German+Unification+Key+Terms+and+Vocab

__Key Players__

By: Anissa S. Peters

**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.

Anissa Peters and Asmaa Jamai