The political map of nineteenth century Europe was very different to the one which people are now familiar with, for the majority of nations that exist now ceased to exist then. The majority of contemporary nations were either part of the multi-ethnic and linguistic Austrian Empire or were small independent monarchical states or even both. This change in the European map is due to the concept of nationalism which emerged from the French revolution in 1789, to become the most successful political force of the nineteenth century. Events like the Napoleonic wars, the improvement of communications, the revival of languages and social and economic changes paved the way for the development of national consciousness: this is clearly evident in the case of Germany and Italy. The former had become a loosely bonded confederation of thirty nine independent states, which was known as the German Confederation, whereas the latter was merely a ‘geographical expression’. Both these nation-states experienced a rise in nationalism in the nineteenth century, which led to their desire to be unified. However, the wish of their national movements encountered a s

However, in Germany the main problem was not expelling foreign troops, but of deciding what exactly constitutes the German nation. A National Assembly that included representatives of all German states in the German confederation was set up, with the aim of writing a constitution for a united German nation. However, problems soon emerged when people demanded, what is the German nation? Langewiesche in his essay Germany and the national question in 1848 reveals that there two were possibilities of what the German nation was: a Greater nation-state (groβdeutsch) or a smaller German nation-state (kleindeutsch). The former would include German states of the Habsburg Empire, whereas the latter would be composed of state’s belonging to the German Confederation. Yet the answer to a Greater Germany depended as Langewiesche expresses ‘required Austrian agreement, whether voluntary or compelled’ . The Austrian response was not unpredicted, as ‘the old elites who had regained power rejected any proposal to divide the monarchy and were prepared to risk war to avoid that happening’. The Austrian response left the German assembly with no other option, but to favour the kleindeutsch national-state. However, the National Assembly was confronted with another issue, what does she do with the ethnic minorities within the future German nation-state? As Siemann clearly points out:

The revolutions of 1848 clearly failed in achieving national unification for Italy and Germany; the reasons of this failure are important for historians to assess, so that they can comprehend better the problems of the German and Italian national question during this era. In the case of Italy, Davis believes that there were two main reasons why the revolution. Firstly, the fact that the war against the Habsburg’s was deceptive, because although it seemed by the end of March 1848 that a new order had arrived to Italy. Yet this was not the case, for the Italian’s did not drive them out completely as they still were in control of a key bridgehead. Davis states that ‘experience had demonstrated that, for a new order to survive, the Austrians had to be conclusively vanquished’ . As a result, the Italian army was extremely weak compared to the Habsburg’s, and so it could not maintain the new order that had been established at the beginning of the revolution. Moreover, Italy needed foreign aid to help her, yet France who was in theory the only country that could assist her against the Habsburg’s failed to do so. The lack of firm leadership of the Italian national movement during the war, is another factor which must not be ignored as the different Italian leaders joined together to form an anti-Habsburg side, but this failed in providing the leadership the movement needed due to divisions.

In conclusion, the German and Italian national question was an extremely problematic issue, for it faced both internal and external problems. Internal problems like what exactly is the German or Italian nation; what to do with ethnic minorities (in the German case), how to spread the sense of nationhood among all classes of society, and who and how these nation-states should be governed. These problems alongside the fact that the major European power’s like the Austrian Empire did not sympathise the idea of unification, made it extremely difficult for the nationalist movement to carry out their aims. These problems were all present before the revolutions of 1848, but it is this major event in European history, which highlights how deep-rooted these problems are, because not even a revolution is able to prevent them from being an obstacle to the formation of both nation-states.

Before explaining why Germany and Italy could claim to be a nation, the concept surrounding it must be defined. Historians are constantly assessing what is the correct term to use to define a nation, because unlike traditional concepts like freedom and democracy, the concept of a n

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