Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/665

 CHAPTER XXXIX CREATION OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY AND OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE I. FOUNDING OF THE KINGDOM OF ITALY 904. How Two New European Powers were formed. Among the most important events of the latter half of the nineteenth century was the consolidation of the two great modern states of Italy and Germany. We should recall how weak and divided both of these countries had been during the Middle Ages, and how the German rulers had tried in vain to keep the various German countries under their control and at the same time incorporate Italy into the Holy Roman Empire. Both Germany and Italy fell apart for centuries into practically independent little princi- palities and city states, often warring with one another and often dominated by foreign powers. After the French king Charles VIII invaded Italy in 1495 ( 504), France, Austria, and Spain fought with one another over bits of Italian territory, and later Napoleon rearranged both countries to suit his taste. The Congress of Vienna left Italy divided and assured Austria control over the northern portions. As for the German states, they were com- bined in a feeble union in which Austria and Prussia, with all their bitter rivalries, were included. In spite of Metternich's efforts to maintain this situation there were leaders in both Germany and Italy working for unification, and finally, after centuries of disunion, weakness, and foreign intervention, both countries were wrought into powerful states during the twelve years from 1859 to 1871. We must now see how all this came about. 905. Early Efforts to unify Italy. After the Congress of Vienna leaders arose in Italy who strove to free their land from