Bridging Nationalisms: Italian Ideas of Transnational Solidarity Between the Processes of National Unification in Italy and Germany (1830-1871)

During the 19th century, the Italian and German processes of national unification took place almost at the same time. Such synchronicity gave birth to debates on the peculiar relationship between the two nationalist movements. Against this backdrop, Italian nationalists actively attempted to foster an entente with their German counterparts by suggesting the existence of a ‘shared fate’ between the two national causes. My PhD project examines these ideas of cross-border solidarity between Italian and German nationalists and investigates the transnational channels through which these ideas travelled, as well as the impact they had on the two processes of national unification.