ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the union within one large state of communities divided among several sovereignties—in some cases scattered over great distances—which those actively engaged in the movements believed to constitute a single nation. The German and Italian movements held the centre of the stage in international politics for more than half of the nineteenth century, and continued to threaten world peace until the mid-twentieth, or later. The Polish movement was designed to reunite a people, among whose political class national consciousness was without doubt profoundly rooted. The emperors were frequently in conflict with the popes, and German noblemen, prelates and armies were to be found on both sides, fighting in Germany and in Italy. To large and growing numbers in all parts of Germany, and mainly among the urban educated classes, national unity seemed a pressing need. Italian culture flourished but Italian politics were dominated by foreign states—first France and Spain, then Austria.
