Nationalism in China is somewhat contradictory to nationalism in Italy. Both Italy and China wanted to be self-governed and self-ruled, and the situations that led to the unification of these places are quite similar. However the reasons for turning to nationalism are slightly different. Both are based on the deterioration of their governments, but the sources of these problems are different. The European conflicts of power came from within their own principalities. Chinese nationalist movements for independence are a direct reaction to the aggressiveness of European conquest. Europeans were taking over other countries for political, social, and economic gain. China, Vietnam, and India had all been controlled by Europeans for long periods of time. As the Europeans continued to impede, nationalist movements rose in an attempt to expel the foreign influence and gain independence. Nationalism generally is pride in one's country, but in Italy, it also came to mean pride in one's ethnicity, because all of the small provinces and principalities had the same language, culture and a historical background. There was almost no respect for the existing governments by the public and the desire for a unified Italy grew. Garibaldi and Cavour were main figures in the unification of Italy, as they were the driving force of unification. This is different from China because China was considered to be under the control of the British. Britain never completely controlled the Chinese government, but heavily influenced political and social affairs. Later on, Britain began to pull out of China, thus allowing nationalist movements to succeed, and allowing the Chinese Revolution to occur. This shows how Italian nationalism came from within Italy, while Chinese nationalism was derived from British influence.
Despite the major differences between nationalism in Italy and China, some major similarities shine through. In both Chinese nationalism and Italian nationalism, there were major figures that lead the way towards their countries nationalistic state. The most famous of Italian nationalistic leaders were Cavour and Garibaldi. Garibaldi was the major conqueror throughout the unification if Italy. His forces conquered the forces opposed to the unification of Italy, and forced southern Italy into a unified political unit. Cavour was a skilled diplomat. Cavour acquired aid from France in order to push the Austrians out of Italy, and helped put Victor Emmanuel II on the throne of a completely united Italian nation-state in 1861. This is similar to China, because China also had many important figures in the Chinese Revolution, who aided in their nationalist movements. This revolution was led by Sun Yixian who eventually established a democratic government. He was elected as a temporary president. His main goals as leader were to restore the tarnished Chinese tradition and culture, while removing influence of the previous European rule. Jiang Jieshi later came and took over the democratic rule, who continued to rule China under this unified state
The unification of Italy and the Chinese revolution are two of the most dramatic effects from nationalism. The unification of Italy was caused by internal conflicts between the small principalities that Italy was comprised of. This was different from China because the Chinese Revolution was caused by intolerable European influence. We see the importance of political leaders during this time, because they make the dream of nationalism a reality. Nationalism was the dominant force of unification in the nineteenth century, and the power of nationalism is shown by the severity of these two nationalist movements