Farming can be done by a single individual but when multiple individuals work together production speeds up and over time when newer tactics and new foes of farming were discovered it attracted more people to either try it themselves or work on somone else's farms creating a civilization
This was called Salutary Neglect. They would neglect the policies that they created for the colonies so they could focus on being a major power in Europe and European politics.
b. Austria
If Germany and Italy were unified, they'd be more powerful. Austria wanted to keep them separate, because when they weren't unified, they were weaker, allowing Austria to better control/intimidate them.
