Nationalism Italy and Germany

Italy

Italian nationalists sought to break away from the great European Empires (Russian Empire, Austrian Empire, Ottoman Empire) and form a single independent government.
Common bonds that create a nation-state include nationality, language, culture, history, religion, territory, and government.
Italy was formed as kingdoms and empires around it crumbled.
The Kingdom of Piedmont Sardinia ruled western Italy, the Austrian Empire ruled northern Italy, and a Spanish Bourbon family ruled over southern Italy in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies.
Giuseppe Mazzini organized Young Italy, a nationalist group, and briefly led a republican government in Rome.
Camillo di Cavour, the prime minister of Piedmont Sardinia, played a key role in the unification of Italy through careful diplomacy and alliances.
Cavour expelled the Austrian Empire from Italy with the help of France and formed an alliance with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a multi-talented Italian nationalist.
Garibaldi's "Red Shirts" captured Sicily and conquered all of southern Italy, uniting it with the Kingdom of Piedmont-Sardinia.
Cavour arranged a meeting between King Victor Emmanuel II and Garibaldi, and Garibaldi agreed to let the Sardinian king rule over southern Italy.
Italian forces eventually took over the remaining Papal States, and Rome became the capital of Italy.

The German Confederation was formed by 39 German states, with Austria and Prussia being the most dominant.
Prussia led the way in building a powerful unified German state, with a large German population, the strongest military in central Europe, and early industrialization.
Wilhelm I became the king of Prussia and attempted to double the size of the Prussian military, but his liberal Parliament refused to fund it.
The Junkers, Prussia's wealthy landowning class, supported Wilhelm I and his absolute rule.
Otto von Bismarck, a member of the Junker class, became the prime minister and practiced realpolitik, ruling without the consent of Parliament and without a legal budget.
Bismarck formed an alliance with Austria and went to war with Denmark, gaining control of Schleswig and Holstein.
Prussia gained control of both parts after the Seven Weeks War with Austria.
Bismarck stirred up a border war with Austria over Schleswig and Holstein, leading to the Seven Weeks War in which Prussia humiliated Austria and took control of northern Germany.
Bismarck believed that a war with France would bridge the barrier between Prussia and the southern German states, which were opposed to being ruled by a Protestant Prussia.
Bismarck instigated a war with France by making it appear as if Wilhelm I had insulted the French, leading to the declaration of war in 1870.