Chapter+22+(An+Age+of+Nationalism+and+Realism)

//Note: This is taken straight from the Study Guide, AS ALWAYS!//

Just after the midpoint of the nineteenth century, the suppressed emotions that had constantly bubbled for three decades finally erupted. The nations of Europe spent their energies in unification or reform; and the result affected Western devlopment for the next century. The memories of Napoleonic greatness which had haunted France, saw fulfillment with first the election as president and the proclamation as emperor of Napoleon's nephew, who took the grand title Emperoro Napoleon III. From 1852, until he was desposed in 1870, Napoleon made and unmade policy across the continent and even meddled in the affairs of the New World. The dreams Mazzini were fulfilled when Cavour and Garibaldi, working sometimes at odds, succeeded in unifying Italy for the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire. Under the guidance of Bismarck, Prussia manuevered and fought its way to the head of a unified German Empire. In Russia and the United States, serfs and slaves were freed, in the former by imperial decree, in the latter by constitutional amendment. And in Britain the pressures of industrialization forced a series of reforms that made the realm of Queen Victoria a bit more democratic. Science continued to make discoveries and to change life both socially and personally. Yet while health care greatly improved with discoveries about bacteria and infection, more and more workers fell into what Marx called the "wage slavery" of the industrial market. While political leaders like Disraeli and Gladstone believed that justice could be achieved by reform, Marx held that only a revolution of the workers would bring about a classless society. Both the //realpolitik// of nations and the realities of industrial life affected the arts, ushering in a new era of Realism. The world was often brutal and grim and writers and artists portrayed it with pitiless accuracy.