6.7 Nationalism and Reform

Political Reform in Britain and France

Britain gradually expanded democracy through Reform Bills (1832, 1867, 1884), extending suffrage to more men without revolution. France cycled through governments, eventually stabilizing as the Third Republic after 1870, surviving crises like the Dreyfus Affair, which exposed anti-Semitism and tested the republic's commitment to justice and civil liberties.

Nationalism and Unification

Nationalism drove the unification of Italy (led by Cavour, Garibaldi, and Piedmont-Sardinia) and Germany (led by Otto von Bismarck through *realpolitik* and wars against Denmark, Austria, and France). Bismarck used Kulturkampf and social welfare reforms to consolidate the new German Empire and undercut socialist and Catholic opposition.

Multinational Empires Under Strain

The Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires struggled with internal nationalist movements among minority ethnic groups, weakening central authority. Russia responded to unrest with limited reforms, such as Alexander II's emancipation of the serfs (1861), but resisted broader constitutional change, fueling revolutionary tension.

Key terms

Realpolitik

Pragmatic, power-based politics prioritizing practical results over ideology; used by Bismarck to unify Germany.

Kulturkampf

Bismarck's 'culture struggle' campaign to limit the power of the Catholic Church in Germany.

Dreyfus Affair

French scandal (1894) involving false conviction of Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus; exposed anti-Semitism and political division.

Reform Bills (Britain)

Series of 19th-century laws (1832, 1867, 1884) that gradually expanded male suffrage in Britain.

Emancipation of the serfs (1861)

Alexander II's reform freeing Russian serfs, aimed at modernization but not accompanied by political liberalization.

Try an AP-style question

The Compromise of 1867 created…

1. the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary
2. a republic in Hungary
3. an independent Polish kingdom
4. a single united German Empire