The Unification of Italy and
Germany
In this lesson, students will be able to
identify the actions of the following individuals
as well as define the term “Blood and Iron”:
Count Cavor
Giuseppe Garibaldi
Otto Von Bismarck
“Blood and Iron”
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Nationalism is
the belief
that each ethnic
group should have
its own national
state and
government.
For centuries, Italy
had consisted of
smaller states.
Italians wanted
unification.
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In 1852, Count Cavour
became the Prime
Minister of the
Kingdom of Piedmont
or Sardinia. With
French help, Cavour
drove the
Austrians out of
Northern Italy after
a war in 1859.
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Cavour then annexed most of the other
states of northern and central Italy.
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The nationalist leader, Giuseppe
Garibaldi, overthrew the king of
Naples in the south. He then joined
Naples to Cavour’s enlarged Piedmont.
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By 1860, Italy had become a united
kingdom.
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National
unification
failed to
end the
cultural and
economic
divisions
that
separated
Italy’s north
and south.
Like Italy, Germany consisted of many
smaller states. German liberals had
failed to unite their nation in the
revolutions of 1848.
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Prussia was one of the
largest German
states.
Its Prime Minister,
Otto von Bismarck,
used skillful diplomacy
and Prussian military
power to achieve
German unification.
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Otto von Bismarck
followed a policy
of “blood and iron”
to achieve his goals.
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“The greatest questions of the day
will not be settled by speeches and
majority decisions but by iron and
blood.”
Otto von Bismarck
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Germany achieved unification in 1871.
The Prussian king became the Kaiser
(emperor) of all Germany.
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Although there was a national assembly,
it was controlled by conservative Prussian
landowners, not the working people.
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Questions for Reflection:
• Define nationalism.
• Who was Count Cavour and what did he
do?
• How did Giuseppe Garibaldi help Count
Cavour?
• Why did Otto von Bismarck believe in a
policy of “blood and iron”?
• Describe German unification.
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