(a) Describe the process of unification of Germany.

(i) Nationalist feelings were widespread among middle-class Germans, who in $\displaystyle 1848$ tried to unite the different regions of the German confederation into a nation-state governed by an elected parliament.

(ii) This liberal initiative to nation-building was repressed by the combined forces of the monarchy and the military, supported by the large landowners (called Junkers) of Prussia.

(iii) Prussia took on the leadership of the movement for national unification.

(iv) Its chief minister, Otto von Bismarck, was the architect of this process carried out with the help of the Prussian army and bureaucracy.

(v) Three wars over seven years – with Austria, Denmark and France – ended in Prussian victory and completed the process of unification.

(vi) In January $\displaystyle 1871$, the Prussian king, William I, was proclaimed German Emperor in a ceremony held at Versailles.

OR 7.(b) Describe the process of unification of Italy.

(i) During the middle of the nineteenth century, Italy was divided into seven states, of which only one, Sardinia-Piedmont, was ruled by an Italian princely house.

(ii) The north was under Austrian Habsburgs, the centre was ruled by the Pope and the southern regions were under the domination of the Bourbon kings of Spain.

(iii) During the 1830s, Giuseppe Mazzini had sought to put together a coherent programme for a unitary Italian Republic.

(iv) He had also formed a secret society called Young Italy for the dissemination of his goals.

(v) The failure of revolutionary uprisings both in $\displaystyle 1831$ and $\displaystyle 1848$ meant that the mantle now fell on Sardinia-Piedmont under its ruler King Victor Emmanuel II to unify the Italian states through war.

(vi) In the eyes of the ruling elites of this region, a unified Italy offered them the possibility of economic development and political dominance.

(vii) Through a tactful diplomatic alliance with France engineered by Chief Minister Cavour, Sardinia-Piedmont succeeded in defeating the Austrian forces in 1859.

(viii) Apart from regular troops, a large number of armed volunteers under the leadership of Giuseppe Garibaldi joined the fray.

(ix) In $\displaystyle 1860$, they marched into South Italy and the Kingdom of the two Sicilies and succeeded in winning the support of the local peasants in order to drive out the Spanish rulers.

(x) In $\displaystyle 1861$ Victor Emmanuel II was proclaimed king of united Italy.