What role did nationalism play in the unification of Germany and Italy?
Nationalism leads to the deep thought and belief that if you were the same by language and by culture you should have land to reprsent that. For one, a lot of Europeans were of the same nationality but did not have any boundaries by name of land or sea. Bismarck used a war against France to boost nationalism in the southern German states and to get them to unite with Prussia. whereas Cavour used the war with Austria to unite Italians. (German prime minister) Bismarck = “blood and iron” Giueseppe Garibaldi = “red shirts” They both wanted Sovereign Autonomous rule for each state. Both states were fragmented in their own regions, but they all shared a language, cultural beliefs and such which helped bring together a strong nationalistic patriotism.
Nationalism is an ideology and policy direction, the fundamental principle of which is the thesis about the value of the nation as the highest form of social unity, its primacy in the state-forming process. So in our case, nationalism accompanied the icing of the people and their territories and strengthened them. You can also read the article about pros and cons of nationalism to find out more
