napoleon used his talents-through luck, talent, or force of will-to rise from chaos and then build, lead, and spectacularly destroy an empire before doing it all again in a tiny microcosm one year later. Whether a hero or tyrant, the reverberations were felt across Europe for a century.

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Biography of Napoleon Bonaparte, Great Military Commander

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Napoleon Bonaparte (August 15, 1769-May 5, 1821), one of the greatest military commanders in history, was the twice- emperor of France whose military endeavors and sheer personality dominated Europe for a decade. In military affairs, legal issues, economics, politics, technology, culture, and society in general, his actions influenced the course of European history for over a century, and some argue, to this very day.

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In 1864 Bismarck began the series of wars that would establish Prussian power in Europe. Bismarck was less circumspect in his conduct in the Franco-Prussian war. He then decided to stir political tension between France and Prussia. So then when France declared war, Prussia and Germany won very easily.

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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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France was a great debt from their funding of the American Revolution. Louis XVI was spending half of his national debt to service the federal debt. So they made the third estate pay more taxes. The third estate then stormed the Bastille to steal weapons and revolt back which started the French Revolution.

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The French Revolution: Crash Course World History #29

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In 1820-21 a series of revolts were launched at the Italian state in order to force liberal reforms. Mazzini formed a secret society "Young Italy." They tried to prevent revolution across Italy but failed. When Cavour came into Piedmont he installed policies that made them richer.

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Ten Minute History - The Unification of Italy (Short Documentary)

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The Holy-Roman Empire was comprised of hundreds of mostly German-speaking states. The most powerful of all states was Austria. People saw the German Confederation as quite a weak in comparison to other powers like France and Prussia.

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Ten Minute History - German Unification and Empire (Short Documentary)