The Unifications of Germany and Italy are inherently linked together. Both of the unifications served to weaken the Habsburg Austrian Empire which operated as a buffer in both cases. While the Italian unification was initiated first it was the German unification and subsequent wars with France that helped finish the Italian unification. First by defeating Austria in the wars of German unification opening the door for the Italians to take control of Venetia in 1866. Next by capturing Napoleon in Sudan leading the French to remove their troops from Rome in 1870. However, both countries had troubles related to Catholicism in constructing their new nation states. In Italy, the annexation of Papal land and church land lead the Pope to be an antagonist towards the unified Italy calling on all Catholics to neither vote for run for office under the new regime. While sending a clear message, this tactic meant that no group emerged to defend the Pope or Catholic interests on the Italian stage leaving them with very little influence. In contrast, German Catholics organized a centre party fearful of an emerging secularism in Germany and sought to protect the church while supporting worker reform to spread the message. Bismarck embraced secularism however, and challenged this new party in series of reforms meant to weaken Catholics within Germany. For example Bismarck banned religious orders and made the process of registering the birth, marriage, and death of the population a state …show more content…
Anti-Semitism has been a reoccurring practice throughout the development of European society particularly in the harshest times. Economic hardship on peasants in the Middle Ages saw blame placed upon the Jews. Superstitions that Jews drained blood of Christian children to make matzo were widely believed among Europeans which only fueled violence. The Jews often lived in their own sections of cities and usually only mingled amongst themselves which didn’t help dispel any of these allegations. Any unexplained disappearance of European children gave credibility to these thoughts for Europeans. Such superstitions fueled accusations that Jews had created the Black Death which ravaged across Europe in the 14th century. Without subscribing to these fears, general mistrust and resentment still existed between Jews and Christians because of the long standing belief that the Jews were responsible for the death of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. All of this superstition and violence serves as a backdrop to the murder case of Ernst