In Case You Thought Politics Were Fake (754-767)

Nationalism, it seems, is quite useful to the discerning politician; it can be manipulated from the top down or the bottom up. It can be divisive. It can be unifying. The most successful leaders during the period following the 1848 revolutions utilized nationalism to the fullest extent, regardless of whether or not they believed in nationalist ideology. Two examples of fruitful unification efforts were Italy and Germany. In Italy, competition between nationalist doctrines created a turbulent but effective climate in Italy in which unification became possible. From the vision of the third Rome painted by Mazzini to the top-down ministrations of Cavour, national pride was used to expand the scope and the influence of the unifying Italian state. For a divided country, one concept of nationalism could not be as effective; if Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi all shared the same ideology, it would fall on deaf ears in some regions and be widely lauded in others. Therefore, the competition between them (although often violent) accommodated Italian diversity in such a way that the need to unify was universal. By 1871, after many conflicts between Cavour and the grassroots nationalist Garibaldi, Italy was geographically unified and the subsequent steps toward nation building could be taken. In Germany, Realpolitik defined the power dynamics that would allow for unification of the German state under Bismarck; it was the building of "national feeling," consideration of middle-class interests, diplomacy, violence, and regime struggles that would define this consolidation effort. The success claimed in Versailles, 1871, came not of the direct work of a leader, but rather the Realpolitik that the German Empire found universally appealing. Nationalism in these instantiations proved to be of more help than hindrance to the cause of unification, but if misused (as it was in many cases), it could drag out the conflicts between regions for indefinite periods of time.