Why were Germany and Italy both unified politically at roughly the same time? What forces led to political unification? What forces worked to prevent it? What role did the forces of nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, and religion play in each process?

You will write one paper in this course dedicated to examining and integrating several primary sources into an organized and coherent essay. How well you interpret and integrate the information from the primary sources is part of how I will be evaluating your submissions. You have several options to choose from in order to fulfill this requirement. See the syllabus for more details. In the construction your essay on this topic, you might want to think about the following questions:

Why were Germany and Italy both unified politically at roughly the same time? What forces led to political unification? What forces worked to prevent it? What role did the forces of nationalism, liberalism, conservatism, and religion play in each process? Using the primary sources listed below, your textbook, and knowledge gained from lectures, write an essay on the age of national unification in Europe in the 19th century.

Do not start by Googling the topic. First read your textbook on the rise of these new states, especially the chapter on nationalism and realism. Then, carefully read all of the following primary source documents for evidence to answer the above questions. Then, write an outline of your essay with an introduction, thesis, support, and conclusion. Once you have an idea of what each paragraph is going to say, go back and rewrite your introduction to strengthen your thesis. Once that is done, you are ready to write the entire paper. Think about what you want to say in the conclusion; it should be more than just a restatement of your introduction. Be sure to make explicit use of the primary sources in supporting your argument, whether by paraphrases or direct quotations. Although useful for providing context for the primary source, the introductory material for each document (the writing in italics) is not considered a primary source.

Typed, double-spaced, with one-inch margins on all sides (this is usually the default for most word processing programs), formatted according to MLA guidelines, approximately 900-1000 words

Requirements: 900-1000 words