ABSTRACT
The two biggest political events in the history of Europe from 1830 to 1880 were the extension of the sovereignty of the House of Savoy over the whole Italian peninsula from 1859 to 1870, and the acceptance by William I, king of Prussia, of the offer from the German princes of the title of Emperor of Germany in 1871. The more important of the two events was clearly the unification of Germany, which emerged as the most populous country in Europe after Russia, and without exception the strongest military power. Yet so far as constitutional forms went the Italian achievement was the more complete. Germany remained a federation of ancient states. The new Italy was an integrated nation state: all the former kingdoms and duchies other than that of Sardinia-Piedmont were dissolved, and no transitional phase of federalism was considered necessary. In practice the distinction did not matter very much. In terms of political power two new nations had appeared in the world, each with a strong sense of national identity, a single foreign policy and a single sovereign monarch.
