Unification and Alliance
Introduced| English | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Realpolitik/ˈrɪəlpəlɪtɪk/ | A practical approach to politics guided by power, circumstances and achievable interests rather than adherence to an ideal political programme. |
A war that cleared the ground
- The Crimean War demonstrated the weakness of the Ottoman Empire and contributed to the breakdown of the Concert of Europe, thereby creating the conditions in which Italy and Germany could be unified after centuries of fragmentation.
- The CED's logic is explicit: a war weakened a system, and the weakened system created the conditions for unification.
- So Italian and German unification are not primarily stories of national feeling — they are stories of an opening.
The Crimean War mattered for unification because it...
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
It exposed Ottoman weakness and contributed to the Concert's breakdown.
Italy: diplomacy plus campaigns
- Cavour's diplomatic strategies, combined with the popular Garibaldi's military campaigns, led to the unification of Italy.
- Two agents with two methods, and the CED joins them with combined with rather than ranking them.
- One works among governments, the other among people — which is why neither alone is the answer.
Cavour and Bismarck compared on method- conservatives using popular nationalism
From the Concert of Europe to two rival alliance blocs after Bismarck's dismissal
Match each Italian figure to his method.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The CED joins them with 'combined with', not by ranking them.
Germany: Realpolitik, itemised
- Bismarck used Realpolitik 现实政治, employing diplomacy, industrialised warfare, weaponry, and the manipulation of democratic mechanisms to unify Germany.
- Four instruments listed, and the last one is the most revealing: democratic forms used as a tool.
- Industrialised warfare also ties unit 6 to this one — the railway and the steel mill are strategic assets.
Follow a peace system into two blocs
Bismarck's alliances were built to prevent a general war, and the turning point is a dismissal.
Select all four instruments of Bismarck's Realpolitik the CED lists.
Difficulty 2/5 · 140 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The last is the most revealing: democratic forms used as a tool.
The CED makes unification a story of opportunity, not only of feeling. The Crimean War demonstrated Ottoman weakness and contributed to the Concert's breakdown, thereby creating the conditions in which Italy and Germany could be unified — the national sentiment existed before; the opening did not.
After Bismarck's dismissal in 1890 the alliance system became...
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The same instrument, opposite effect.
Alliances, and their reversal
- After 1871, Bismarck attempted to maintain the balance of power through a complex system of alliances directed at isolating France.
- Bismarck's dismissal in 1890 eventually led to a system of mutually antagonistic alliances and heightened international tensions.
- One architect's system aimed outward at one rival; its successor was mutually antagonistic — the same instrument, opposite effect.
Nationalist tensions in the Balkans ____ the Great Powers into a series of crises.
Difficulty 1/5 · 100 coins + a small bonus on first completion today
The powers are described as pulled by a local situation, not choosing it.
The Balkans draw everyone in
- Nationalist tensions in the Balkans drew the Great Powers into a series of crises, leading up to World War I.
- Drew... into is the key phrase: the powers are described as pulled by a local situation, not choosing it.
- That is the whole mechanism of unit 8's opening, stated here in a single sentence.
A system of alliances designed to isolate one rival keeps the peace as long as one hand holds all the strings. Hand the strings to several people with different aims and the same web becomes a mechanism for pulling everyone into any quarrel.
The Crimean War demonstrated Ottoman weakness and contributed to the Concert's breakdown, thereby creating the conditions for unification. Cavour's diplomatic strategies combined with Garibaldi's military campaigns unified Italy; Bismarck used Realpolitik — diplomacy, industrialised warfare, weaponry, and the manipulation of democratic mechanisms — to unify Germany. After 1871 his alliances aimed at isolating France; after his dismissal in 1890 they became mutually antagonistic, and nationalist tensions in the Balkans drew the Great Powers into a series of crises.