19th Century Nations and Nationalism (precursors to WWI)

 

* 19th Century Europe

  - Post-Napoleonic Europe dominated by 6 nations

    -> France, England, Russia, Spain, Austria-Hungary, & the Ottoman Empire

  - nationalist unifications add new powers

    -> 1867 Germany united by Bismark

       => small German-speaking states unite, dominated by Prussia

       => rapid economic and social integration

       => anti-France and anti-Austrian expansionism makes Germany dangerous

    -> 1871 Italy unites (Garribaldi as leader)

       => small states come together, led by Piedmont

       => a less united group of people than the Germans, unification proceeds in a more incomplete fashion

    -> Serbia and Bulgaria were carved out the Ottoman Empire

* Nationalist pressures

  - France and Prussia/Germany mutually suspicious

    -> defeat in war in 1867 had left France resentful

  - the Balkans was a smoldering mess (sound familiar?)

    -> decline of Ottoman power in the region had created new small states

    -> many disputed borders and jealous little states

       => ethnic groups mixed together and divided by new borders

       => complex and multi-various nationalisms swirling

    -> Serbia and Austria-Hungary both eyeing the province of Bosnia

    -> Russians also desirous of the entire region

       => wanted to unify all "Slavs"

       => wanted access to a warm-water port on the Mediterranean

  - Austria-Hungary wants to avoid Serbian uprising amongst own people, sees Serbia as a threat

  - Russians and Ottomans hate each other

  - Italians are pumped up by unification and want to claim parts of Austria-Hungary and the Adriatic East Coast

  - Austria-Hungary riven by multiple internal ethnic groups all curious about independence

    -> Hungarians, Austrians, Croats, Slovenians, Hungarians, Czechs, Slovaks, Serbs, Bosnians, Poles, Germans,

         Italians