Vocabulary+German+Unification

Asmaa Jamai Important **Vocabulary** and **Specific Terms** about the **Italian** and **German** Unification: __ Aggrandisement: __ The act of making oneself or ones country larger and/or more important. __Central Duchies__ : The collective name given to the duchies of Tuscany, Modena and Parma, lying just to the south of Piedmont. __ Party of action: __ Term used to describe those radicals (such as Garibaldi, Mazzini, Giuseppe,) who hoped to bring about the unification of Italy through military action. __ Buffer State: __ A neutral state that lies between two other states and serves to prevent their interests from clashing. __ Monasteries: __ Building in which a group of monks live together and carry out their religious practices. __ Benefices: __ Posts and offices occupied by priests, together with the income derived from them. __ Neapolitan: __ The adjective used to describe something or someone coming from or relating to Naples. __ Opportunist: __ A politician who doesn’t act according to pre-established principles but who adapts his policies to take advantage of specific opportunities that arise. __ Arsenal: __ Building where weapons and pieces of military equipment are stored. __ Garibaldini: __ Term used to describe the followers of Giuseppe Garibaldi. __ Power Vacuum: __ A term used to describe a region in which no state exercises effective control. Such areas are always liable to be occupied by expansionist forces. __ North German Confederation: __ A revised version of the German Confederation, established as a result of Prussia’s victory over Austria in 1866. It compromised those German states north of the Main, with Prussia the dominant political influence within the confederation. __ Kleindeutsh: __ (Little German): Term used to describe the concept of a united Germany (favored by Prussia) from which Austrians were excluded. __Capitulation:__ Surrender (i.e the events at Olmutz in 1850 when Prussia surrendered to Austria’s interest) __ Landwehr: __ Part time military force, consisting largely of middle class recruits, which provided support for the regular army in times of crisis. __ Landtag: __ The representative assembly of an individual German state or Province __ Bundestag: __ (Federal Assembly): The representative assembly of the German Confederation. __ Kreuzzeitung: __ A contemporary Prussian newspaper (Zeitung) that reflected the conservative views of the governing class.