The Beginning of the Unification of Italy as Told by One Tree Hill

Italy had not been unified for much of its history.

 If you recall, competitive city-states in the north dominated the culture and economy.

 

Said the South who suffered from economic inequality. 

This disunity allowed intimating powers to invade the country.

Yes, Nathan Scott, seriously 

 Austria, under the guidance of Metternich, seized Lombardy and Venetia, powerful areas in the northern part of Italy. 

Metternich's heart longed for power, I presume.

Sardinia and Piedmont were ruled by an Italian monarch, Victor Emmanuel.

asked Victor Emmanuel rhetorically. 

Tuscany dominated the North West. 

"Yes",  said the Tuscans, "We control Florence!"

The papacy ruled Central Italy and Rome and was considered to be its own political 

entity. 

Said the Church to the rest of Italy. 

Naples and Sicily were ruled by a branch of French Bourbon monarchs.

Said the Bourbons, watching France industrialize, while Italy farmed. 

But by this point, the Italian people sought unification.

 First, Giuseppe Mazzini supported a centralized democratic republic based on universal male suffrage and the will of the people. 

Said everyone to the radical Mazzini.

Responded Mazzini. 

Second,Vincenzo Gilberti, a catholic priest, supported a government in which the existing states were unified under the presidency of a "progressive" pope. 

Said the Church remembering the good old days when they held all the power. 

Third, some wanted a kingdom under the leadership of Sardinia-Piedmont king, Victor Emmanuel, which came to be once Mazzini's idea was crushed. 

Said Victor Emmanuel. 

He attempted to establish a new constitution in which Italy was united. 

Just like Lucas and Nathan! 

But it wasn't very strong as the Church refused to join. 

Said Victor Emmanuel. 

 I'll leave you with this cliff hanger. Tune in to the next blog post to discover what happens next on Italy's road to unification. Will Victor Emmanuel find success or, at least, a good therapist? Will Italy ever truly get together? Find out next week! 
* Spoiler alert: it may involve a guy named Cavour. *

Not Napoleon the Dessert

Had enough of Napoleon? Well too bad! In 1848, the world witnessed the emergence of a new Napoleon...

.....not this kind of Napoleon....

.....but this kind of Napoleon....

What a cootie patootie, or what the French would say, "Ce garçon est très mignon!"

Anyway, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte won a landslide election in 1848, earning 3 times as many votes as the four other candidates combined. Why was Louis Napoleon so popular?..you may be asking yourself. For the record, he was quite MIA from French politics before 1848. His popularity was uplifted due to 3 central factors....

1. His name. Of course the French people still remembered the first Napoleon, who lost all of his power in 1815 at the Battle of Waterloo. For the most part, Napoleon I was still favorable in the eyes of the French. He saved and reorganized his country from the grips of Revolution and turmoil during the end of the eighteenth century. Although he did go a little cray and tried to take over the world and such, he was still an auspicious ruler. Louis Napoleon had task of following in his uncle's footsteps.

2. Socialism. Basically, people feared the new and radical socialist ideas that were emerging at the time. More specifically, the middle class and peasant property owners feared the growing power and the growing tensions of the urban workers, who were notorious socialists. A strong leader, in their eyes, would protect them from these threats. But really, who isn't afraid of socialism? Obviously Katie Coyne.

3. His program. Throughout his reign, Louis Napoleon affirmed that he had a "positive" program and effective plans for the rule of his country. Above all, he believed in a strong economic policy. This is the way Maura sees it....

Economic Success ------>  Happy People  ------> Happy Country 

Economic progress, in turn, would reduce social and political tensions. A powerful authoritarian ruler, like Louis Napoleon, would represent all of the interest groups in society, rich to poor. Through direct democracy, Napoleon would be linked to each individual citizen and would stimulate the economy. Napoleon's plan was quite popular among his people, especially his restoration of male suffrage. This restoration allowed him to legalize his corrupt actions, like dismissing the Assembly. His illegal actions were accepted because over 90% of the population elected him to lead the nation.

Basically, I do believe that Louis Napoleon wanted to please his people. He once said, and I quote, "Public opinion always wins the last victory." I think that he just wanted to be loved, like us all....

The Illegitimacy Rate is Headed in One Direction... Up

Between 1750 and 1850 there was a significant rise in the number of illegitimate children. Why? It's quite simple. The rise in the illegitimacy rate was due to the rise of love. More and more people moved into the cities during this time period and thus met more people. Think of it as modern-day dating. If we went to a public high school then there would be a 100% chance of us interacting with boys our age, this would (hopefully) lead to dating. Now the problems start when there are say 300 boys and 400 girls in a given class. It is possible for every boy to be taken at one time. That's what the rural towns were like, you only had so many options.



Yep, that one would be you ^

 

 

Now let's imagine prom is coming up. What is a girl to do?! Every boy in the class already has a date! Don't sweat it, nowadays it's easy. Just sign up for a dating website (...or Tinder). With the click of a button you have increased your potential boyfriends/prom dates exponentially! We can equate that to the people in the nineteenth century moving into cities. Just a small town girl, who was living in a lonely world, took the midnight train and now she had a ton of eligible bachelors in the palm of her hand. She could weed out those who were not compatible and choose a potential husband.

 

Much better.

 

 

 

Now comes the rise of the illegitimacy rate. We're (mostly) all adults here so I'm just going to tell it like it is, people were having premarital sex. As we discussed in class everyone loved each other and everyone was loving each other. Methods of protection were not good during this era and that led to pregnancy and... wait for it... babies! When people began to live in closer quarters (cities) they stopped the whole 'shunning thing'. So what? She's not married and she's pregnant... could be worse. (Not the greatest logic but you get the idea)

By the 1840's one in three births occurred out of wedlock. So some of them got married. However, poverty and economic uncertainty was likely the cause for those who didn't wed.

The "Great Expectations" of the Social Classes

The Industrial Revolution brought not only a revolution in economics but also in society. Class distinctions and standards was revolutionized. There was no more aristocracy and poor people. Now there was a Middle Class and Working Class.

The Middle Class

Though the middle class seems like a wide term, it was split into three sections: the upper middle class, middle middle class, and the lower middle class. The upper middle class comprised of top banking, industrial, and commerce families. They displayed their great wealth and fortune with the amount of servants they had, summer houses, and clothing. Women especially became concerned about their clothing as a way to rank their wealth with others.

Below the upper middle class was the middle middle class. This group was much broader and more diversified. This group comprised of smaller yet successful industrialists and merchants, professional lawyers and doctors. On the bottom of this class, the lower middle class was made of shop keepers, small traders, and smaller manufacturers. The middle and lower middle class both made a considerably lower amount of money compared to the upper middle class.

Everyone in the middle class had similar ideas on how to "act" middle class. This included extravagant dinner parties, abstinence from drinking excessively, and good morals. The amount food and the amount of days per week one held a dinner party was a crucial point of middle class behaviors.

The working class

Below the middle class was the working class. The working class had three sections as well. This included the "labor aristocracy" of highly skilled workers, the semi skilled workers, and the unskilled workers. The labor aristocracy consisted of factory bosses and factory foremen. These men were excessively proud of their social status and acted that way. They held an almost puritanical attitude in order to act like the middle class. The majority of the working class stood in the semi-skilled and unskilled workers. Semi-skilled workers included carpenters, brick layers, and pipe fitters; jobs that needed some training prior to employment. The unskilled workers were servants and day laborers.
The working class participated in drinking, dancing, and sports as past-times. Music halls and bars were the new scene of the working class.

Pip in Great Expectations

With this new system of social hierarchy came the idea of class-consciousness. This was the idea that the people in the classes were fully aware the social standards of their class and the growing gap between classes such as between the middle and working class. This idea became influential to many writers of the time such as Charles Dickens. Dickens reflects this society in his novel, Great Expectations. Pip, a young country boy meets a girl of great money and standard. He is ashamed of being from such a low social order once he meets the great elegance and intelligence of Estella. Dickens uses Pip as a symbol of the working class and Estella as a symbol of the upper middle class. Many country people of the time moved to the city in search of financial and economic success (Pip finds success in the city with the help of a mysterious benefactor). The rest of the novel is his pursuit of both the love of his life, Estella, and higher social standings portraying the ultimate goal of many social climbing men of the Industrial Revolution.

Sanitation and Lack Thereof

Cities grew along with the Industrial Revolution and with them grew another problem: increasingly unsanitary living conditions in them. The growth of factories and industry meant that more and more people were living in cities. Naturally, these places became a hotbed for infection. People simply did not know the cause of disease in the early 1800s and as such did not take certain measures to prevent it, such as sewer systems and promotion of cleanliness. However, attitudes began to change as the problem grew to such a level that it could not be ignored.

One prime example of these changing times was London. It had grown from a town of one million to six million people over the course of the nineteenth century, and as such its lack of infrastructure began to show. Epidemics of cholera, typhus, and influenza were common without knowledge of how they spread or how to prevent them, let alone treat them. For example, in 1839, it was estimated that for every one person who died of old age or violence, eight died from disease caused by lack of sanitation. This problem particularly affected the lower working class, as they had to live quite literally in the worst of it. It is estimated the average age of laborers, mechanics, and servants at death was around fifteen. 

Edward Chadwick decided to help the British government to alleviate the problems caused by this lack of sanitation. In 1842, he wrote Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population which suggested the creation of a sewer system to remove waste from the streets. Finally, the Public Health Act was passed by Parliament in 1848 which allowed local towns to combat the disgusting conditions without permission from Parliament, which was incredibly difficult to obtain. This along with the creation of sewer systems ushered in an era aimed at better understanding and combating the filth.

Louis Pasteur

As mentioned earlier, people did not really understand what caused disease or how it spread. This began to change thanks to the work of Louis Pasteur and Joseph Lister. Pasteur developed the idea of germ theory, that is that infections were caused by living organisms, not by bad odors as miasmatic theory suggested. His new idea allowed him to create pasteurization, which is the elimination of disease causing organisms in a beverage by heating it. 

Joseph Lister

Lister was famous for developing antiseptic procedures that made surgeries much more successful. Before Lister, doctors did not pay particular attention to the cleanliness of wounds, the operating room or their instruments.

The advances in sanitation and knowledge of how diseases spread resulted in the improvement of the methods to counteract them. In fact, by 1910 the death rates for people in urban areas were generally no greater than those for people in rural areas. 

'MURICA

Recently, we have been learning about various revolutions that have previously occurred throughout Europe, i.e, the French Revolution, the Greek Revolution, and the Revolutions of 1848. As you already know, these conflicts all revolved around unhappy things like starvation, poor people, and violence..things that make Maura sad. Now, I'm here to turn that frown upside down and to tell you that not all revolutions have to be unhappy. In fact, there was a revolution that began in Great Britain around the year 1760 that made everlasting marks in history...for the better! yay! Can you guess what it is?...Slowpoke has your answer.

Almost every aspect of daily life was changed or influenced in some way as a result of the rise of industry. In the 18th century, continental Europe was involved in constant warfare and revolution. As a result, Great Britain was able to pull ahead and to dominate the Industrial Revolution. Although there are many reasons for the growth of the British economy and industry, scholars agree that the industrial changes grew out of a long process of development. Three primary reasons for the rise of industry in Britain are...

1. The colonies. Britain was able to aggressively expand its economy through its strong colonial empire. Also, Britain's strong position in Latin America and the African Slave trade provided a growing market for manufactured goods. In the 1770s, Great Britain began to build canals, which allowed easy movement of resources and products domestically and throughout Europe. Additionally, the lack of tariffs facilitated and promoted trade.

2. Agriculture. Ironically, the perfection of farming and agriculture played a major role in boosting industry. A surplus of crops at low prices gave people the ability to provide food for their families and the free time to enhance manufactured goods. Unlike the French people during the French Revolution, an ordinary English family could actually afford a meager loaf of bread.

3. Stable government...another thing France would know nothing about. The monarchy and the aristocratic oligarchy of Britain provided a stable and predictable government since 1688. This government allowed the domestic economy to operate freely and encouraged a free market. (yay for Adam Smith!)

Like the American Industrial Revolution, the first breakthrough in the British Revolution was with the cotton textile industry. There was a constant shortage of thread in the textile industry, which encouraged people to think of ways to improve spinning. Hargreaves's spinning jenny and Arkwright's water frame did just that. By producing a greater supply of thread in a less amount time, cotton goods became much cheaper and were bought by all the classes. Now, even poor people could afford the luxury of underwear! (no more going commando)

Britain realized the great value of its discoveries and inventions. Therefore, the British tried to keep their secrets and ideas within the union of Great Britain...until William Cockerill came around. He brought British industrial ideas, plans, and secrets to Belgium, which remained in 2nd place to Britain in terms of levels of industrialization "per capita" until 1880. Eventually, however, the United States topples both countries and rises to the top in industry...why?

Because we're 'Murica