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What was the main goal of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)?
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All Flashcards in Topic 13.5
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13.5.113 cards
What was the main goal of the Congress of Vienna (1814-1815)?
To restore stability in Europe after Napoleon by restoring old monarchies, balancing power between states, and containing France and revolutionary ideas.
How did the Congress of Vienna reorganise Italy in 1815?
It restored old rulers, gave Austria direct control of Lombardy-Venetia and indirect control of Tuscany, Modena, and Parma through Habsburg rulers. No united Italian state was created.
How did the Congress of Vienna reorganise the German lands?
It created the German Confederation — a loose league of 39 states with no central government, chaired by Austria through the Diet at Frankfurt.
Who was Klemens von Metternich?
Austria's foreign minister/chancellor from 1809-1848, and the chief architect of the conservative, anti-nationalist order in Europe after 1815.
What were the Carlsbad Decrees (1819)?
Laws passed through the German Confederation censoring the press, banning nationalist student groups, and putting universities under police surveillance.
What was the Holy Alliance?
An 1815 pact between Russia, Austria, and Prussia to rule as Christian monarchs and support each other against revolution.
What was the Congress System?
A series of international meetings (Aachen 1818, Troppau 1820, Laibach 1821, Verona 1822) where the great powers coordinated action, including military intervention, against revolutions.
Give an example of the Congress System being used to crush a revolt.
At Laibach (1821), the powers approved Austrian troops to crush the 1820-21 Naples revolution.
Who were the Carbonari?
A secret revolutionary society that organised underground opposition to Austrian and monarchical rule in Italy, behind the 1820-21 and 1831 revolts.
What did Giuseppe Mazzini found in 1831, and what did it want?
Young Italy — a movement demanding a united, independent, republican Italy achieved through popular revolution, not deals between rulers.
What did Vincenzo Gioberti propose in his 1843 book?
A federation of existing Italian states led by the Pope — a 'neo-Guelph' solution that worked with existing rulers and the Church rather than overthrowing them.
Compare Mazzini's and Gioberti's visions for Italy.
Mazzini wanted a republic won through popular revolution, rejecting kings and the Church. Gioberti wanted a federation of existing states led by the Pope, working within the existing order.
Why did the Italian revolts of 1820-1844 all fail?
They stayed local rather than national, relied on small secret societies with little mass support, and Austria — backed by the Congress System — intervened quickly to crush each one.
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What was the 'Vormärz'?
The period before the March 1848 revolutions in Germany, marked by growing nationalism/liberalism under Metternich's repression.
What did the Carlsbad Decrees (1819) do?
Banned the Burschenschaften (student societies), imposed press censorship, and placed spies in universities to suppress nationalism and liberalism.
What was the Zollverein?
A Prussian-led customs union (from 1834) that abolished internal tariffs between most German states, excluding Austria — economic unity without political unity.
Name three sources of early German nationalism before 1848.
Romantic ideas of the Volk (Herder, Fichte), the experience of Napoleonic occupation, and student/gymnastics societies like the Burschenschaften.
What was the Frankfurt Parliament?
An elected all-German assembly (May 1848 - May 1849) that tried to design a unified, constitutional Germany but had no army or tax power to enforce its decisions.
What was the Grossdeutsch vs Kleindeutsch debate?
Whether a united Germany should include Austria (Grossdeutsch, 'Greater Germany') or exclude it under Prussian leadership (Kleindeutsch, 'Lesser Germany'). The Frankfurt Parliament chose Kleindeutsch.
Why did Frederick William IV refuse the imperial crown in 1849?
He would not accept a crown offered by an elected assembly (a 'crown from the gutter') rather than by fellow monarchs.
What was the Punctation of Olmütz (1850)?
Austria forced Prussia to abandon its rival Erfurt Union unification scheme, reasserting Austrian dominance over the German Confederation.
Why did the middle-class/working-class alliance collapse in 1848?
Middle-class liberals wanted ordered constitutional reform; workers pushed for deeper social/economic change. Liberals, alarmed by radicalised workers, turned back toward the old monarchies for stability.
Was German nationalism 'strong' by 1848 — what's the historical debate?
One view: it was a real, growing popular force (proven by the 1848 uprisings). Counter-view: it stayed a minority, middle-class/intellectual movement with little peasant or worker support, explaining its fast collapse.
Was the Zollverein a genuine step toward political unification?
Debated. For: built Prussian economic dominance, excluded Austria, created habits of cooperation. Against: it was purely economic with no political intent in the 1830s-40s; unification came later through war and diplomacy.
How did Prussia rise in strength before 1848, if not politically?
Economically and administratively: it gained the industrial Rhineland in 1815, had an efficient civil service, industrialised fast, and led the Zollverein — while remaining an absolute monarchy politically.
13.5.312 cards
Who was Piedmont's prime minister from 1852 who used diplomacy to drive Italian unification?
Camillo Benso di Cavour
What was the Pact of Plombières (1858)?
A secret deal where France agreed to help Piedmont fight Austria in exchange for Nice and Savoy
Who led the Redshirts to conquer Sicily and Naples in 1860?
Giuseppe Garibaldi
What did Garibaldi do after conquering southern Italy in 1860?
He handed control to King Victor Emmanuel II rather than keeping power himself
Compare Cavour and Garibaldi's roles in Italian unification.
Cavour used diplomacy and calculated war to expand Piedmont; Garibaldi used bold military action and popular nationalism to conquer the south, then ceded power to unify the state
How did Italy gain Venetia (1866) and Rome (1870)?
By allying with Prussia against Austria in 1866, and by seizing Rome once French troops withdrew for the Franco-Prussian War in 1870
What is realpolitik?
Practical politics based on self-interest and results, not ideals — Cavour and Bismarck's shared method
Who was Prussia's minister-president from 1862 who unified Germany through war?
Otto von Bismarck
What did Bismarck mean by 'blood and iron' (1862)?
That Germany's future would be decided by military force and war, not by parliamentary speeches and votes
List the three Wars of Unification Bismarck used to unify Germany.
Danish War (1864), Austro-Prussian War (1866), Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871)
Why did Austria decline in German and Italian affairs by 1871?
Crushing defeats — losing Lombardy to France/Piedmont (1859) and being decisively beaten by Prussia at Sadowa (1866) — ended its influence over both regions
What happened in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles in January 1871?
King Wilhelm I of Prussia was proclaimed Kaiser of a newly unified German Empire
Topic 13.5 study notes
Full notes & explanations for Unification of Germany and Italy (1815–1871)
History (2028+) exam skills
Paper structures, command terms & tips
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