German history - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages Scholars have argued that if the rivalry would have continued then the idea of the unification of Germany would have been impossible to achieve. If Austria continued to be in the union it would have been impossible for the unification of German to be a reality and therefore the only way to achieve unification was simply the elimination of Austria from the union through compulsion (Merkl 33). When Otto Von Bismarck came into power he believed in the inevitable unification of German with Prussia as its leader. Therefore he went ahead with his plan and drove out Austria from interfering with the affairs of German. The reason behind his advocating for the unification of German was because through it Prussia would have a greater influence and power. Therefore Bismarck essentially used political strategies that were backed up by s strong military support that enabled the unification of German (Leonhard and Funk 47). In the Italian case, things were different. By the late 1700’s the Italian peninsula had been conquered severally by the French and Austria and hence had no sovereign government. It was ruled by Austria something that Italians did not like and began rebellions culminating in the 1848 revolution where the pope was forced out. Later he asked for help from the catholic powers in Europe who came to his rescue driving Garibaldi out of Rome. A series of wars ensured, realignments occurred and revolts were a norm leading to the unification of Italy in 1871. Basically the unification of Italy was based on popular rebellions against foreign rule (Collier 40-55). QUESTION TWO The concept of imperialism arose from Britain’s abuse of power in territories outside Europe as the country believed in consolidation and expansion of its empire. During the 19th century scholars began to view imperialism as the use of state power on foreign countries for the economic benefit of the home country. It should be noted that the idea behind expansion of empires is nationalistic. Imperialism can be seen to be highly related to economic growth as during this time most European powers had colonies in Africa that they used to enrich themselves and therefore this can be seen as an aspect of nationalism because the expansion into foreign territories was for the sole gain of the nation (Hobson 10). Good examples can be traced in the 19th century with German among the leading countries in terms of economic development after charismatic leadership in Berlin who instilled into citizens a sense of national pride. Also the French are seen as one of the most patriotic nations at any one period because of imperialism save for Napoleons rule (Sherman and Salisbury 453). Imperialism as an act was began by the Portuguese people during the early 16th century. They began the concept in South America before expanding to Africa. The Portuguese were followed immediately by the Spanish who are seen to have made a real attempt in North America and gradually expanded to South America. During the 18th century the Portuguese stopped its continued financial support of colonies in Africa leaving France, Belgium, England and the Dutch to continue with concept (Krieger and Crahan 194). QUESTION THREE The World War II would not have happened had the remnants of the World War 1 been addressed. Just before the World War II many issues had not been resolved and therefore they built up and contributed to World War II. A good example is the Amritsar Massacre of 1919. This ...Download file to see next pagesRead More