COMPARISON of CAVOUR and BISMARCK
Otto Von Bismarck:
He was a man of power! He worked for the king of Prussia. He united all of Germany under one rule, the rule of the king of Prussia, who then after the unification became known as Kaiser of Germany.
Camillo Benso, conte di Cavour:
Worked for the king of Piedmont-Sardinia. He was the prime minister. He with the help of the king's troops, the French king and some other Italian nationalists, unified almost all of Italy, his successor finished his job.
They were both great men, in their own way. Nationalism was in their blood.
They had a few similarities. For example, both were monarchists, whom worked for a king, and wanted things to stay that way. And both believed in realpolitik, they way of politics where the diplomacy and ruling was based primarily on practical considerations, rather than ideological notions, and the good of the government went over the well being of the people. They were both very good diplomats and were both in a quest to unify their country.
Also they both worked for another noble. They both disliked nationalists who asked for a republic or communism. Bismarck tried to destroy all socialist groups but failed, although he did keep them hidden enough. Where as Cavour was forced to work with them, but in the end the nation still became what Cavour had wanted it to become... A monarchy.
But they had very many differences.
Cavour- unlike Bismarck –was not seen in the public too much. He didn’t keep as many speeches as Bismarck, and also he wasn’t liked by the people as much.
Whereas Cavour had a problem with the people, Bismarck had them eating from his hands. They thought of him as a hero! Bismarck had no trouble taking troops and taking over areas, whereas Cavour seemed to have a problem just to get rid of one person (Garibaldi.) Bismarck relied on cold steel and blood, but Cavour would hide from the public and make diplomatic deals. Where Bismarck had the help of Austria to defeat France, Cavour had the help of France to defeat Austria.
These two people were almost total opposites. And Cavour never even succeeded it was his successor whom did.
