Did the unifications of Italy and Germany have any common cause?

by Mcfinley

Both took place during similar times in European history, relatively speaking. Is there any particular reason for this? Did one's occurrence influence the other's?

MaartenGlorie

In short: the establishments of these countries all had their foundations in the rise of nationalism and the idea of a nation-state.

During that period of time, nationalism gained a lot of support in Europe. Both modern-day Italy and modern-day Germany (which had a different border back then) were in fact one people divided over several kingdoms and states. The idea of nationalism was to have a nation-state for one people. It was the same period that all countries started developing a feeling of national unity: anthems, flags, a common history...