How Did Bismarck Lead To German Unification

Throughout the 19th century, Europe was experiencing a period of unification. This period would result in the creation of two new powers in Europe, Italy and Germany. Both of these new powers would be lead to unification by one man. The Italian unification being led by Camillo di Cavour, while the unification of German being led by Otto Von Bismarck. Both men utilized different strategy to achieve the unification of their respective country. In the words of Otto Von Bismarck, “Politics is not an exact science.” Although both men were different in how they would work to unify their country, there were still many things that the two would have in common to achieve their goal. Cavour began to take positions of leadership in the government of Sardinia,

Some of these changes were the building of highways, canals, docks, and railroads.3 Cavour would then continue to strengthen the economy through trade treaties, and reforms to the credit system. These changes were calculated in that other Italian states would see this and want to join Sardinia. But just the help of neighboring Italian states would allow for Cavour to push Austria out of northern Italy and allow for the Italian states to unify. Then in 1853, a conflict broke out in Europe. This conflict known as the Crimean War, was between Britain, France, and Turkey against Russia. Seeing as this conflict, would give Sardinia connections with a major power, joined in on the campaign. Although the actual war did not involve any issues of interest for Sardinia, it gave Cavour connections to the french. Through these connections Cavour would enlist the french in July 1858 to help them wage war against Austria. The war did not begin until April 29, 1859, where two major battles took place,