At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the victorious allied powers restore Central Europe to its pre-war status: a bunch of small, semi-independent German and Italian states, dominated by more powerful neighbors. But the idea of nationalism, spread by Napoleon’s armies, is a genie you can’t put back in the bottle.

In the German Confederation, 38 tiny countries try to establish their legitimacy, but are overshadowed by the Austrian Empire in the south and the Kingdom of Prussia in the north. Without a clear path to political nationalization, German intellectuals instead focus on building a unified German culture.

In Italy, revolutionaries like Giuseppe Mazzini openly call for Risorgimento – a resurgence of Italian national identity. Drawing their inspiration from ancient Rome, these young revolutionaries will spend an entire generation battling to overthrow their Austrian overlords while avoiding French domination.

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Music credit: Sergey Cheremisinov - Black Swan

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