7.4 Nationalism and Realism

Nationalism reshapes Europe

By mid-1800s, nationalism replaced romantic idealism with a drive for unification and self-determination. Italian unification (led by Cavour's diplomacy and Garibaldi's Red Shirts) and German unification (engineered by Otto von Bismarck through Realpolitik and wars against Denmark, Austria, and France) created powerful new nation-states, altering the European balance of power.

Bismarck and Realpolitik

Realpolitik meant pursuing political goals through practical power and calculation rather than ideology or ethics. Bismarck used the Ems Dispatch to provoke the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), uniting German states under Prussian leadership and proclaiming the German Empire at Versailles in 1871, with the Kaiser as emperor.

Realism in art and thought

Realism rejected Romantic emotion, instead depicting everyday life, social problems, and the working class objectively. Writers like Gustave Flaubert and Charles Dickens, and painters like Gustave Courbet, portrayed harsh realities. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution (Origin of Species, 1859) reinforced realist, scientific approaches to understanding society and nature, fueling Social Darwinism.

Key terms

Realpolitik

Practical, power-based politics pursued without regard to ideology or ethics; associated with Bismarck.

Ems Dispatch

Edited telegram released by Bismarck to provoke France into declaring war, sparking the Franco-Prussian War.

Giuseppe Garibaldi

Italian nationalist leader who led the Red Shirts to conquer Sicily and Naples, aiding unification.

Realism (art/literature)

19th-century movement depicting everyday life and social problems objectively, rejecting Romantic idealism.

Social Darwinism

Application of Darwin's evolutionary ideas ('survival of the fittest') to human societies, often used to justify inequality and imperialism.

Try an AP-style question

Realpolitik is politics based on…

1. moral principles above all else
2. practical power rather than ideals
3. religious law and tradition
4. democratic majority rule only