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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/34397-8.txt b/34397-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..ae0afa0 --- /dev/null +++ b/34397-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4260 @@ +Project Gutenberg's A Short History of Germany, by Mary Platt Parmele + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Short History of Germany + +Author: Mary Platt Parmele + +Release Date: February 13, 2011 [EBook #34397] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + +A SHORT + +HISTORY OF GERMANY + + +BY + +MARY PLATT PARMELE + + + + +NEW YORK + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +1898 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY + MARY PLATT PARMELE + + + COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + + + + + _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + + A SHORT HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES + A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND + A SHORT HISTORY OF FRANCE + A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY + A SHORT HISTORY OF SPAIN + + + + +PREFACE. + +It is more important to comprehend the forces which have created a +great nation, and the progressive steps by which it has unfolded, than +to know the multitudinous events and incidents which have attended such +unfolding. + +In order to forestall criticism for the absence of some events in this +History of Germany the author desires to say, that there has been an +effort to keep strictly to the main line of development and to resist +the temptation of introducing details which do not bear directly upon +such line. + +The bypaths of history are fascinating, but they are of secondary +importance, and may better be explored after the main road has been +traveled and is thoroughly known. + +Such is the ideal which has been very imperfectly followed in this book. + +M. P. P. + +NEW YORK, _June_ 21, 1897. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +Indo-European Migrations--Divisions of the Aryan Family into European +Races--The Teutonic Race + + +CHAPTER II. + +Hermann--Defeat of Varus--Characteristics of the Ancient Germans + + +CHAPTER III. + +Social Conditions--Form of Government--The Goth in Rome--A Gothic +Kingdom in Spain--The Teuton Race Covering the European Surface--The +Angles and Saxons in Britain + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Ulfilas--The Hunnish Invasion--The Roman Empire Perishing--Its +Conversion--An Eastern Empire--Increasing Power of the +Church--Charlemagne--France and Germany Separated--Feudal System + + +CHAPTER V. + +Early Conditions--Hungarian Invasions--Creation of +Burgs--Knighthood--Pope and Emperor Become Rivals--Henry +IV.--Canossa--First Hohenstaufen--Welf and Waiblingen--The +Crusaders--Conrad--Frederick Barbarossa + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Source of Weakness in the Empire--The Great Interregnum--The Nibelungen +Lied--The Hanseatic League--The Guilds--Meistersingers + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Conditions--First Hapsburg and First Hohenzollern--Swiss +Freedom--Intellectual Awakening--The Golden Bull--Hussite War--A +Hohenzollern Receives a Mortgage on the Territory of +Brandenburg--Discovery of Gunpowder--Conditions Existing under +Frederick III.--Invention of Printing--The Passing of the Old and +Coming of the New + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +General European Conditions--Centralizing Tendencies at +Work--Maximilian I.--A New World--The Rise of Spain--Isabella--Charles +IV. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Triple Game between Francis I., Henry VIII., and Charles IV.--Leo +X.--Luther--The Diet of Worms--Protestantism Born--Margrave of +Brandenburg Usurps Sovereignty over Prussia--The Peasants War--The +Augsburg Confession--Charles V. Thwarted--Protestantism a Dominant +Power in his Empire--Schisms in the New +Faith--Calvinism--Reformers--Lutherans--The Schmalkaldian +League--Anabaptists--Abdication of Charles V.--Philip II.--Death of +Charles--Ferdinand I.--Council of Trent--Society of Jesus + + +CHAPTER X. + +A Protestant Germany--A Divided Protestantism--True Meaning of the +Struggle--Unfruitful Waiting--The Renaissance--Music, Art, Letters, +Born Anew--Thought Awakened--Copernicus--Galileo--Kepler--Impending +Calamity--Protestant Union and Catholic League--Thirty Years' War +Commenced--Wallenstein--Gustavus Adolphus--His Triumph and +Death--Richelieu--Death of Wallenstein--Peace of Westphalia--Division +of Territory + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Romano-Germanic Empire Perishing--European Conditions--Louis +XIV.--Decay of National Spirit--Rise of Brandenburg--Combination +against Louis XIV.--Spanish Succession--Under Frederick I. Brandenburg +Becomes Prussia--Alliance with England--Marlborough and Prince +Eugene--Blenheim--Peace of Utrecht--Territorial Changes--Charles XII. +and Peter the Great--Pragmatic Sanction--Frederick William +I.--Stirrings of Thought in this Time of Chaos--Birth of German +Speculative Philosophy--Spinoza--Soul Awakening + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Frederick the Great--His Childhood--Von Katte's Execution--Frederick at +Potsdam--Frederick II., King of Prussia--Maria Theresa, Empress--War of +Austrian Succession--Silesia--Personal Traits of the Two +Sovereigns--Frederick Joins France against Austria--Peace of +Dresden--Frederick Becomes "The Great"--Healing the Wounds Left by Two +Wars--Voltaire's Influence--Frederick a Reformer and a Despot--Growth +in Thought and Birth of a Native Literature--Voltaire at Frederick's +Court--Change Wrought by a Nearer View of King and Poet + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +War over American Boundary between England and France--Maria Theresa +Joins France--Her Policy--A Combination against Frederick II.--Seven +Years' War--Peace of Hubertsburg--Silesia Forever Abandoned by +Austria--Prussia One of the "Five Great Powers"--Healing Wounds +Again--Conditions External and Internal + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Marie Antoinette Married to the French Dauphin Louis--Unsuspected +Conditions--Joseph II.--Reforms by a Progressive Hapsburg are a +Failure--Romanticism Replaces Sentimentalism in Literature--_Sturm und +Drang_ Period--Luther's Influence upon Letters--Frederick Succeeded by +his Nephew--Effect of Prussia's Ascendancy in the German Empire--Its +Coming Dissolution--Why Patriotism Could Not Exist--The Calm before the +Hurricane + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The Beginnings of the Storm--The United States of America and +France--The Thought-Currents Which Moved toward a Vortex--Execution of +King and Queen--France a Ruin but Free--A Republic--First +Coalition--Poland and its Partition--Austria Fighting Alone for the +Empire--Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy--His Methods and Their +Result--Treaty of Campo Formio--Three New Republics--Napoleon in +Egypt--His Return--Second Coalition--Dominions of Ecclesiastical Rulers +Given Away--Napoleon the Instrument of Fate + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Napoleon Emperor of the French--Third Coalition--Prussian +Neutrality--The Rheinbund--Dissolution of the Empire and Abdication of +Francis II.--Retribution for Prussia--Battle of Jena--Peace of +Tilsit--A Continental Blockade--Marriage with Marie Louise + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Revolt of Bavarian Peasants--The "League of Virtue"--Invasion of +Russia--Burning of Moscow--Retreat--General York Leads a Popular +Movement--Prussia at War with Napoleon--The Battle of Leipzig--The +Allies in Paris--Napoleon Deposed--Louis XVIII. King--Return of +Napoleon--Waterloo and St. Helena + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Reconstruction--The Act of Union--Sentiment of the +People--Concessions--Francis II. Died--A Republic in France--Blaze of +Revolutionary Fires in Europe--A National Parliament Granted--Its +Failure--Napoleon III. in France--Magenta and Solferino--Revolution in +Italy--Victor Emmanuel King--William I. King of Prussia + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +King William and Bismarck--Schleswig-Holstein--Proposed Division--War +against Austria--Königgrätz--The North German Union + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Napoleon III. Plans the Overthrow of Prussian Dominion--Vacant Throne +in Spain--A Hohenzollern Candidate--Benedetti and King William--War +Declared by France--Metz--Sedan--King William at Versailles--Crowned +Hereditary Emperor of the German Empire--Death of Emperor William +I.--Emperor Frederick--His Unfulfilled Dreams and his Death--William +II. Emperor + + + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Foundation building is neither picturesque nor especially interesting, +but it is indispensable. However fair the structure is to be, one must +first lay the rough-hewn stones upon which it is to rest. It would be +much pleasanter in this sketch to display at once the minarets and +towers and stained-glass windows; but that can only be done when one's +castle is in Spain. + +Would we comprehend the Germany of to-day, we must hold firmly in our +minds an epitome of what it has been, and see vividly the devious path +of its development through the ages. + +The German nation is of ancient lineage, and indeed belongs to the +royal line of human descent, the Aryan; its ancestral roots running +back until lost in the heart of Asia, in the mists of antiquity. + +The home of the Aryan race is shrouded in mystery, as are the impelling +causes which sent those successive tides of humanity into Europe. But +we know with certainty that when the last great wave spread over +Eastern Europe, or Russia, about one thousand years before Christ, the +submergence of that continent was complete. + +Before the coming of the Aryan, the Rhine flowed as now; the Alps +pierced the sky with their glistening peaks as they do to-day; the +Danube, the Rhône, hurried on, as now, toward the sea. Was it all a +beautiful, unpeopled solitude, waiting in silence for the richly +endowed Asiatic to come and possess it? Far from it! It was teeming +with humanity--if, indeed, we may call such the race which modern +research and discovery have revealed to us. It is only within the last +thirty years that anything whatever has been known of prehistoric man; +but now we are able to reconstruct him with probable accuracy. A +creature bestial in appearance and in life; dwelling in caves, which, +however, a dawning sense of a higher humanity led him to decorate with +carvings of birds and fishes; but certain it is, the brain which +inhabited that skull was incapable of performing the mental processes +necessary to the simplest form of civilization; and life must have been +to him simply a thing of fierce appetites and brutal instincts. Such +was the being encountered by the Aryan, when he penetrated the +mysterious land beyond the confines of Greece and Italy. + +The extermination, and perhaps, to some extent, assimilation, of this +terrible race must have required centuries of brutalizing conflict, +and, it is easy to imagine, would have produced just such men as were +the northern barbarians who, for five hundred years, terrorized Europe; +men insensible to fear, terrible, fierce, but with fine instincts for +civilization--dormant Aryan germs, which quickly developed when brought +into contact with a superior race. + +The earliest Indo-European migration is supposed to have been into +Greece and Italy, where was laid the basis for the civilization of the +world. The second was probably into Western Europe and the British +Isles; then, after many centuries, the central and last, and at a time +comparatively recent, into the Eastern portion of the continent. + +So, by the fourth century B.C., three great divisions of the Aryan race +occupied Europe north of Greece and Italy: the Keltic, the western; the +Teutonic, the central; the Slavonic the eastern; and these, in turn, +had ramified into new subdivisions or tribes. + +To state it as in the pedigree of the individual, the Aryan was the +founder, the father of the family; Slav, Teuton, and Kelt the three +sons. Gaul and Briton were sons of the Kelt; Saxon, Angle, Helvetian, +etc., sons of the Teuton; and all alike grandchildren of the Aryan; +whom--to carry the illustration farther--we may imagine to have had +older children, who long ago had left the paternal home and settled +about the Caspian and Mediterranean seas: Mede, Persian, Greek, Roman; +apparently bearing few marks of kinship to these uncouth younger +brothers whom we have found in Europe in the fourth century B.C., but +with nevertheless the same cradle and the same ancestral roots. + +It is the Teutonic branch of the Aryan family with which we have to do +now, between whom and their Keltic brothers there flowed the River +Rhine. + +Greece and Rome were unaware of the existence of the Teuton until about +the year 330 B.C., when Pythias, a Greek navigator, came home from a +voyage to the Baltic with terrible tales of the Goths whom he had met. +Nearly one century before Christ the inhabitants of Italy were enabled +to judge for themselves of the accuracy of the description. Driven +from their homes by the inroads of the sea, the Goths poured in a +hungry torrent down into the tempting vineyards of Northern Italy. +Gigantic in stature, with long yellow hair, eyes blue but fierce--what +wonder that the people thought they were scarcely human, and fled +affrighted, leaving them to enjoy the vineyards at their leisure! + +Accounts of this uncanny host reached Rome, which soon knew of their +breastplates of iron, their helmets crowned with heads of wild beasts, +their white shields glistening in the sun, and, more terrible than all, +of their priestesses, clad in white linen, who prophesied and offered +human sacrifices to their gods. + +But the sacrifices did not avail against the legions which the great +Consul Marius led against them. The ponderous Goth was not yet a match +for the finer skill of the Roman, and the invaders were exterminated on +the plain near Aix, 102 B.C. The women, in despair, slew first their +children, then themselves, a few only surviving to be paraded in chains +at the triumph accorded to Marius on his return to Rome. Such was the +first appearance of the Teuton in the Eternal City, and the last until +five hundred years later, when the conditions were changed. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +At the time of this first invasion the German race was divided into +tribes with no affinity for each other, who were indeed much of the +time in fierce conflict among themselves. One of these tribes, called +the Cherusci, occupied the southern part of what is now Hanover. Their +chief, Hermann, had in his youth been taken to Rome as a hostage, and +there had been educated. + +Hermann was the first to dream of German unity. While the infant +Christ was growing into boyhood in Palestine, this Hermann was studying +Latin and history at Rome; and as he read he pondered. He found that +the Romans had achieved such tremendous power by _combination_. If his +people would unite and stand as one nation before the world, why might +not they too become great? These Romans were pleasure-loving and +vicious. His Germans in their rude homes were just and true. They did +not laugh at vice; they were rough, but simple and sincere; love bound +the father and mother and children closely together. The idea of +German unity took possession of Hermann. He resolved to devote his +life to its accomplishment, and to return to his country and try to +inspire his race with a sense of common brotherhood, and a +comprehensive patriotism. + +Julius Cæsar, the great Roman general, was governor of Gaul, and with +one eye fixed on Britain and another on Germany was steadily bringing +Europe into subjection to Rome. + +The task of subduing the stubborn Teutons was given by Augustus to +Varus, a trusted general. In the year 9 A.D., Varus had arrived with +his great army in the heart of Germany. Little suspecting the plans +and purposes surging in the young man's brain, he leaned upon Hermann, +whom he had known in Rome, as his guide and counselor in a new and +strange land. + +Unsuspectingly he marched with his heavily armed legions, as if for a +holiday excursion, into the fastnesses of the Teutoberger Forest, into +which Hermann led him. + +When fairly entangled in the dense wood, surrounded by morasses and wet +marshes instead of roads, suddenly there was a thundering war-cry, and +barbarians swarmed down upon him from all sides. Hundreds who escaped +the rain of arrows were lost in the morasses. It was not a question of +victory, but of escape, for the entrapped and heavily armed legions. +Only a handful returned to tell the story, and Varus, unable to bear +his disgrace, threw himself upon his sword. + +The great Emperor Augustus clothed himself in mourning, let his beard +and hair grow, and cried in the bitterness of his soul, "Varus, Varus, +give me back my legions!" + +But Hermann, like many another hero, was not comprehended by the people +he wished to inspire. He had arrested the tide of Roman conquest in +Germany. How was he rewarded? His people could not understand his +dream of unity. Should they be friends with the Cimbri and Suevi, who +were their enemies? They suspected his motives. There were intrigues +for his downfall. His adored wife, Thusnelda, and his child were +delivered to the Romans and graced a triumph at Rome, and when only +thirty-seven years old, the first heroic character in the history of +Germany was assassinated by his own people. + +Our Saxon ancestors, four centuries later, made the British Isles echo +with the songs in which they chanted the praises of this "War Man," +this "Man of Hosts," who was the "Deliverer of Germany." Hermann had +not consolidated his people, but he had arrested their conquest and +subjugation by the Romans. Many, many centuries were to roll away +before his dream of unity was to be realized. + +What sort of people were these ancient Germans, for whom Hermann hoped +so much almost nineteen hundred years ago? + +They were pagan barbarians, without one gleam of civilization to +illumine the twilight of their existence. They had no art, no +literature, nor even an alphabet. They were fierce and cruel; but they +had simple, uncorrupted hearts. They were brave, truthful, hospitable, +romantic, with instincts singularly just, and a passion for the +mysterious realities of an unseen world. War and hunting were their +pursuits, the family and domestic ties were strong and abiding, and +over all else, religion was supreme. + +Like their Scandinavian kinsmen, they worshiped the gods of their +ancient Aryan ancestors in sacred groves; and offered sacrifices, +sometimes human, to _Wotan_, and _Donar_, or _Thor_, the Thunderer, for +whom they named Thursday, Thorsday, or _Donners-tag_, and in honor of +one of their goddesses, _Freyja_, another was called Frei-tag, or +Friday. The decrees of fate were read in the flights of birds, or +heard in the neighing of wild horses, and then interpreted to the +people by priestesses, who, clad in snow-white robes, presided also at +the terrible sacrifices. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +During the three centuries after Hermann had arrested the flood of +Roman conquest, a civilization of the simplest sort was slowly +developing in Germany, where society was divided into the _free_ and +the _unfree_ classes. + +The tribes in the south differed greatly from those in the north. They +had no settled homes, nor ownership in land. This was divided among +them every year by lot; one-half of the people remaining yearly at home +to till the soil, and the other half giving their entire time to the +wars which were as perennial as the growing crops of grain. + +In the north, however, where lived the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon +race, conditions very different prevailed. There the lands were +bestowed in perpetuity upon the most powerful members of the tribes, +and by them handed down to their sons. The unfree class tilled the +soil, and were thus the serfs of a ruling class, and only freemen could +bear arms. + +There were no cities in ancient Germany, only villages which were +composed of rude huts. A collection of these villages formed a group +which was called a _Hundred_. Every Hundred had its chief, who was +elected by the people; and the one chosen by the combined will of all +these Hundreds was the chief or King of the tribe. + +The chiefs of the Hundreds formed a sort of advisory council to the +King or tribal chief. But supreme over the will of these chiefs and +their King was the will of the people. Every village had its _meetings +of the people_, which all freemen were entitled to attend. The real +governing power lay in these meetings, to which both chiefs of the +Hundreds and the King were compelled to defer. + +Was a new King to be elected, or were there grave questions concerning +wars to be considered--they were discussed in advance by the chiefs and +the King. But the ultimate decision lay with the people themselves; a +general meeting of the whole tribe being required to elect a new King; +the people clashing their arms in token of approval, or shouting their +dissent. + +As all freemen bore arms, there was no distinct military organization. +Every man held himself ready at any moment to respond to a call, and +the army was the people! + +About the middle of the third century, numerous small German tribes +became united into large confederacies. Conspicuous among these were +the Allemani, the Franks, the Saxons, and the Goths. + +The Allemani, in the south of Germany, it is said were so called +because of the fact that _all men_ held the land in common. If this be +so, then the French name for Germany is essentially communistic, and it +is not strange that communism has always found a congenial soil in that +land. + +The Franks occupied the banks of the Rhine and of the river Saal. The +Saxons were spread over North Germany, and the Goths, on both sides of +the river Dnieper, were divided into the Ostro-Goths and the Visi-Goths +(or the East and West Goths). + +It was these Visigoths under Alaric who inflicted the deadliest blows +upon the Roman Empire. The sacking of Rome in 410, and the +establishing of a Gothic kingdom in Spain, shook the very foundations +of that power. Then the legions could no longer be spared in distant +Britain, which was left to its fate. And that fate was of deepest +import to us! The Saxons and the Angles overflowed and absorbed the +land, and Keltic Britain was Teutonized. + +So this untamed and untamable Teuton was being spread, like some coarse +but renovating element, over the surface of old Europe. And with the +occupation of Gaul by the Franks in 481, and the annexing of France to +the Frankish kingdom under Clovis, the process was complete. + + +I cannot resist the temptation of saying a few words about the +Anglo-Saxon occupation of Britain, which, as it virtually converted us +from Kelts into Teutons, is not a digression. + +From the time of Julius Cæsar the island of Britain had been occupied +by the Romans, and in consequence had become partly civilized and +Christianized. Upon the fall of the empire, the Roman legions were +withdrawn, and the people, left defenseless, became the prey of their +own northern barbarians, the Picts and Scots; the drama of Southern +Europe and the Goths being re-enacted on a diminished scale. In the +fourth century the Britons implored the Angles and Saxons to come and +protect them from these savages. Invited as allies, they came as +invaders, and remained as conquerors, implanting their habits, speech, +and paganism upon the prostrate island. It was the extermination of +this exotic paganism which impelled to those deeds of valor recited in +the Round Table romances, and which made King Arthur and his knights +the theme of poet and minstrel for centuries. + +But the Saxon had come to stay, and Teuton and Kelt became merged, much +as do the lion and lamb, after the former has dined! The Teutonic +Saxon may be said to have dined on the Keltic Briton, and remained +master of the island until the Normans came, six centuries later, and +in turn dominated, and made him bear the yoke of servitude. + +Nor was this French-speaking Norman French at all, except by adoption; +being, in fact, the terrible Northman of two centuries before, on +account of whose ravages the noble had intrenched himself in his strong +castle, and the wretched serf had in mortal terror sold himself and all +that he possessed, for the protection of its solid walls and moat; and +thus had been laid the foundations of feudalism. He it was who, with +longhair reeking with rancid oil, battle-ax, spear, and iron hook--with +which to capture human and other prey--had held France in a state of +unspeakable terror for centuries, but who had finally settled down as a +respectable French citizen in the sea-board province of Normandy, and +in two centuries had made such wonderful improvement in manners, +apparel, and speech that the simple Saxon baron stood abashed before +the splendid refinements of his conquerors. + +The origin of this mysterious Northman is unknown; but whatever it was, +or whoever he was, he certainly possessed Aryan germs of high potency. + +So the Saxon had built the solid walls of the racial structure upon a +foundation of Britons; and, though with no thought for beauty, had +built well, with strong, true structural lines. It was the Norman who +finished and decorated the structure, but he did not alter one of these +lines; the speech, traits, institutions, and habits of England being at +the core Saxon to-day, while there is a decorative surface only of +Norman. + +So when the Englishman calls himself, with swelling pride, a Briton, he +speaks wide of the mark. The Keltic Briton was buried fathoms deep +under seven centuries of Saxon rule, and then, to make the extinction +more complete, was overlaid with this brilliant lacquer of Norman +surface. And if that mixed product, the English people, have any race +paternity, it is Teutonic, and herein may lie the impossibility of +making the English and Irish a homogeneous people--the English Teuton +and Irish Kelt being in the nature of things antagonistic, the +particles refuse to combine chemically, and can only be brought +together (to use the language of the chemist) in mechanical mixture. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Among the German tribes it was the Goths who had first come under the +civilizing influence of the Christian religion. + +As some winged seed is wafted from a fair garden into a dark, distant +forest, and there takes root and blossoms, so was the seed-germ of +Christianity caught by the wind of destiny, and carried from Palestine +to the heart of pagan Germany, where, strange to say, it found +congenial soil. + +The story is a romantic one. A Christian boy in Asia Minor, while +straying on the shores of the Mediterranean, was captured by some +Goths, who took their fair-haired prize home to their own land, and +named him Ulfilas. + +The boy, with his heart all aflame for the religion in which he had +been nurtured, told his captors the story of Calvary--of Christ and his +gospel of peace and love; and lived to see the terrible sacrificial +altars replaced by the Cross. + +The Goths had no alphabet, so Ulfilas invented one, and then translated +the Bible into their rude speech. A part of this translation is now +preserved in Sweden and is the earliest extant specimen of the Gothic +language. This Gothic version of the Lord's Prayer, written by Ulfilas +more than fifteen centuries ago, bears such close resemblance to the +German and English versions that it can be easily read by us to-day; +and makes us realize our own near kinship to those simple barbarians of +the fourth century. + +In the year 375, thirty-five years before the sacking of Rome, from the +vast plains lying between Russia and China there had poured into Europe +a terrible race of beings called Huns. They seemed more like demons +than men. Insensible alike to fear, to hunger, thirst, or cold, they +appeased their ferocious appetites upon wild roots and raw meat. These +hideous men ate, drank, and slept on horseback, their no less hideous +wives and children following them in wagons, as they ravaged through +the Continent of Europe. + +The Huns, under the leadership of Attila, swept everything before them; +leaving a track of blood and ashes through Germany. + +The Goths deserted their lands and homes on account of this brutish +invasion and pressed down into Italy and Southern Gaul; the Ostro-Goths +(or East Goths) becoming in time masters of Italy under King Theodoric, +while the Visigoths (or West Goths), who were already in Southern Gaul, +had overflowed the Pyrenees and established a Gothic empire in Spain +(or Hispania, as it was then called). + +It was not alone the Goths who were swept before Attila and his Hunnish +hosts. The Vandals, the Burgundians, the Longobards were carried by +the same tide into Southern Europe; the Vandals thence into northern +Africa; while the Slavs from the northeast in turn pressed down after +them, and, like the waters of the sea, occupied the lands which they +had deserted. + +So this Hunnish invasion was a tremendous upturning force--in itself +bearing no relation to the future result more than the plow to the +future grain; but it was a terrible instrument, used in bringing the +German race into contact with higher civilizations, where, in the +alchemy of time, they were destined to survive not as a nation, but +rather as an element, and where, in the great creative processes, they +were intended to re-enforce the decaying races of Southern Europe with +their rude but uncorrupted vitality. + +Of the Huns themselves nothing remained in Europe after the defeat of +Attila, excepting in Dacia, over which they had permanently spread, and +which was later called Hungary. + +During this process of re-creating the old races of Southern Europe, +the Roman Empire was perishing. Its conversion to Christianity in the +fourth century, under Constantine, was too late to save it. For three +hundred years pagan Rome had been drenching the soil of Southern Europe +with the blood of Christians. Then this zealous new convert not only +espoused the religion of Christ, but determined by her Church Councils +what that religion meant and what it did not mean, and made fierce war +upon heretics like the Gothic Christians, who knew nothing about these +strange doctrines of which Ulfilas had not told them, nor concerning +which did their simple Gothic Bible say one word! (A conflict between +_Trinitarianism_ and _Arianism_.) + +The Roman Empire was the "_Holy_ Roman Empire," now. When Constantine +removed his capital to Byzantium, it required two Emperors, an Eastern +and a Western, to govern the crumbling mass. But as the temporal power +declined, there was at Rome a new and spiritual kingdom which was +expanding and claiming an empire over all Christendom. The Bishops of +Rome had become Popes. Gaul or France was now governed by the German +Franks. And the Frankish Kings in France, and the Visigoth Kings in +Spain, and Christians everywhere must bow to the will of the Pope. + +But the Roman Emperors were becoming less and less able to protect +their dominions. The Teuton Lombards had overrun Italy, and at last +the lowest point of degradation seemed to be reached, when the Imperial +Crown at Byzantium was grasped by Irene, who deposed and blinded her +own son in order to reach the throne once occupied by Augustus. + +Who could be more fit to fill this august position at the head of +Christendom than Charlemagne, the great conqueror of men and defender +of the Holy Faith? + +The coronation of Charlemagne, King of France and Germany, at Rome, in +the year 800, was a revolt of the West against the sluggard Emperors at +Byzantium; just as his father Pepin's had been, fifty years before, a +revolt against the sluggard Kings of France. + +Not for 800 years had there been such a commanding personality on the +earth; not since Cæsar hurled his legions into Gaul and Britain had +there been such a display of military genius and valor, and perhaps +never before such a breadth of intelligence in controlling a vast and +heterogeneous empire. + +Thenceforth, Charlemagne and his successors (when crowned by the Pope) +were the successors of the Cæsars and the temporal heads of the Holy +Roman Empire. Excepting in name the once great empire had ceased to be +Roman. The rude barbarian race which, in the time of Julius Cæsar, was +buried in the forests of Central Europe, was at the head of +Christendom; and under Charlemagne, a map of the German Empire was a +map of Europe. + +Charlemagne acknowledged the Pope who crowned him as his spiritual +sovereign, while, on the other hand, the Pope bowed before the Emperor +who appointed him as his temporal sovereign. It was a magnificent, +all-embracing scheme of empire, of which the spiritual head was at +Rome, and the temporal at Aix-la-Chapelle. + +It seemed as if, by this dual supremacy, Charlemagne had provided for +all possible exigencies of human government. He rested content, no +doubt thinking he had embodied a perfect ideal in creating a system +which should thus co-ordinate and embrace both the spiritual and +temporal needs of an empire. But as soon as his controlling hand was +removed unexpected dangers assailed his work. + +In less than fifty years from his coronation his three grandsons had +quarreled and torn the empire into as many parts. With this event +France commenced a separate existence as a kingdom and the Imperial +title belonged alone to Germany (treaty of Verdun, 843). + +It was the strong, rough arm of the Goth which had hammered in pieces +the Roman Empire and brought these tremendous results for the Teuton +race; but it was the Frank which had survived as the governing power. + +These Franks established a new system of land tenure, which combined +the two opposing systems prevailing in North and South Germany. They +proclaimed that the land belonged to the Crown. But the Crown, upon +certain conditions, bestowed it upon landholders who were called +barons. These barons might hold their land from generation to +generation, so long as these conditions were fulfilled. They, in like +manner, parceled out their lands into farms, which were held by the +class below them upon like conditions of submission and fealty to them. +The people bound themselves to furnish military service and food, and +to work for their barons a specified number of days in the year, and to +receive in return a certain protection, and a refuge within the castle +of their chief. The baron was responsible to the count who was his +superior, and the count to the King. + +This was the feudal system, which was a net-work of reciprocal duties. +No man, be he peasant or count, could call anything his own unless he +discharged his obligations and responsibilities. + +The system met great opposition for a time in South Germany; especially +from Welf, Count of Bavaria, from whom the historic Guelphs are +descended. But it survived, as we know, increasing in oppressive +weight and rigidity, until for centuries it crushed the life out of +Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +One century after Charlemagne, the kingship of Germany ceased to be +hereditary. The great nobles, or vassals as they were called, elected +the King, who was crowned at Aix. And then, after the Pope had crowned +him at Rome (but not until then), he was also King of Italy and Emperor +of the Holy Roman Empire. + +The condition of Germany was at this time very disordered. There were +jealousies and conflicts between the various states composing it and +incessant incursions from those troublesome neighbors, the Magyars or +Hungarians, the Turanian people on their southeast border. This latter +led to an important phase in the development of Germany. Henry I., +father of King Otto the Great, in 924 offered these Hungarians a large +yearly tribute if they would cease to annoy his country. For nine +years the tribute was paid. The Germans in the meantime were busily +engaged in building fortresses on their frontier, and walled cities +throughout the land. These were called _burgs_, and were placed under +the command of counts, who were called _Burgraves_. + +So, in the tenth year, when the Hungarians insolently demanded their +tribute, Henry threw a dead dog at their messengers' feet, and told +them that was his tribute in the future. + +The Hungarians in a fury poured into Germany. But--lo! instead of +collections of helpless villages lying at their mercy, there were +walled towns which defied all their efforts to capture, and after some +futile attempts the Hungarians troubled Germany no more. + +Another important development of this period was an eventful one for +Europe. There was a large class of young men, younger sons of nobles, +for whom there was no suitable classification. They were proud and by +necessity were idle. + +This same Saxon King Henry invited these young men to serve the empire +in a new and peculiar way. They must be men of honor and truth; they +must be devoted and loyal to the Holy Roman Empire; never have injured +a weak woman nor run away in battle; they must be gentle and courteous +and brave, and faithful to the Church. + +The men who could take these oaths and make these pledges were called +knights, or _Knechts_, servants of the King. Thus was created the +order of knighthood, which quickly spread over Europe. + +The great Charlemagne, in accepting the crown of the Holy Roman Empire +in 800, unconsciously inflicted a deep injury upon the future Germany. +That glittering bauble, the crown of the Cæsars, was very costly, and +retarded the development of Germany for centuries. + +That country needed all her resources and energies at home, to solidify +and develop a great nation during its formative period. + +Instead of that, for seven hundred years the ambitions of the Kings of +Germany were diverted from what should have been their first care--the +unity and prosperity of their own nation; and were chasing a +phantom--the re-establishment of the great old empire, with Rome as its +heart and center. + +Another mistake made by Charlemagne was far-reaching in its +consequences. + +He little suspected the nature and the latent power existing in that +spiritual kingdom with which he formed so close an alliance. He feared +not the Church, but the ambitious and scheming nobles. So, in order to +create a friendly bulwark about the throne, he made some of the +archbishops and bishops secular princes, and bestowed upon them +dominions over which they might reign as sovereigns. + +The Church, which had not been growing any too spiritual since it was +adopted by Rome, was more and more secularized when it had Primates +ravenous for wealth and power. + +The Pope and Emperor, instead of close allies as Charlemagne had +intended, had finally become jealous and angry rivals. In the open +warfare which in time developed two political parties came into +being--the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, which represented the adherents +of the Pope and the Emperor. + +It was a part of the settled policy of the Popes to stir up strife in +Italy, and thus, by compelling the Emperor to pour his revenues and his +energies into that land, to weaken and undermine him at home. + +For the first five hundred years of its existence the Church had been +governed by the bishops of Rome. In the next five hundred years these +bishops had grown into Popes, who were the spiritual heads of +Christendom. As the Church was entering upon its third +five-hundred-year lease in the year 1073, the miter was worn by the +fiery monk, Hildebrand, who had become Gregory VII. This man resolved +to establish the supremacy of the Church over the secular arm of the +government. As a weak Emperor wore the Imperial crown, the time was +favorable for claiming a religious empire existing by divine right, and +superior to the will of kings and emperors. + +In the conflict which followed Henry IV. deposed the Pope--this +creature of his own appointing, who would override the authority of the +power which had created him! And as a counter-move the Pope +excommunicated the Emperor. + +Had Henry stood his ground as he might, for he would have had ample +support from his people, it would have been a gain of centuries for +Europe.. But the ban of excommunication, with its attendant horrors +here, and still worse hereafter--it was more than he could bear. +Affrighted, trembling, penitent, he crossed the Alps in dead of winter, +crept to the castle of Canossa, near Parma, where Hildebrand had taken +refuge; and there this successor to Charlemagne, this ruler of all +Christendom, standing barefoot and clad in sackcloth shirt, humbly +begged admittance. The Pope's triumph was complete. So he let him +shiver for three days in cold and rain before he opened the gates and +gave him forgiveness and the kiss of peace. + +The Church had never scored so tremendous a victory. She was supreme +over every earthly authority, and the hands on the face of time were +set back for centuries. Let Guelph and Ghibelline storm and struggle +as they might, there was no question of supremacy now between temporal +and spiritual heads. All the lines of power, all the threads of human +destiny led to Rome, and were found at last in the papal hand. + +In the three centuries of its existence the empire had been ruled first +by Frank, and then by Saxon emperors. But the eventful visit to +Canossa led to a new dynasty, the Swabian. When that humiliated +monarch, Henry IV., crossed the Alps in midwinter, when Europe's +mightiest prince stood woolen-frocked and barefoot upon the snow for +three days, humbly entreating forgiveness, there was one knight who +attended him with marked fidelity. This was Frederick of Büren, and +verily he had his reward! The Emperor created him Duke of Swabia, and +bestowed upon him his daughter Agnes as his wife. + +The Duke of Swabia then built himself a castle on a high plateau of +land called Hohenstaufen. But this fortunate duke had also another +great estate called Waiblingen. So he was Frederick of Hohenstaufen, +and of Waiblingen as well. The last name had a very conspicuous +destiny awaiting it. + +The dukes of Bavaria had been a great power in Germany, ever since that +first stormy Welf, who tried to put down the new-fangled system of +land-tenure which we know as feudalism! + +These Welfs were evidently not progressive; they seem in fact to have +been the Tories of ancient Germany. And when Conrad, grandson of +Frederick, the first Hohenstaufen, was elected King of Germany, there +was a very stormy time. The people divided into two factions: the +adherents of the new dynasty and the Emperor in the one, and the +malcontents who were led by Welf, Duke of Bavaria, in the other. As +hostility to the Emperor meant friendship with the Pope, this party of +the Welfs was also that of the papal faction. + +The tongue of the Italian could not master the two words Welf and +Waiblingen; which, as they became fastened upon the two political +factions in Italy, were changed to Guelph and Ghibelline. + +The Waiblingen family long ago disappeared. But the ancient name of +Welf is represented to-day by the gracious Queen of England. + +The party of the Guelphs in Germany was that of disaffected dukes and +nobles, who from personal or other reasons desired to embarrass the +Emperor, even to the extent of an alliance with his enemy the Pope. + +The Ghibellines expressed the anti-papal sentiment of the people, among +whom there was a growing dread and hatred of Romish power, and the time +was approaching when Teutonic patriotism would mean resistance to +Italian priestcraft. + +While this antagonism was developing, the most stupendous event in all +history was taking place in Europe. The Christian conscience--more +sensitive than it is to-day--had been roused to a frenzy of indignation +by Mahomedan outrages in the Holy Land. That first "European Concert" +had been formed to drive the Mahomedan out of the land, where a concert +of Europe is striving to keep him undisturbed to-day! + +This time of a great religious war was not favorable for an anti-papal +policy in Germany. Conrad allowed himself to be swept into the +current. He headed a great Crusade in the year 1147. + +Not one tithe of his vast host ever reached the Holy Land. They melted +like the dew before disease, starvation, and the sword of the Moslems +in Asia Minor. + +When the despondent Conrad returned to Germany he brought back one +lasting memorial of his ill-fated Crusade. He had seen at +Constantinople, on the Imperial standard of the Byzantine Emperor, a +double-headed eagle. This representation of a double empire he +determined to adopt for the emblem of his own, and hence it is that it +exists to-day on the Austrian standard, and upon the coins of Germany +and Austria. + +It was well for Germany that, while she was thus torn and distracted by +contending political factions, and while her life blood was being +drained into Italy, Frederick I., or Barbarossa (1152), came to hold +the reins of government as they had not been held since Charlemagne. + +This great Hohenstaufen threw his lion-like weight into the controversy +concerning Papal and Imperial supremacy. He spurned the pretensions of +the Pope and his encroachments upon secular authority. + +He claimed that his office was from God--not from the Pope; and that it +was not a whit less sacred than his rival's. To which the Pope +replied: "Who was the Frank before Pope Zacharias befriended Pepin? and +what is the Teutonic King now, till consecrated by papal hands? What +he gives, can he not withdraw?" + +But the Imperial power never reached such height as under this +imperious, commanding Teuton; who exists now as a half-mythic hero, +honored in picture, statue, song, and legend throughout Germany. His +reign was a splendid fight against the two antagonists which were +finally to be fatal to the Empire--Italian nationality and the Papacy. + +The knighthood established by his Saxon predecessor, in 930, had during +the Crusades expanded into great orders of chivalry throughout Europe. +Frederick Barbarossa fostered and brought the chivalry of Germany to +great splendor. + +He also brought to an end the long and destructive feud between the +Welfs and the Waiblingers, pacifying the former by bestowing upon them +the territory of Brunswick; to which fact England owes her present +Queen, who is a daughter of the house of Brunswick. + +For many centuries the people believed the legend that their hero had +not died in Palestine; but they pointed to the mouth of a great cavern +on the frowning heights of the Kyfhäuser mountain, where he was said to +be surrounded by his knights in an enchanted sleep; waiting the hour +when he should awaken and descend with his Crusaders, to bring back a +golden age of peace and unity to Germany! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +There are three conditions in national life of which all nations more +or less partake. One is where the elements combine with a tendency +toward organic development; another, where these elements fall apart +with a tendency toward disintegration; and still another, where all +processes, constructive and destructive, are arrested as in a crystal. +The United States, the Ottoman Empire, and China illustrate these three +conditions to-day. + +The Teuton, who had been such a powerful element in renovating other +European nations, had thus far seemed incapable of consolidating his +own national life when left to himself. The tendency was steadily +toward disintegration rather than growth. + +This was not alone because the strength of the Teutonic kingdom was +wasted in pursuit of that glittering toy bestowed by the Pope; but on +account of internal strifes and rivalries which employed the hostile +schemes of the Roman Pontiff for their own ends and purposes. + +The rivalry with the Pope, in itself a destructive element, was made +still more destructive when it was thus used by disaffected dukes as a +means of annoying and circumventing Emperors whom they disliked. + +A Frederick Barbarossa might arrest these processes for a time. But +one century later the ruin was complete. + +Frederick II., the last of the Hohenstaufens, died, leaving an empty +throne and a broken and shattered empire. It was destined to rise +again and to wear the name and trappings of its former greatness, but, +crippled and degraded, to be in reality a mere shadow and semblance of +what it had once aspired to be--the head of the world. + +A period of twenty years then followed, known as the "Great +Interregnum." A time when there was no King nor Emperor; when robbery +and brigandage became the employment of needy knights, and when great +barons made war upon and waylaid each other on the highways. + +It was a time of strange chaos and darkness. And yet this period, +apparently so unfavorable to growth, brought forth two of the most +pregnant events in the history of Germany. These were the creation of +the Hanseatic League and the birth of German literature. The one laid +the foundation of a real national life in which the people should +participate; while the other gave expression to the romantic ideals of +a hitherto silent race. + +The great German epic, which is the Iliad of the Middle Ages, was +produced at this darkest hour in the history of Germany. The +Nibelungen Lied deals with the colossal crimes, loves, and sorrows of +Burgundian kings and princesses at the time of the Hunnish invasion. +And it has been the good fortune of Germany, six hundred years later, +to have a son (Richard Wagner) who has clothed that great epic in music +which matches it in heroic dignity and splendor. + +The other event was of deeper import than this. The burgs, or cities, +which were created as a defense against the Hungarians, had become busy +centers of manufacture and trade, and to some extent of learning. Many +of them had been made free cities. That is, they were under the direct +control of the Emperors instead of the hereditary nobles as at first. +These cities enjoyed especial privileges and immunities which drew to +them population and prosperity. The true policy for German Emperors, +harassed by Italian intrigues and at war with their own archbishops and +disaffected nobles, would have been to form close alliance with these +free cities, and make friends of their burghers and guilds. + +When there was no king, no ruler in the land, when robbery ran riot so +that traveling was impossible, two cities, Hamburg and Lubeck, agreed +together to keep order in their neighborhood. Then Brunswick and +Bremen joined; and at last over a hundred towns had combined together +in what was called the "Hanseatic League." + +This Confederacy became the mightiest power in the North of Europe; and +at one time even threatened the overthrow of feudalism, and to convert +West Germany into a federation of free municipalities. + +When trades increased in the cities, each trade managed its own affairs +by an organization called a _guild_. The guilds in the course of time +obtained a share in the government of the towns; and it was the +regenerating power of these guilds which brought about this great +movement. With their simple ideals of truth, sincerity, and justice, +they were the storehouses of that power which is the real life of a +nation. As well expect a tree to flourish when its sap is not +permitted to rise, or a man to be well when the blood is obstructed in +his veins, as to look for healthful growth and expansion in a nation +from which the life of its common people is excluded! + +Among these early guilds, that of the Meistersingers, which was +chartered in 1340, was of vast importance in the development of the +German people. + +It was composed of artisans and governed by the strict, pedantic rules +then existing in the arts of musical and literary composition. + +The prizes did not confer as great an honor as those bestowed at +Olympia two thousand years before, but they were sought with an intense +enthusiasm. + +The soul of the Teuton was by nature set to music. For him that art +was not a luxury reserved for the rich and cultured, but the daily food +which nourished the life of the most untutored. Within this musical +and literary guild the two arts of music and poetry for centuries +existed in their most elementary form, and were the soil out of which +later came such marvelous blossom and fruit. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Germany, which had always been a loosely compacted mass, was at the +close of the Hohenstaufen dynasty composed of 60 independent cities, +116 priestly rulers, and 100 reigning dukes, princes, counts, and +barons, always rivals and usually at war with each other, in +perpetually changing combinations for attack or defense. + +Lying beneath this body of small and struggling sovereigns was a people +in whom was the first dawning consciousness of human rights; which +consciousness was gradually extending to that helpless mass underlying +the whole--the peasantry. + +In 1273 the German princes succeeded in electing an Emperor; and the +Great Interregnum was over. + +It is a curious fact that the two names _Hapsburg_ and _Hohenzollern_ +should have appeared simultaneously in German history. Rudolf, Count +of Hapsburg, through the influence of his brother-in-law Frederick of +Hohenzollern, Count of Nuremburg, was chosen to fill the vacant throne. +It was during the reign of Albert, son of this first Hapsburg, that the +Swiss first revolted against imperial authority. + +Gessler, who had been sent by Albert to subdue the refractory Alpine +shepherds, so exasperated them by his atrocities that he was shot by +William Tell. It was a long way from Tell to Swiss freedom and +independence. But the people from that hour never wavered in their +determination not to be serfs to the house of Hapsburg. + +The Hanseatic League in North Germany, and the invincibly free spirit +in Switzerland, were the two things of deepest significance at this +time of political chaos. + +Side by side with this assertion of political rights, there had +commenced a general intellectual awakening. The Bishop of Ratisbon, +Albertus Magnus, was so learned in mathematics and in science that +people believed he was a sorcerer.[1] Godfrey of Strasburg had written +an epic poem about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. +Wolfram of Eschenbach had told of the Holy Grail in his Parsifal; and a +learned history of Denmark had been written, without which our own +literature would have suffered immeasurable loss, for in it Shakspeare +found the story of Hamlet! + +It was at this time (1356) that the famous "Golden Bull" was issued, a +new electoral system, which reduced the number of electors to seven. + +The idea was that as the sun and the seven planets illumined our +heavens, so that great luminary, the German Emperor, should be the +center of a political system composed of seven Electors. + +These earthly luminaries, whose duty it was to elect a new Emperor, +were the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trèves, and the temporal +princes of Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Palatine of the Rhine. + +The very first act of these seven wise men was to place upon the throne +Wenceslas, a brutal madman, who might better have been confined as a +maniac. + +It was during the reign of his brother and successor Sigismund that the +burning of John Huss lighted the conflagration in Bohemia known as the +Hussite War. + +John Huss, a professor of the University of Prague, had dared to raise +his voice against the temporal enrichment of a church whose Founder had +not where to lay his head, and who had put behind him the kingdoms of +this earth, when offered to him by Satan! + +Huss, for this offense, came under the displeasure of the bishops. +Charges were brought against him that he had maintained the existence +of four Gods, and he was condemned and burnt (1415). + +The Hussite war had none of the reforming purpose which led to the +martyrdom they wished to avenge. It was a mad strife, beginning over +some detail of the Communion Service, and ending in a war between +Bohemian and German, in which for nearly twenty years the country ran +with blood. + +At this period an event occurred of trifling significance then, but of +profound importance to future Germany. + +In 1411 the Emperor borrowed one hundred thousand florins of Frederick +of Hohenzollern, the Burgrave, or "Count of the Castle," of Nuremburg, +direct descendant from that first Hohenzollern who helped to found the +Hapsburg dynasty. For this loan Sigismund gave his creditor a mortgage +on the territory of Brandenburg. Frederick at once took up his +residence there, and subsequently made an offer of three hundred +thousand gold florins more to purchase the territory. The Emperor +accepted the terms, so the then small state was thereafter the home of +the Hohenzollerns, and was on its way to become Prussia. + +Sigismund and his brother Wenceslas belonged to another dynasty, that +of Luxemburg. But after the death of the former, in 1440, the +Hapsburgs succeeded again to the crown, which they wore until it was +taken off at the bidding of Napoleon in 1806. + +Just before the issuance of the Golden Bull, there had occurred that +most revolutionary event, the discovery of gunpowder. When a man in +leathern jacket could do more than a knight in armor, when safety +depended upon quickness and lightness, and ponderous iron and steel +were fatal--then a momentous change in conditions was at hand! The +destruction of feudalism was involved in this discovery of 1344. + +Under Frederick III., that Hapsburg who came to the throne in 1440, the +Empire seemed to have reached a climax of disorder. Old things were +passing away, and the new had not yet come to take their place. + +On the eastern shore of the Baltic the march of German civilization had +received an almost fatal check. The "German Order," an organization of +knights intended to keep back the Slavonic tide, had failed to do so. +Holland was becoming estranged from the German Empire. France had +obtained possession of Flanders. Luxemburg, Lorraine, and Burgundy +were becoming practically independent; while it began to seem as if +Switzerland were forever lost to Germany. + +And now the Hungarians were setting up their new king, the valiant +Hunyadi; and the Bohemians theirs, George of Podjebrod. Not only were +these kingdoms and principalities slipping away, but the peasants in +the cantons of the Alps, and elsewhere in revolt, were some of them led +by great nobles. + +Still another, and perhaps the gravest of all these dangers, was one +which yet darkens our horizon in this closing nineteenth century! + +In the year 1250 the Turks had commenced their existence in Asia Minor, +with one little clan, led by one obscure chieftain. This clan had +grown as if by miracle into a great empire in the East, rivaling in +power that of the Saracens, whose successors they were as the head of +the Mahomedan Empire. The Turks had been steadily encroaching upon +Germany; had made havoc in Hungary; had devastated Austria, and were +now insolently pressing on toward their goal, the Imperial palace at +Vienna. + +While the incompetent and drowsy Emperor Frederick III. was helplessly +viewing these stupendous overturnings, there occurred that other event, +as important in the empire of thought as the invention of gunpowder had +been in that of political institutions. + +The invention of printing (1450),--that art preservative of all +arts,--was the greatest step yet taken in the emancipation of the human +mind. + +The poor inventor was, after the manner of inventors, badly treated. +John Fust, on account of Gutenberg's inability to pay back the money he +had loaned him for his experiment, seized the printing press, and +himself proceeded to finish printing the Bible. + +The rapidity with which the copies were produced, and their precise +resemblance to each other, created such astonishment that a report +spread that Fust had sold himself to the devil, with whom he was in +league. + +This, together with the identity of names, led Victor Hugo, Klinger, +and other writers to confuse John Fust, the practicer of the Black Art +in mediæval times, with John Fust the printer. And as the original +Fust had come to stand for the emancipation of the human intellect +through free learning, and as printing was above all else the means for +such emancipation, the coincidence, if such it be, was, to say the +least, remarkable! + +When we approach the time of Isabella of Castile and of Columbus, and +when we are confronted with that familiar specter, the Turk, in +Southeastern Europe, we feel that we are in sight of the lights on +familiar headlands, and are not far from port. We are not very near to +that haven, but we are passing the line which divides the old from the +new. + + + +[1] See chart of Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +It was not alone in Germany that the old was vanishing. The movement +in that country was part of a general condition prevailing in England, +France, and Spain; all with the same tendency--the passing of the power +from many small despotisms to one greater one. It was an advance, +although a slow one, in the path of progress. Feudalism--that +newfangled system which had so tried the soul of Duke Welf in the ninth +century--was dissolving. + +In England the war with France, and the War of the Roses, by +impoverishing the nobles had broken their remaining authority, and that +system which had been gradually perishing since the Conquest was +virtually dead. + +In France Louis XI. had cunningly conceived the idea of recovering the +power of the throne by an apparent friendship with the people; and a +combination was thus formed against which a decrepit feudalism could +not long stand. + +In Spain the smaller kingdoms had at last been merged into two larger +ones, and by the union of Castile and Aragon under Ferdinand and +Isabella, and the expulsion of the Moors which quickly followed that +event, that country was at last consolidated into one kingdom--in which +feudalism no longer existed as a disturbing power. + +In northern Italy also, among that brilliant group of small republics, +there was this same centralizing tendency at work. Florence had passed +into the strong keeping of the Medici (1434), while Genoa and most of +the Lombard republics were gravitating toward the control of Milan. + +It was at this period that there were for the first time formed those +combinations and alliances between the nations of Europe which led +finally to a system existing for the preservation of the _balance of +power_. In fact, after the various monarchies had assumed these firmer +and more definite outlines, there began a process of weaving them +together into a larger whole; and the threads used in this process are +known as _European diplomacy_, which, as we have recently seen, is +stronger than individual sovereigns! + +It was perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the fifteenth century +that the Imperial throne of Germany should be occupied, at this time of +centralizing tendencies, by a man determined not alone to reign but to +rule. + +Maximilian I., son of the sleepy Frederick III., was chosen by the +electors in 1486. He was full of energy, intelligence, and heart, and +was, besides, the handsomest prince in Europe, and his wife, Mary of +Burgundy, was the fairest of princesses. + +The people, weary of disorder and insecurity, were glad to feel the +touch of a strong hand. Maximilian firmly planted the foundations of +the house of Hapsburg. From that time the choice of the Electors was +merely a formal recognition of the hereditary rights of that family. + +This prince, standing on the dividing line between the old and new, +possessed the qualities of both. He was stately, brave, and chivalric, +and at the same time educated according to the highest standards of his +time, devoted to literature, art, and poetry, and with comprehensive +and progressive plans for his kingdom. He had a sincere desire to +reform abuses. He introduced into Germany the post office, and the +system for the conveyance of letters, throughout two thousand +independent territories! + +The Turks were advancing on the east, the French King was harassing him +on the west, and the Pope always trying to embroil him with other +kingdoms and to drain his Empire. His was not an easy task. + +He was not a Charlemagne nor a Frederick Barbarossa, but he infused +strength and a power of resistance into Germany at a period of extreme +weakness, and he reunited to the house of Hapsburg the kingdoms of +Hungary and Bohemia. + +There was evidence that the long thraldom to Rome was passing away, in +the fact that Maximilian assumed Imperial authority without receiving +the crown from papal hands; his father Frederick having been the last +Emperor who made pilgrimage to Rome for that purpose (in 1452). + +When Maximilian came to the throne in 1493 an event of transcendent +importance had just occurred. Europe had learned with amazement that +when the sun disappeared in that mysterious Western Ocean, it passed on +to shine upon other lands beyond--lands teeming with life and riches. + +The most fascinating field for adventure the world had ever known was +suddenly opened to Europe, and the magnet of boundless wealth was +transferred from the East to the West. A stream of adventurous and +rapacious men, from all the lands excepting Germany, was moving toward +the setting sun. + +Spain, only recently obscure, poor and struggling to free her land from +an alien race, suddenly found herself mistress of her own territory, +consolidated, and with an empire and resources in the West, practically +boundless. + +The good Queen Isabella, who had been the instrumentality in bringing +about these changes for her country, had the satisfaction of seeing her +kingdom at one bound take its place in the first rank among the nations +of Europe. + +Her chief care now was to make alliances for her children suited to +this new position. She and Ferdinand aimed high. They secured the +daughter of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, for their son, who was heir +to the crown of Spain; but the hopes from this union were quickly +blighted, as the young prince suddenly died during the wedding +festivities. Then another marriage was arranged for their oldest +daughter Joanna with Philip, Maximilian's son, who was also heir to the +Imperial throne. + +But Isabella's sorrows matched her triumphs and successes in magnitude. +Joanna became hopelessly insane. Another daughter, who married the +King of Portugal, was buried in the same grave with the infant who was +expected to unite the crowns of Spain and Portugal, while for her +youngest child Katharine was reserved the unhappy fate of becoming the +wife of Henry VIII. of England. + +It is sad to remember that this admirable woman, in her intense desire +to drive heretic Jews out of her country, was prevailed upon, by her +confessor Torquemada, to establish the Inquisition in Spain. Believing +as she devoutly did that heresy meant eternal death, and little +suspecting the engine for cruelty it was to become, this kindest and +best of women may be forgiven for this fatal mistake. + +Overwhelmed by private griefs and sorrows, Isabella died in 1506, +leaving her crazed daughter Joanna a widow, with two sons, the elder +six years old. She would have been consoled could she have known that, +in thirteen years from that time, this grandson would wear not alone +the crown of Spain, but the great Imperial crown of Germany, and would +be lord of a greater empire, and wield more power, than any living +sovereign. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The period of Maximilian's reign was a bridge which spanned two +colossal events: the discovery of America and the Reformation. When +this Emperor died in 1517, a greater work was at hand than any he or +his predecessors had ever accomplished, and the humble man who was to +be its instrument was destined to become a power above all princes, and +to shake the Church of Rome to its foundation after an undisturbed +reign of a thousand years. + +The Reformation had long been preparing in the hearts of the people. +The persecutions of the Albigenses in France, the Waldenses in Savoy, +and the burning of Huss and of Jerome, had all come from the growing +conviction that the Bible was the only true source of Christian truth +and doctrine. + +The art of printing had made this well of pure truth accessible to all, +and there was a deep though unspoken belief in the hearts and minds of +the people that a church grasping at secular power and riches had +wandered far from the simple teachings of its Founder. + +These smoldering fires were very near to the surface when Maximilian +died. Charles, his grandson, was then King of Spain. The ambitious +Francis I. of France struggled hard for the crown laid down by the +Emperor, but, in 1519, it was placed upon the head of his rival, and +Charles V. was the first of whom it could be said that the sun never +set upon his dominions. + +At this most critical moment in the history of the world, the fate of +Europe was in the hands of three men: Charles V., Emperor of Germany; +Francis I., King of France, and Henry VIII., King of England. + +Charles, half Fleming and half Spaniard, had the grasping +acquisitiveness of the one nation, and the proud, fanatical cruelty of +the other. Small of stature, plain in feature, sedate, quiet, crafty, +he was playing a desperate game with Francis I. for supremacy in Europe. + +Francis, handsome as an Apollo, accomplished, fascinating, profligate, +was fully his match in ambition. Covering his worst qualities with a +gorgeous mantle of generosity and chivalrous sense of honor, he was the +insidious corrupter of morals in France, creating a sentiment which +laughed at virtue and innocence as qualities belonging to a lower class +of society. + +Each of these men was striving to enlist Henry VIII. upon his side, by +appealing to the cruel caprices of that vain, ostentatious, arrogant +King, who in turn tried to use them for the furthering of his own +desires and purposes. + +It was a sort of triangular game between the three monarchs--a game +full of finesse and far-reaching designs. If Charles attacked Francis, +Henry attacked Charles, while the astute Charles, knowing well the +desire of the English King to repudiate Katharine and make Anne Boleyn +his queen, whispered seductive promises of the papal chair to Wolsey, +who was in turn to establish his own influence over his royal master by +bringing about the marriage with Anne, upon which the King's heart was +set, and then be rewarded by securing Henry's promise of neutrality for +Charles, in his designs of overreaching Francis--and, after that, the +road to Rome for the aspiring cardinal would be a straight one! + +It was an intricate diplomatic net-work, in which the thread of Henry's +desire for the fair Anne was mingled with Wolsey's desire for +preferment, and both interlaced with the ambitious, far-reaching +purposes of the other two monarchs. + +All these events were very absorbing, and while they were splendidly +gilding the surface of Europe in the first half of the sixteenth +century, it seemed a small matter that an obscure monk was denouncing +the Pope and defying the power of the Catholic Church. Little did +Charles suspect that, when his victories and edicts were forgotten, the +words of the insolent heretic would still be echoing down the ages. + +A few years later, and the Apollo-like beauty and false heart of +Francis I. were dissolving in the grave; Henry VIII. had gone to +another world, to meet his reward--and his wives; and Charles V. was +sadly counting his beads in the monastery of St. Jerome, at Juste, +reflecting upon the vanity of human ambitions. But the murmur of +protest from the unknown monk had become a roar--the rivulet had +swollen into a threatening torrent. As it is the invisible forces that +are the most powerful in nature, so it is the obscure and least +observed events that have accomplished the most tremendous revolutions +in human affairs. + +But before all this had happened, in the year 1517, when it had not yet +occurred to Henry's sensitive conscience that his marriage with +Katharine, his brother's widow, was illegal, and while Charles V., that +sedate young man, who "looked so modest and soared so high," was +quietly revolving plans for the extension of his empire, Pope Leo X., +the pious Vicar of Christ upon earth, and elegant patron of Michael +Angelo and Raphael, found his income all too small for his magnificent +tastes. It does not seem to have occurred to him that his tastes were +too costly for his income; he simply recognized that something must be +done, and at once, to fill his empty purse. But what should it be? A +simple and ingenious expedient solved the perplexing problem. He would +issue a proclamation to his "loving, faithful children," that he would +grant absolution for all sorts of crimes, the prices graduated to suit +the enormity of the offense. We have not seen the proclamation, but +doubt not it was in most caressing Latin, for can anything exceed the +velvety softness of the gloves worn on the hands which have signed +papal decrees? + +Simple lying and slander were cheap; perjury and sins against chastity +more costly; while the use of the stiletto, of poison, and the hired +assassin could be enjoyed only by the richest. It worked well. In the +hopeful words of a pious dignitary, "as soon as the money chinks in the +coffer, the soul springs out of purgatory." Who could resist such +promise? Money flowed in swollen streams into the thirsty coffers, +many even paying in advance for crimes they intended to commit! + +Martin Luther was the one man who dared to stand up and denounce this +tax upon crime, this papal trade in vice. The people had at last found +a voice and a leader. + +Protestantism, which had long been maturing in silence and in darkness, +sprang full-armed into existence, and was the first thing to confront +Charles when he assumed the Imperial crown. + +He, no doubt, thought that he would soon be able to dispose of the new +heresy, as had his royal father and mother in Spain disposed of heretic +Jews a few years before. But this new specter of Protestantism would +not down! + +When Charles called together an assembly of states (or Diet) at Worms, +in 1521, he supposed he was going to deal with one obscure monk, +leading an obscure movement. But it assumed quite a different aspect +when Luther, the culprit, was sustained by two great electors and many +princes of his realm; and when a long list of grievances against the +Papacy was formally presented by several states, which he was firmly +told he would be required to redress! + +The princes were in earnest. They began to seize church property, to +send monks and nuns adrift, and to make free with gold and silver +vessels and treasure belonging to the Church. + +This time of confusion was used by one ambitious ruler for his own +ends. The German, or Teutonic, order was a knightly organization +created expressly to hold the frontier against the Slavonic people. +After the year 1230 this order held Prussia, which they ruled like +princes. The Margrave of Brandenburg, who was at the time of the +Reformation Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, realized his +opportunity in the existing disorder. He made himself sovereign over +Prussia, and annexed the possessions of the Teutonic order to his +family. + +But it was not alone the princes who saw their opportunity in this time +of overturning. The wrongs of the peasants were very real and very +grievous, and of long, long standing. The entire burden of taxation +rested on them--the archbishops and the nobles and the _gentlemen_ all +being exempt! + +When the Reformation began the _bauer_, or peasantry, believed that +their hope lay in the abolishing of Catholicism and of the feudal +system. + +It takes a very small spark to fire a train of gunpowder. When the +Countess of Lüpfen ordered the peasants on her estate to spend their +Sundays in picking strawberries and gathering snail shells for +pincushions, she dropped such a spark! They refused, and the revolt +spread, gathering in fury as it moved like a cyclone through the German +states. All throughout Germany there are to be seen, to-day, ruined +castles which tell the story of this "Peasants' War" (1525). Hideous +atrocities were committed, and, as has so often happened, the cause of +a people whose grievances were real and heartrending was so stained +with crime that sympathy with and pity for their sufferings were +obliterated. Even Luther--whose followers they claimed to be--said of +them, "they should be treated as a man would treat a mad dog." + +The bold stand taken by Luther against this rebellion strengthened him +with the princes. Not only Saxony, Hesse, and Brunswick and many free +cities, but the Augustine order of monks, a part of the Franciscans, +and a number of priests had embraced the new doctrine contained in the +"Augsburg Confession," the creed or summary of belief which was +prepared by Luther's friend, Philip Melancthon. + +The principles asserted in this were that men are justified by faith +alone; that an assembly of believers constitutes a Church; that +monastic vows, invocation of saints, fasting, celibacy, etc., are +useless. + +Such were the chief points in the celebrated "Confession," which was +signed by the Protestant cities and princes in 1530. + +So while Charles was engaged in his great game of finesse with Francis +I. and Henry VIII. for preponderance in Europe--while the Turks were +pressing toward Vienna on the east, and the French into Flanders on the +west, and while the Pope, who should have been his ally, jealous of his +power was circumventing and weakening him so far as he could, worse +than all else, the foundations of the Protestant Church were being +permanently laid in Germany. + +The two great aims of the Emperor were to restore papal supremacy over +Christendom and firmly to unite Germany and Spain. But how could he do +the one, when at the hour of a great schism in the Church, a jealous +Pope was trying to weaken his hands? Or the other, when Germany was +always suspicious of him because he was a Spaniard, and Spain because +he was a Hapsburg? + +Charles was profound in his methods, crafty and powerful; but +circumstances were stronger than he. In order to succeed at one point, +he had to weaken himself at another. He could do nothing in repelling +the Turks or the French, unless aided by the Protestant states. And +these states would only give assistance in exchange for concessions to +their cause, while Francis I., as crafty as he, found a sure way to +circumvent his rival in giving aid to the Protestants. + +The new faith was spreading not only in Germany, but in Denmark, +Sweden, and England. The movement in Switzerland diverged somewhat in +character under Zwingli, another Reformer, and the new Protestantism +began to have its own schismatics. + +Calvin in Geneva rejected Luther's doctrine of _justification by +faith_, and for it substituted that of _election_. The doctrine that +men were predestined to heaven or hell was thereafter held by that +branch of the Church known as Reformers, as distinguished from the +Lutherans, while from the _protest_ of Saxony, Brandenburg, Brunswick, +Hesse, and fifteen imperial cities against the decree outlawing Luther +and his doctrines, the name Protestants took its rise, which included +Lutherans and Reformers alike. + +The famous Schmalkaldian League was so called from the little Hessian +town where the Protestant princes assembled in 1530 and made a solemn +promise of mutual support against the Emperor; when they also entered +into a secret treaty with Francis I., and received promises of support +from the Kings of England, Sweden, and Denmark. + +In 1540 the strength of the Catholics had been re-enforced by the order +of Jesuits, which was founded by Ignatius Loyola. This order made the +suppression of Protestant doctrines its chief task. + +Meyerbeer has, by his great opera, made so famous the strange tragedy +enacted at Münster in 1534 that it must have brief mention, although it +was only a bit of driftwood in the great current of events. A +religious sect called the Anabaptists was led by a Dutch tailor, John +of Leyden, who claimed to be inspired. The chief things he was +inspired to do were to crown himself king, to introduce polygamy, and +to cut off the heads of all who resisted his decrees! For more than a +year the city was held by this madman and his associates; and then the +tragedy was concluded by the torturing to death of the tailor-king and +his chief abettors; their bodies being left suspended in iron cages +over the Cathedral door at Münster. This grewsome story is the one +used by Meyerbeer in his opera of "Le Prophète." + +In 1552 Charles saw his ambitious plans for the government of the world +failing at every point. By the treaty of Passau, religious freedom had +been conceded to the Protestants; and while his army was needed to +fight the Turks in Hungary, Henry II. of France (who had succeeded +Francis I., 1547), in league with the Protestant states, was invading +Lorraine. + +Sick at heart and failing in health, the weary Emperor (1556) resolved +to lay down the heavy crown he had worn for thirty-six years. + +To his son Philip II. he gave the Netherlands, Naples, Spain, and the +American Colonies, while the Imperial title, and the German-Austrian +lands passed to his brother Ferdinand I. + +The singular cause of his death, two years later, makes us wonder +whether his unfortunate mother Joanna could have transmitted to her son +the insanity which darkened her own life. + +At the monastery at St. Juste to which the Imperial monk had retired +after his abdication, he yielded to a morbid whim to rehearse his own +funeral. The grave-clothes were damp. He was seized with a chill, and +after a brief illness died (1558). + +Charles had been thwarted in his two great aims of establishing the +supremacy of his Church, and the permanent union of Germany and Spain. +But perhaps his bitterest disappointment was in not being permitted to +leave the Imperial crown to his son Philip. + +His brother Ferdinand, although firmly Catholic, was a just and +moderate prince, who had always favored conciliatory measures to the +Protestants while the course of Philip II., in the Netherlands, soon +showed how heavily his hand would have rested upon Germany. He +appointed the Duke of Alva Spanish governor in that unfortunate +territory. Never had cruel king more cruel agent in carrying out his +policy. Torture, fire, and sword were the instruments intended to +subjugate, but which in the end brought about the independence of +Holland. + +The prelates of the Church in 1543 had come together in what was called +the "Council of Trent," with the avowed object of reforming abuses +which had crept into the Church. The real purpose, however, was to +examine the foundations of that venerable structure, to discover where +it had been injured in the assaults made upon it since 1517, and to +strengthen it where it seemed to need new supports. + +In 1563, after eighteen years' deliberation, the work of this Council +was finished. The cardinal doctrines of purgatory, absolution, +celibacy, invocation of saints, censorship of press, etc., etc., were +reaffirmed, and terrible anathemas pronounced against such as should +reject them. + +Thus was created a chasm which nothing could ever bridge, eternally +dividing the old religion from the new. + +Another tremendously re-enforcing agent was at work in Loyola's Society +of Jesus, which was to be to the Church what the brain is to the human +body. In 1540 Loyola's ten disciples received the papal blessing. In +1600 there were ten million Jesuits, and in 1700 twenty millions! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +It was the invincible march of Protestantism in the land of its birth +which brought about this buttressing of the old belief and this +adopting of fresh methods for its efficiency. + +When Ferdinand died in 1564 the great majority of the German people had +become Protestants. The Empire was honeycombed with the new faith. +Even in Austria, that everlasting stronghold of Papacy, the Catholics +were in a minority. True to the traditions of the past, Bavaria, the +home of the ancient Welfs, was the one thoroughly zealous and obedient +champion of the Pope in all Germany. + +It seemed as if the great conflict was almost over. But it had not +even commenced! + +The history of this great movement would have been very different, had +it been carried on steadily under one leader. But it had four! Those +devout souls who believed they had found in the simple gospel truths of +Protestantism a religion in which all might unite were soon convinced +of their mistake. + +Lulled by the apparent triumph of the new faith, reformers set about +the task of defining the belief and correcting the errors of Protestant +doctrine. To the followers of Calvin the belief of the Lutherans +became almost as abhorrent as Papacy itself, while the Lutherans were +again subdivided into an extreme and a moderate party; the one +following to the letter the doctrines of Luther, and the other the more +modified views of Melancthon. Not only men but states were divided and +in bitter strife over these differences, so that the Emperor Ferdinand +had said, "Instead of being of one mind they are so disunited, have so +many different beliefs, the God of truth surely cannot be with them!" + +It is apparent now that the issue underlying all this upheaval was +deeper than anyone then knew. The real struggle was not for the +supremacy of Romanist or Protestant; not to determine whether this +dogma or that was true and should prevail, but to establish the right +of every human soul to choose its own faith and form of worship. The +great battle for human liberty had commenced, and the Romish Church had +been shaken to its foundations not because its doctrine was false, but +because it was a _despotism_! + +From the abdication of Charles V. to 1600 was a period of political +tranquillity in Germany. The reign of two conciliatory sovereigns, +Ferdinand I., and his son Maximilian II., tended to produce a +surface-calm, which, although ruffled, was not broken by the stern and +despotic reign of Rudolf II., who succeeded in 1576. + +It was a half century of unfruitful and sullen waiting--waiting for a +future which no one could divine. Protestantism was not blossoming; +but the seed was germinating amid elements good and evil, strangely +mingled together. + +While the Reformation was the leading fact in Europe at this period, +another event had created a new and pervading atmosphere, in which all +else existed. The impulse given to civilization by the taking of +Constantinople by the Turks (1452), and the consequent disseminating of +Greek culture throughout Europe, was a transforming event in the +history of civilization. Literature, art, music, took on new forms and +thrilled with a new life. The activity of the human mind manifested +itself in everything. It was an age of great men and great things. +Copernicus, followed by Tycho Brahe, Galileo, and Kepler, brought order +into the heavens. The Medici in Italy, who were guiding these new and +enriching streams which had set in from the East, helped to produce a +wonderful art period, which swept in successive tides over Europe. +Fainting and sculpture reached their climacteric. Music, still in its +infancy, developed into the new forms of opera and oratorio.[1] And +while these things were happening, a mysteriously inspired man--seeming +to hold as in a crucible the wisdom distilled from all ages and all +human experiences--was writing immortal plays in England! + +The Teuton race does not take on the graces of life very quickly. The +serious and sincere German mind must inspect the idea first, and then +become thoroughly imbued with it, before the hand will act! But when +the Teuton roots do begin to draw upon the soil, they strike deep and +hold firmly, and know just what they are going to do with the rising +sap; concerning themselves much more about that than the foolish +branches and leaves! + +So this new light did not at once flood Germany, but its influence was +felt there. Thought was quickened, knowledge increased, art and +science began to flourish, wealth accumulated, and the people became +less simple and more luxurious in their ways of living. The King of +Spain was occupied in his hopeless attempt to subdue the Netherlands, +and Hungary and Austria were still struggling with the Turkish invasion. + +Such was the condition at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In +spite of the material advance there was a feeling of impending +misfortune. But the magnitude of the coming disaster none then could +have imagined or dreamed. + +The fatal circumstance was that the Protestants were divided into two +angry and hostile camps, at the very time when the Catholics, under the +teachings of the Jesuits, were uniting with solid front against them. +The Thirty Years' War would never have been undertaken against a united +adversary who held four-fifths of Germany! + +During the despotic reign of Rudolf II. the Protestants for their +protection formed a Union with the Elector Palatine Frederick at its +head. Thereupon the Catholic princes also united in a _Catholic +League_ under Maximilian of Bavaria. The forces were now gathering for +the great explosion. Matthias had succeeded his brother Rudolf as +Emperor. + +When a great storm is impending, it takes only a trifling disturbance +in equilibrium to precipitate it. + +Such a disturbance occurred in Prague (1618) over a church which the +Protestants were erecting. An angry mob armed itself, burst into the +Imperial Castle at Prague, and flung out of the window two Catholic +Bohemian nobles. + +With this act of violence commenced the Thirty Years' War, which lasted +through three reigns, those of Matthias, Ferdinand II., and Ferdinand +III., and caused unparalleled misery in Germany. + +Two years from that day the Protestant faith was obliterated in the +realm of Austria, and the progress of a hundred years was wiped out. +In three years more, not only Austria, but Germany, was in a worse +condition than she had known for centuries--the wretched people, a prey +to both parties, were slaughtered, robbed, driven hither and thither, +and a country only recently rejoicing in its material prosperity was a +waste and a ruin. + +The Imperial troops were splendidly led by two great generals--Tilly +and Wallenstein. The Protestant nations--England, Holland, Denmark, +and Sweden--looked on in dismay as they saw a powerful and triumphant +Protestantism being wiped out of existence in the land of its birth. + +By 1629 Ferdinand II. considered his power re-established absolutely +over all Germany. He issued what was called the "Edict of +Restitution," which ordered the restoration of all Protestant territory +to Catholic hands. Wallenstein, in addition to this, declared that +reigning princes and a national diet should be abolished and all power +centered in the Emperor! Indeed this Wallenstein was minded to play +the dictator as well as general. He traveled in regal state, with his +one hundred carriages, one thousand horses, fifteen cooks, and fifteen +young nobles for his pages! + +This taste for splendor was, like Wolsey's, his undoing. People began +to fear the ambitious leader, and Ferdinand dismissed him. With rage +and hate in his heart he retired to Prague to await developments. + +Twelve years of war in horrible form had wrought utter ruin and broken +the spirit of the Protestants. But help and hope suddenly came in 1630. + +Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, with his heart all aflame with zeal +to defend the falling cause of Protestantism in Germany, is the +knightliest figure which adorns the pages of history. + +We in this present age have reached a point of development when, +without the quivering of an eyelash, we can hear of the destruction of +suffering peoples, even if it involves the principles and things most +sacred to us. Whether it be the effacing of Christianity in Crete, or +of liberty in Cuba, the motto of practical men and nations is--"hands +off." + +Gustavus Adolphus had not learned that potent phrase. He was still in +that undeveloped condition when the elemental impulses of the heart +sway men's action. And without a regret, without an enfeebling doubt, +he could turn his back upon a throne and an adoring people, in defense +of an imperiled Protestantism in another land. + +From the moment his foot touched the soil of Germany on that 4th of +July, 1630, life and hope revived. The Emperor Ferdinand laughed and +called him the "Snow King," who would melt away after one winter. But +when one city after another was stormed and taken, when he left behind +him a path of religious liberty and rejoicing--when Tilly was no longer +able to cope with this Snow King and Wallenstein had to be recalled, +and when it looked as if the work of twelve years might be undone, then +Ferdinand no longer laughed! + +Wallenstein would only return upon conditions which actually made him +the lord and Ferdinand the subject. Having thus become absolute master +of the Imperial cause, he confidently set about the task of defeating +Gustavus. + +The Queen of Sweden had joined her husband in Germany. On the 27th of +October, 1632, he took leave of her. As he passed through the country, +the people fell on their knees, kissing his garments, calling him +Deliverer. He exclaimed, "I pray that the wrath of the Almighty may +not be visited upon me, on account of this idolatry toward a weak and +sinful mortal." + +Before the great conflict began he made an address to his Swedes, and +then the whole army united in singing Luther's grand hymn, "A tower of +strength is our Lord!" + +For hours the battle raged furiously, and while the issue was trembling +in the balance, the sight of the riderless horse of the Swedish King, +covered with blood and wildly galloping to and fro, told the awful +story. The terrified animal had carried him with a shattered arm right +into the enemy's ranks, where he was instantly shot. + +While Wallenstein was retreating to Leipzig, the body of this most +royal of kings was lying under a heap of dead, so mutilated by the +hoofs of horses as to be almost unrecognizable. + +The Protestant cause had lost its soul and inspiration. But, in +falling, the heroic king had so broken the enemy that there was a long +pause in hostilities. And the wily general retired again to Prague, +there to evolve new plans for his own aggrandizement. + +At this crisis a new champion arose. It was not to be expected that +Richelieu, who had been putting down Protestantism with an iron hand in +France, would feel sympathy for the Protestant cause in Germany! But +that wary primate and minister was not going to stand on a little +matter of religion, when he saw an advantage to be gained for France! + +He had long ago determined how this conflict should end. He did not +intend to permit Imperial Germany under Ferdinand to rise to ascendancy +in Europe. + +With the weight of France thrown into the scale when the Imperial cause +was already so shattered by Gustavus, it was easy to see how it must +end. + +Wallenstein secretly opened negotiations from Prague with the French +ambassador, and steadily disregarded the Emperor's orders to return to +his command. The project was that he should go over to the Protestant +side in return for the crown of Bohemia. + +A general whom the traitor trusted, in turn betrayed him to the +Emperor. Six soldiers, under the pretense of bearing dispatches, +entered his room. + +"Are _you_ the traitor who is going to deliver your Emperor's troops to +the enemy?" shouted one of the men. + +Wallenstein realized that his hour had come. He said not a word, but +stretched out his arms and silently received his death-blow. + +With an invading French army in Germany, under the famous Marshals +Turenne and Condé, looking about for choice bits of territory for +France, a religious war had become a political one. It lasted until +1648, when the "Peace of Westphalia" concluded the most desolating +struggle in the history of wars. + +And what had been gained? The very principle for which it was +undertaken was surrendered. Entire religious freedom was granted to +Protestants (excepting in Austria); four great states were lost to the +empire; a population of seventeen millions was reduced to four +millions, with Imperial authority abridged and broken. + +France took Alsace, and Sweden Pomerania. Holland and Switzerland were +recognized as independent States. The supreme power was invested in +the Reichstag, and the several German princes were made almost +independent. The empire, as a unity, had been reduced to a shadow. + +The devastation which had been wrought by those thirty terrible years +cannot be described. Its details are too awful to be dwelt upon. +Famine had converted men into wild beasts, who formed themselves into +bands, and preyed on those they caught. + +Such a band was attacked near Worms and was found cooking in a great +caldron human legs and arms! + +The spirit of the people was broken. Germany had been set back two +hundred years. And for what? Not to accomplish any high purpose, not +even from mistaken Christian zeal, but simply to carry out the despotic +resolve of the Catholic Church to rule the minds and consciences of all +men through its Popes and priesthood. It was the old battle commenced +six centuries before. Had Henry not gone to Canossa in 1073, there had +been no Thirty Years' War in 1618! + + + +[1] For a comprehensive understanding of this period see Chart of +Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +For seven hundred years, from the treaty of Verdun (843), to Charles V. +(1520), Germany had held the leading position in Europe as the head of +the "Holy Roman Empire." The reality had been gradually departing from +that alluring title; and now, with the Peace of Westphalia, it was gone. + +With a large body of its people accorded full rights, while they were +engaged in open war upon the Roman Church, the last link binding +Germany to Rome was broken. The Holy Roman Empire was now the German +Empire. + +And, in very fact, it was no empire at all, but a loose confederacy of +miniature kingdoms, administered without any regard to each other, and +in great measure independent of Imperial authority. + +Great changes had taken place throughout Europe. Louis XIV. was King +of France. In England Charles I. had lost his throne and his head, and +Cromwell was laying the foundations of a power more enduring than that +of Tudor or Stuart. Spain was rapidly declining, and the new Republic +of Holland ascending in the scale. Sweden was supreme in the North, +and Russia just beginning to be recognized as a power in Europe. +Venice and the Italian republics were crumbling to pieces; while across +the sea, on the coast of America, a few English, Dutch, and Swedish +colonies were struggling into existence. + +Richelieu was dead, but the fortunes of France were in the keeping of +one quite as ambitious for her as was the Great Minister. There was a +new aspirant for headship in Europe. When Ferdinand III. died, Louis +XIV. tried hard to be elected his successor. He spent money freely +among the Electors, and was only defeated by the sturdy opposition of +Brandenburg and Saxony. + +Of the people of Germany there is really nothing to tell in the years +which followed the Peace of Westphalia. Spiritless and disheartened in +their ruined cities, they seemed to have lost all national spirit and +even religious enthusiasm. They languidly saw the Catholic Hapsburgs +becoming absolute in the land, while the Court at Vienna and the +smaller German Courts were absorbed in establishing servile imitations +of the Court at Versailles. Churches and schoolhouses were in ruins, +but palaces were being built in which the fashions of the French Court +were closely imitated, and princes were trying to unlearn their native +language and to install that of a cormorant French King, who was +planning to devour their demoralized empire! + +The one exception among the German rulers of this time was Frederick +William of Brandenburg, the "Great Elector." This incorruptible German +lost no time in learning French. As soon as peace was declared he set +about restoring his wasted territory. He organized a standing army and +built a fleet, and he used them, too, to recover Pomerania from Sweden +and to circumvent the French King, and so enlarged his boundaries and +strengthened his authority that Brandenburg, now next in size to +Austria, was treated with the respect of an independent power, and the +name of Hohenzollern began to shine bright even beside that of Hapsburg. + +From the year 1667 until 1704 Germany was the center of the Grand +Monarch's ambitious designs. In 1687, while Prince Eugene was leading +a German army against the Turks, and while German princes, excepting +the Great Elector, were engaged in copying French fashions, two +powerful French armies suddenly appeared upon the Rhine, and the great +war which was to involve all Europe had commenced. + +It was not love for Germany which brought Holland, England, Spain, and +Sweden into this war with France, but fear of the advancing power of a +King who aspired to be supreme in Europe. + +In the year 1700, an event occurred which intensified the situation. +Charles II., the last of the half Castilian and half Hapsburg kings of +Spain descended from Charles V., died without children, and that +country was looking for the next nearest heir in foreign lands from +which to choose a new king. Of the two it found, one was son of the +Emperor of Germany and the other grandson of Louis XIV. It was a +choice of evils for Europe; as in one case the German Empire with Spain +annexed would be a preponderating power, as in the time of Charles V.; +and in the other, the grasping Louis would be far on the road to the +very end which Europe had combined to defeat! + +Inflammable oil, poured on fire, does not make a fiercer blaze than did +this question of the _Spanish Succession_ at that time. The +embarrassing thing for Louis was that, when he had married the Infanta, +he had solemnly renounced the throne of Spain for her heirs! But the +Pope, with whom the ultimate decision lay, had more need of the rising +house of Bourbon than of the waning Hapsburg, so, after "prayerful +deliberation," he concluded that the King might be absolved from that +little promise, and that Philip V. was rightful King of Spain. + +There was rage in Vienna. The Emperor Leopold I. and his disappointed +son the Archduke Karl declared they would wrest the throne from Philip +and have vengeance upon Louis, who with swelling pride was declaring +that "the Pyrenees had ceased to exist." + +When Leopold called upon the German states to arm, the Great Elector of +Brandenburg was dead. But his son Frederick took advantage of the +opportunity. He would assist the Emperor on one condition, that he be +permitted to assume the title of King! An embarrassment arose in the +fact that traditional custom permitted only one King among the Electors +(King of Bohemia), and therefore the Elector of Brandenburg could not +be also King of Brandenburg. + +The difficulty was overcome by adopting for the new kingdom the name of +his detached duchy of Prussia, that province which had been snatched +from Russia by the Teutonic knights long before, and had then been +appropriated by that masterful Hohenzollern who was then head of the +Order, as his own kingdom. It was this high-handed proceeding which +thereafter inseparably linked the name of Hohenzollern with that of +Prussia. + +So, in 1701, the Elector and his wife traveled in midwinter to +Königsberg, almost in the confines of Russia, where he was crowned +Frederick I. of Prussia, and then returned to Berlin in Brandenburg, +which thereafter remained his capital. And so it was that Prussia--the +name of a small Slavonic people on the frontier--became that of the +entire kingdom of which Berlin was the capital. + +England and Holland were in alliance with Leopold--not for the sake of +setting up the Hapsburg, but rather to put down the great Bourbon who +began to wear the prestige of invincibility. England entered the +alliance languidly at first, but when the French king threw down the +glove by recognizing the exiled Stuart (son of James II.) as the heir +to her throne, she needed no urging and sent the best of her army into +Germany under the command of the man who was going to destroy that +prestige of invincibility, and to hold in check the arrogant king. + +Marlborough and Prince Eugene formed a combination too strong for +Louis. Marlborough's great victory at Blenheim in 1704 virtually +decided the contest, although it continued for many years longer. He +was created Duke of Marlborough and received the estate of Blenheim as +his reward. + +But the long war outlived the enthusiasm it had created. England grew +tired of fighting for the Hapsburgs; there were court intrigues for +Marlborough's downfall, and finally he was recalled, and cast aside +like a rusty sword. Louis, too, had grown old and weary, and so in +1713 the Peace of Utrecht terminated the long struggle. Philip V. was +left upon the throne of Spain, with the condition that the crowns of +Spain and France should never be united. + +The disappointed Archduke Karl had now succeeded to the Imperial throne +as Karl VI. If the life of a nation be in its people, there was really +no Germany at this time. There was nothing but a wearisome succession +of wars and diplomatic intrigues, and new divisions and apportionments +of territory. Prussia was expanding and Poland declining, while +Hungary and Naples, and Milan and Mantua, were fast in the grasp of +Austria. Indeed, to tell of the territorial changes occurring at this +period is like painting a picture of dissolving elements, which form +new combinations even as you look at them. + +At the North, too, there were these same changing combinations, where +had arisen two new ambitious kings. Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter +the Great of Russia were at war; and Denmark and Poland were lending a +hand to defeat the Swedish King. Peter the Great was extending his +Baltic provinces and preparing to build his new capital of St. +Petersburg (1709); but Charles XII. was defeated by Prussia and +Hanover, in his attempt to make of Sweden one of the great powers of +Europe. His death in 1718 ended that dream. + +Not since the infamous Irene's deposition at Byzantium had there been a +woman on the throne of the Cæsars. When Karl VI. issued the decree +called the "Pragmatic Sanction," providing that the crown should +descend to female heirs in the absence of male, he forged one of the +most important links in the chain of events. This secured the +succession to his little daughter Maria Theresa, who was born in 1717. +The link had need to be a strong one, for there were to be twenty years +of effort to break it. But it held. + +At about this same time there was another important link forging in +Prussia, where Frederick William I. had succeeded his father Frederick +I. as king. By these two events the long spell was to be broken. + +Volumes have been written about this fierce, miserly King Frederick +William and his coarse brutalities. But his reign was the rough, +strong bridge which led to a Frederick the Great, and the reign of the +Great Frederick was that other bridge which led to a powerful and +dominating kingdom of Prussia,--from which was to spring a new German +Empire! + +If Frederick William was a tyrant of the most savage sort, on the other +hand he organized industry, finance, and an army. If he was a miser in +his family, he brought wealth and prosperity to his people. If he beat +and cudgeled his own son for playing the flute, he left that son a +kingdom and an army which were the foundation of his greatness. + +His hatred for all that was French, for art, for the formalities and +even the decencies of life, was an enraged protest against the +prevailing affectations and artificiality of his time. + +We can imagine how the polished and refined Court at Vienna must have +regarded this Prussian King. Austria, entirely Catholic, in a state of +moral and intellectual decline, sat looking backward and sighing for +the return of the spirit of the Middle Ages. Prussia, altogether +Protestant, had set her face toward a future which was to be greater +than she dreamed. + +In 1736 Maria Theresa was married to Francis of Lorraine. In 1740 she +succeeded her father Karl VI., on the Imperial throne; and that very +same year Frederick William of Prussia died, and was succeeded by his +son, who was to be known as Frederick the Great. + +Through the barren period succeeding the Thirty Years' War some vital +processes were going on; indeed that most vital of all processes, +thought, was active. Broken into fragments as by an earthquake, the +people had been left without one healing touch from the hands of their +infatuated rulers. It was a sorry spectacle to see those German +princes gayly arraying themselves in French finery while their country +was a ruin. Did they not know that a wound might better not heal at +all, than to begin by forming new tissue at the top! + +Whatever capacity Germany had for being, was in those neglected +fragments. If she ever developed into greatness it must be along the +line of their elemental tendencies, and by being German, not French. + +So a nation, helpless, broken, disorganized, out of harmony with itself +and with others, could not act, but it could think. And in this time +of chaos and confusion there commenced mighty stirrings in the thought +of Germany. Slumbering in that chaos were the germs of wonderful music +and a wondrous literature. + +The gloomy and despondent Spinoza had found peace in discovering that +the reality of things was not in political overturnings, nor in the +disappointing facts and phenomena which we call life, but in the +_Eternal Order_, of which we are all a part. + +He might have discovered the same sustaining truth in religion; but +Spinoza's mind led him to seek it instead in a philosophical system +which should harmonize the discordant facts of existence. This was the +foundation of German speculative philosophy, which took possession of +the German mind and which by progressive steps was to lead to a union +with a science, _founded_ upon the despised facts of life--and finally, +whether they wished it or not--a harmonizing of both with RELIGION. + +With deeply philosophical mind the great German, Leibniz, was +investigating the truths of the natural world; and Handel also belongs +to this time of soul-awakening during a period of national neglect and +depression, while at this very time there was also borne in a +stimulating wave from England, where Newton had revealed the +fundamental law and the "ETERNAL _order_" of the _physical_ universe. + +It would seem like a dim twilight to us if we should go back to it now; +but then these new lights were very dazzling, almost blinding people +with their splendor. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +It was into such a world as this that Frederick the Great was ushered +in 1712. Few children, be they princes or peasants, have ever had a +more unhappy childhood. If he had not been born to be a King, +Frederick's tastes would have led him to be a musician or a poet. A +son whose chief pleasures consisted in playing the flute, and reading +French books, became an object almost of aversion to the austere +Frederick William. In the midst of severities past belief Frederick +obtained most of his education in secret, at the hands of French +_émigrés_, who formed his taste after French models, the influence of +which could be traced throughout his life. His passion for music was +pursued also in the same secret way. + +The tyranny and the beatings to which he was subjected became at last +so intolerable that, when he was eighteen years old, Frederick +determined to run away. His adored sister Wilhelmine was his +confidante. His bosom friend, Lieutenant Von Katte, was his +accomplice. A letter to Von Katte, written at this time, fell into +other hands and was sent to the King. + +The barbarities which followed make one think this Hohenzollern should +have been in a madhouse instead of on a throne. It was a small matter +that he beat his son until his face was covered with blood, for he had +done that before; but he sent him as a prisoner of state to Prussia. +He then annulled the sentence of imprisonment passed by the +court-martial upon Von Katte, and ordered his immediate execution. To +inflict more suffering he ordered that the hanging take place before +the window of the cell where his son was confined! + +When this was carried into effect the young prince fainted, and lay so +long insensible that it was thought he was dead. + +The King then insisted that he be tried by court-martial; and when the +court decided that it had no authority to condemn the Crown Prince, he +overruled the decision and ordered his execution. + +The horror and indignation caused by this extended as far as Vienna. +The Emperor Charles VI. informed the King of Prussia that the Crown +Prince could only be condemned capitally at an Imperial Diet. The King +answered, "Very well; then, I will hold my own court on him at +Königsberg. Prussia is my own and outside the confines of the empire, +where I can do as I please." + +But the fury of this madman was abating. He did not resent it when a +daring attendant reminded him that "God also ruled--even in Prussia." +Finally he was satisfied with humiliating his son by making him work +for one year in the lowest position in the departments of the +government. + +At the wedding festivities of his sister Wilhelmine, Frederick secreted +himself among the servants in humble attire. He was discovered, and +the King, who must have been in a genial mood that night, pulled him +forth from his hiding, and leading him to the trembling queen said, +"Here, madam, our Fritz is back again!" And the reconciliation made +three aching hearts glad. + +For the ten succeeding years Frederick was permitted to reside in his +own castle near Potsdam, and the relations with his father became +kinder and almost cordial. The son in his castle pursued his +philosophical studies, corresponded with Voltaire, and played the flute +to his heart's content. + +But he did other things too, as the future demonstrated. The study of +profound subjects, conversation, and intimate friendships with learned +men, trained his active mind to wonderful acuteness, and when he +applied this to the study of history, when he read of the dignity of +kings, and of what stuff greatness was made in the past--he formed his +own ideals for the future. When Frederick William died in 1740 he was +prepared to take the reins of government with a comprehensiveness of +grasp of which his austere father was incapable, and with clearly +defined plans to make Prussia great. + +Six months later Maria Theresa succeeded to her father's throne. She +had no fear of this young flute-playing King of Prussia, and was fully +occupied in defending her own Imperial rights, which were assailed by +the Elector of Bavaria, who claimed to be Emperor Karl VII., by virtue +of a descent superior to hers. + +But the war of the _Austrian Succession_, in which she was soon +involved, was quickly overshadowed by a greater conflict, which was +immediately commenced by the bold and ambitious young Prussian King. + +He claimed, by virtue of some obscure transaction in the past, that +Silesia belonged to him. But he gallantly offered, if it was returned +to him, to support Maria Theresa's cause in the fight with her kinsman +of Bavaria over the succession. + +The offer was rejected, and almost before the ink in the correspondence +was dry, a Prussian army, with Frederick at its head, was in the heart +of the disputed province. + +Two characteristics marked Frederick's movements--the perfect secrecy +with which they were planned, and the swiftness with which they were +carried out. He formed his own plans, and even his Prime Minister did +not know of their existence until he was ordered to execute them. The +cunning methods then prevailing in Courts, by which foreign ambassadors +defeated designs while they were maturing, were powerless against this +young King, as none but himself knew what was going to happen. He gave +his personal and unremitting care to every detail of government, and +astonished his people by the prodigies of labor he performed, and the +sacrifices of his time, rest, and comfort. + +Of course this ancient wrong done his family in the matter of Silesia +was only a pretext. Frederick had made up his mind at Potsdam that +Prussia must be solidified by bringing together her detached provinces, +and he had long ago drawn a new map in his mind, which should include +Silesia. + +Nature had endowed him with a bold and aspiring genius. He had a +consciousness of strength, combined with a belief that he was a chosen +instrument appointed by fate to perform a definite work: the raising of +Prussia to the first rank in the German empire. + +When we see Frederick's ideal of a despotic personal government, with a +divinely appointed ruler leading his country to greatness, independent +of ministers and advisers,--it is easy to recognize the model which is +being studied by a certain young ruler in Europe to-day! + +There was another strong personality on the throne at Vienna. To have +her crown threatened by a powerful combination, and at the same time a +war of conquest waged against her in her own Austria, was a heavy +burden to be borne by a young girl of twenty-four years. But Maria +Theresa maintained herself with astonishing bravery and firmness. She +listened to the counsels of her ministers, and then decided for +herself; even her husband Francis being unable to sway her judgment. + +France, Spain, and Saxony sustained the claims of the Bavarian Archduke +to her throne; and when a French army was on the Danube and Vienna +threatened, she fled to Hungary and made a personal appeal to the +Hungarian Diet to stand by her. She promised the restoration of rights +for which they had been contending, and by her personal charm and +radiance captured the wavering nobles, who placed on her head the crown +of St. Stephen. They cheered wildly as she galloped up "the king's +hill," and waved her sword toward the four quarters of the earth in +true Imperial fashion. + +Then she appeared before the Diet in their national costume with her +infant son Joseph in her arms, and in an eloquent speech depicted the +dangers which beset her, and the enthusiastic nobles drew their sabers, +shouting, "We will die for our _King_, Maria Theresa!" + +This saved Vienna. The support of Hungary arrested the advance toward +the capital, and the invading army moved instead on to Prague, where +her rival was crowned King of Bohemia, and later at Frankfort was +proclaimed Emperor Karl VII. + +While these distracting combinations were engrossing the young +sovereign, Frederick had invaded Silesia, and when the second Silesian +war ended in 1742, Prussia held that province, and was enriched by 150 +large and small cities, and about 5000 villages. + +England, Holland, and Hanover now came to the support of Maria Theresa +against Karl VII. and his French ally. + +The wary Frederick saw that, with such a coalition, Austria's success +was certain, and he also saw that, if victorious, her next step would +be to try to recover Silesia. So he offered to join France in support +of Karl VII., and threw himself into the war of the Austrian succession. + +This lasted three years longer and was concluded by the Peace of +Dresden (1745), which again confirmed Prussia in the possession of +Silesia, left Maria Theresa's husband wearing the disputed Imperial +title as Francis I., and to Frederick left the more unique and renowned +title of "the Great," which was bestowed by acclamation on his return +to Berlin. + +Frederick's first care was to heal the wounds inflicted by the two +Silesian wars. + +It is interesting to speculate upon what this man might have been, had +his childhood been spent in an atmosphere of kindness and love, and had +his heart and intelligence been symmetrically nurtured and trained. + +But he was trained as the tree is trained which is blasted in its youth +by lightnings, then twisted and distorted by hands which defeat its +natural tendency upward and sunward! + +An eager and impressionable boy with warm affections, acute +intelligence, and a strong sense of justice had been subjected to +inhuman barbarities in his own home. In his heart-hunger he turned to +pursuits for which he had a passionate love, and was nourished in +secret upon a poisonous diet. A nature which in the fire of his youth +had been full of generous enthusiasms was embittered by suffering, and +then became cold and cynical under the teachings of Voltaire. + +So fascinated had he become with this man that he regarded him as the +most exalted of beings, and his friendship a treasure above all others. +Faith, hope, love, and filial respect were, through this influence, +destroyed in the germ before they had time to unfold; and in the place +of everything sacred was a cynical cold-blooded search after what these +philosophers of the eighteenth century were pleased to call--_truth_. +And the way to discover this truth was to analyze, dissect, and then to +demolish! + +So there had been created a strangely composite man, compounded of +elements native to himself, to that undeveloped barbarian Frederick +William, and to Voltaire! Joined to a strong practical common sense in +the management of affairs was a passion for insincere, unsound, and +shallow French ideals. And combined with the most despotic and +arbitrary of wills, was an inflexible regard for the right of the +humblest. While he despised the beliefs of Protestant and Catholic +alike, he declared "I mean that every man in my kingdom shall have the +right to be saved in his own way." And he secured that right for his +people, too! + +His rule was a despotism, but it was a despotism of intelligence and +justice. He called himself the first official servant of the state, +and no clerk in his kingdom gave such faithful service as he. He arose +at four o'clock in the morning. He made himself personally acquainted +with every village and landed estate in his kingdom, which he treated +as if it were a great private enterprise and interest, for which he was +responsible. + +He was a reformer without heart; a King intent upon the well-being of +his people, without tenderness; a leader prepared, if need be, not to +lead, but to drag Prussia with a rough hand up the rugged path of +virtue and prosperity; and determined to make his nation great, whether +it wanted to be or not! + +There were many pleasanter companions and gentler fathers in his day. +There were sovereigns who did not terrify wrong-doers and children on +the street with uplifted canes. But this Frederick, with character +scarred and distorted, was the one man in Europe who was converting a +kingdom into a POWER, and the one man of his age whom history would +call GREAT! + +But such a being as this, one who has turned to adamant in heroic mold, +cannot sympathetically comprehend the finer currents about him. There +was going on, quite unnoticed by King Frederick, an awakening in the +German mind, and while he was building a structure of material +greatness, there had commenced, unobserved by him, another structure, +which was to be the chief glory of Germany. + +The passion for speculative thought awakened by Spinoza was stirring +the German soul to its depths. Kant had found that Spinoza's _Eternal +Order_ must be a _Moral Order_. That the moral instincts which guided +mankind, and were the all in all, were the God in us, the in-dwelling +of the Divine. Thus was embodied the essence of Christianity in a new +and speculative philosophy. + +Klopstock and Lessing were creating a national literature, which +revealed for the first time the strength, resources, and unsuspected +beauty of their own language, and which was for the first time being +used to express a genius untouched by foreign influence. + +But all unconscious of this new, rushing stream of life, Frederick was +entertaining Voltaire, spending his evenings in listening to the latest +satirical verses of that vain and gifted Frenchman, and laughing at the +latest witty epigram from Paris. + +It had been one of Frederick's dreams, in his youth, to have his great +friend some day reside in his Court. In 1750 this was realized, and +the King and the poet settled down to what was to be an everlasting +banquet of sympathetic tastes and opinions, seasoned with mutual +admiration and friendship! + +Frederick felt that he was something of a poet himself, and that he was +only prevented by cares of state from letting the world find it out. +The wily Frenchman had been the literary confidant of his royal friend, +and many pages of verses had been submitted to him during their long +correspondence, and had received flattering commendation from the great +critic. So one of the pleasantest features in this closer +companionship was expected to be this drop of honeyed praise to sweeten +the evening after the day's work was done. + +But Frederick's verses bored Voltaire very much, and the royal host +began to discover that his great guest was selfish, and cold, and +jealous, and even malignant. The nimbus of fascination began to fade. +He could be cutting and satirical as well as Voltaire. The great poet +was no less hungry for praise than he, and it was an easy matter to +yawn and be bored by his verses, too. And so they became gradually +estranged, and finally enemies. They parted in anger, and Voltaire +returned to France, to write bitter satires about the King, whose +character and ideals he had been one of the chief agents in forming. + +There was then in Germany a man whose glory was to outshine Voltaire's +or that of any contemporary in Europe, even as the sun does the stars. +But Frederick's ear could not detect music in his own language, nor was +his stunted soul attuned to the native and sublime harmonies of +Goethe's genius. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +There had been a time when two nations in Europe could fight each other +to the death without disturbing their neighbors, but since there had +developed in the sixteenth century that larger unity of European +states, there was no such isolated security. + +So when, in 1755, England and France came into collision over the +boundaries of their American colonies, the shock was felt all over +Europe. Just as the earthquake which swallowed up Lisbon at that very +time had made the shores of Lake Ontario tremble, so the peace of +Germany, which had lasted for eleven years, was broken by an event in +far-off Canada. + +The two contending parties, England and France, began after the fashion +of the time to look about for allies. Maria Theresa, who had +invitations from both countries to join them, was considering which +could best serve her own private interests. England, since 1714, had +been ruled by Hanoverian kings, which practically annexed her to +Hanover. It was by no means sure that she could get assistance from +that nation in recovering Silesia--which was to be the price of her +alliance. She decided that her best policy was to secure the aid of +Louis XV., who would be glad to help her in her plans against +Frederick, in return for the assistance of Austria in this war with +England. + +As astute and profound as any statesman in Europe, this wonderful +Empress adopted means and methods entirely feminine to carry out her +immense design. + +She knew that Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, was mortally offended with +the King of Prussia, on account of some disparaging remarks he had made +about her, so she deftly used that to her own advantage. +Then--perfectly understanding how to reach the enslaved Louis XV.--she +wrote a flattering letter to Mme. de Pompadour, then in the full tide +of her ascendency over the king. + +With the greatest secrecy these negotiations were carried on, and at +last the compact between the three great powers was concluded and +everything ready to commence a war upon Prussia in the spring of 1757; +even to the agreement as to the way in which they should cut up and +divide among themselves the kingdom of Prussia! + +Frederick, through secret agents, was perfectly well informed of their +plans. He saw that his ruin was determined upon, and could only be +prevented by unhesitating courage. He determined to anticipate them. +Before the allied armies were ready, he made one of his catlike leaps +into the neutral territory of Saxony, and was in Dresden, half way to +Prague, with seventy thousand men. + +This so disconcerted the plans of the allies that there was a pause, +and conferences were held, in which it was concluded to ask Sweden to +join the coalition. Finally, that almost forgotten body, the Diet of +the German Empire, formally declared war against Prussia, and the Third +Silesian War, or the Seven Years' War, had commenced. + +As the avowed object of this great combination was not the recovery of +Silesia but the dismemberment of the kingdom, to deprive Frederick of +his royal title, and to reduce him to a simple Margrave of Brandenburg, +it is easy to see the incentive he had to great deeds. + +England and a few small German States were his allies; but, as George +II. heartily disliked him, he received small assistance from him, and +stood practically alone with half of Europe allied against him. + +There were great victories and great defeats during the seven years +which followed. There were times when the cause of Prussia seemed +lost, and other times when that of the Allies appeared hopeless. But +the tide of victory more often set toward Frederick's standard than +that of his adversaries. He defeated the Austrians at Prague; the +Imperial and French army at Rossbach; a Russian army at Zorndorf; and +these and a hundred other names stand in the annals of Prussia for +monumental courage, daring, and sacrifice. + +In the confused narrative of advancing and retreating armies, of +battles and of slaughter, but one distinct impression remains. That is +amazement--amazement that so many thousands were willing at the bidding +of one ambitious man to die, to lay down their bodies in that heap of +dead, for Prussia's greatness to rise upon! That not one was ready to +reproach him for having brought these calamities upon them for the sake +of Silesia; but instead, with twenty thousand still lying unburied upon +one field, that they respond with infatuated enthusiasm to his appeal +for more! + +But Prussia owes her rise to just such infatuation as this. +_Acquisition_ and _conquest_ are written on her foundation stones, the +chief of which were laid by her Great Frederick. + +It is pleasant to tell of peace once more. The Allies, wearied of the +long war, gradually withdrew from Austria. Being unable to carry it on +alone, Maria Theresa was compelled to abandon her dream of ruining +Frederick. With bitterness of heart and humiliation she consented to +give up Silesia forever as the price of a peace she did not desire. In +1763, the articles were signed (the Peace of Hubertsburg) and the Seven +Years' War was over. + +Frederick was now called "the Great" throughout Europe; and Prussia +took her place among the "Five Great Powers." + +The next thing to be done was to repair the desolation left by seven +years of war. Nearly fifteen thousand houses were in ashes. So many +men had been consumed in the army that there were not enough left to +till the fields, nor horses to draw the harvest. + +The practical King, anticipating this, had been enforcing the +cultivation of the much despised potato; and this useful tuber saved +Prussia and Silesia from famine, and some of their neighbors as well. +For as many as twenty thousand famishing people came from the trampled +and burnt corn-fields of Bohemia to feed upon the Prussian potato and +live. + +Again the people set about the oft-repeated task of repairing the +devastation of war. Indeed for 150 years they had always been either +enduring the horrors of a great conflict, or healing its wounds and +building up the waste places it had made. Can we wonder that they were +strong and serious? The weaklings were winnowed out by these great +storms, and the chastened souls of those who survived knew little of +pleasure. Religion, which had once been their solace and refuge, had +lost much of its power on account of the bitterness of sectarian strife. + +A few men groping for a solution of the problems of sin and suffering, +and for the meaning of this troubled existence, thought they had found +it in the new philosophy. France, under the teachings of Voltaire and +Rousseau, had cast off the restraints of religious faith without +providing any substitute, but Germany, more provident, was building a +spacious house for the soul's refuge when the old was demolished; +untrammeled freedom of thought was inscribed upon its doors, and +PHILOSOPHY was enshrined within! + +All this tumultuous inner life was growth: the growth and unfolding of +a great and earnest soul; and the awakening of new capacities for being +and doing. There was a rapturous surprise in discovering these +capacities, and speculative thought and literature became an absorbing +passion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +At the close of the Seven Years' War, Maria Theresa had spent the +twenty-three years of her reign in a fruitless struggle with Frederick. +Instead of dismembering his kingdom and reducing him to a plain +Margrave of Brandenburg, she had lost Silesia and was compelled to +listen to the praises of her enemy resounding through Europe and to +hear him called "the Great." + +It was a bitter pill for her nine years later, when she had to confer +with the Prussian King as an equal, over the partition of Poland, and +to see him further enriched by a goodly slice of that unhappy country. + +But before that event, and just two years after the conclusion of the +war, Francis I. died (1755). He had worn the title, but she had +wielded the power and guided the events ever since that day when, with +her infant son in her arms, she had captured the Hungarian Diet at +Presburg. + +And now that son was Joseph II. But the scepter was still in reality +to remain with her while she lived, and in fact her name was to be the +last ray of splendor which should illumine the throne of Austria. But +these were sunset glories after a long and troubled day, while in +Prussia was the brightness of the dawn. + +That friendship with Louis XV. so eagerly sought by Maria Theresa led +to a very momentous alliance of a different sort. The Empress and the +French King together arranged a marriage between her fair young +daughter Marie Antoinette and Louis, the young Dauphin of France. + +How should the Empress of Austria, born, nurtured, and fed in the very +center of despotism--not hearing or heeding the current ideas about +human rights and freedom--entirely misunderstanding the past, the +present, and the future--how should she suspect the terrific forces +which were accumulating beneath the throne of France, or that it would +become a scaffold for her child? Hapsburg and Bourbon, to her mind, +were realities as fixed and enduring as the Alps. + +She saw no special significance in the fact that thirteen English +colonies in America were in rebellion and setting up a novel form of +government for themselves. That was England's affair, not hers, and +would in time, like other rebellions against properly constituted +authority, be put down. + +She did not live to see the end of this struggle, nor the events to +which it led in France. Her death occurred in 1780. Her son, Joseph +II., strange to say, was imbued with the new ideas of human rights. +Great was the astonishment of Frederick and of Europe, when this young +man set about the task of establishing a new and progressive order of +things in Austria; and it was a strange spectacle to behold a Hapsburg +trying to force upon his people reforms they did not desire, and rights +which they did not know how to use. + +His plans were high and noble, but he failed to see that they were too +sweeping and too suddenly developed to be permanent. His people were +not ripe for emancipation from old shackles, which they had grown to +like and venerate. In striving to free the church from the Jesuits, +and to emancipate the serfs in Hungary, he had accomplished nothing, +and had created chaos. Depressed by the failure in his great design of +reformation, Joseph's health gave way. He died in 1790 and was +succeeded by his brother Leopold II. + +It is not to be supposed that Frederick felt much sympathy with the +free young Republic established in America. And if he sent a sword of +honor to Washington in 1783, it was because he recognized the greatness +of the man; and perhaps, too, because he felt a malicious pleasure in +the humiliation of George III.! + +The intellectual awakening which this King had failed to understand had +wrought a mighty change in Germany. Lessing had been the first to +break away from an enfeebling imitation of French _Sentimentlalism_. +The genius of Goethe and Schiller awakened a new spirit in literature, +that of _Romanticism_, and there commenced that intellectual convulsion +known as _Sturm und Drang_, or storm and stress period. While Goethe +and Schiller were supreme in the kingdom of letters, Herder and the +Schlegels were great in history and criticism; Humboldt and Ritter in +geographical science; Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and Kant in philosophy; +Fouqué and Tieck in imagination, and Jean Paul Richter in the +mysterious ether of transcendental thought. + +When Karl August called Goethe to his Court in Saxe-Weimar, among that +group of other illustrious authors, and gave to Weimar the name of the +"German Athens," it was a Golden Age for Germany. + +It is interesting to recall that it was Luther who gave the first +impulse to this movement, by revealing to the people the riches of +their own tongue. In his translation of the Bible, and in his hymns, +so grandly simple, he created the modern German language. + +The influence of Luther was felt in another art, too. The enthusiasm +awakened by the singing of his hymns revolutionized the form of +ecclesiastical music. In this Golden Age in Germany music, too, had +become a great art, with such immortal names as Mozart, Gluck, Haydn, +and Beethoven; and the period of great orchestration also had +commenced.[1] + +Although Frederick's tastes led him so strongly to letters and to +music, these two arts had attained this rich development in Germany +without any assistance from him. When he died in 1786 the monument he +left was a Kingdom of Prussia; equal in rank with any of the Great +Powers of Europe, enlarged in territory, rich in population, with a +great army and an overflowing treasury. + +As Frederick the Great had no son, this splendid inheritance passed to +his nephew Frederick William II. + +With the new ascendency of Prussia in the German Empire, a process +which had long been going on was accelerated. That empire had become a +fiction, a form from which the substance had long ago departed; almost +its only remaining relic being an Imperial Diet, where thirty solemn +old men supposed they were holding the venerated structure together by +weaving about it, and repairing, the thin, worn threads of tradition. + +The German Empire had in its best time existed by grace of God and +force of circumstances, more than by reason of a sound and perfect +organism. It always struggled with fatal inherent defects. Its life +currents never flowed freely and had been growing more and more +sluggish for centuries. And now, they had ceased to flow at all. +There was no vital relation whatever between its various parts. Of +national feeling there was absolutely none. Lessing, one of the +greatest Germans of that time, said, "Of the love of country I have no +conception!" + +And what was there to inspire patriotism in this great empty shell of +despotism! The shattered lifeless old structure was wrong at its very +foundation. It was built upon feudal injustice; that injustice which +compelled the people to bear the whole burden of taxation, from which +it exempted the nobility and the clergy. England had long ago +redressed this grievous wrong. France was just preparing to free +herself from it by a tremendous convulsion. Germany had been offered +emancipation at the hands of her enlightened and gracious Emperor +Joseph, but so spiritless and benumbed had she become that she could +not understand his message. + +He was attempting a vain task in trying to infuse new life into the +empire. There were no living channels to convey the current. The only +thing to be done with it was to sweep it away--and the man and the time +for doing this were close at hand. The surface calm which existed +while Leopold II. was repairing the disorder left by his reforming +brother Joseph, was the calm which precedes the hurricane. + + + +[1] See Chart of Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The energies which were to transform the face of Europe had been +gradually centering in France. They commenced when Voltaire and +Rousseau made it the fashion to scoff at the Church. Then, as religion +and morality are closely allied, virtue became also a subject of +ridicule. The spirit animating this was supposed to be a reforming +spirit. It was an effort to free the people from the fetters of +ecclesiasticism. Naturally, this led to assaults upon other fetters, +other prevailing abuses. The vices of the Court were held up to +view--its extravagance and luxury; all of which people were reminded +that _they_ had to pay for. + +Just at this time the Colonies in North America threw off the English +yoke because of this very matter of taxation unjustly imposed, and +France enthusiastically helped them to establish a free republic and to +humiliate her rival! + +Frenchmen returned from the United States and contrasted the fresh +vigor and purity of its institutions with the decrepit corruptions in +France. The current began to flow very swiftly now. A Richelieu or a +Louis XIV. would have been powerless to arrest the mad forces which +quickly developed. What could the feeble, well-intentioned Louis XVI. +do! He was like a skiff caught in the rushing rapids of the Niagara +River. It was only a question of how long he could hold on to passing +twigs and branches before he should go over the precipice. In 1793 +Europe read with shuddering horror of his execution, and nine months +later Maria Theresa's daughter--the beautiful, the adored Marie +Antoinette--sat in a cart with her arms pinioned behind her, as she was +driven to the scaffold. + +The men who had guided this storm in its beginnings had themselves been +engulfed in it, and a French republic was proclaimed which had been +erected upon a tragedy unparalleled in Europe. + +It was a horrible avenging of centuries of wrong and oppression. But +its purpose was thoroughly accomplished. No vestige of the old +tyrannies remained. If France was again enslaved, the fetters would +have to be forged anew! + +The powers of Europe were not only filled with horror and indignation +at the means by which this was accomplished, but they saw with alarm a +pestilential republic, in imitation of that one across the sea, at +their very doors. + +They formed a combination, called the First Coalition, for its +overthrow. If the states of Europe had really acted in concert, the +life of the new republic would have been very brief. But Austria was +jealous of Prussia, and Prussia was jealous of the close friendship +forming between Austria and England, withdrew from the alliance, and +made peace with the French republic. + +Catherine, Empress of Russia, for reasons of her own also declined to +join the coalition. While all Europe was thus engaged she thought it a +good time to settle some scores with the Turks and to look after +Poland, where a revolution was in progress. So, while the German +Empire was engaged in suppressing republicanism in France, Frederick +William II. of Prussia offered his services to Catherine to overthrow +the independence of Poland. + +Kosciusko vainly defended that unhappy country. With the fall of +Warsaw, 1794, it ceased to exist as one in the family of nations. + +So Austria had been left practically alone to put down the new +republic, which was developing wonderful strength while these languid +and inefficient efforts were being made against it; for even Austria +was diverted by what was going on in Poland, and fearful that she was +not going to get her share of the spoils. + +Marie Antoinette's brother Leopold had died the year before his +sister's execution and his son Francis II. was Emperor of Germany. The +government of this new republic which had caused such a stir in Europe +was a very simple affair. Five men who were called Directors were at +its head, and an obscure young man of twenty-six, named Napoleon +Bonaparte, had been given command of the army, with Italy as its field +of operations. + +No doubt Francis thought it would be an easy matter to deal with France +after the more important matter of the partition of Poland was disposed +of. Little did he suspect that the time was approaching when he would, +at the bidding of that young man, take off his Imperial crown, and that +Napoleon Bonaparte would rise to ascendency in Europe upon the ruins of +the German Empire. + +In 1796 the young Corsican led a ragged, unpaid army into Italy. +Without supplies, and almost without ammunition, he had audaciously +planned to make the invaded country pay the expenses of the war waged +against it. + +He pointed to the Italian cities, and said to his soldiers, "There is +your reward. It is rich and ample; but you must conquer it." He knew +the French character and how in words brief, concise, forcible to +address them like another Cæsar addressing his legions; to create +incentives to glory, and to inspire enthusiasm as never man did before. + +He also knew the infirmities of his adversaries, and how to play upon +them as Cæsar did upon the rivalries and jealousies of the Gauls, and +so to make the characteristics of Frenchmen, of German, and of Italian +all serve him. He knew how to confound the enemy with new and +unexpected methods, which rendered unavailing all which military +science and experience had before taught. + +In a brief time central Italy lay open before him, and princes, +trembling at his vengeance, were suing for peace and offering money and +treasure to procure it. Even then he was planning to make of Paris +another Rome, and to adorn her with the jewels which had been worn by +the proud Italian cities. So he demanded rare collections of paintings +as the price of safety. The Duke of Parma laid at his feet priceless +treasures of art; and even the Pope purchased neutrality by the payment +of twenty-one million francs, one hundred costly pictures, and two +hundred rare manuscripts. + +When the treaty of Campo Formio was signed in 1797, Napoleon had won +fourteen battles, and had subjugated Italy. The German Empire had lost +all of its Italian possessions, which were now grouped together into a +Cisalpine Republic, under the protectorship of France. Another +Helvetic Republic was set up in Switzerland under the same +protectorate. And then Napoleon scornfully tossed Venice as an apple +of discord into the lap of the Emperor, in exchange for the +Netherlands. And another republic under a French protectorate was +created in Holland. + +As the left bank of the Rhine had already been ceded to France, that +country, which had been only four years before in a state of political +chaos, was at the head of Europe. + +What would she not do at the bidding of the man who could accomplish +such things? He dramatically conceived the idea of crippling England +by threatening her Asiatic possessions, and led an army into Egypt. +There every bulletin, every address to his army, added to the glamour +of his name. Even the Pyramids were made to serve his consummate art +and ambition! + +Although his fleet was destroyed by Nelson and his army left in +perilous position, he was needed at home, and returned with all the +arrogance of a conqueror. He was appointed Generalissimo over the army +by an enraptured France, and then swept aside the five Directors and +appointed himself and two others Consuls. + +A second coalition was now formed against France, consisting of +England, Russia, and Austria, and there followed another campaign in +which Napoleon made permanent the results of the previous ones in +Italy. By the treaty of peace in 1801, the three republics created by +him were formally recognized, and the princes of Germany, in +compensation for their losses, had apportioned among them the dominions +of the priestly rulers. + +Thus at one blow were abolished one hundred states governed by +archbishops, bishops, and other clerical dignitaries, and one of the +foundation stones of the empire, laid by Charlemagne himself, was +shattered. + +This extraordinary man, dreaming of universal empire, superstitiously +believed that Fate intended him to hold Europe in his hand. But we can +see now that he was designed by that remorseless Fate for a very +different purpose, and a very brief office. He was a terrible +instrument, which she intended to use for one specific purpose, and +then to cast him aside. + +This work was the destruction of the Romano-Germanic Empire. That +lifeless mass, whose oppressive weight had crushed the life and hope +out of Central Europe for centuries, needed some tremendous force from +without to break up its time-encrusted rivets. And that force was now +in the hands of a workman who supposed he was engaged in rearing a +great edifice for himself. Instead of which he was overturning, and +plowing, and harrowing Germany, and preparing the ground for new forms +of political life; and nothing more effectually pulverized the old +tyrannies than this secularization of the priestly dominions. When, +added to this, we see the extinction of a multitude of petty states and +the abolition of the special privileges of nearly a thousand "Imperial" +noble families, we realize how he was relieving Germany from the +incubus which had paralyzed her for centuries. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +The eighteenth century closed upon a strangely altered Europe. France +was the ruling power on the Continent. Prussia had hidden herself in a +timid neutrality, and left Austria to fight with foreign allies for the +life of the empire. That battle had been a losing one, and now Francis +II. sat upon a trembling throne and bore a title which had no longer +any meaning. + +But Napoleon was building his own edifice. In 1803 he had himself +declared First Consul for life, and in 1804 he assumed the title of +Napoleon, Emperor of the French. His coronation took place at Paris, +where he compelled the Pope to come and perform that ceremony. + +Then, after changing the groups of Italian republics into a Kingdom of +Italy, he crowned himself, after the fashion of the Emperors whose +successor he meant to be, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. + +He had entered upon the most daring scheme ever attempted in Europe: to +convert the whole Continent into one vast empire, with the kings and +princes over the several nations all subject to him. + +Then there was a third coalition from which Prussia still held aloof, +and which was composed of England, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. +Alexander I. was now Emperor of Russia, and the timorous and +unpatriotic policy of Prussia was guided by Frederick William III., who +had succeeded his father Frederick William II. + +The Prussian King, influenced by antagonism to Austria and by the hope +of obtaining safety and reward for Prussia, stubbornly maintained his +attitude of neutrality, while the German Empire was receiving its +death-blow at Austerlitz. That "battle of the three Emperors," as it +is called, was a paralyzing defeat to the Allies. + +Prussia ignominiously received Hanover as her reward, and seventeen +German states, including Bavaria, Baden, Würtemberg, and +Hesse-Darmstadt, formally separated themselves from the German Empire +and declared themselves subject to the French Emperor. This was known +as the Rheinbund. + +The German Empire was now reduced to three separate bodies: the +Rheinbund, a federation of states giving willing allegiance to +Napoleon; _Prussia_, practically in alliance with her destroyer; and +_Austria_, helpless in that destroyer's grasp, while he, sitting in the +Imperial Palace at Vienna, dictated terms of peace. + +The Empire was broken beyond repair. On the 6th of August its +dissolution was formally announced. Francis II. abdicated the Imperial +crown and assumed the title of the "Emperor of Austria." + +It was not the people of Prussia who bartered their allegiance to the +fatherland for peace and for Hanover. It was their King and princes +who brought this stain upon them, and their beautiful Queen Louise, +mother of the late Emperor William, had pleaded in vain with the King +to pursue a loyal and patriotic course. + +The punishment came swiftly. The insatiate conqueror had no thought of +leaving a great state like Prussia undisturbed. And soon it developed +that his plan was also to create a northern bund under his +protectorate, which would be composed of the Prussian states on the +northern coast. + +Forced in her own defense to take up arms, Prussia suffered a terrible +defeat at Jena, 1806. The conqueror for whose friendship Frederick +William had sacrificed his country was in Berlin. The beautiful +Prussian Queen who, he knew, had used her influence against him, was +treated with the grossest insolence, while for the cowed people +recently in revolt, and now prostrating themselves, he did not restrain +his contempt. + +The Peace of Tilsit (1807) determined the full measure of Prussia's +retribution. Her Polish acquisitions were made into a "Grand Duchy of +Warsaw," under a French protectorate. One half of the rest of her +territory was converted into a kingdom of Westphalia, over which +Napoleon's brother Jerome was king. To the remainder of Prussia was +assigned the burden of an immense indemnity, and the maintenance of a +French army in her territory. + +But the cup of humiliation was not drained until later when, standing +with the Continent under his feet, Napoleon compelled the Prussian King +to join the Rheinbund with what was left of his kingdom, to furnish +France with troops, and thus to become tributary to his designs upon +Europe. + +Napoleon in the meantime, in an hour's interview with Alexander of +Russia, had by the magic of his influence secured that Emperor's +friendship. All this excellent man was fighting for was the peace of +Europe! And he disclosed to Alexander his plan that they two should be +the eternal custodians of that peace; which was to be secured by +restraining the arrogance of England; and that was to be done by +destroying her commercial prosperity. All of Europe was to be +forbidden to trade with that country. There was to be a Continental +blockade against a "nation of shopkeepers." Alexander was completely +won, and he promised not to molest his new friend in his benevolent +task. + +The provinces dependent upon France were now divided up into kingdoms +and principalities, and to make his own control over them more assured, +Napoleon placed members of his own family and personal friends upon the +various thrones. + +His brother Louis was created King of Holland. His brother-in-law +Murat was made King of Naples; Eugene Beauharnais, his step-son, +Viceroy of Italy. Jerome Bonaparte, as we have seen, was King of +Westphalia, and his brother Joseph he had already made King of Spain, +in the time he could spare from more important matters in Germany. + +And what was the real sentiment in Germany concerning this man at such +a time? We hear that ninety German authors dedicated books to him and +that servile newspapers were praising him; and we know that one of the +immortal compositions of Beethoven was inspired by him. But we must +recollect that he was too colossal and too dazzling to be accurately +measured, except from a distance. Even yet we are almost too near to +him for that, and the world is as divided in its estimate of Napoleon +as of the true meaning of Shakspeare's "Hamlet." It is an eternal +controversy. He was a monstrous creation; colossal in his plans, +colossal in his grasp of the forces about him, colossal in ambition, in +selfishness, in cruelty, and in intelligence. + +Napoleon realized the value of hereditary grandeur. He had been able +to climb without it; but the sons who would succeed him as masters of +Christendom must have the dignity of ancestry to fortify them. No +blood but the Hapsburg was fit for this great office. He swept away +Josephine as remorselessly as he had the Pope in Rome, and compelled +Francis II. to bestow his daughter Marie Louise upon the man who had +stripped him of his Crown and his Empire, and who was steadily +absorbing what remained of his dignity. + +The marriage took place in 1810, and with his Hapsburg Empress, +Napoleon established a temporary court at Dresden. + +Then there commenced the process which was intended finally to engulf +all the separate German kingdoms in one universal abyss. The Kingdom +of Holland was first annexed to the French Empire; then North Germany +was swallowed up in the same way; the same fate evidently being +intended next for the Rheinbund. The satellites had begun to fall into +the sun! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +To the man guiding these astounding changes it seemed a very small +matter then that a handful of Tyrolese peasants were in revolt against +the French King in Bavaria; nor that a small group of philosophers, +poets, and men of letters, were consulting together in Prussia over the +shame of their betrayal by their rulers, and considering plans for +guiding a popular movement for the emancipation of Germany. + +But these were the first stirrings of a force Napoleon had not before +had to contend with. He had fought with kings and princes and proud +aristocracies clinging to their ancient splendor and possessions, but +his armies had never been face to face with _patriotism_. + +He had not met it, because it did not exist in the German Empire until +he himself made its existence possible by breaking up the old stifling +tyrannies. Now a few patriotic and courageous men all over Germany +were combining, and inciting the people to revolt; an association +called "The League of Virtue" was created. Then the Tyrolese peasants +were subdued and their leader Hofer was shot in cold blood by +Napoleon's orders. The King of Prussia was ordered to suppress the +"League of Virtue," and French spies supposed they were uprooting +patriotism by reporting it as treason to France. + +Napoleon was at this moment at the climax of his greatness. He decreed +that Rome should be annexed to his empire, and that his infant son +should receive the title "King of Rome," which title should thereafter +belong to the oldest son of the French Emperor. What if this did bring +curses upon his name? He was now beyond the reach of blessings or +curses from men; and probably was rather pleased than otherwise when +Alexander I. threw off their sentimental friendship and defied him, by +abandoning the plan of a Continental blockade for the ruin of England. + +Now he was free to develop his gigantic plan. Does anyone suppose that +the conquest of Russia was all of that plan? Far from it! There is +every reason to believe that it was his intention, after Russia was +subdued, to press on into Asia and to expel the English from their +precious India! + +Not since the days of Attila had there been seen such an army as was +led into Russia--six hundred thousand men, of whom only one out of +twenty was ever to return! And was it the lives of Frenchmen that he +was spending so lavishly? Not at all. This great host was composed +chiefly of Germans, Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Bavarians, Swiss, who +should have been fighting for their own liberation at home. + +Lest Prussia should revolt in his absence the wary Napoleon garrisoned +that kingdom with sixty thousand French troops, and took the sons of +Prussia with him for the great human sacrifice in Russia. + +It was the 7th of September when the great army moved. On and on they +marched for two months through a silent and deserted land, only to +reach at last a mysteriously silent city. Had a whole people fled at +his approach? Napoleon took up his quarters in the Kremlin. Suddenly +fires broke out in a hundred places. The city became a roaring +furnace. In vain did they try to stay the conflagration. In a few +hours Moscow, his rich prize, was a mass of ruin and ashes. + +Napoleon waited for a message from Alexander begging for peace; but +none came. Then the snowflakes began to fall and fierce winds began to +sweep down from the north. At length his stubborn pride had to bend. +He sent his messengers to Alexander--still there was no answer. +Provisions were failing, and there were leagues and leagues of deep and +white snow between him and food for his famishing soldiers. + +Then the Russians came. How could this starved, benumbed, frightened +wreck of a great army stand before the Cossacks? The story of that +"retreat" could never be written. Men, hollow-eyed and gaunt with +misery, flung away their arms and fought with each other like wolves +for a morsel of bread or a dead horse. + +On the 5th of December Napoleon quietly slipped away, leaving the +freezing, famishing victims of his ambition to make their own way back +as they could; knowing that for all, save a fragment, of that mighty +host the snow must be a winding sheet. + +When Frederick William III. accepted that last humiliation and sent a +Prussian army in the train of the conqueror to fight his battles, while +Frenchmen guarded Prussians at home, the indignation was deep and +wide-spread. Three of his best generals, Blücher and two others, +resigned. + +The Prussian contingent in the great invading army, which was under +General York, had escaped many of the horrors of the retreat; and had +returned with seventeen thousand out of the sixty thousand which had +entered Russia. + +This Prussian commander, as soon as he crossed the line with his +soldiers, on his own responsibility abandoned the French and arranged a +treaty of neutrality with the Russian general. Frederick disavowed the +act, but it was received by the people of Prussia with wild enthusiasm. +York called an assembly together at Königsberg, and boldly ordered that +all men capable of bearing arms should be mustered into the Prussian +army. + +The force of public sentiment revealed by this was too overwhelming for +the King to oppose. It swiftly swelled into a popular uprising in +which all classes took part. It was the first great patriotic movement +in Germany; and to Prussia belongs the glory of having initiated it. +It was the Prussian people who converted their whole male population +into an army and their country into an arsenal, and with one voice, and +animated by one heart, refused longer to bear the degradation put upon +them by their King. Hitherto the people had been led by their rulers. +Now for a brief time they were going to be leaders, reluctantly +followed by kings and princes. + +Within five months two hundred and seventy thousand men were under arms +and Frederick had been obliged to declare war against the Emperor of +the French, in alliance with Russia and Sweden. Austria remained +neutral, but the Rheinbund, with only two exceptions, still held to +France. + +Napoleon by the irresistible magic of his influence assembled an army +nearly as large as the one he had just sacrificed in Russia. The +campaign opened in April (1813). By June his star seemed to be waning, +and Austria offered to mediate a peace. Napoleon insulted Metternich, +who brought the proposals, and Francis II. joined the allies against +his son-in-law. In October the end arrived. + +The battle of Leipzig was to the people of Germany what Jena and +Austerlitz had been to Napoleon. The news of this great victory was +electrifying. From the Baltic to the Alps the air resounded with +rejoicings. + +There are no persuasions needed to make people leave a sinking ship. +Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia--the Rheinbund +dissolved--Holland, Switzerland, Italy fell away. Wurtemberg joined +the allies and the great movement for emancipation became national, not +Prussian. + +The allied princes offered to Napoleon that the Rhine, the Alps, the +Pyrenees, and the sea should be the frontiers of France. Still +believing in his invincibility, he scorned the proposition. His star +had certainly deserted him, for while he was collecting his broken +forces in Germany, and while hope was reviving over small victories, +the allied armies, unknown to him, were advancing on Paris! + +He learned it too late. History holds no picture more powerfully +impressive than that of this man waiting at Fontainebleau, twelve +leagues from Paris, still believing in his power to retrieve, and +unconscious that he is already deposed! And the magic of his +influence, the power of the spell he cast over mankind, is illustrated +by the fact that even now, knowing him to have been a tyrant and a +scourge as we do, rejoicing in his defeat as we must, we still cannot +look at that picture without a moistened eye and almost a regret at his +downfall! + +Alexander, and Frederick William, and the allied armies were in Paris, +which had capitulated, and at their bidding had consented to the +deposition of Napoleon. + +On the 6th of April, 1814, Louis XVIII., brother of the murdered Louis, +was proclaimed King of France, and to the man who had been master of +Europe was assigned--the island of Elba on the coast of Italy. + +But in March of the following year, while sovereigns were still +wrangling over the disorder he had left, and while Talleyrand was +scheming for his new master as faithfully as he had for the old, the +startling news came that Napoleon had landed in France. Louis XVIII. +vanished into thin air before the man whom the people were receiving +with wild acclamations of delight. + +Europe again united, and again Napoleon was seen advancing, as of old, +with a great army. Blücher was in command of one division of the +allied armies and Wellington of the other. + +The battle of Waterloo began on the morning of the 18th of June, 1815. +To England was to belong the glory of Napoleon's final downfall. +Wellington accomplished his defeat, and then Blücher came in time to +make that defeat an annihilation. + +The mistake of the year before was not to be repeated. From that +moment until his death at St. Helena, in 1821, Napoleon was a prisoner +and an exile. He had finished the work he had been appointed to do, +and Fate had flung him aside! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Now came the difficult task of reconstruction and redistribution of +territory. In what form should they arise out of this chaos? The +dream of the people, like that of Hermann eighteen hundred years +before, was of a German UNITY; not a renewal of the empire, but a great +and new national life, in some firmer and truer form than it had yet +known. But these were only dreams, vague and without any practical +ideas as to their realization. + +In the meantime men well versed in the arts and tricks of governing +were deciding how all should be arranged. The plan proposed by +Metternich, that master of diplomacy, who was minister to the Emperor +of Austria, was the one adopted. + +There was to be a confederation of thirty-nine German states. The _Act +of Union_, by which this was effected, had a pleasant sound to the ear +of the German people. But the Union existed only in a mutual defense +against foreign foes, and a mutual aid in keeping the people of Germany +well in check! The one outward and visible expression of this _Unity_ +was in a _General Diet_, to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency +of Austria! + +And this was what the _people_ who had liberated their country were to +receive as their reward! They were in no way recognized; were to +possess no political power; the right of suffrage was not bestowed, and +the Diet was prohibited from making any change in this form of +confederation, except by a _unanimous_ (_!_) vote. The German people +were practically effaced and lost sight of in an autocratic +confederation of states, with the Austrian Empire at its head. + +That empire had received back its Italian possessions. Prussia had +recovered Westphalia and her territory on the Rhine, and given up her +Polish territory to Russia. Belgium and Holland had been merged into a +kingdom of the Netherlands. Saxony, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, which +states had been made kingdoms by Napoleon, were permitted to remain +such. Switzerland was a republic; and by the successful diplomacy of +Talleyrand, Alsace and Lorraine, those insecure possessions, passed to +France. + +Such were some of the territorial adjustments. That the rulers of +these kingdoms were reactionary in their purposes soon became apparent. +One of the first acts of the King of Wurtemberg was to court-martial +and cashier the general who had gone over to the German side at the +battle of Leipzig! If none had gone over to the German side, where +would have been the kingdom of Wurtemberg? In Mecklenburg the people +were openly declared serfs. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel gave evidence +that he was looking backward by putting his soldiers into the dress of +the last century and powdered queues, and almost without exception the +sovereigns were trying to construe the provisions of the _Act of Union_ +in a way to give the least liberty to the German people. + +The currents of German thought and feeling move slowly, but they are +deep and persistent. They had never been intemperate in their desires +for freedom, but had simply asked for a government which should be more +in conformity with the existing views of human rights. Their +disappointment had been profound and bitter. The fathers earnestly +talked over their wrongs at home, while their more fiery sons at the +universities made speeches, sang songs, and banded themselves together +into societies, with mottoes and badges and insignia, all under the +same inspiring ideas,--UNION AND FREEDOM. + +This began to look like Revolution. The freedom of the press was +abolished. The formation of societies among students and mechanics was +prohibited, and the universities were placed under the immediate +control of the government. A savage police system was established. +Hundreds of young men were thrown into prison, and hundreds more fled +the country. + +But while this repression produced a calm surface, it did not change +the conditions beneath. In the meantime a "Holy Alliance" had been +formed between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, for the purpose of +repressing aspirations toward liberty in other lands, where this +pestilential modern spirit was also rife. + +But in 1830 there was a popular uprising in France. Charles X., +another brother of the murdered Louis, had been pursuing a reactionary +policy precisely similar to the one employed by the sovereigns in +Germany. It was too late to do that in France. The people with small +ceremony flung the Bourbon aside, and set up a constitutional monarchy +with Louis Philippe at its head. This stirred anew the latent feeling +in Germany. The people did not rise in a body, but so threatening did +it appear that the Diet quickly yielded certain reforms and concessions +for fear of more extreme resistance. + +Francis II. died in 1835, and was succeeded by an almost imbecile son, +Ferdinand I. In 1840 Frederick William III. of Prussia also died, and +Frederick William IV., his son, became King. Metternich was now +guiding the affairs of Austria, and William von Humboldt was the +adviser of the new Prussian King, who inspired the people with a hope +of better things. But while this King fostered science and art, he +gave little care to the redressing of political wrongs, and things +drifted toward a crisis. + +Again a revolution in France reacted upon Germany. In 1848, Louis +Philippe was cast aside as unceremoniously as had been his predecessor, +and a Republic was proclaimed, with Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great +Napoleon, at its head. + +This new Bonaparte was a son of Louis Bonaparte, whom his imperial +brother had made King of Holland. He married Hortense, the daughter of +Josephine. So Fate intended that a child of the discarded Josephine, +and not of Napoleon, should rule over France. + +The proclamation of a republic in France awoke the slumbering forces of +revolution in Europe. Not in one place, nor in two, did the fires +spring up, but simultaneously in every German state. Hungary, led by +Kossuth, was in revolt, and fighting to the death to be freed from the +Hapsburgs. In Italy Victor Emmanuel, the young King of Sardinia, was +trying to drive the Austrian governor of Milan out of the kingdom, and +when checked, he shook his sword at the advancing Austrians and said +prophetically, "_There shall yet be an Italy!_" And while these things +were going on in Italy and in Hungary, men were fighting in the streets +of Vienna. The ozone of freedom had penetrated even to that last +stronghold of despotic sentiment. The Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in +this time of agitation, and his young nephew, Francis Joseph, ascended +the Austrian throne. + +The things the people were demanding in every state were: freedom of +speech and of the press; the right of every man to bear arms; of all to +assemble when and where they liked for political or other purposes; +trial by jury; and the abolition of the hated Diet, with a complete +reorganization of the state governments. + +The princes were terrified. It seemed as if their expulsion, like that +of Louis Philippe, was at hand. + +And so it was, and would have ensued, had the people known their power +or how to use it. But gradually the opportunity was lost. Concessions +were made, new liberties were gained, but the _Unity_ they hungered for +was to come in another and unexpected way, and for ten years the +confederation was to exist practically unchanged. + +Still, although the fruits of their efforts seemed meager in comparison +with what had been hoped, there had been one great concession made. +The Diet, under the pressure of the crisis, had consented to steps +which led finally to the formation of a National Parliament. + +When that parliament met at Frankfort, German patriots believed the +hour of liberation had struck. Full of hope and confidence they +thought the end was attained, when six hundred men of character and +intelligence came together to formulate a new plan of union based upon +_The Sovereignty of the People_! + +But such a task requires something more than patriotism and enthusiasm, +and theoretic views about human rights. It needs practical political +experience, and clearly defined plans for action. After vainly trying +to harmonize conflicting opinions a plan of union was finally adopted, +and Frederick William IV. was elected "Hereditary Emperor of Germany." + +All save the smaller states refused to accede to the proposed plan, and +Frederick William himself declined the proffered title, saying, "They +forget that there are princes still in Germany, and that I am one of +them." + +So the attempt at reorganization was a miserable failure, and the +national parliament gradually dissolved. In the meantime the +revolutionary fires in Europe had burned out. Hungary was again +submissive in the grasp of the Hapsburgs, and Austria was also once +more supreme in Italy; while the French republic, which had lighted +this conflagration, had become a monarchy. + +The national party had developed no great leader, had shown no ability +to grasp its opportunity. The people, disheartened and in sullen +disappointment, saw the old Bund-Diet restored at Frankfort, in 1851, +and found themselves back in a slightly improved and amended +confederation, still under the headship of Austria. + +Then Louis Napoleon's assumption of Imperial power, in 1851, gave +renewed strength to the German rulers. It demonstrated the instability +of popular governments, and the sure return to the good old methods of +their fathers, as soon as the temporary madness of the people had +subsided. + +So all things conspired to depress aspiration and to make the hopes +awakened in 1848 a tantalizing delusion. It was not night, but it was +a very dark and dreary day for patriotism in Germany. The country was +under a spell which no one knew how to break. + +In 1857 Frederick William IV. was stricken with apoplexy, and his +brother, Prince William, was appointed Prince Regent. + +The new emperor of the French, with oppressive sense of the greatness +of his name, was looking about for opportunities to be Napoleonic. In +1856 he had formed an alliance with England against Russia. The fact +of the alliance of itself gave weight to the rather flimsy fabric of +his greatness, while the results of the Crimean War added much to its +solidity. In the year 1859 Italy was vainly struggling to free herself +from the grasp of Austria. Mazzini, the exalted dreamer, and +Garibaldi, the soldier and patriot, with Cavour, the no less patriotic +statesman, though with different ends in view, were working together +for the destruction of the Austrian yoke, which must be preliminary to +any form of Italian nationality. The astute statesman saw in the +ambition of Napoleon III. a means to that end. + +When Napoleon promised an "Italy free from the Alps to the Apennines," +and when the splendid victory of Magenta was quickly followed by that +of Solferino, and when the young Francis Joseph, with tears in his +eyes, ordered the retreat of his defeated army over the Mincio, the +dream of centuries seemed about to be realized. Then came the +startling news that the two emperors were in consultation at +Villafranca over the terms of peace! Venice was not to be liberated. +There was to be a consolidation of the Italian kingdoms "under the +honorary Presidency of the Pope"--whatever that meant--and a "general +amnesty" was declared. It was with sullen rage that the disappointed +patriots saw Nice and Savoy handed over to France, and Rome garrisoned +with French troops, while a French emperor was posing as the liberator +of an Italy which was not liberated! But although the mills of the +gods were moving slowly, they were going to grind exceeding fine. +Victor Emmanuel and a regenerated Italy were not far off, and for +Germany there was at hand a new era. + +Frederick William IV. died, and in 1861 William I. was crowned King of +Prussia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +King William's youth was far behind him. He had already spent a long +life (sixty-four years) and had never expected to occupy a throne. He +had not the brilliant qualities of his brother, he did not concern +himself much about science or letters; but he was profoundly impressed +with the responsibilities of his position; and it at once became +apparent that Prussia had a wise and sagacious King, who would make her +well-being his sole care and ambition. + +His first act was a thorough reorganization of the army. Then he +looked about him for a man wise enough and strong enough for him to +lean upon. Baron Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen had just returned from +St. Petersburg, where he had been Prussian ambassador. + +He was a conservative of the extreme type, hated and feared by the +liberal and national party no less than Metternich. But no man better +than he comprehended the policy of Austria, and all the complicated +threads composing the web of German politics. + +The choice of this man for minister to the King augured ill for the +liberals. The outlook had never been darker than at this hour before +the dawn. + +But great political storms, like storms of another sort, are full of +surprises. The ominous storm clouds we have feared roll away and +vanish in calm, and the little ones, not larger than a man's hand, +suddenly expand and darken our sky. A fateful storm was gathering for +Germany in the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. + +Of the nature of the Schleswig-Holstein entanglement someone (Was it +Beaconsfield?) wittily said that there were only two men in Europe who +understood it, himself and another; and the other was dead. But that +was a mistake. There was a man in Prussia who understood it, and who +lived to use it for his own far-reaching designs. + +The principal threads in the tangled web were as follows: + +The two adjacent dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, which constitute a +sort of natural bridge about 150 miles long and 50 miles wide, between +Denmark and Prussia, are, by the way, the land of nativity for the +Anglo-Saxon race, the Angles having inhabited Schleswig, and the Saxons +Holstein, at the time they so kindly protected the Britons from the +Picts and Scots. + +So it is probable that every member of the Anglo-Saxon family has some +ancestral root running back to that fertile strip of pasture land. + +It had for many years been under the Danish protectorate, the King of +Denmark being, by virtue of his position, also Duke of +Schleswig-Holstein, just as the German Emperor is now King of Prussia +by virtue of his imperial office. + +But this little people was by no means merged with the Danish by this +arrangement; on the contrary, they preserved very jealously their own +traits and ancestral traditions. Among these was the exclusion of +women from the royal succession--the Salic law, framed by their Frank +ancestors centuries before on the banks of the river Saale, being part +of their constitution. Hence, when King Frederick VII. of Denmark died +in 1862 without male heir, and King Christian IX. became King, the +people of the two dukedoms hotly refused to recognize him as their +lawful ruler, but claimed their right of reversion to Duke Frederick +VIII., who was in the direct male line of succession. + +Had the Salic law prevailed in Denmark, this Duke Frederick (father of +the present young Empress of Germany) would now be King of Denmark +instead of Christian IX. But it did not exist, so Christian, father of +the Dowager Empress of Russia--of the Princess of Wales--and of King +George of Greece--became, in 1862, lawful King of Denmark, with rights +unimpaired by female descent. + +Schleswig-Holstein revolted against being held by a ruler who, +according to her constitution, was not the terminal of the royal line, +and insisted upon bestowing herself instead upon the German Duke +Frederick VIII. Denmark naturally resisted. Salic law or no Salic +law, the dukedoms were hers, and should stay. Of course Austria, as +the head of the German confederation, had to be consulted, and she +thought well of uniting with Prussia to compel the cession of the twin +dukedoms, which would have been quickly absorbed had not the European +powers intervened and forbidden this encroachment upon the rights of +Denmark. + +It was just at this crisis that Bismarck was appointed prime minister +of Prussia, and commenced his series of brilliant moves upon the +European chessboard. + +King Christian of Denmark, pleased with his success in retaining the +refractory states, determined to go still farther; that is, to adopt a +new constitution separating these Siamese twins, which should, in fact, +detach Schleswig from Holstein, incorporating it permanently with +Denmark. + +This was in direct violation of the treaty with the Great Powers made +in London, 1852, and afforded the needed pretext for war. + +The moment and the man had arrived. Bismarck, with the intuition of a +good player, saw his opportunity, pushed up the pawn, +Schieswig-Holstein, and said, "Check to your king." + +The Prussian and Austrian troops poured into Denmark, and in a few +short weeks the blooming isthmus had ceased to be Danish and had become +German. + +Austria generously said, "We will divide the prize. Schleswig shall be +Prussian, and Holstein Austrian." + +Could anything be more odious to the Prussians? The long arm of +Austrian tyranny stretching way over their land, up to their northern +seaboard! It might better have become Danish. But all things come to +him who waits, and--Bismarck waited. + +Neither Austria nor the German people had the slightest comprehension +of the Minister's deep-laid plans. When he said that the German +question could "only be settled by blood and steel," the people +construed it as the brutal utterance of despotism. And when it looked +as if they might be involved in a war with Austria over this paltry +Holstein affair they were stunned, and believed that a desperate man +was leading Prussia to her ruin for his own ambitious purposes. What +could they with their nineteen millions of people do against Austria, +with her fifty millions! + +But Bismarck cared not and heeded not. He was too intent upon his +game. He knew what no one else seemed to know, that there was no +chance for Germany until she was emancipated from Austria. + +Again he pushed up his useful little pawn and said "check," but this +time to the Emperor of Austria. Ah! here was a game worth watching. +Europe and America, too, were willing to let their morning coffee get +cold in studying the moves. Francis Joseph did not see as far into the +game as his astute adversary, whose keen eye was focused at long range +upon a renewed Germany, in which there should be no Austria. + +The conflict was short (only seven weeks), but the preparation had been +thorough. The 3d of July will long be remembered by Germany. King +William was there; the Crown Prince was there, now become "Unser +Fritz," by his superb military achievements, the ideal prince and +soldier of modern Europe; and Königgrätz, like Waterloo, decided the +game. Francis Joseph was checkmated. A galling servitude to Austria +existed no more. What wonder that the people were glad, or that Unser +Fritz was their idol, and Bismarck became their demigod! + +A great physician correctly diagnoses the disease before he treats it. +Bismarck knew why the attempts at a German union had been futile. He +knew such a union never could exist until Austria was eliminated from +it. + +An overwhelming revulsion in sentiment followed. The man whom the +despotic element had leaned upon became the adored leader of the +liberal party. He had no sentimental theories about human rights. His +personal tendencies were toward despotism rather than freedom. But he +had the acuteness to recognize the advantages which would be derived +from a liberal policy and the ardent support of the _people_. + +A new confederation of states was formed called the _North German +Union_, with a parliament elected by the people. It was composed of +all the states except Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden. + +The several states were united under a general Federal Government, +somewhat like that of the United States of America, of which the King +of Prussia was _President_, and Bismarck was _Chancellor_. + +This new union was Protestant and Prussian, and forever separated from +all that was Catholic and Austrian. In five short years what a change! +Truly, "blood and iron" had proved a wonderful tonic for Germany! + +In the year 1763 Prussia won the province of Silesia after a seven +years' war with Austria. Just one century later, in 1866, a war of +seven weeks with that same power placed her at the head of a firmly +consolidated German nation. A result so astonishing from a conflict so +brief must ever be a phenomenon in history; and had it been necessary, +seven years would not have been too long to struggle for such a reward. + +And what of poor little Schleswig-Holstein, that land of our race +nativity? If she had indulged in any innocent expectation of benefit +from such brilliant espousal of her cause she was disappointed. And +she must have realized that she had been only the humble hinge upon +which the door of opportunity had swung open for Germany. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +There was a man in France to whom these overturnings were especially +distasteful. Napoleon III., sitting in brand-new splendor upon his +newly created throne, was industriously engaged in building up an +empire and a reputation upon Napoleonic lines. These lines of course +were despotic. So the triumph of liberalism in Germany, the creation +of a new political power with Austria and despotism cast out, was a +severe blow to his policy and to his prestige. It weakened him in +Europe, where he aspired to headship, and at home, where he should be +considered invincible, not alone in arms, but in statecraft. + +The Crimea, Magenta, and Solferino had been splendid decorations to his +reign; but they looked tame and insignificant since this transforming +_Seven Weeks' War_. Then, too, his magnificent scheme of an empire in +Mexico, with a Hapsburg ruling under a French protectorate--that had +miserably failed. And now there had suddenly arisen, as if out of the +ground, a new political Germany, which rivaled France in strength. +Frenchmen began to ask whether this man was, after all, such a great +leader, and destined to wear the mantle of his uncle! + +Obviously the thing to do was to recover his waning prestige by a +splendid victory over this new power of which Prussia was the head. + +If the Emperor had any misgivings they were swept away by the beautiful +Empress Eugénie, who, intensely Catholic, saw in the ascendency of +Protestant Prussia, and the humiliation of Catholic Austria, an impious +blow at the Catholic faith in Europe. + +So the war was determined upon. Only one obstacle existed. There was +nothing to fight about! But that could be overcome, and in 1870 a +pretext was found. + +Queen Isabella had been expelled from Spain, and there existed that +perennial source of disturbance in Europe, a vacant Spanish throne. +From among the several candidates, Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a +relative of William I. of Prussia, was chosen. + +The French ambassador Benedetti received instant orders to demand of +King William that he should prohibit Prince Leopold from accepting the +offer. + +The King made answer that "not having advised it, he could not forbid +it." However, to the disappointment of the Emperor, the Hohenzollern +prince voluntarily declined, and the way to a war seemed closed again. + +But the Empress Eugénie was intent upon her object, and the war-fever +had taken deep hold upon the people of France. So the fateful dispatch +was sent to Benedetti--"Be rough to the King." + +The kindly old King William was peacefully sunning himself at Ems, when +the ambassador discourteously approached him and made an abrupt demand +for a guarantee that no Hohenzollern should _ever_ occupy the throne of +Spain. The words and the manner were offensive--as they were intended +to be. + +The King, recognizing an intended impertinence, without replying turned +away and left Benedetti standing. Here was the opportunity. The +telegraph swiftly bore the news that the French ambassador had been +publicly insulted by the King of Prussia. France was in a blaze of +indignation. These Prussians should be taught that the great French +Empire was not to be insulted with impunity. + +Not a shadow of doubt existed as to the result. The French army was +invincible, and the southern German states would be glad at the +deliverance. They would welcome an invading army, and perhaps Hesse +and Hanover also would revolt and the new Prussian confederation would +fall to pieces in their hands. The birthday of Napoleon I., the 15th +of August, must be celebrated in Berlin! + +Such were the wild expectations when the French army moved, bearing +away with it the boy Prince Imperial, that he might witness for himself +his father's triumphs, and receive an object lesson, as it were, in +avenging insult to the imperial dignity, which would one day be in his +keeping! + +This was the way it looked in France. How was it in Germany? There +was no north and no south German. Men and states sprang together as a +unit, showing how vital was the bond which had existed only for four +years. It was no longer a German race combining with a common purpose, +but a German nation instinct with one life, and solemnly resolved to +defend it or to perish. In only eleven days an army of four hundred +and fifty thousand soldiers was under the command of Moltke, with the +Crown Prince Frederick William leading one of the three great divisions. + +In less than three weeks, instead of waging an aggressive war in +Germany, the French were fighting for their existence on their own soil. + +In less than a month the French Emperor was a prisoner, and in seven +months his empire was swept out of existence; the Germans were in +Paris--and King William, Unser Fritz, Bismarck, and Von Moltke were +quartered at Versailles. + +France had given up Alsace and Lorraine, had agreed to pay an indemnity +of _five thousand millions_ of francs, and was glad to have peace even +at that price! + +The surrenders of Metz (August 4), and of Sedan (September 2), were +monumental disasters, and history would be searched in vain for such a +crushing defeat of a proud and strong nation as was consummated by the +Treaty of Peace signed at Paris on the 10th of May, 1871. + +Even the three southern states, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, had +participated in this Franco-Prussian war. So the last barrier to a +completed union was removed, and a dramatic climax occurred in the Hall +of Mirrors at Versailles on the 18th of January, 1871. + +In that very hall where Richelieu, and Louis XIV., and Louis XV. had +schemed to entangle and cripple and rob Germany, and where Napoleon I. +had plotted the destruction of the German Empire, Ludwig II., King of +Bavaria, in the name of the rest of the German states, laid their +united allegiance at the feet of King William of Prussia, begging him +to assume the crown and with it the title of "Hereditary Emperor of the +German Empire." + +It is a curious fact that Bavaria, which had always been a thorn in the +side of the Empire, which from the time of the first Duke Welf had +stood for all that was conservative and despotic and reactionary, +should have taken the initiative in the final act which set a seal upon +the triumph of liberalism in Germany. It was recompense full and ample +for the trouble she had given in the past! + +The return to Germany was a march of triumph. The popular enthusiasm +knew no bounds. It was less than ten years since those days of gloom +and depression. What a change had been wrought! Was it all done by +blood and iron? They had been mighty factors certainly, but they had +been used by a masterful intelligence, which had also recognized the +power of _patriotism_. The empire which was immediately organized was +simply a renewal of the _North German Union_. + +The dream of Hermann had at last been realized. There was a United +Germany. + +When in 1888 Emperor William I. sank under the weight of years and the +crown rested upon the head of his son Frederick, that adored prince was +no longer in the full tide of victorious youth, but being borne by a +swiftly ebbing tide beyond the reach of earthly honors. He was a +stricken and indeed a dying man when the opportunity came to carry out +the policy he had intended for Germany. + +What that policy was we shall never know, nor whether it would have +been a safe and a wise one. We are sure it would have been beneficent, +for no gentler, kindlier prince ever had power and opportunity. + +The distrust of him manifested by the conservative party, and notably +by Bismarck, and one still nearer to him, leads us to believe that he +leaned too strongly toward the ideal of the patriots of 1860. But we +shall never know. We can only conjecture whether in Frederick's death +Germany escaped a danger or missed an opportunity. + +The unseemly dissensions, the heartbreaking complications, which +tormented this dying man make one of the saddest chapters in history; +and his reign of five months can scarcely be matched in suffering. At +last it was ended. The untarnished soul and tortured body parted +company, and William II. reigned in his stead. + +It is not the province of history to pass judgment upon the living. +When the young Emperor William II. dismissed his great chancellor, he +assumed the full responsibility of his empire. Whether he has the +intelligence and the wisdom required to control, unaided, the forces at +home, or to guide his bark amid the whirl of European currents, later +histories will tell. + +But one thing is very certain. Time spent to-day in riveting +antiquated chains upon Germany is time thrown away; and the ruler who +desires his work to be permanent must turn his back upon medievalism +and must realize that the true source of abiding power in his country +is that sentiment which emancipated her from Napoleon in 1814, and +which in 1871 made of her a UNITED GERMANY. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Short History of Germany, by Mary Platt Parmele + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY *** + +***** This file should be named 34397-8.txt or 34397-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34397/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Short History of Germany + +Author: Mary Platt Parmele + +Release Date: February 13, 2011 [EBook #34397] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t1"> +A SHORT +<BR> +HISTORY OF GERMANY +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +BY +</P> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +MARY PLATT PARMELE +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS +<BR> +1898 +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY<BR> +MARY PLATT PARMELE<BR> +<BR><BR> +COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY<BR> +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t4"> +<I>BY THE SAME AUTHOR</I><BR> +<BR> +A SHORT HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES<BR> +A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND<BR> +A SHORT HISTORY OF FRANCE<BR> +A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY<BR> +A SHORT HISTORY OF SPAIN<BR> +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PREFACE. +</H3> + +<P> +It is more important to comprehend the forces which have created a +great nation, and the progressive steps by which it has unfolded, than +to know the multitudinous events and incidents which have attended such +unfolding. +</P> + +<P> +In order to forestall criticism for the absence of some events in this +History of Germany the author desires to say, that there has been an +effort to keep strictly to the main line of development and to resist +the temptation of introducing details which do not bear directly upon +such line. +</P> + +<P> +The bypaths of history are fascinating, but they are of secondary +importance, and may better be explored after the main road has been +traveled and is thoroughly known. +</P> + +<P> +Such is the ideal which has been very imperfectly followed in this book. +</P> + +<P CLASS="noindent"> +M. P. P. +<BR><BR> +NEW YORK, <I>June</I> 21, 1897. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="t2"> +CONTENTS. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Indo-European Migrations—Divisions of the Aryan Family into European +Races—The Teutonic Race +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Hermann—Defeat of Varus—Characteristics of the Ancient Germans +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Social Conditions—Form of Government—The Goth in Rome—A Gothic +Kingdom in Spain—The Teuton Race Covering the European Surface—The +Angles and Saxons in Britain +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Ulfilas—The Hunnish Invasion—The Roman Empire Perishing—Its +Conversion—An Eastern Empire—Increasing Power of the +Church—Charlemagne—France and Germany Separated—Feudal System +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Early Conditions—Hungarian Invasions—Creation of +Burgs—Knighthood—Pope and Emperor Become Rivals—Henry +IV.—Canossa—First Hohenstaufen—Welf and Waiblingen—The +Crusaders—Conrad—Frederick Barbarossa +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Source of Weakness in the Empire—The Great Interregnum—The Nibelungen +Lied—The Hanseatic League—The Guilds—Meistersingers +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Conditions—First Hapsburg and First Hohenzollern—Swiss +Freedom—Intellectual Awakening—The Golden Bull—Hussite War—A +Hohenzollern Receives a Mortgage on the Territory of +Brandenburg—Discovery of Gunpowder—Conditions Existing under +Frederick III.—Invention of Printing—The Passing of the Old and +Coming of the New +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +General European Conditions—Centralizing Tendencies at +Work—Maximilian I.—A New World—The Rise of Spain—Isabella—Charles +IV. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Triple Game between Francis I., Henry VIII., and Charles IV.—Leo +X.—Luther—The Diet of Worms—Protestantism Born—Margrave of +Brandenburg Usurps Sovereignty over Prussia—The Peasants War—The +Augsburg Confession—Charles V. Thwarted—Protestantism a Dominant +Power in his Empire—Schisms in the New +Faith—Calvinism—Reformers—Lutherans—The Schmalkaldian +League—Anabaptists—Abdication of Charles V.—Philip II.—Death of +Charles—Ferdinand I.—Council of Trent—Society of Jesus +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +A Protestant Germany—A Divided Protestantism—True Meaning of the +Struggle—Unfruitful Waiting—The Renaissance—Music, Art, Letters, +Born Anew—Thought Awakened—Copernicus—Galileo—Kepler—Impending +Calamity—Protestant Union and Catholic League—Thirty Years' War +Commenced—Wallenstein—Gustavus Adolphus—His Triumph and +Death—Richelieu—Death of Wallenstein—Peace of Westphalia—Division +of Territory +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Romano-Germanic Empire Perishing—European Conditions—Louis +XIV.—Decay of National Spirit—Rise of Brandenburg—Combination +against Louis XIV.—Spanish Succession—Under Frederick I. Brandenburg +Becomes Prussia—Alliance with England—Marlborough and Prince +Eugene—Blenheim—Peace of Utrecht—Territorial Changes—Charles XII. +and Peter the Great—Pragmatic Sanction—Frederick William +I.—Stirrings of Thought in this Time of Chaos—Birth of German +Speculative Philosophy—Spinoza—Soul Awakening +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Frederick the Great—His Childhood—Von Katte's Execution—Frederick at +Potsdam—Frederick II., King of Prussia—Maria Theresa, Empress—War of +Austrian Succession—Silesia—Personal Traits of the Two +Sovereigns—Frederick Joins France against Austria—Peace of +Dresden—Frederick Becomes "The Great"—Healing the Wounds Left by Two +Wars—Voltaire's Influence—Frederick a Reformer and a Despot—Growth +in Thought and Birth of a Native Literature—Voltaire at Frederick's +Court—Change Wrought by a Nearer View of King and Poet +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +War over American Boundary between England and France—Maria Theresa +Joins France—Her Policy—A Combination against Frederick II.—Seven +Years' War—Peace of Hubertsburg—Silesia Forever Abandoned by +Austria—Prussia One of the "Five Great Powers"—Healing Wounds +Again—Conditions External and Internal +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Marie Antoinette Married to the French Dauphin Louis—Unsuspected +Conditions—Joseph II.—Reforms by a Progressive Hapsburg are a +Failure—Romanticism Replaces Sentimentalism in Literature—<I>Sturm und +Drang</I> Period—Luther's Influence upon Letters—Frederick Succeeded by +his Nephew—Effect of Prussia's Ascendancy in the German Empire—Its +Coming Dissolution—Why Patriotism Could Not Exist—The Calm before the +Hurricane +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +The Beginnings of the Storm—The United States of America and +France—The Thought-Currents Which Moved toward a Vortex—Execution of +King and Queen—France a Ruin but Free—A Republic—First +Coalition—Poland and its Partition—Austria Fighting Alone for the +Empire—Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy—His Methods and Their +Result—Treaty of Campo Formio—Three New Republics—Napoleon in +Egypt—His Return—Second Coalition—Dominions of Ecclesiastical Rulers +Given Away—Napoleon the Instrument of Fate +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Napoleon Emperor of the French—Third Coalition—Prussian +Neutrality—The Rheinbund—Dissolution of the Empire and Abdication of +Francis II.—Retribution for Prussia—Battle of Jena—Peace of +Tilsit—A Continental Blockade—Marriage with Marie Louise +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Revolt of Bavarian Peasants—The "League of Virtue"—Invasion of +Russia—Burning of Moscow—Retreat—General York Leads a Popular +Movement—Prussia at War with Napoleon—The Battle of Leipzig—The +Allies in Paris—Napoleon Deposed—Louis XVIII. King—Return of +Napoleon—Waterloo and St. Helena +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Reconstruction—The Act of Union—Sentiment of the +People—Concessions—Francis II. Died—A Republic in France—Blaze of +Revolutionary Fires in Europe—A National Parliament Granted—Its +Failure—Napoleon III. in France—Magenta and Solferino—Revolution in +Italy—Victor Emmanuel King—William I. King of Prussia +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +King William and Bismarck—Schleswig-Holstein—Proposed Division—War +against Austria—Königgrätz—The North German Union +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="t3"> +<A HREF="#chap20">CHAPTER XX.</A> +</P> + +<P CLASS="contents"> +Napoleon III. Plans the Overthrow of Prussian Dominion—Vacant Throne +in Spain—A Hohenzollern Candidate—Benedetti and King William—War +Declared by France—Metz—Sedan—King William at Versailles—Crowned +Hereditary Emperor of the German Empire—Death of Emperor William +I.—Emperor Frederick—His Unfulfilled Dreams and his Death—William +II. Emperor +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY. +</H2> + +<BR><BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I. +</H3> + +<P> +Foundation building is neither picturesque nor especially interesting, +but it is indispensable. However fair the structure is to be, one must +first lay the rough-hewn stones upon which it is to rest. It would be +much pleasanter in this sketch to display at once the minarets and +towers and stained-glass windows; but that can only be done when one's +castle is in Spain. +</P> + +<P> +Would we comprehend the Germany of to-day, we must hold firmly in our +minds an epitome of what it has been, and see vividly the devious path +of its development through the ages. +</P> + +<P> +The German nation is of ancient lineage, and indeed belongs to the +royal line of human descent, the Aryan; its ancestral roots running +back until lost in the heart of Asia, in the mists of antiquity. +</P> + +<P> +The home of the Aryan race is shrouded in mystery, as are the impelling +causes which sent those successive tides of humanity into Europe. But +we know with certainty that when the last great wave spread over +Eastern Europe, or Russia, about one thousand years before Christ, the +submergence of that continent was complete. +</P> + +<P> +Before the coming of the Aryan, the Rhine flowed as now; the Alps +pierced the sky with their glistening peaks as they do to-day; the +Danube, the Rhône, hurried on, as now, toward the sea. Was it all a +beautiful, unpeopled solitude, waiting in silence for the richly +endowed Asiatic to come and possess it? Far from it! It was teeming +with humanity—if, indeed, we may call such the race which modern +research and discovery have revealed to us. It is only within the last +thirty years that anything whatever has been known of prehistoric man; +but now we are able to reconstruct him with probable accuracy. A +creature bestial in appearance and in life; dwelling in caves, which, +however, a dawning sense of a higher humanity led him to decorate with +carvings of birds and fishes; but certain it is, the brain which +inhabited that skull was incapable of performing the mental processes +necessary to the simplest form of civilization; and life must have been +to him simply a thing of fierce appetites and brutal instincts. Such +was the being encountered by the Aryan, when he penetrated the +mysterious land beyond the confines of Greece and Italy. +</P> + +<P> +The extermination, and perhaps, to some extent, assimilation, of this +terrible race must have required centuries of brutalizing conflict, +and, it is easy to imagine, would have produced just such men as were +the northern barbarians who, for five hundred years, terrorized Europe; +men insensible to fear, terrible, fierce, but with fine instincts for +civilization—dormant Aryan germs, which quickly developed when brought +into contact with a superior race. +</P> + +<P> +The earliest Indo-European migration is supposed to have been into +Greece and Italy, where was laid the basis for the civilization of the +world. The second was probably into Western Europe and the British +Isles; then, after many centuries, the central and last, and at a time +comparatively recent, into the Eastern portion of the continent. +</P> + +<P> +So, by the fourth century B.C., three great divisions of the Aryan race +occupied Europe north of Greece and Italy: the Keltic, the western; the +Teutonic, the central; the Slavonic the eastern; and these, in turn, +had ramified into new subdivisions or tribes. +</P> + +<P> +To state it as in the pedigree of the individual, the Aryan was the +founder, the father of the family; Slav, Teuton, and Kelt the three +sons. Gaul and Briton were sons of the Kelt; Saxon, Angle, Helvetian, +etc., sons of the Teuton; and all alike grandchildren of the Aryan; +whom—to carry the illustration farther—we may imagine to have had +older children, who long ago had left the paternal home and settled +about the Caspian and Mediterranean seas: Mede, Persian, Greek, Roman; +apparently bearing few marks of kinship to these uncouth younger +brothers whom we have found in Europe in the fourth century B.C., but +with nevertheless the same cradle and the same ancestral roots. +</P> + +<P> +It is the Teutonic branch of the Aryan family with which we have to do +now, between whom and their Keltic brothers there flowed the River +Rhine. +</P> + +<P> +Greece and Rome were unaware of the existence of the Teuton until about +the year 330 B.C., when Pythias, a Greek navigator, came home from a +voyage to the Baltic with terrible tales of the Goths whom he had met. +Nearly one century before Christ the inhabitants of Italy were enabled +to judge for themselves of the accuracy of the description. Driven +from their homes by the inroads of the sea, the Goths poured in a +hungry torrent down into the tempting vineyards of Northern Italy. +Gigantic in stature, with long yellow hair, eyes blue but fierce—what +wonder that the people thought they were scarcely human, and fled +affrighted, leaving them to enjoy the vineyards at their leisure! +</P> + +<P> +Accounts of this uncanny host reached Rome, which soon knew of their +breastplates of iron, their helmets crowned with heads of wild beasts, +their white shields glistening in the sun, and, more terrible than all, +of their priestesses, clad in white linen, who prophesied and offered +human sacrifices to their gods. +</P> + +<P> +But the sacrifices did not avail against the legions which the great +Consul Marius led against them. The ponderous Goth was not yet a match +for the finer skill of the Roman, and the invaders were exterminated on +the plain near Aix, 102 B.C. The women, in despair, slew first their +children, then themselves, a few only surviving to be paraded in chains +at the triumph accorded to Marius on his return to Rome. Such was the +first appearance of the Teuton in the Eternal City, and the last until +five hundred years later, when the conditions were changed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II. +</H3> + +<P> +At the time of this first invasion the German race was divided into +tribes with no affinity for each other, who were indeed much of the +time in fierce conflict among themselves. One of these tribes, called +the Cherusci, occupied the southern part of what is now Hanover. Their +chief, Hermann, had in his youth been taken to Rome as a hostage, and +there had been educated. +</P> + +<P> +Hermann was the first to dream of German unity. While the infant +Christ was growing into boyhood in Palestine, this Hermann was studying +Latin and history at Rome; and as he read he pondered. He found that +the Romans had achieved such tremendous power by <I>combination</I>. If his +people would unite and stand as one nation before the world, why might +not they too become great? These Romans were pleasure-loving and +vicious. His Germans in their rude homes were just and true. They did +not laugh at vice; they were rough, but simple and sincere; love bound +the father and mother and children closely together. The idea of +German unity took possession of Hermann. He resolved to devote his +life to its accomplishment, and to return to his country and try to +inspire his race with a sense of common brotherhood, and a +comprehensive patriotism. +</P> + +<P> +Julius Cæsar, the great Roman general, was governor of Gaul, and with +one eye fixed on Britain and another on Germany was steadily bringing +Europe into subjection to Rome. +</P> + +<P> +The task of subduing the stubborn Teutons was given by Augustus to +Varus, a trusted general. In the year 9 A.D., Varus had arrived with +his great army in the heart of Germany. Little suspecting the plans +and purposes surging in the young man's brain, he leaned upon Hermann, +whom he had known in Rome, as his guide and counselor in a new and +strange land. +</P> + +<P> +Unsuspectingly he marched with his heavily armed legions, as if for a +holiday excursion, into the fastnesses of the Teutoberger Forest, into +which Hermann led him. +</P> + +<P> +When fairly entangled in the dense wood, surrounded by morasses and wet +marshes instead of roads, suddenly there was a thundering war-cry, and +barbarians swarmed down upon him from all sides. Hundreds who escaped +the rain of arrows were lost in the morasses. It was not a question of +victory, but of escape, for the entrapped and heavily armed legions. +Only a handful returned to tell the story, and Varus, unable to bear +his disgrace, threw himself upon his sword. +</P> + +<P> +The great Emperor Augustus clothed himself in mourning, let his beard +and hair grow, and cried in the bitterness of his soul, "Varus, Varus, +give me back my legions!" +</P> + +<P> +But Hermann, like many another hero, was not comprehended by the people +he wished to inspire. He had arrested the tide of Roman conquest in +Germany. How was he rewarded? His people could not understand his +dream of unity. Should they be friends with the Cimbri and Suevi, who +were their enemies? They suspected his motives. There were intrigues +for his downfall. His adored wife, Thusnelda, and his child were +delivered to the Romans and graced a triumph at Rome, and when only +thirty-seven years old, the first heroic character in the history of +Germany was assassinated by his own people. +</P> + +<P> +Our Saxon ancestors, four centuries later, made the British Isles echo +with the songs in which they chanted the praises of this "War Man," +this "Man of Hosts," who was the "Deliverer of Germany." Hermann had +not consolidated his people, but he had arrested their conquest and +subjugation by the Romans. Many, many centuries were to roll away +before his dream of unity was to be realized. +</P> + +<P> +What sort of people were these ancient Germans, for whom Hermann hoped +so much almost nineteen hundred years ago? +</P> + +<P> +They were pagan barbarians, without one gleam of civilization to +illumine the twilight of their existence. They had no art, no +literature, nor even an alphabet. They were fierce and cruel; but they +had simple, uncorrupted hearts. They were brave, truthful, hospitable, +romantic, with instincts singularly just, and a passion for the +mysterious realities of an unseen world. War and hunting were their +pursuits, the family and domestic ties were strong and abiding, and +over all else, religion was supreme. +</P> + +<P> +Like their Scandinavian kinsmen, they worshiped the gods of their +ancient Aryan ancestors in sacred groves; and offered sacrifices, +sometimes human, to <I>Wotan</I>, and <I>Donar</I>, or <I>Thor</I>, the Thunderer, for +whom they named Thursday, Thorsday, or <I>Donners-tag</I>, and in honor of +one of their goddesses, <I>Freyja</I>, another was called Frei-tag, or +Friday. The decrees of fate were read in the flights of birds, or +heard in the neighing of wild horses, and then interpreted to the +people by priestesses, who, clad in snow-white robes, presided also at +the terrible sacrifices. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III. +</H3> + +<P> +During the three centuries after Hermann had arrested the flood of +Roman conquest, a civilization of the simplest sort was slowly +developing in Germany, where society was divided into the <I>free</I> and +the <I>unfree</I> classes. +</P> + +<P> +The tribes in the south differed greatly from those in the north. They +had no settled homes, nor ownership in land. This was divided among +them every year by lot; one-half of the people remaining yearly at home +to till the soil, and the other half giving their entire time to the +wars which were as perennial as the growing crops of grain. +</P> + +<P> +In the north, however, where lived the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon +race, conditions very different prevailed. There the lands were +bestowed in perpetuity upon the most powerful members of the tribes, +and by them handed down to their sons. The unfree class tilled the +soil, and were thus the serfs of a ruling class, and only freemen could +bear arms. +</P> + +<P> +There were no cities in ancient Germany, only villages which were +composed of rude huts. A collection of these villages formed a group +which was called a <I>Hundred</I>. Every Hundred had its chief, who was +elected by the people; and the one chosen by the combined will of all +these Hundreds was the chief or King of the tribe. +</P> + +<P> +The chiefs of the Hundreds formed a sort of advisory council to the +King or tribal chief. But supreme over the will of these chiefs and +their King was the will of the people. Every village had its <I>meetings +of the people</I>, which all freemen were entitled to attend. The real +governing power lay in these meetings, to which both chiefs of the +Hundreds and the King were compelled to defer. +</P> + +<P> +Was a new King to be elected, or were there grave questions concerning +wars to be considered—they were discussed in advance by the chiefs and +the King. But the ultimate decision lay with the people themselves; a +general meeting of the whole tribe being required to elect a new King; +the people clashing their arms in token of approval, or shouting their +dissent. +</P> + +<P> +As all freemen bore arms, there was no distinct military organization. +Every man held himself ready at any moment to respond to a call, and +the army was the people! +</P> + +<P> +About the middle of the third century, numerous small German tribes +became united into large confederacies. Conspicuous among these were +the Allemani, the Franks, the Saxons, and the Goths. +</P> + +<P> +The Allemani, in the south of Germany, it is said were so called +because of the fact that <I>all men</I> held the land in common. If this be +so, then the French name for Germany is essentially communistic, and it +is not strange that communism has always found a congenial soil in that +land. +</P> + +<P> +The Franks occupied the banks of the Rhine and of the river Saal. The +Saxons were spread over North Germany, and the Goths, on both sides of +the river Dnieper, were divided into the Ostro-Goths and the Visi-Goths +(or the East and West Goths). +</P> + +<P> +It was these Visigoths under Alaric who inflicted the deadliest blows +upon the Roman Empire. The sacking of Rome in 410, and the +establishing of a Gothic kingdom in Spain, shook the very foundations +of that power. Then the legions could no longer be spared in distant +Britain, which was left to its fate. And that fate was of deepest +import to us! The Saxons and the Angles overflowed and absorbed the +land, and Keltic Britain was Teutonized. +</P> + +<P> +So this untamed and untamable Teuton was being spread, like some coarse +but renovating element, over the surface of old Europe. And with the +occupation of Gaul by the Franks in 481, and the annexing of France to +the Frankish kingdom under Clovis, the process was complete. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P> +I cannot resist the temptation of saying a few words about the +Anglo-Saxon occupation of Britain, which, as it virtually converted us +from Kelts into Teutons, is not a digression. +</P> + +<P> +From the time of Julius Cæsar the island of Britain had been occupied +by the Romans, and in consequence had become partly civilized and +Christianized. Upon the fall of the empire, the Roman legions were +withdrawn, and the people, left defenseless, became the prey of their +own northern barbarians, the Picts and Scots; the drama of Southern +Europe and the Goths being re-enacted on a diminished scale. In the +fourth century the Britons implored the Angles and Saxons to come and +protect them from these savages. Invited as allies, they came as +invaders, and remained as conquerors, implanting their habits, speech, +and paganism upon the prostrate island. It was the extermination of +this exotic paganism which impelled to those deeds of valor recited in +the Round Table romances, and which made King Arthur and his knights +the theme of poet and minstrel for centuries. +</P> + +<P> +But the Saxon had come to stay, and Teuton and Kelt became merged, much +as do the lion and lamb, after the former has dined! The Teutonic +Saxon may be said to have dined on the Keltic Briton, and remained +master of the island until the Normans came, six centuries later, and +in turn dominated, and made him bear the yoke of servitude. +</P> + +<P> +Nor was this French-speaking Norman French at all, except by adoption; +being, in fact, the terrible Northman of two centuries before, on +account of whose ravages the noble had intrenched himself in his strong +castle, and the wretched serf had in mortal terror sold himself and all +that he possessed, for the protection of its solid walls and moat; and +thus had been laid the foundations of feudalism. He it was who, with +longhair reeking with rancid oil, battle-ax, spear, and iron hook—with +which to capture human and other prey—had held France in a state of +unspeakable terror for centuries, but who had finally settled down as a +respectable French citizen in the sea-board province of Normandy, and +in two centuries had made such wonderful improvement in manners, +apparel, and speech that the simple Saxon baron stood abashed before +the splendid refinements of his conquerors. +</P> + +<P> +The origin of this mysterious Northman is unknown; but whatever it was, +or whoever he was, he certainly possessed Aryan germs of high potency. +</P> + +<P> +So the Saxon had built the solid walls of the racial structure upon a +foundation of Britons; and, though with no thought for beauty, had +built well, with strong, true structural lines. It was the Norman who +finished and decorated the structure, but he did not alter one of these +lines; the speech, traits, institutions, and habits of England being at +the core Saxon to-day, while there is a decorative surface only of +Norman. +</P> + +<P> +So when the Englishman calls himself, with swelling pride, a Briton, he +speaks wide of the mark. The Keltic Briton was buried fathoms deep +under seven centuries of Saxon rule, and then, to make the extinction +more complete, was overlaid with this brilliant lacquer of Norman +surface. And if that mixed product, the English people, have any race +paternity, it is Teutonic, and herein may lie the impossibility of +making the English and Irish a homogeneous people—the English Teuton +and Irish Kelt being in the nature of things antagonistic, the +particles refuse to combine chemically, and can only be brought +together (to use the language of the chemist) in mechanical mixture. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV. +</H3> + +<P> +Among the German tribes it was the Goths who had first come under the +civilizing influence of the Christian religion. +</P> + +<P> +As some winged seed is wafted from a fair garden into a dark, distant +forest, and there takes root and blossoms, so was the seed-germ of +Christianity caught by the wind of destiny, and carried from Palestine +to the heart of pagan Germany, where, strange to say, it found +congenial soil. +</P> + +<P> +The story is a romantic one. A Christian boy in Asia Minor, while +straying on the shores of the Mediterranean, was captured by some +Goths, who took their fair-haired prize home to their own land, and +named him Ulfilas. +</P> + +<P> +The boy, with his heart all aflame for the religion in which he had +been nurtured, told his captors the story of Calvary—of Christ and his +gospel of peace and love; and lived to see the terrible sacrificial +altars replaced by the Cross. +</P> + +<P> +The Goths had no alphabet, so Ulfilas invented one, and then translated +the Bible into their rude speech. A part of this translation is now +preserved in Sweden and is the earliest extant specimen of the Gothic +language. This Gothic version of the Lord's Prayer, written by Ulfilas +more than fifteen centuries ago, bears such close resemblance to the +German and English versions that it can be easily read by us to-day; +and makes us realize our own near kinship to those simple barbarians of +the fourth century. +</P> + +<P> +In the year 375, thirty-five years before the sacking of Rome, from the +vast plains lying between Russia and China there had poured into Europe +a terrible race of beings called Huns. They seemed more like demons +than men. Insensible alike to fear, to hunger, thirst, or cold, they +appeased their ferocious appetites upon wild roots and raw meat. These +hideous men ate, drank, and slept on horseback, their no less hideous +wives and children following them in wagons, as they ravaged through +the Continent of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +The Huns, under the leadership of Attila, swept everything before them; +leaving a track of blood and ashes through Germany. +</P> + +<P> +The Goths deserted their lands and homes on account of this brutish +invasion and pressed down into Italy and Southern Gaul; the Ostro-Goths +(or East Goths) becoming in time masters of Italy under King Theodoric, +while the Visigoths (or West Goths), who were already in Southern Gaul, +had overflowed the Pyrenees and established a Gothic empire in Spain +(or Hispania, as it was then called). +</P> + +<P> +It was not alone the Goths who were swept before Attila and his Hunnish +hosts. The Vandals, the Burgundians, the Longobards were carried by +the same tide into Southern Europe; the Vandals thence into northern +Africa; while the Slavs from the northeast in turn pressed down after +them, and, like the waters of the sea, occupied the lands which they +had deserted. +</P> + +<P> +So this Hunnish invasion was a tremendous upturning force—in itself +bearing no relation to the future result more than the plow to the +future grain; but it was a terrible instrument, used in bringing the +German race into contact with higher civilizations, where, in the +alchemy of time, they were destined to survive not as a nation, but +rather as an element, and where, in the great creative processes, they +were intended to re-enforce the decaying races of Southern Europe with +their rude but uncorrupted vitality. +</P> + +<P> +Of the Huns themselves nothing remained in Europe after the defeat of +Attila, excepting in Dacia, over which they had permanently spread, and +which was later called Hungary. +</P> + +<P> +During this process of re-creating the old races of Southern Europe, +the Roman Empire was perishing. Its conversion to Christianity in the +fourth century, under Constantine, was too late to save it. For three +hundred years pagan Rome had been drenching the soil of Southern Europe +with the blood of Christians. Then this zealous new convert not only +espoused the religion of Christ, but determined by her Church Councils +what that religion meant and what it did not mean, and made fierce war +upon heretics like the Gothic Christians, who knew nothing about these +strange doctrines of which Ulfilas had not told them, nor concerning +which did their simple Gothic Bible say one word! (A conflict between +<I>Trinitarianism</I> and <I>Arianism</I>.) +</P> + +<P> +The Roman Empire was the "<I>Holy</I> Roman Empire," now. When Constantine +removed his capital to Byzantium, it required two Emperors, an Eastern +and a Western, to govern the crumbling mass. But as the temporal power +declined, there was at Rome a new and spiritual kingdom which was +expanding and claiming an empire over all Christendom. The Bishops of +Rome had become Popes. Gaul or France was now governed by the German +Franks. And the Frankish Kings in France, and the Visigoth Kings in +Spain, and Christians everywhere must bow to the will of the Pope. +</P> + +<P> +But the Roman Emperors were becoming less and less able to protect +their dominions. The Teuton Lombards had overrun Italy, and at last +the lowest point of degradation seemed to be reached, when the Imperial +Crown at Byzantium was grasped by Irene, who deposed and blinded her +own son in order to reach the throne once occupied by Augustus. +</P> + +<P> +Who could be more fit to fill this august position at the head of +Christendom than Charlemagne, the great conqueror of men and defender +of the Holy Faith? +</P> + +<P> +The coronation of Charlemagne, King of France and Germany, at Rome, in +the year 800, was a revolt of the West against the sluggard Emperors at +Byzantium; just as his father Pepin's had been, fifty years before, a +revolt against the sluggard Kings of France. +</P> + +<P> +Not for 800 years had there been such a commanding personality on the +earth; not since Cæsar hurled his legions into Gaul and Britain had +there been such a display of military genius and valor, and perhaps +never before such a breadth of intelligence in controlling a vast and +heterogeneous empire. +</P> + +<P> +Thenceforth, Charlemagne and his successors (when crowned by the Pope) +were the successors of the Cæsars and the temporal heads of the Holy +Roman Empire. Excepting in name the once great empire had ceased to be +Roman. The rude barbarian race which, in the time of Julius Cæsar, was +buried in the forests of Central Europe, was at the head of +Christendom; and under Charlemagne, a map of the German Empire was a +map of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Charlemagne acknowledged the Pope who crowned him as his spiritual +sovereign, while, on the other hand, the Pope bowed before the Emperor +who appointed him as his temporal sovereign. It was a magnificent, +all-embracing scheme of empire, of which the spiritual head was at +Rome, and the temporal at Aix-la-Chapelle. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed as if, by this dual supremacy, Charlemagne had provided for +all possible exigencies of human government. He rested content, no +doubt thinking he had embodied a perfect ideal in creating a system +which should thus co-ordinate and embrace both the spiritual and +temporal needs of an empire. But as soon as his controlling hand was +removed unexpected dangers assailed his work. +</P> + +<P> +In less than fifty years from his coronation his three grandsons had +quarreled and torn the empire into as many parts. With this event +France commenced a separate existence as a kingdom and the Imperial +title belonged alone to Germany (treaty of Verdun, 843). +</P> + +<P> +It was the strong, rough arm of the Goth which had hammered in pieces +the Roman Empire and brought these tremendous results for the Teuton +race; but it was the Frank which had survived as the governing power. +</P> + +<P> +These Franks established a new system of land tenure, which combined +the two opposing systems prevailing in North and South Germany. They +proclaimed that the land belonged to the Crown. But the Crown, upon +certain conditions, bestowed it upon landholders who were called +barons. These barons might hold their land from generation to +generation, so long as these conditions were fulfilled. They, in like +manner, parceled out their lands into farms, which were held by the +class below them upon like conditions of submission and fealty to them. +The people bound themselves to furnish military service and food, and +to work for their barons a specified number of days in the year, and to +receive in return a certain protection, and a refuge within the castle +of their chief. The baron was responsible to the count who was his +superior, and the count to the King. +</P> + +<P> +This was the feudal system, which was a net-work of reciprocal duties. +No man, be he peasant or count, could call anything his own unless he +discharged his obligations and responsibilities. +</P> + +<P> +The system met great opposition for a time in South Germany; especially +from Welf, Count of Bavaria, from whom the historic Guelphs are +descended. But it survived, as we know, increasing in oppressive +weight and rigidity, until for centuries it crushed the life out of +Europe. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V. +</H3> + +<P> +One century after Charlemagne, the kingship of Germany ceased to be +hereditary. The great nobles, or vassals as they were called, elected +the King, who was crowned at Aix. And then, after the Pope had crowned +him at Rome (but not until then), he was also King of Italy and Emperor +of the Holy Roman Empire. +</P> + +<P> +The condition of Germany was at this time very disordered. There were +jealousies and conflicts between the various states composing it and +incessant incursions from those troublesome neighbors, the Magyars or +Hungarians, the Turanian people on their southeast border. This latter +led to an important phase in the development of Germany. Henry I., +father of King Otto the Great, in 924 offered these Hungarians a large +yearly tribute if they would cease to annoy his country. For nine +years the tribute was paid. The Germans in the meantime were busily +engaged in building fortresses on their frontier, and walled cities +throughout the land. These were called <I>burgs</I>, and were placed under +the command of counts, who were called <I>Burgraves</I>. +</P> + +<P> +So, in the tenth year, when the Hungarians insolently demanded their +tribute, Henry threw a dead dog at their messengers' feet, and told +them that was his tribute in the future. +</P> + +<P> +The Hungarians in a fury poured into Germany. But—lo! instead of +collections of helpless villages lying at their mercy, there were +walled towns which defied all their efforts to capture, and after some +futile attempts the Hungarians troubled Germany no more. +</P> + +<P> +Another important development of this period was an eventful one for +Europe. There was a large class of young men, younger sons of nobles, +for whom there was no suitable classification. They were proud and by +necessity were idle. +</P> + +<P> +This same Saxon King Henry invited these young men to serve the empire +in a new and peculiar way. They must be men of honor and truth; they +must be devoted and loyal to the Holy Roman Empire; never have injured +a weak woman nor run away in battle; they must be gentle and courteous +and brave, and faithful to the Church. +</P> + +<P> +The men who could take these oaths and make these pledges were called +knights, or <I>Knechts</I>, servants of the King. Thus was created the +order of knighthood, which quickly spread over Europe. +</P> + +<P> +The great Charlemagne, in accepting the crown of the Holy Roman Empire +in 800, unconsciously inflicted a deep injury upon the future Germany. +That glittering bauble, the crown of the Cæsars, was very costly, and +retarded the development of Germany for centuries. +</P> + +<P> +That country needed all her resources and energies at home, to solidify +and develop a great nation during its formative period. +</P> + +<P> +Instead of that, for seven hundred years the ambitions of the Kings of +Germany were diverted from what should have been their first care—the +unity and prosperity of their own nation; and were chasing a +phantom—the re-establishment of the great old empire, with Rome as its +heart and center. +</P> + +<P> +Another mistake made by Charlemagne was far-reaching in its +consequences. +</P> + +<P> +He little suspected the nature and the latent power existing in that +spiritual kingdom with which he formed so close an alliance. He feared +not the Church, but the ambitious and scheming nobles. So, in order to +create a friendly bulwark about the throne, he made some of the +archbishops and bishops secular princes, and bestowed upon them +dominions over which they might reign as sovereigns. +</P> + +<P> +The Church, which had not been growing any too spiritual since it was +adopted by Rome, was more and more secularized when it had Primates +ravenous for wealth and power. +</P> + +<P> +The Pope and Emperor, instead of close allies as Charlemagne had +intended, had finally become jealous and angry rivals. In the open +warfare which in time developed two political parties came into +being—the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, which represented the adherents +of the Pope and the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +It was a part of the settled policy of the Popes to stir up strife in +Italy, and thus, by compelling the Emperor to pour his revenues and his +energies into that land, to weaken and undermine him at home. +</P> + +<P> +For the first five hundred years of its existence the Church had been +governed by the bishops of Rome. In the next five hundred years these +bishops had grown into Popes, who were the spiritual heads of +Christendom. As the Church was entering upon its third +five-hundred-year lease in the year 1073, the miter was worn by the +fiery monk, Hildebrand, who had become Gregory VII. This man resolved +to establish the supremacy of the Church over the secular arm of the +government. As a weak Emperor wore the Imperial crown, the time was +favorable for claiming a religious empire existing by divine right, and +superior to the will of kings and emperors. +</P> + +<P> +In the conflict which followed Henry IV. deposed the Pope—this +creature of his own appointing, who would override the authority of the +power which had created him! And as a counter-move the Pope +excommunicated the Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +Had Henry stood his ground as he might, for he would have had ample +support from his people, it would have been a gain of centuries for +Europe.. But the ban of excommunication, with its attendant horrors +here, and still worse hereafter—it was more than he could bear. +Affrighted, trembling, penitent, he crossed the Alps in dead of winter, +crept to the castle of Canossa, near Parma, where Hildebrand had taken +refuge; and there this successor to Charlemagne, this ruler of all +Christendom, standing barefoot and clad in sackcloth shirt, humbly +begged admittance. The Pope's triumph was complete. So he let him +shiver for three days in cold and rain before he opened the gates and +gave him forgiveness and the kiss of peace. +</P> + +<P> +The Church had never scored so tremendous a victory. She was supreme +over every earthly authority, and the hands on the face of time were +set back for centuries. Let Guelph and Ghibelline storm and struggle +as they might, there was no question of supremacy now between temporal +and spiritual heads. All the lines of power, all the threads of human +destiny led to Rome, and were found at last in the papal hand. +</P> + +<P> +In the three centuries of its existence the empire had been ruled first +by Frank, and then by Saxon emperors. But the eventful visit to +Canossa led to a new dynasty, the Swabian. When that humiliated +monarch, Henry IV., crossed the Alps in midwinter, when Europe's +mightiest prince stood woolen-frocked and barefoot upon the snow for +three days, humbly entreating forgiveness, there was one knight who +attended him with marked fidelity. This was Frederick of Büren, and +verily he had his reward! The Emperor created him Duke of Swabia, and +bestowed upon him his daughter Agnes as his wife. +</P> + +<P> +The Duke of Swabia then built himself a castle on a high plateau of +land called Hohenstaufen. But this fortunate duke had also another +great estate called Waiblingen. So he was Frederick of Hohenstaufen, +and of Waiblingen as well. The last name had a very conspicuous +destiny awaiting it. +</P> + +<P> +The dukes of Bavaria had been a great power in Germany, ever since that +first stormy Welf, who tried to put down the new-fangled system of +land-tenure which we know as feudalism! +</P> + +<P> +These Welfs were evidently not progressive; they seem in fact to have +been the Tories of ancient Germany. And when Conrad, grandson of +Frederick, the first Hohenstaufen, was elected King of Germany, there +was a very stormy time. The people divided into two factions: the +adherents of the new dynasty and the Emperor in the one, and the +malcontents who were led by Welf, Duke of Bavaria, in the other. As +hostility to the Emperor meant friendship with the Pope, this party of +the Welfs was also that of the papal faction. +</P> + +<P> +The tongue of the Italian could not master the two words Welf and +Waiblingen; which, as they became fastened upon the two political +factions in Italy, were changed to Guelph and Ghibelline. +</P> + +<P> +The Waiblingen family long ago disappeared. But the ancient name of +Welf is represented to-day by the gracious Queen of England. +</P> + +<P> +The party of the Guelphs in Germany was that of disaffected dukes and +nobles, who from personal or other reasons desired to embarrass the +Emperor, even to the extent of an alliance with his enemy the Pope. +</P> + +<P> +The Ghibellines expressed the anti-papal sentiment of the people, among +whom there was a growing dread and hatred of Romish power, and the time +was approaching when Teutonic patriotism would mean resistance to +Italian priestcraft. +</P> + +<P> +While this antagonism was developing, the most stupendous event in all +history was taking place in Europe. The Christian conscience—more +sensitive than it is to-day—had been roused to a frenzy of indignation +by Mahomedan outrages in the Holy Land. That first "European Concert" +had been formed to drive the Mahomedan out of the land, where a concert +of Europe is striving to keep him undisturbed to-day! +</P> + +<P> +This time of a great religious war was not favorable for an anti-papal +policy in Germany. Conrad allowed himself to be swept into the +current. He headed a great Crusade in the year 1147. +</P> + +<P> +Not one tithe of his vast host ever reached the Holy Land. They melted +like the dew before disease, starvation, and the sword of the Moslems +in Asia Minor. +</P> + +<P> +When the despondent Conrad returned to Germany he brought back one +lasting memorial of his ill-fated Crusade. He had seen at +Constantinople, on the Imperial standard of the Byzantine Emperor, a +double-headed eagle. This representation of a double empire he +determined to adopt for the emblem of his own, and hence it is that it +exists to-day on the Austrian standard, and upon the coins of Germany +and Austria. +</P> + +<P> +It was well for Germany that, while she was thus torn and distracted by +contending political factions, and while her life blood was being +drained into Italy, Frederick I., or Barbarossa (1152), came to hold +the reins of government as they had not been held since Charlemagne. +</P> + +<P> +This great Hohenstaufen threw his lion-like weight into the controversy +concerning Papal and Imperial supremacy. He spurned the pretensions of +the Pope and his encroachments upon secular authority. +</P> + +<P> +He claimed that his office was from God—not from the Pope; and that it +was not a whit less sacred than his rival's. To which the Pope +replied: "Who was the Frank before Pope Zacharias befriended Pepin? and +what is the Teutonic King now, till consecrated by papal hands? What +he gives, can he not withdraw?" +</P> + +<P> +But the Imperial power never reached such height as under this +imperious, commanding Teuton; who exists now as a half-mythic hero, +honored in picture, statue, song, and legend throughout Germany. His +reign was a splendid fight against the two antagonists which were +finally to be fatal to the Empire—Italian nationality and the Papacy. +</P> + +<P> +The knighthood established by his Saxon predecessor, in 930, had during +the Crusades expanded into great orders of chivalry throughout Europe. +Frederick Barbarossa fostered and brought the chivalry of Germany to +great splendor. +</P> + +<P> +He also brought to an end the long and destructive feud between the +Welfs and the Waiblingers, pacifying the former by bestowing upon them +the territory of Brunswick; to which fact England owes her present +Queen, who is a daughter of the house of Brunswick. +</P> + +<P> +For many centuries the people believed the legend that their hero had +not died in Palestine; but they pointed to the mouth of a great cavern +on the frowning heights of the Kyfhäuser mountain, where he was said to +be surrounded by his knights in an enchanted sleep; waiting the hour +when he should awaken and descend with his Crusaders, to bring back a +golden age of peace and unity to Germany! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI. +</H3> + +<P> +There are three conditions in national life of which all nations more +or less partake. One is where the elements combine with a tendency +toward organic development; another, where these elements fall apart +with a tendency toward disintegration; and still another, where all +processes, constructive and destructive, are arrested as in a crystal. +The United States, the Ottoman Empire, and China illustrate these three +conditions to-day. +</P> + +<P> +The Teuton, who had been such a powerful element in renovating other +European nations, had thus far seemed incapable of consolidating his +own national life when left to himself. The tendency was steadily +toward disintegration rather than growth. +</P> + +<P> +This was not alone because the strength of the Teutonic kingdom was +wasted in pursuit of that glittering toy bestowed by the Pope; but on +account of internal strifes and rivalries which employed the hostile +schemes of the Roman Pontiff for their own ends and purposes. +</P> + +<P> +The rivalry with the Pope, in itself a destructive element, was made +still more destructive when it was thus used by disaffected dukes as a +means of annoying and circumventing Emperors whom they disliked. +</P> + +<P> +A Frederick Barbarossa might arrest these processes for a time. But +one century later the ruin was complete. +</P> + +<P> +Frederick II., the last of the Hohenstaufens, died, leaving an empty +throne and a broken and shattered empire. It was destined to rise +again and to wear the name and trappings of its former greatness, but, +crippled and degraded, to be in reality a mere shadow and semblance of +what it had once aspired to be—the head of the world. +</P> + +<P> +A period of twenty years then followed, known as the "Great +Interregnum." A time when there was no King nor Emperor; when robbery +and brigandage became the employment of needy knights, and when great +barons made war upon and waylaid each other on the highways. +</P> + +<P> +It was a time of strange chaos and darkness. And yet this period, +apparently so unfavorable to growth, brought forth two of the most +pregnant events in the history of Germany. These were the creation of +the Hanseatic League and the birth of German literature. The one laid +the foundation of a real national life in which the people should +participate; while the other gave expression to the romantic ideals of +a hitherto silent race. +</P> + +<P> +The great German epic, which is the Iliad of the Middle Ages, was +produced at this darkest hour in the history of Germany. The +Nibelungen Lied deals with the colossal crimes, loves, and sorrows of +Burgundian kings and princesses at the time of the Hunnish invasion. +And it has been the good fortune of Germany, six hundred years later, +to have a son (Richard Wagner) who has clothed that great epic in music +which matches it in heroic dignity and splendor. +</P> + +<P> +The other event was of deeper import than this. The burgs, or cities, +which were created as a defense against the Hungarians, had become busy +centers of manufacture and trade, and to some extent of learning. Many +of them had been made free cities. That is, they were under the direct +control of the Emperors instead of the hereditary nobles as at first. +These cities enjoyed especial privileges and immunities which drew to +them population and prosperity. The true policy for German Emperors, +harassed by Italian intrigues and at war with their own archbishops and +disaffected nobles, would have been to form close alliance with these +free cities, and make friends of their burghers and guilds. +</P> + +<P> +When there was no king, no ruler in the land, when robbery ran riot so +that traveling was impossible, two cities, Hamburg and Lubeck, agreed +together to keep order in their neighborhood. Then Brunswick and +Bremen joined; and at last over a hundred towns had combined together +in what was called the "Hanseatic League." +</P> + +<P> +This Confederacy became the mightiest power in the North of Europe; and +at one time even threatened the overthrow of feudalism, and to convert +West Germany into a federation of free municipalities. +</P> + +<P> +When trades increased in the cities, each trade managed its own affairs +by an organization called a <I>guild</I>. The guilds in the course of time +obtained a share in the government of the towns; and it was the +regenerating power of these guilds which brought about this great +movement. With their simple ideals of truth, sincerity, and justice, +they were the storehouses of that power which is the real life of a +nation. As well expect a tree to flourish when its sap is not +permitted to rise, or a man to be well when the blood is obstructed in +his veins, as to look for healthful growth and expansion in a nation +from which the life of its common people is excluded! +</P> + +<P> +Among these early guilds, that of the Meistersingers, which was +chartered in 1340, was of vast importance in the development of the +German people. +</P> + +<P> +It was composed of artisans and governed by the strict, pedantic rules +then existing in the arts of musical and literary composition. +</P> + +<P> +The prizes did not confer as great an honor as those bestowed at +Olympia two thousand years before, but they were sought with an intense +enthusiasm. +</P> + +<P> +The soul of the Teuton was by nature set to music. For him that art +was not a luxury reserved for the rich and cultured, but the daily food +which nourished the life of the most untutored. Within this musical +and literary guild the two arts of music and poetry for centuries +existed in their most elementary form, and were the soil out of which +later came such marvelous blossom and fruit. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII. +</H3> + +<P> +Germany, which had always been a loosely compacted mass, was at the +close of the Hohenstaufen dynasty composed of 60 independent cities, +116 priestly rulers, and 100 reigning dukes, princes, counts, and +barons, always rivals and usually at war with each other, in +perpetually changing combinations for attack or defense. +</P> + +<P> +Lying beneath this body of small and struggling sovereigns was a people +in whom was the first dawning consciousness of human rights; which +consciousness was gradually extending to that helpless mass underlying +the whole—the peasantry. +</P> + +<P> +In 1273 the German princes succeeded in electing an Emperor; and the +Great Interregnum was over. +</P> + +<P> +It is a curious fact that the two names <I>Hapsburg</I> and <I>Hohenzollern</I> +should have appeared simultaneously in German history. Rudolf, Count +of Hapsburg, through the influence of his brother-in-law Frederick of +Hohenzollern, Count of Nuremburg, was chosen to fill the vacant throne. +It was during the reign of Albert, son of this first Hapsburg, that the +Swiss first revolted against imperial authority. +</P> + +<P> +Gessler, who had been sent by Albert to subdue the refractory Alpine +shepherds, so exasperated them by his atrocities that he was shot by +William Tell. It was a long way from Tell to Swiss freedom and +independence. But the people from that hour never wavered in their +determination not to be serfs to the house of Hapsburg. +</P> + +<P> +The Hanseatic League in North Germany, and the invincibly free spirit +in Switzerland, were the two things of deepest significance at this +time of political chaos. +</P> + +<P> +Side by side with this assertion of political rights, there had +commenced a general intellectual awakening. The Bishop of Ratisbon, +Albertus Magnus, was so learned in mathematics and in science that +people believed he was a sorcerer.[<A NAME="chap07fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap07fn1">1</A>] Godfrey of Strasburg had written +an epic poem about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. +Wolfram of Eschenbach had told of the Holy Grail in his Parsifal; and a +learned history of Denmark had been written, without which our own +literature would have suffered immeasurable loss, for in it Shakspeare +found the story of Hamlet! +</P> + +<P> +It was at this time (1356) that the famous "Golden Bull" was issued, a +new electoral system, which reduced the number of electors to seven. +</P> + +<P> +The idea was that as the sun and the seven planets illumined our +heavens, so that great luminary, the German Emperor, should be the +center of a political system composed of seven Electors. +</P> + +<P> +These earthly luminaries, whose duty it was to elect a new Emperor, +were the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Trèves, and the temporal +princes of Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Palatine of the Rhine. +</P> + +<P> +The very first act of these seven wise men was to place upon the throne +Wenceslas, a brutal madman, who might better have been confined as a +maniac. +</P> + +<P> +It was during the reign of his brother and successor Sigismund that the +burning of John Huss lighted the conflagration in Bohemia known as the +Hussite War. +</P> + +<P> +John Huss, a professor of the University of Prague, had dared to raise +his voice against the temporal enrichment of a church whose Founder had +not where to lay his head, and who had put behind him the kingdoms of +this earth, when offered to him by Satan! +</P> + +<P> +Huss, for this offense, came under the displeasure of the bishops. +Charges were brought against him that he had maintained the existence +of four Gods, and he was condemned and burnt (1415). +</P> + +<P> +The Hussite war had none of the reforming purpose which led to the +martyrdom they wished to avenge. It was a mad strife, beginning over +some detail of the Communion Service, and ending in a war between +Bohemian and German, in which for nearly twenty years the country ran +with blood. +</P> + +<P> +At this period an event occurred of trifling significance then, but of +profound importance to future Germany. +</P> + +<P> +In 1411 the Emperor borrowed one hundred thousand florins of Frederick +of Hohenzollern, the Burgrave, or "Count of the Castle," of Nuremburg, +direct descendant from that first Hohenzollern who helped to found the +Hapsburg dynasty. For this loan Sigismund gave his creditor a mortgage +on the territory of Brandenburg. Frederick at once took up his +residence there, and subsequently made an offer of three hundred +thousand gold florins more to purchase the territory. The Emperor +accepted the terms, so the then small state was thereafter the home of +the Hohenzollerns, and was on its way to become Prussia. +</P> + +<P> +Sigismund and his brother Wenceslas belonged to another dynasty, that +of Luxemburg. But after the death of the former, in 1440, the +Hapsburgs succeeded again to the crown, which they wore until it was +taken off at the bidding of Napoleon in 1806. +</P> + +<P> +Just before the issuance of the Golden Bull, there had occurred that +most revolutionary event, the discovery of gunpowder. When a man in +leathern jacket could do more than a knight in armor, when safety +depended upon quickness and lightness, and ponderous iron and steel +were fatal—then a momentous change in conditions was at hand! The +destruction of feudalism was involved in this discovery of 1344. +</P> + +<P> +Under Frederick III., that Hapsburg who came to the throne in 1440, the +Empire seemed to have reached a climax of disorder. Old things were +passing away, and the new had not yet come to take their place. +</P> + +<P> +On the eastern shore of the Baltic the march of German civilization had +received an almost fatal check. The "German Order," an organization of +knights intended to keep back the Slavonic tide, had failed to do so. +Holland was becoming estranged from the German Empire. France had +obtained possession of Flanders. Luxemburg, Lorraine, and Burgundy +were becoming practically independent; while it began to seem as if +Switzerland were forever lost to Germany. +</P> + +<P> +And now the Hungarians were setting up their new king, the valiant +Hunyadi; and the Bohemians theirs, George of Podjebrod. Not only were +these kingdoms and principalities slipping away, but the peasants in +the cantons of the Alps, and elsewhere in revolt, were some of them led +by great nobles. +</P> + +<P> +Still another, and perhaps the gravest of all these dangers, was one +which yet darkens our horizon in this closing nineteenth century! +</P> + +<P> +In the year 1250 the Turks had commenced their existence in Asia Minor, +with one little clan, led by one obscure chieftain. This clan had +grown as if by miracle into a great empire in the East, rivaling in +power that of the Saracens, whose successors they were as the head of +the Mahomedan Empire. The Turks had been steadily encroaching upon +Germany; had made havoc in Hungary; had devastated Austria, and were +now insolently pressing on toward their goal, the Imperial palace at +Vienna. +</P> + +<P> +While the incompetent and drowsy Emperor Frederick III. was helplessly +viewing these stupendous overturnings, there occurred that other event, +as important in the empire of thought as the invention of gunpowder had +been in that of political institutions. +</P> + +<P> +The invention of printing (1450),—that art preservative of all +arts,—was the greatest step yet taken in the emancipation of the human +mind. +</P> + +<P> +The poor inventor was, after the manner of inventors, badly treated. +John Fust, on account of Gutenberg's inability to pay back the money he +had loaned him for his experiment, seized the printing press, and +himself proceeded to finish printing the Bible. +</P> + +<P> +The rapidity with which the copies were produced, and their precise +resemblance to each other, created such astonishment that a report +spread that Fust had sold himself to the devil, with whom he was in +league. +</P> + +<P> +This, together with the identity of names, led Victor Hugo, Klinger, +and other writers to confuse John Fust, the practicer of the Black Art +in mediæval times, with John Fust the printer. And as the original +Fust had come to stand for the emancipation of the human intellect +through free learning, and as printing was above all else the means for +such emancipation, the coincidence, if such it be, was, to say the +least, remarkable! +</P> + +<P> +When we approach the time of Isabella of Castile and of Columbus, and +when we are confronted with that familiar specter, the Turk, in +Southeastern Europe, we feel that we are in sight of the lights on +familiar headlands, and are not far from port. We are not very near to +that haven, but we are passing the line which divides the old from the +new. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap07fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap07fn1text">1</A>] See chart of Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII. +</H3> + +<P> +It was not alone in Germany that the old was vanishing. The movement +in that country was part of a general condition prevailing in England, +France, and Spain; all with the same tendency—the passing of the power +from many small despotisms to one greater one. It was an advance, +although a slow one, in the path of progress. Feudalism—that +newfangled system which had so tried the soul of Duke Welf in the ninth +century—was dissolving. +</P> + +<P> +In England the war with France, and the War of the Roses, by +impoverishing the nobles had broken their remaining authority, and that +system which had been gradually perishing since the Conquest was +virtually dead. +</P> + +<P> +In France Louis XI. had cunningly conceived the idea of recovering the +power of the throne by an apparent friendship with the people; and a +combination was thus formed against which a decrepit feudalism could +not long stand. +</P> + +<P> +In Spain the smaller kingdoms had at last been merged into two larger +ones, and by the union of Castile and Aragon under Ferdinand and +Isabella, and the expulsion of the Moors which quickly followed that +event, that country was at last consolidated into one kingdom—in which +feudalism no longer existed as a disturbing power. +</P> + +<P> +In northern Italy also, among that brilliant group of small republics, +there was this same centralizing tendency at work. Florence had passed +into the strong keeping of the Medici (1434), while Genoa and most of +the Lombard republics were gravitating toward the control of Milan. +</P> + +<P> +It was at this period that there were for the first time formed those +combinations and alliances between the nations of Europe which led +finally to a system existing for the preservation of the <I>balance of +power</I>. In fact, after the various monarchies had assumed these firmer +and more definite outlines, there began a process of weaving them +together into a larger whole; and the threads used in this process are +known as <I>European diplomacy</I>, which, as we have recently seen, is +stronger than individual sovereigns! +</P> + +<P> +It was perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the fifteenth century +that the Imperial throne of Germany should be occupied, at this time of +centralizing tendencies, by a man determined not alone to reign but to +rule. +</P> + +<P> +Maximilian I., son of the sleepy Frederick III., was chosen by the +electors in 1486. He was full of energy, intelligence, and heart, and +was, besides, the handsomest prince in Europe, and his wife, Mary of +Burgundy, was the fairest of princesses. +</P> + +<P> +The people, weary of disorder and insecurity, were glad to feel the +touch of a strong hand. Maximilian firmly planted the foundations of +the house of Hapsburg. From that time the choice of the Electors was +merely a formal recognition of the hereditary rights of that family. +</P> + +<P> +This prince, standing on the dividing line between the old and new, +possessed the qualities of both. He was stately, brave, and chivalric, +and at the same time educated according to the highest standards of his +time, devoted to literature, art, and poetry, and with comprehensive +and progressive plans for his kingdom. He had a sincere desire to +reform abuses. He introduced into Germany the post office, and the +system for the conveyance of letters, throughout two thousand +independent territories! +</P> + +<P> +The Turks were advancing on the east, the French King was harassing him +on the west, and the Pope always trying to embroil him with other +kingdoms and to drain his Empire. His was not an easy task. +</P> + +<P> +He was not a Charlemagne nor a Frederick Barbarossa, but he infused +strength and a power of resistance into Germany at a period of extreme +weakness, and he reunited to the house of Hapsburg the kingdoms of +Hungary and Bohemia. +</P> + +<P> +There was evidence that the long thraldom to Rome was passing away, in +the fact that Maximilian assumed Imperial authority without receiving +the crown from papal hands; his father Frederick having been the last +Emperor who made pilgrimage to Rome for that purpose (in 1452). +</P> + +<P> +When Maximilian came to the throne in 1493 an event of transcendent +importance had just occurred. Europe had learned with amazement that +when the sun disappeared in that mysterious Western Ocean, it passed on +to shine upon other lands beyond—lands teeming with life and riches. +</P> + +<P> +The most fascinating field for adventure the world had ever known was +suddenly opened to Europe, and the magnet of boundless wealth was +transferred from the East to the West. A stream of adventurous and +rapacious men, from all the lands excepting Germany, was moving toward +the setting sun. +</P> + +<P> +Spain, only recently obscure, poor and struggling to free her land from +an alien race, suddenly found herself mistress of her own territory, +consolidated, and with an empire and resources in the West, practically +boundless. +</P> + +<P> +The good Queen Isabella, who had been the instrumentality in bringing +about these changes for her country, had the satisfaction of seeing her +kingdom at one bound take its place in the first rank among the nations +of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Her chief care now was to make alliances for her children suited to +this new position. She and Ferdinand aimed high. They secured the +daughter of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, for their son, who was heir +to the crown of Spain; but the hopes from this union were quickly +blighted, as the young prince suddenly died during the wedding +festivities. Then another marriage was arranged for their oldest +daughter Joanna with Philip, Maximilian's son, who was also heir to the +Imperial throne. +</P> + +<P> +But Isabella's sorrows matched her triumphs and successes in magnitude. +Joanna became hopelessly insane. Another daughter, who married the +King of Portugal, was buried in the same grave with the infant who was +expected to unite the crowns of Spain and Portugal, while for her +youngest child Katharine was reserved the unhappy fate of becoming the +wife of Henry VIII. of England. +</P> + +<P> +It is sad to remember that this admirable woman, in her intense desire +to drive heretic Jews out of her country, was prevailed upon, by her +confessor Torquemada, to establish the Inquisition in Spain. Believing +as she devoutly did that heresy meant eternal death, and little +suspecting the engine for cruelty it was to become, this kindest and +best of women may be forgiven for this fatal mistake. +</P> + +<P> +Overwhelmed by private griefs and sorrows, Isabella died in 1506, +leaving her crazed daughter Joanna a widow, with two sons, the elder +six years old. She would have been consoled could she have known that, +in thirteen years from that time, this grandson would wear not alone +the crown of Spain, but the great Imperial crown of Germany, and would +be lord of a greater empire, and wield more power, than any living +sovereign. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX. +</H3> + +<P> +The period of Maximilian's reign was a bridge which spanned two +colossal events: the discovery of America and the Reformation. When +this Emperor died in 1517, a greater work was at hand than any he or +his predecessors had ever accomplished, and the humble man who was to +be its instrument was destined to become a power above all princes, and +to shake the Church of Rome to its foundation after an undisturbed +reign of a thousand years. +</P> + +<P> +The Reformation had long been preparing in the hearts of the people. +The persecutions of the Albigenses in France, the Waldenses in Savoy, +and the burning of Huss and of Jerome, had all come from the growing +conviction that the Bible was the only true source of Christian truth +and doctrine. +</P> + +<P> +The art of printing had made this well of pure truth accessible to all, +and there was a deep though unspoken belief in the hearts and minds of +the people that a church grasping at secular power and riches had +wandered far from the simple teachings of its Founder. +</P> + +<P> +These smoldering fires were very near to the surface when Maximilian +died. Charles, his grandson, was then King of Spain. The ambitious +Francis I. of France struggled hard for the crown laid down by the +Emperor, but, in 1519, it was placed upon the head of his rival, and +Charles V. was the first of whom it could be said that the sun never +set upon his dominions. +</P> + +<P> +At this most critical moment in the history of the world, the fate of +Europe was in the hands of three men: Charles V., Emperor of Germany; +Francis I., King of France, and Henry VIII., King of England. +</P> + +<P> +Charles, half Fleming and half Spaniard, had the grasping +acquisitiveness of the one nation, and the proud, fanatical cruelty of +the other. Small of stature, plain in feature, sedate, quiet, crafty, +he was playing a desperate game with Francis I. for supremacy in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Francis, handsome as an Apollo, accomplished, fascinating, profligate, +was fully his match in ambition. Covering his worst qualities with a +gorgeous mantle of generosity and chivalrous sense of honor, he was the +insidious corrupter of morals in France, creating a sentiment which +laughed at virtue and innocence as qualities belonging to a lower class +of society. +</P> + +<P> +Each of these men was striving to enlist Henry VIII. upon his side, by +appealing to the cruel caprices of that vain, ostentatious, arrogant +King, who in turn tried to use them for the furthering of his own +desires and purposes. +</P> + +<P> +It was a sort of triangular game between the three monarchs—a game +full of finesse and far-reaching designs. If Charles attacked Francis, +Henry attacked Charles, while the astute Charles, knowing well the +desire of the English King to repudiate Katharine and make Anne Boleyn +his queen, whispered seductive promises of the papal chair to Wolsey, +who was in turn to establish his own influence over his royal master by +bringing about the marriage with Anne, upon which the King's heart was +set, and then be rewarded by securing Henry's promise of neutrality for +Charles, in his designs of overreaching Francis—and, after that, the +road to Rome for the aspiring cardinal would be a straight one! +</P> + +<P> +It was an intricate diplomatic net-work, in which the thread of Henry's +desire for the fair Anne was mingled with Wolsey's desire for +preferment, and both interlaced with the ambitious, far-reaching +purposes of the other two monarchs. +</P> + +<P> +All these events were very absorbing, and while they were splendidly +gilding the surface of Europe in the first half of the sixteenth +century, it seemed a small matter that an obscure monk was denouncing +the Pope and defying the power of the Catholic Church. Little did +Charles suspect that, when his victories and edicts were forgotten, the +words of the insolent heretic would still be echoing down the ages. +</P> + +<P> +A few years later, and the Apollo-like beauty and false heart of +Francis I. were dissolving in the grave; Henry VIII. had gone to +another world, to meet his reward—and his wives; and Charles V. was +sadly counting his beads in the monastery of St. Jerome, at Juste, +reflecting upon the vanity of human ambitions. But the murmur of +protest from the unknown monk had become a roar—the rivulet had +swollen into a threatening torrent. As it is the invisible forces that +are the most powerful in nature, so it is the obscure and least +observed events that have accomplished the most tremendous revolutions +in human affairs. +</P> + +<P> +But before all this had happened, in the year 1517, when it had not yet +occurred to Henry's sensitive conscience that his marriage with +Katharine, his brother's widow, was illegal, and while Charles V., that +sedate young man, who "looked so modest and soared so high," was +quietly revolving plans for the extension of his empire, Pope Leo X., +the pious Vicar of Christ upon earth, and elegant patron of Michael +Angelo and Raphael, found his income all too small for his magnificent +tastes. It does not seem to have occurred to him that his tastes were +too costly for his income; he simply recognized that something must be +done, and at once, to fill his empty purse. But what should it be? A +simple and ingenious expedient solved the perplexing problem. He would +issue a proclamation to his "loving, faithful children," that he would +grant absolution for all sorts of crimes, the prices graduated to suit +the enormity of the offense. We have not seen the proclamation, but +doubt not it was in most caressing Latin, for can anything exceed the +velvety softness of the gloves worn on the hands which have signed +papal decrees? +</P> + +<P> +Simple lying and slander were cheap; perjury and sins against chastity +more costly; while the use of the stiletto, of poison, and the hired +assassin could be enjoyed only by the richest. It worked well. In the +hopeful words of a pious dignitary, "as soon as the money chinks in the +coffer, the soul springs out of purgatory." Who could resist such +promise? Money flowed in swollen streams into the thirsty coffers, +many even paying in advance for crimes they intended to commit! +</P> + +<P> +Martin Luther was the one man who dared to stand up and denounce this +tax upon crime, this papal trade in vice. The people had at last found +a voice and a leader. +</P> + +<P> +Protestantism, which had long been maturing in silence and in darkness, +sprang full-armed into existence, and was the first thing to confront +Charles when he assumed the Imperial crown. +</P> + +<P> +He, no doubt, thought that he would soon be able to dispose of the new +heresy, as had his royal father and mother in Spain disposed of heretic +Jews a few years before. But this new specter of Protestantism would +not down! +</P> + +<P> +When Charles called together an assembly of states (or Diet) at Worms, +in 1521, he supposed he was going to deal with one obscure monk, +leading an obscure movement. But it assumed quite a different aspect +when Luther, the culprit, was sustained by two great electors and many +princes of his realm; and when a long list of grievances against the +Papacy was formally presented by several states, which he was firmly +told he would be required to redress! +</P> + +<P> +The princes were in earnest. They began to seize church property, to +send monks and nuns adrift, and to make free with gold and silver +vessels and treasure belonging to the Church. +</P> + +<P> +This time of confusion was used by one ambitious ruler for his own +ends. The German, or Teutonic, order was a knightly organization +created expressly to hold the frontier against the Slavonic people. +After the year 1230 this order held Prussia, which they ruled like +princes. The Margrave of Brandenburg, who was at the time of the +Reformation Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, realized his +opportunity in the existing disorder. He made himself sovereign over +Prussia, and annexed the possessions of the Teutonic order to his +family. +</P> + +<P> +But it was not alone the princes who saw their opportunity in this time +of overturning. The wrongs of the peasants were very real and very +grievous, and of long, long standing. The entire burden of taxation +rested on them—the archbishops and the nobles and the <I>gentlemen</I> all +being exempt! +</P> + +<P> +When the Reformation began the <I>bauer</I>, or peasantry, believed that +their hope lay in the abolishing of Catholicism and of the feudal +system. +</P> + +<P> +It takes a very small spark to fire a train of gunpowder. When the +Countess of Lüpfen ordered the peasants on her estate to spend their +Sundays in picking strawberries and gathering snail shells for +pincushions, she dropped such a spark! They refused, and the revolt +spread, gathering in fury as it moved like a cyclone through the German +states. All throughout Germany there are to be seen, to-day, ruined +castles which tell the story of this "Peasants' War" (1525). Hideous +atrocities were committed, and, as has so often happened, the cause of +a people whose grievances were real and heartrending was so stained +with crime that sympathy with and pity for their sufferings were +obliterated. Even Luther—whose followers they claimed to be—said of +them, "they should be treated as a man would treat a mad dog." +</P> + +<P> +The bold stand taken by Luther against this rebellion strengthened him +with the princes. Not only Saxony, Hesse, and Brunswick and many free +cities, but the Augustine order of monks, a part of the Franciscans, +and a number of priests had embraced the new doctrine contained in the +"Augsburg Confession," the creed or summary of belief which was +prepared by Luther's friend, Philip Melancthon. +</P> + +<P> +The principles asserted in this were that men are justified by faith +alone; that an assembly of believers constitutes a Church; that +monastic vows, invocation of saints, fasting, celibacy, etc., are +useless. +</P> + +<P> +Such were the chief points in the celebrated "Confession," which was +signed by the Protestant cities and princes in 1530. +</P> + +<P> +So while Charles was engaged in his great game of finesse with Francis +I. and Henry VIII. for preponderance in Europe—while the Turks were +pressing toward Vienna on the east, and the French into Flanders on the +west, and while the Pope, who should have been his ally, jealous of his +power was circumventing and weakening him so far as he could, worse +than all else, the foundations of the Protestant Church were being +permanently laid in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +The two great aims of the Emperor were to restore papal supremacy over +Christendom and firmly to unite Germany and Spain. But how could he do +the one, when at the hour of a great schism in the Church, a jealous +Pope was trying to weaken his hands? Or the other, when Germany was +always suspicious of him because he was a Spaniard, and Spain because +he was a Hapsburg? +</P> + +<P> +Charles was profound in his methods, crafty and powerful; but +circumstances were stronger than he. In order to succeed at one point, +he had to weaken himself at another. He could do nothing in repelling +the Turks or the French, unless aided by the Protestant states. And +these states would only give assistance in exchange for concessions to +their cause, while Francis I., as crafty as he, found a sure way to +circumvent his rival in giving aid to the Protestants. +</P> + +<P> +The new faith was spreading not only in Germany, but in Denmark, +Sweden, and England. The movement in Switzerland diverged somewhat in +character under Zwingli, another Reformer, and the new Protestantism +began to have its own schismatics. +</P> + +<P> +Calvin in Geneva rejected Luther's doctrine of <I>justification by +faith</I>, and for it substituted that of <I>election</I>. The doctrine that +men were predestined to heaven or hell was thereafter held by that +branch of the Church known as Reformers, as distinguished from the +Lutherans, while from the <I>protest</I> of Saxony, Brandenburg, Brunswick, +Hesse, and fifteen imperial cities against the decree outlawing Luther +and his doctrines, the name Protestants took its rise, which included +Lutherans and Reformers alike. +</P> + +<P> +The famous Schmalkaldian League was so called from the little Hessian +town where the Protestant princes assembled in 1530 and made a solemn +promise of mutual support against the Emperor; when they also entered +into a secret treaty with Francis I., and received promises of support +from the Kings of England, Sweden, and Denmark. +</P> + +<P> +In 1540 the strength of the Catholics had been re-enforced by the order +of Jesuits, which was founded by Ignatius Loyola. This order made the +suppression of Protestant doctrines its chief task. +</P> + +<P> +Meyerbeer has, by his great opera, made so famous the strange tragedy +enacted at Münster in 1534 that it must have brief mention, although it +was only a bit of driftwood in the great current of events. A +religious sect called the Anabaptists was led by a Dutch tailor, John +of Leyden, who claimed to be inspired. The chief things he was +inspired to do were to crown himself king, to introduce polygamy, and +to cut off the heads of all who resisted his decrees! For more than a +year the city was held by this madman and his associates; and then the +tragedy was concluded by the torturing to death of the tailor-king and +his chief abettors; their bodies being left suspended in iron cages +over the Cathedral door at Münster. This grewsome story is the one +used by Meyerbeer in his opera of "Le Prophète." +</P> + +<P> +In 1552 Charles saw his ambitious plans for the government of the world +failing at every point. By the treaty of Passau, religious freedom had +been conceded to the Protestants; and while his army was needed to +fight the Turks in Hungary, Henry II. of France (who had succeeded +Francis I., 1547), in league with the Protestant states, was invading +Lorraine. +</P> + +<P> +Sick at heart and failing in health, the weary Emperor (1556) resolved +to lay down the heavy crown he had worn for thirty-six years. +</P> + +<P> +To his son Philip II. he gave the Netherlands, Naples, Spain, and the +American Colonies, while the Imperial title, and the German-Austrian +lands passed to his brother Ferdinand I. +</P> + +<P> +The singular cause of his death, two years later, makes us wonder +whether his unfortunate mother Joanna could have transmitted to her son +the insanity which darkened her own life. +</P> + +<P> +At the monastery at St. Juste to which the Imperial monk had retired +after his abdication, he yielded to a morbid whim to rehearse his own +funeral. The grave-clothes were damp. He was seized with a chill, and +after a brief illness died (1558). +</P> + +<P> +Charles had been thwarted in his two great aims of establishing the +supremacy of his Church, and the permanent union of Germany and Spain. +But perhaps his bitterest disappointment was in not being permitted to +leave the Imperial crown to his son Philip. +</P> + +<P> +His brother Ferdinand, although firmly Catholic, was a just and +moderate prince, who had always favored conciliatory measures to the +Protestants while the course of Philip II., in the Netherlands, soon +showed how heavily his hand would have rested upon Germany. He +appointed the Duke of Alva Spanish governor in that unfortunate +territory. Never had cruel king more cruel agent in carrying out his +policy. Torture, fire, and sword were the instruments intended to +subjugate, but which in the end brought about the independence of +Holland. +</P> + +<P> +The prelates of the Church in 1543 had come together in what was called +the "Council of Trent," with the avowed object of reforming abuses +which had crept into the Church. The real purpose, however, was to +examine the foundations of that venerable structure, to discover where +it had been injured in the assaults made upon it since 1517, and to +strengthen it where it seemed to need new supports. +</P> + +<P> +In 1563, after eighteen years' deliberation, the work of this Council +was finished. The cardinal doctrines of purgatory, absolution, +celibacy, invocation of saints, censorship of press, etc., etc., were +reaffirmed, and terrible anathemas pronounced against such as should +reject them. +</P> + +<P> +Thus was created a chasm which nothing could ever bridge, eternally +dividing the old religion from the new. +</P> + +<P> +Another tremendously re-enforcing agent was at work in Loyola's Society +of Jesus, which was to be to the Church what the brain is to the human +body. In 1540 Loyola's ten disciples received the papal blessing. In +1600 there were ten million Jesuits, and in 1700 twenty millions! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X. +</H3> + +<P> +It was the invincible march of Protestantism in the land of its birth +which brought about this buttressing of the old belief and this +adopting of fresh methods for its efficiency. +</P> + +<P> +When Ferdinand died in 1564 the great majority of the German people had +become Protestants. The Empire was honeycombed with the new faith. +Even in Austria, that everlasting stronghold of Papacy, the Catholics +were in a minority. True to the traditions of the past, Bavaria, the +home of the ancient Welfs, was the one thoroughly zealous and obedient +champion of the Pope in all Germany. +</P> + +<P> +It seemed as if the great conflict was almost over. But it had not +even commenced! +</P> + +<P> +The history of this great movement would have been very different, had +it been carried on steadily under one leader. But it had four! Those +devout souls who believed they had found in the simple gospel truths of +Protestantism a religion in which all might unite were soon convinced +of their mistake. +</P> + +<P> +Lulled by the apparent triumph of the new faith, reformers set about +the task of defining the belief and correcting the errors of Protestant +doctrine. To the followers of Calvin the belief of the Lutherans +became almost as abhorrent as Papacy itself, while the Lutherans were +again subdivided into an extreme and a moderate party; the one +following to the letter the doctrines of Luther, and the other the more +modified views of Melancthon. Not only men but states were divided and +in bitter strife over these differences, so that the Emperor Ferdinand +had said, "Instead of being of one mind they are so disunited, have so +many different beliefs, the God of truth surely cannot be with them!" +</P> + +<P> +It is apparent now that the issue underlying all this upheaval was +deeper than anyone then knew. The real struggle was not for the +supremacy of Romanist or Protestant; not to determine whether this +dogma or that was true and should prevail, but to establish the right +of every human soul to choose its own faith and form of worship. The +great battle for human liberty had commenced, and the Romish Church had +been shaken to its foundations not because its doctrine was false, but +because it was a <I>despotism</I>! +</P> + +<P> +From the abdication of Charles V. to 1600 was a period of political +tranquillity in Germany. The reign of two conciliatory sovereigns, +Ferdinand I., and his son Maximilian II., tended to produce a +surface-calm, which, although ruffled, was not broken by the stern and +despotic reign of Rudolf II., who succeeded in 1576. +</P> + +<P> +It was a half century of unfruitful and sullen waiting—waiting for a +future which no one could divine. Protestantism was not blossoming; +but the seed was germinating amid elements good and evil, strangely +mingled together. +</P> + +<P> +While the Reformation was the leading fact in Europe at this period, +another event had created a new and pervading atmosphere, in which all +else existed. The impulse given to civilization by the taking of +Constantinople by the Turks (1452), and the consequent disseminating of +Greek culture throughout Europe, was a transforming event in the +history of civilization. Literature, art, music, took on new forms and +thrilled with a new life. The activity of the human mind manifested +itself in everything. It was an age of great men and great things. +Copernicus, followed by Tycho Brahe, Galileo, and Kepler, brought order +into the heavens. The Medici in Italy, who were guiding these new and +enriching streams which had set in from the East, helped to produce a +wonderful art period, which swept in successive tides over Europe. +Fainting and sculpture reached their climacteric. Music, still in its +infancy, developed into the new forms of opera and oratorio.[<A NAME="chap10fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap10fn1">1</A>] And +while these things were happening, a mysteriously inspired man—seeming +to hold as in a crucible the wisdom distilled from all ages and all +human experiences—was writing immortal plays in England! +</P> + +<P> +The Teuton race does not take on the graces of life very quickly. The +serious and sincere German mind must inspect the idea first, and then +become thoroughly imbued with it, before the hand will act! But when +the Teuton roots do begin to draw upon the soil, they strike deep and +hold firmly, and know just what they are going to do with the rising +sap; concerning themselves much more about that than the foolish +branches and leaves! +</P> + +<P> +So this new light did not at once flood Germany, but its influence was +felt there. Thought was quickened, knowledge increased, art and +science began to flourish, wealth accumulated, and the people became +less simple and more luxurious in their ways of living. The King of +Spain was occupied in his hopeless attempt to subdue the Netherlands, +and Hungary and Austria were still struggling with the Turkish invasion. +</P> + +<P> +Such was the condition at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In +spite of the material advance there was a feeling of impending +misfortune. But the magnitude of the coming disaster none then could +have imagined or dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +The fatal circumstance was that the Protestants were divided into two +angry and hostile camps, at the very time when the Catholics, under the +teachings of the Jesuits, were uniting with solid front against them. +The Thirty Years' War would never have been undertaken against a united +adversary who held four-fifths of Germany! +</P> + +<P> +During the despotic reign of Rudolf II. the Protestants for their +protection formed a Union with the Elector Palatine Frederick at its +head. Thereupon the Catholic princes also united in a <I>Catholic +League</I> under Maximilian of Bavaria. The forces were now gathering for +the great explosion. Matthias had succeeded his brother Rudolf as +Emperor. +</P> + +<P> +When a great storm is impending, it takes only a trifling disturbance +in equilibrium to precipitate it. +</P> + +<P> +Such a disturbance occurred in Prague (1618) over a church which the +Protestants were erecting. An angry mob armed itself, burst into the +Imperial Castle at Prague, and flung out of the window two Catholic +Bohemian nobles. +</P> + +<P> +With this act of violence commenced the Thirty Years' War, which lasted +through three reigns, those of Matthias, Ferdinand II., and Ferdinand +III., and caused unparalleled misery in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +Two years from that day the Protestant faith was obliterated in the +realm of Austria, and the progress of a hundred years was wiped out. +In three years more, not only Austria, but Germany, was in a worse +condition than she had known for centuries—the wretched people, a prey +to both parties, were slaughtered, robbed, driven hither and thither, +and a country only recently rejoicing in its material prosperity was a +waste and a ruin. +</P> + +<P> +The Imperial troops were splendidly led by two great generals—Tilly +and Wallenstein. The Protestant nations—England, Holland, Denmark, +and Sweden—looked on in dismay as they saw a powerful and triumphant +Protestantism being wiped out of existence in the land of its birth. +</P> + +<P> +By 1629 Ferdinand II. considered his power re-established absolutely +over all Germany. He issued what was called the "Edict of +Restitution," which ordered the restoration of all Protestant territory +to Catholic hands. Wallenstein, in addition to this, declared that +reigning princes and a national diet should be abolished and all power +centered in the Emperor! Indeed this Wallenstein was minded to play +the dictator as well as general. He traveled in regal state, with his +one hundred carriages, one thousand horses, fifteen cooks, and fifteen +young nobles for his pages! +</P> + +<P> +This taste for splendor was, like Wolsey's, his undoing. People began +to fear the ambitious leader, and Ferdinand dismissed him. With rage +and hate in his heart he retired to Prague to await developments. +</P> + +<P> +Twelve years of war in horrible form had wrought utter ruin and broken +the spirit of the Protestants. But help and hope suddenly came in 1630. +</P> + +<P> +Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, with his heart all aflame with zeal +to defend the falling cause of Protestantism in Germany, is the +knightliest figure which adorns the pages of history. +</P> + +<P> +We in this present age have reached a point of development when, +without the quivering of an eyelash, we can hear of the destruction of +suffering peoples, even if it involves the principles and things most +sacred to us. Whether it be the effacing of Christianity in Crete, or +of liberty in Cuba, the motto of practical men and nations is—"hands +off." +</P> + +<P> +Gustavus Adolphus had not learned that potent phrase. He was still in +that undeveloped condition when the elemental impulses of the heart +sway men's action. And without a regret, without an enfeebling doubt, +he could turn his back upon a throne and an adoring people, in defense +of an imperiled Protestantism in another land. +</P> + +<P> +From the moment his foot touched the soil of Germany on that 4th of +July, 1630, life and hope revived. The Emperor Ferdinand laughed and +called him the "Snow King," who would melt away after one winter. But +when one city after another was stormed and taken, when he left behind +him a path of religious liberty and rejoicing—when Tilly was no longer +able to cope with this Snow King and Wallenstein had to be recalled, +and when it looked as if the work of twelve years might be undone, then +Ferdinand no longer laughed! +</P> + +<P> +Wallenstein would only return upon conditions which actually made him +the lord and Ferdinand the subject. Having thus become absolute master +of the Imperial cause, he confidently set about the task of defeating +Gustavus. +</P> + +<P> +The Queen of Sweden had joined her husband in Germany. On the 27th of +October, 1632, he took leave of her. As he passed through the country, +the people fell on their knees, kissing his garments, calling him +Deliverer. He exclaimed, "I pray that the wrath of the Almighty may +not be visited upon me, on account of this idolatry toward a weak and +sinful mortal." +</P> + +<P> +Before the great conflict began he made an address to his Swedes, and +then the whole army united in singing Luther's grand hymn, "A tower of +strength is our Lord!" +</P> + +<P> +For hours the battle raged furiously, and while the issue was trembling +in the balance, the sight of the riderless horse of the Swedish King, +covered with blood and wildly galloping to and fro, told the awful +story. The terrified animal had carried him with a shattered arm right +into the enemy's ranks, where he was instantly shot. +</P> + +<P> +While Wallenstein was retreating to Leipzig, the body of this most +royal of kings was lying under a heap of dead, so mutilated by the +hoofs of horses as to be almost unrecognizable. +</P> + +<P> +The Protestant cause had lost its soul and inspiration. But, in +falling, the heroic king had so broken the enemy that there was a long +pause in hostilities. And the wily general retired again to Prague, +there to evolve new plans for his own aggrandizement. +</P> + +<P> +At this crisis a new champion arose. It was not to be expected that +Richelieu, who had been putting down Protestantism with an iron hand in +France, would feel sympathy for the Protestant cause in Germany! But +that wary primate and minister was not going to stand on a little +matter of religion, when he saw an advantage to be gained for France! +</P> + +<P> +He had long ago determined how this conflict should end. He did not +intend to permit Imperial Germany under Ferdinand to rise to ascendancy +in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +With the weight of France thrown into the scale when the Imperial cause +was already so shattered by Gustavus, it was easy to see how it must +end. +</P> + +<P> +Wallenstein secretly opened negotiations from Prague with the French +ambassador, and steadily disregarded the Emperor's orders to return to +his command. The project was that he should go over to the Protestant +side in return for the crown of Bohemia. +</P> + +<P> +A general whom the traitor trusted, in turn betrayed him to the +Emperor. Six soldiers, under the pretense of bearing dispatches, +entered his room. +</P> + +<P> +"Are <I>you</I> the traitor who is going to deliver your Emperor's troops to +the enemy?" shouted one of the men. +</P> + +<P> +Wallenstein realized that his hour had come. He said not a word, but +stretched out his arms and silently received his death-blow. +</P> + +<P> +With an invading French army in Germany, under the famous Marshals +Turenne and Condé, looking about for choice bits of territory for +France, a religious war had become a political one. It lasted until +1648, when the "Peace of Westphalia" concluded the most desolating +struggle in the history of wars. +</P> + +<P> +And what had been gained? The very principle for which it was +undertaken was surrendered. Entire religious freedom was granted to +Protestants (excepting in Austria); four great states were lost to the +empire; a population of seventeen millions was reduced to four +millions, with Imperial authority abridged and broken. +</P> + +<P> +France took Alsace, and Sweden Pomerania. Holland and Switzerland were +recognized as independent States. The supreme power was invested in +the Reichstag, and the several German princes were made almost +independent. The empire, as a unity, had been reduced to a shadow. +</P> + +<P> +The devastation which had been wrought by those thirty terrible years +cannot be described. Its details are too awful to be dwelt upon. +Famine had converted men into wild beasts, who formed themselves into +bands, and preyed on those they caught. +</P> + +<P> +Such a band was attacked near Worms and was found cooking in a great +caldron human legs and arms! +</P> + +<P> +The spirit of the people was broken. Germany had been set back two +hundred years. And for what? Not to accomplish any high purpose, not +even from mistaken Christian zeal, but simply to carry out the despotic +resolve of the Catholic Church to rule the minds and consciences of all +men through its Popes and priesthood. It was the old battle commenced +six centuries before. Had Henry not gone to Canossa in 1073, there had +been no Thirty Years' War in 1618! +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap10fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap10fn1text">1</A>] For a comprehensive understanding of this period see Chart of +Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI. +</H3> + +<P> +For seven hundred years, from the treaty of Verdun (843), to Charles V. +(1520), Germany had held the leading position in Europe as the head of +the "Holy Roman Empire." The reality had been gradually departing from +that alluring title; and now, with the Peace of Westphalia, it was gone. +</P> + +<P> +With a large body of its people accorded full rights, while they were +engaged in open war upon the Roman Church, the last link binding +Germany to Rome was broken. The Holy Roman Empire was now the German +Empire. +</P> + +<P> +And, in very fact, it was no empire at all, but a loose confederacy of +miniature kingdoms, administered without any regard to each other, and +in great measure independent of Imperial authority. +</P> + +<P> +Great changes had taken place throughout Europe. Louis XIV. was King +of France. In England Charles I. had lost his throne and his head, and +Cromwell was laying the foundations of a power more enduring than that +of Tudor or Stuart. Spain was rapidly declining, and the new Republic +of Holland ascending in the scale. Sweden was supreme in the North, +and Russia just beginning to be recognized as a power in Europe. +Venice and the Italian republics were crumbling to pieces; while across +the sea, on the coast of America, a few English, Dutch, and Swedish +colonies were struggling into existence. +</P> + +<P> +Richelieu was dead, but the fortunes of France were in the keeping of +one quite as ambitious for her as was the Great Minister. There was a +new aspirant for headship in Europe. When Ferdinand III. died, Louis +XIV. tried hard to be elected his successor. He spent money freely +among the Electors, and was only defeated by the sturdy opposition of +Brandenburg and Saxony. +</P> + +<P> +Of the people of Germany there is really nothing to tell in the years +which followed the Peace of Westphalia. Spiritless and disheartened in +their ruined cities, they seemed to have lost all national spirit and +even religious enthusiasm. They languidly saw the Catholic Hapsburgs +becoming absolute in the land, while the Court at Vienna and the +smaller German Courts were absorbed in establishing servile imitations +of the Court at Versailles. Churches and schoolhouses were in ruins, +but palaces were being built in which the fashions of the French Court +were closely imitated, and princes were trying to unlearn their native +language and to install that of a cormorant French King, who was +planning to devour their demoralized empire! +</P> + +<P> +The one exception among the German rulers of this time was Frederick +William of Brandenburg, the "Great Elector." This incorruptible German +lost no time in learning French. As soon as peace was declared he set +about restoring his wasted territory. He organized a standing army and +built a fleet, and he used them, too, to recover Pomerania from Sweden +and to circumvent the French King, and so enlarged his boundaries and +strengthened his authority that Brandenburg, now next in size to +Austria, was treated with the respect of an independent power, and the +name of Hohenzollern began to shine bright even beside that of Hapsburg. +</P> + +<P> +From the year 1667 until 1704 Germany was the center of the Grand +Monarch's ambitious designs. In 1687, while Prince Eugene was leading +a German army against the Turks, and while German princes, excepting +the Great Elector, were engaged in copying French fashions, two +powerful French armies suddenly appeared upon the Rhine, and the great +war which was to involve all Europe had commenced. +</P> + +<P> +It was not love for Germany which brought Holland, England, Spain, and +Sweden into this war with France, but fear of the advancing power of a +King who aspired to be supreme in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +In the year 1700, an event occurred which intensified the situation. +Charles II., the last of the half Castilian and half Hapsburg kings of +Spain descended from Charles V., died without children, and that +country was looking for the next nearest heir in foreign lands from +which to choose a new king. Of the two it found, one was son of the +Emperor of Germany and the other grandson of Louis XIV. It was a +choice of evils for Europe; as in one case the German Empire with Spain +annexed would be a preponderating power, as in the time of Charles V.; +and in the other, the grasping Louis would be far on the road to the +very end which Europe had combined to defeat! +</P> + +<P> +Inflammable oil, poured on fire, does not make a fiercer blaze than did +this question of the <I>Spanish Succession</I> at that time. The +embarrassing thing for Louis was that, when he had married the Infanta, +he had solemnly renounced the throne of Spain for her heirs! But the +Pope, with whom the ultimate decision lay, had more need of the rising +house of Bourbon than of the waning Hapsburg, so, after "prayerful +deliberation," he concluded that the King might be absolved from that +little promise, and that Philip V. was rightful King of Spain. +</P> + +<P> +There was rage in Vienna. The Emperor Leopold I. and his disappointed +son the Archduke Karl declared they would wrest the throne from Philip +and have vengeance upon Louis, who with swelling pride was declaring +that "the Pyrenees had ceased to exist." +</P> + +<P> +When Leopold called upon the German states to arm, the Great Elector of +Brandenburg was dead. But his son Frederick took advantage of the +opportunity. He would assist the Emperor on one condition, that he be +permitted to assume the title of King! An embarrassment arose in the +fact that traditional custom permitted only one King among the Electors +(King of Bohemia), and therefore the Elector of Brandenburg could not +be also King of Brandenburg. +</P> + +<P> +The difficulty was overcome by adopting for the new kingdom the name of +his detached duchy of Prussia, that province which had been snatched +from Russia by the Teutonic knights long before, and had then been +appropriated by that masterful Hohenzollern who was then head of the +Order, as his own kingdom. It was this high-handed proceeding which +thereafter inseparably linked the name of Hohenzollern with that of +Prussia. +</P> + +<P> +So, in 1701, the Elector and his wife traveled in midwinter to +Königsberg, almost in the confines of Russia, where he was crowned +Frederick I. of Prussia, and then returned to Berlin in Brandenburg, +which thereafter remained his capital. And so it was that Prussia—the +name of a small Slavonic people on the frontier—became that of the +entire kingdom of which Berlin was the capital. +</P> + +<P> +England and Holland were in alliance with Leopold—not for the sake of +setting up the Hapsburg, but rather to put down the great Bourbon who +began to wear the prestige of invincibility. England entered the +alliance languidly at first, but when the French king threw down the +glove by recognizing the exiled Stuart (son of James II.) as the heir +to her throne, she needed no urging and sent the best of her army into +Germany under the command of the man who was going to destroy that +prestige of invincibility, and to hold in check the arrogant king. +</P> + +<P> +Marlborough and Prince Eugene formed a combination too strong for +Louis. Marlborough's great victory at Blenheim in 1704 virtually +decided the contest, although it continued for many years longer. He +was created Duke of Marlborough and received the estate of Blenheim as +his reward. +</P> + +<P> +But the long war outlived the enthusiasm it had created. England grew +tired of fighting for the Hapsburgs; there were court intrigues for +Marlborough's downfall, and finally he was recalled, and cast aside +like a rusty sword. Louis, too, had grown old and weary, and so in +1713 the Peace of Utrecht terminated the long struggle. Philip V. was +left upon the throne of Spain, with the condition that the crowns of +Spain and France should never be united. +</P> + +<P> +The disappointed Archduke Karl had now succeeded to the Imperial throne +as Karl VI. If the life of a nation be in its people, there was really +no Germany at this time. There was nothing but a wearisome succession +of wars and diplomatic intrigues, and new divisions and apportionments +of territory. Prussia was expanding and Poland declining, while +Hungary and Naples, and Milan and Mantua, were fast in the grasp of +Austria. Indeed, to tell of the territorial changes occurring at this +period is like painting a picture of dissolving elements, which form +new combinations even as you look at them. +</P> + +<P> +At the North, too, there were these same changing combinations, where +had arisen two new ambitious kings. Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter +the Great of Russia were at war; and Denmark and Poland were lending a +hand to defeat the Swedish King. Peter the Great was extending his +Baltic provinces and preparing to build his new capital of St. +Petersburg (1709); but Charles XII. was defeated by Prussia and +Hanover, in his attempt to make of Sweden one of the great powers of +Europe. His death in 1718 ended that dream. +</P> + +<P> +Not since the infamous Irene's deposition at Byzantium had there been a +woman on the throne of the Cæsars. When Karl VI. issued the decree +called the "Pragmatic Sanction," providing that the crown should +descend to female heirs in the absence of male, he forged one of the +most important links in the chain of events. This secured the +succession to his little daughter Maria Theresa, who was born in 1717. +The link had need to be a strong one, for there were to be twenty years +of effort to break it. But it held. +</P> + +<P> +At about this same time there was another important link forging in +Prussia, where Frederick William I. had succeeded his father Frederick +I. as king. By these two events the long spell was to be broken. +</P> + +<P> +Volumes have been written about this fierce, miserly King Frederick +William and his coarse brutalities. But his reign was the rough, +strong bridge which led to a Frederick the Great, and the reign of the +Great Frederick was that other bridge which led to a powerful and +dominating kingdom of Prussia,—from which was to spring a new German +Empire! +</P> + +<P> +If Frederick William was a tyrant of the most savage sort, on the other +hand he organized industry, finance, and an army. If he was a miser in +his family, he brought wealth and prosperity to his people. If he beat +and cudgeled his own son for playing the flute, he left that son a +kingdom and an army which were the foundation of his greatness. +</P> + +<P> +His hatred for all that was French, for art, for the formalities and +even the decencies of life, was an enraged protest against the +prevailing affectations and artificiality of his time. +</P> + +<P> +We can imagine how the polished and refined Court at Vienna must have +regarded this Prussian King. Austria, entirely Catholic, in a state of +moral and intellectual decline, sat looking backward and sighing for +the return of the spirit of the Middle Ages. Prussia, altogether +Protestant, had set her face toward a future which was to be greater +than she dreamed. +</P> + +<P> +In 1736 Maria Theresa was married to Francis of Lorraine. In 1740 she +succeeded her father Karl VI., on the Imperial throne; and that very +same year Frederick William of Prussia died, and was succeeded by his +son, who was to be known as Frederick the Great. +</P> + +<P> +Through the barren period succeeding the Thirty Years' War some vital +processes were going on; indeed that most vital of all processes, +thought, was active. Broken into fragments as by an earthquake, the +people had been left without one healing touch from the hands of their +infatuated rulers. It was a sorry spectacle to see those German +princes gayly arraying themselves in French finery while their country +was a ruin. Did they not know that a wound might better not heal at +all, than to begin by forming new tissue at the top! +</P> + +<P> +Whatever capacity Germany had for being, was in those neglected +fragments. If she ever developed into greatness it must be along the +line of their elemental tendencies, and by being German, not French. +</P> + +<P> +So a nation, helpless, broken, disorganized, out of harmony with itself +and with others, could not act, but it could think. And in this time +of chaos and confusion there commenced mighty stirrings in the thought +of Germany. Slumbering in that chaos were the germs of wonderful music +and a wondrous literature. +</P> + +<P> +The gloomy and despondent Spinoza had found peace in discovering that +the reality of things was not in political overturnings, nor in the +disappointing facts and phenomena which we call life, but in the +<I>Eternal Order</I>, of which we are all a part. +</P> + +<P> +He might have discovered the same sustaining truth in religion; but +Spinoza's mind led him to seek it instead in a philosophical system +which should harmonize the discordant facts of existence. This was the +foundation of German speculative philosophy, which took possession of +the German mind and which by progressive steps was to lead to a union +with a science, <I>founded</I> upon the despised facts of life—and finally, +whether they wished it or not—a harmonizing of both with RELIGION. +</P> + +<P> +With deeply philosophical mind the great German, Leibniz, was +investigating the truths of the natural world; and Handel also belongs +to this time of soul-awakening during a period of national neglect and +depression, while at this very time there was also borne in a +stimulating wave from England, where Newton had revealed the +fundamental law and the "ETERNAL <I>order</I>" of the <I>physical</I> universe. +</P> + +<P> +It would seem like a dim twilight to us if we should go back to it now; +but then these new lights were very dazzling, almost blinding people +with their splendor. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII. +</H3> + +<P> +It was into such a world as this that Frederick the Great was ushered +in 1712. Few children, be they princes or peasants, have ever had a +more unhappy childhood. If he had not been born to be a King, +Frederick's tastes would have led him to be a musician or a poet. A +son whose chief pleasures consisted in playing the flute, and reading +French books, became an object almost of aversion to the austere +Frederick William. In the midst of severities past belief Frederick +obtained most of his education in secret, at the hands of French +<I>émigrés</I>, who formed his taste after French models, the influence of +which could be traced throughout his life. His passion for music was +pursued also in the same secret way. +</P> + +<P> +The tyranny and the beatings to which he was subjected became at last +so intolerable that, when he was eighteen years old, Frederick +determined to run away. His adored sister Wilhelmine was his +confidante. His bosom friend, Lieutenant Von Katte, was his +accomplice. A letter to Von Katte, written at this time, fell into +other hands and was sent to the King. +</P> + +<P> +The barbarities which followed make one think this Hohenzollern should +have been in a madhouse instead of on a throne. It was a small matter +that he beat his son until his face was covered with blood, for he had +done that before; but he sent him as a prisoner of state to Prussia. +He then annulled the sentence of imprisonment passed by the +court-martial upon Von Katte, and ordered his immediate execution. To +inflict more suffering he ordered that the hanging take place before +the window of the cell where his son was confined! +</P> + +<P> +When this was carried into effect the young prince fainted, and lay so +long insensible that it was thought he was dead. +</P> + +<P> +The King then insisted that he be tried by court-martial; and when the +court decided that it had no authority to condemn the Crown Prince, he +overruled the decision and ordered his execution. +</P> + +<P> +The horror and indignation caused by this extended as far as Vienna. +The Emperor Charles VI. informed the King of Prussia that the Crown +Prince could only be condemned capitally at an Imperial Diet. The King +answered, "Very well; then, I will hold my own court on him at +Königsberg. Prussia is my own and outside the confines of the empire, +where I can do as I please." +</P> + +<P> +But the fury of this madman was abating. He did not resent it when a +daring attendant reminded him that "God also ruled—even in Prussia." +Finally he was satisfied with humiliating his son by making him work +for one year in the lowest position in the departments of the +government. +</P> + +<P> +At the wedding festivities of his sister Wilhelmine, Frederick secreted +himself among the servants in humble attire. He was discovered, and +the King, who must have been in a genial mood that night, pulled him +forth from his hiding, and leading him to the trembling queen said, +"Here, madam, our Fritz is back again!" And the reconciliation made +three aching hearts glad. +</P> + +<P> +For the ten succeeding years Frederick was permitted to reside in his +own castle near Potsdam, and the relations with his father became +kinder and almost cordial. The son in his castle pursued his +philosophical studies, corresponded with Voltaire, and played the flute +to his heart's content. +</P> + +<P> +But he did other things too, as the future demonstrated. The study of +profound subjects, conversation, and intimate friendships with learned +men, trained his active mind to wonderful acuteness, and when he +applied this to the study of history, when he read of the dignity of +kings, and of what stuff greatness was made in the past—he formed his +own ideals for the future. When Frederick William died in 1740 he was +prepared to take the reins of government with a comprehensiveness of +grasp of which his austere father was incapable, and with clearly +defined plans to make Prussia great. +</P> + +<P> +Six months later Maria Theresa succeeded to her father's throne. She +had no fear of this young flute-playing King of Prussia, and was fully +occupied in defending her own Imperial rights, which were assailed by +the Elector of Bavaria, who claimed to be Emperor Karl VII., by virtue +of a descent superior to hers. +</P> + +<P> +But the war of the <I>Austrian Succession</I>, in which she was soon +involved, was quickly overshadowed by a greater conflict, which was +immediately commenced by the bold and ambitious young Prussian King. +</P> + +<P> +He claimed, by virtue of some obscure transaction in the past, that +Silesia belonged to him. But he gallantly offered, if it was returned +to him, to support Maria Theresa's cause in the fight with her kinsman +of Bavaria over the succession. +</P> + +<P> +The offer was rejected, and almost before the ink in the correspondence +was dry, a Prussian army, with Frederick at its head, was in the heart +of the disputed province. +</P> + +<P> +Two characteristics marked Frederick's movements—the perfect secrecy +with which they were planned, and the swiftness with which they were +carried out. He formed his own plans, and even his Prime Minister did +not know of their existence until he was ordered to execute them. The +cunning methods then prevailing in Courts, by which foreign ambassadors +defeated designs while they were maturing, were powerless against this +young King, as none but himself knew what was going to happen. He gave +his personal and unremitting care to every detail of government, and +astonished his people by the prodigies of labor he performed, and the +sacrifices of his time, rest, and comfort. +</P> + +<P> +Of course this ancient wrong done his family in the matter of Silesia +was only a pretext. Frederick had made up his mind at Potsdam that +Prussia must be solidified by bringing together her detached provinces, +and he had long ago drawn a new map in his mind, which should include +Silesia. +</P> + +<P> +Nature had endowed him with a bold and aspiring genius. He had a +consciousness of strength, combined with a belief that he was a chosen +instrument appointed by fate to perform a definite work: the raising of +Prussia to the first rank in the German empire. +</P> + +<P> +When we see Frederick's ideal of a despotic personal government, with a +divinely appointed ruler leading his country to greatness, independent +of ministers and advisers,—it is easy to recognize the model which is +being studied by a certain young ruler in Europe to-day! +</P> + +<P> +There was another strong personality on the throne at Vienna. To have +her crown threatened by a powerful combination, and at the same time a +war of conquest waged against her in her own Austria, was a heavy +burden to be borne by a young girl of twenty-four years. But Maria +Theresa maintained herself with astonishing bravery and firmness. She +listened to the counsels of her ministers, and then decided for +herself; even her husband Francis being unable to sway her judgment. +</P> + +<P> +France, Spain, and Saxony sustained the claims of the Bavarian Archduke +to her throne; and when a French army was on the Danube and Vienna +threatened, she fled to Hungary and made a personal appeal to the +Hungarian Diet to stand by her. She promised the restoration of rights +for which they had been contending, and by her personal charm and +radiance captured the wavering nobles, who placed on her head the crown +of St. Stephen. They cheered wildly as she galloped up "the king's +hill," and waved her sword toward the four quarters of the earth in +true Imperial fashion. +</P> + +<P> +Then she appeared before the Diet in their national costume with her +infant son Joseph in her arms, and in an eloquent speech depicted the +dangers which beset her, and the enthusiastic nobles drew their sabers, +shouting, "We will die for our <I>King</I>, Maria Theresa!" +</P> + +<P> +This saved Vienna. The support of Hungary arrested the advance toward +the capital, and the invading army moved instead on to Prague, where +her rival was crowned King of Bohemia, and later at Frankfort was +proclaimed Emperor Karl VII. +</P> + +<P> +While these distracting combinations were engrossing the young +sovereign, Frederick had invaded Silesia, and when the second Silesian +war ended in 1742, Prussia held that province, and was enriched by 150 +large and small cities, and about 5000 villages. +</P> + +<P> +England, Holland, and Hanover now came to the support of Maria Theresa +against Karl VII. and his French ally. +</P> + +<P> +The wary Frederick saw that, with such a coalition, Austria's success +was certain, and he also saw that, if victorious, her next step would +be to try to recover Silesia. So he offered to join France in support +of Karl VII., and threw himself into the war of the Austrian succession. +</P> + +<P> +This lasted three years longer and was concluded by the Peace of +Dresden (1745), which again confirmed Prussia in the possession of +Silesia, left Maria Theresa's husband wearing the disputed Imperial +title as Francis I., and to Frederick left the more unique and renowned +title of "the Great," which was bestowed by acclamation on his return +to Berlin. +</P> + +<P> +Frederick's first care was to heal the wounds inflicted by the two +Silesian wars. +</P> + +<P> +It is interesting to speculate upon what this man might have been, had +his childhood been spent in an atmosphere of kindness and love, and had +his heart and intelligence been symmetrically nurtured and trained. +</P> + +<P> +But he was trained as the tree is trained which is blasted in its youth +by lightnings, then twisted and distorted by hands which defeat its +natural tendency upward and sunward! +</P> + +<P> +An eager and impressionable boy with warm affections, acute +intelligence, and a strong sense of justice had been subjected to +inhuman barbarities in his own home. In his heart-hunger he turned to +pursuits for which he had a passionate love, and was nourished in +secret upon a poisonous diet. A nature which in the fire of his youth +had been full of generous enthusiasms was embittered by suffering, and +then became cold and cynical under the teachings of Voltaire. +</P> + +<P> +So fascinated had he become with this man that he regarded him as the +most exalted of beings, and his friendship a treasure above all others. +Faith, hope, love, and filial respect were, through this influence, +destroyed in the germ before they had time to unfold; and in the place +of everything sacred was a cynical cold-blooded search after what these +philosophers of the eighteenth century were pleased to call—<I>truth</I>. +And the way to discover this truth was to analyze, dissect, and then to +demolish! +</P> + +<P> +So there had been created a strangely composite man, compounded of +elements native to himself, to that undeveloped barbarian Frederick +William, and to Voltaire! Joined to a strong practical common sense in +the management of affairs was a passion for insincere, unsound, and +shallow French ideals. And combined with the most despotic and +arbitrary of wills, was an inflexible regard for the right of the +humblest. While he despised the beliefs of Protestant and Catholic +alike, he declared "I mean that every man in my kingdom shall have the +right to be saved in his own way." And he secured that right for his +people, too! +</P> + +<P> +His rule was a despotism, but it was a despotism of intelligence and +justice. He called himself the first official servant of the state, +and no clerk in his kingdom gave such faithful service as he. He arose +at four o'clock in the morning. He made himself personally acquainted +with every village and landed estate in his kingdom, which he treated +as if it were a great private enterprise and interest, for which he was +responsible. +</P> + +<P> +He was a reformer without heart; a King intent upon the well-being of +his people, without tenderness; a leader prepared, if need be, not to +lead, but to drag Prussia with a rough hand up the rugged path of +virtue and prosperity; and determined to make his nation great, whether +it wanted to be or not! +</P> + +<P> +There were many pleasanter companions and gentler fathers in his day. +There were sovereigns who did not terrify wrong-doers and children on +the street with uplifted canes. But this Frederick, with character +scarred and distorted, was the one man in Europe who was converting a +kingdom into a POWER, and the one man of his age whom history would +call GREAT! +</P> + +<P> +But such a being as this, one who has turned to adamant in heroic mold, +cannot sympathetically comprehend the finer currents about him. There +was going on, quite unnoticed by King Frederick, an awakening in the +German mind, and while he was building a structure of material +greatness, there had commenced, unobserved by him, another structure, +which was to be the chief glory of Germany. +</P> + +<P> +The passion for speculative thought awakened by Spinoza was stirring +the German soul to its depths. Kant had found that Spinoza's <I>Eternal +Order</I> must be a <I>Moral Order</I>. That the moral instincts which guided +mankind, and were the all in all, were the God in us, the in-dwelling +of the Divine. Thus was embodied the essence of Christianity in a new +and speculative philosophy. +</P> + +<P> +Klopstock and Lessing were creating a national literature, which +revealed for the first time the strength, resources, and unsuspected +beauty of their own language, and which was for the first time being +used to express a genius untouched by foreign influence. +</P> + +<P> +But all unconscious of this new, rushing stream of life, Frederick was +entertaining Voltaire, spending his evenings in listening to the latest +satirical verses of that vain and gifted Frenchman, and laughing at the +latest witty epigram from Paris. +</P> + +<P> +It had been one of Frederick's dreams, in his youth, to have his great +friend some day reside in his Court. In 1750 this was realized, and +the King and the poet settled down to what was to be an everlasting +banquet of sympathetic tastes and opinions, seasoned with mutual +admiration and friendship! +</P> + +<P> +Frederick felt that he was something of a poet himself, and that he was +only prevented by cares of state from letting the world find it out. +The wily Frenchman had been the literary confidant of his royal friend, +and many pages of verses had been submitted to him during their long +correspondence, and had received flattering commendation from the great +critic. So one of the pleasantest features in this closer +companionship was expected to be this drop of honeyed praise to sweeten +the evening after the day's work was done. +</P> + +<P> +But Frederick's verses bored Voltaire very much, and the royal host +began to discover that his great guest was selfish, and cold, and +jealous, and even malignant. The nimbus of fascination began to fade. +He could be cutting and satirical as well as Voltaire. The great poet +was no less hungry for praise than he, and it was an easy matter to +yawn and be bored by his verses, too. And so they became gradually +estranged, and finally enemies. They parted in anger, and Voltaire +returned to France, to write bitter satires about the King, whose +character and ideals he had been one of the chief agents in forming. +</P> + +<P> +There was then in Germany a man whose glory was to outshine Voltaire's +or that of any contemporary in Europe, even as the sun does the stars. +But Frederick's ear could not detect music in his own language, nor was +his stunted soul attuned to the native and sublime harmonies of +Goethe's genius. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII. +</H3> + +<P> +There had been a time when two nations in Europe could fight each other +to the death without disturbing their neighbors, but since there had +developed in the sixteenth century that larger unity of European +states, there was no such isolated security. +</P> + +<P> +So when, in 1755, England and France came into collision over the +boundaries of their American colonies, the shock was felt all over +Europe. Just as the earthquake which swallowed up Lisbon at that very +time had made the shores of Lake Ontario tremble, so the peace of +Germany, which had lasted for eleven years, was broken by an event in +far-off Canada. +</P> + +<P> +The two contending parties, England and France, began after the fashion +of the time to look about for allies. Maria Theresa, who had +invitations from both countries to join them, was considering which +could best serve her own private interests. England, since 1714, had +been ruled by Hanoverian kings, which practically annexed her to +Hanover. It was by no means sure that she could get assistance from +that nation in recovering Silesia—which was to be the price of her +alliance. She decided that her best policy was to secure the aid of +Louis XV., who would be glad to help her in her plans against +Frederick, in return for the assistance of Austria in this war with +England. +</P> + +<P> +As astute and profound as any statesman in Europe, this wonderful +Empress adopted means and methods entirely feminine to carry out her +immense design. +</P> + +<P> +She knew that Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, was mortally offended with +the King of Prussia, on account of some disparaging remarks he had made +about her, so she deftly used that to her own advantage. +Then—perfectly understanding how to reach the enslaved Louis XV.—she +wrote a flattering letter to Mme. de Pompadour, then in the full tide +of her ascendency over the king. +</P> + +<P> +With the greatest secrecy these negotiations were carried on, and at +last the compact between the three great powers was concluded and +everything ready to commence a war upon Prussia in the spring of 1757; +even to the agreement as to the way in which they should cut up and +divide among themselves the kingdom of Prussia! +</P> + +<P> +Frederick, through secret agents, was perfectly well informed of their +plans. He saw that his ruin was determined upon, and could only be +prevented by unhesitating courage. He determined to anticipate them. +Before the allied armies were ready, he made one of his catlike leaps +into the neutral territory of Saxony, and was in Dresden, half way to +Prague, with seventy thousand men. +</P> + +<P> +This so disconcerted the plans of the allies that there was a pause, +and conferences were held, in which it was concluded to ask Sweden to +join the coalition. Finally, that almost forgotten body, the Diet of +the German Empire, formally declared war against Prussia, and the Third +Silesian War, or the Seven Years' War, had commenced. +</P> + +<P> +As the avowed object of this great combination was not the recovery of +Silesia but the dismemberment of the kingdom, to deprive Frederick of +his royal title, and to reduce him to a simple Margrave of Brandenburg, +it is easy to see the incentive he had to great deeds. +</P> + +<P> +England and a few small German States were his allies; but, as George +II. heartily disliked him, he received small assistance from him, and +stood practically alone with half of Europe allied against him. +</P> + +<P> +There were great victories and great defeats during the seven years +which followed. There were times when the cause of Prussia seemed +lost, and other times when that of the Allies appeared hopeless. But +the tide of victory more often set toward Frederick's standard than +that of his adversaries. He defeated the Austrians at Prague; the +Imperial and French army at Rossbach; a Russian army at Zorndorf; and +these and a hundred other names stand in the annals of Prussia for +monumental courage, daring, and sacrifice. +</P> + +<P> +In the confused narrative of advancing and retreating armies, of +battles and of slaughter, but one distinct impression remains. That is +amazement—amazement that so many thousands were willing at the bidding +of one ambitious man to die, to lay down their bodies in that heap of +dead, for Prussia's greatness to rise upon! That not one was ready to +reproach him for having brought these calamities upon them for the sake +of Silesia; but instead, with twenty thousand still lying unburied upon +one field, that they respond with infatuated enthusiasm to his appeal +for more! +</P> + +<P> +But Prussia owes her rise to just such infatuation as this. +<I>Acquisition</I> and <I>conquest</I> are written on her foundation stones, the +chief of which were laid by her Great Frederick. +</P> + +<P> +It is pleasant to tell of peace once more. The Allies, wearied of the +long war, gradually withdrew from Austria. Being unable to carry it on +alone, Maria Theresa was compelled to abandon her dream of ruining +Frederick. With bitterness of heart and humiliation she consented to +give up Silesia forever as the price of a peace she did not desire. In +1763, the articles were signed (the Peace of Hubertsburg) and the Seven +Years' War was over. +</P> + +<P> +Frederick was now called "the Great" throughout Europe; and Prussia +took her place among the "Five Great Powers." +</P> + +<P> +The next thing to be done was to repair the desolation left by seven +years of war. Nearly fifteen thousand houses were in ashes. So many +men had been consumed in the army that there were not enough left to +till the fields, nor horses to draw the harvest. +</P> + +<P> +The practical King, anticipating this, had been enforcing the +cultivation of the much despised potato; and this useful tuber saved +Prussia and Silesia from famine, and some of their neighbors as well. +For as many as twenty thousand famishing people came from the trampled +and burnt corn-fields of Bohemia to feed upon the Prussian potato and +live. +</P> + +<P> +Again the people set about the oft-repeated task of repairing the +devastation of war. Indeed for 150 years they had always been either +enduring the horrors of a great conflict, or healing its wounds and +building up the waste places it had made. Can we wonder that they were +strong and serious? The weaklings were winnowed out by these great +storms, and the chastened souls of those who survived knew little of +pleasure. Religion, which had once been their solace and refuge, had +lost much of its power on account of the bitterness of sectarian strife. +</P> + +<P> +A few men groping for a solution of the problems of sin and suffering, +and for the meaning of this troubled existence, thought they had found +it in the new philosophy. France, under the teachings of Voltaire and +Rousseau, had cast off the restraints of religious faith without +providing any substitute, but Germany, more provident, was building a +spacious house for the soul's refuge when the old was demolished; +untrammeled freedom of thought was inscribed upon its doors, and +PHILOSOPHY was enshrined within! +</P> + +<P> +All this tumultuous inner life was growth: the growth and unfolding of +a great and earnest soul; and the awakening of new capacities for being +and doing. There was a rapturous surprise in discovering these +capacities, and speculative thought and literature became an absorbing +passion. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV. +</H3> + +<P> +At the close of the Seven Years' War, Maria Theresa had spent the +twenty-three years of her reign in a fruitless struggle with Frederick. +Instead of dismembering his kingdom and reducing him to a plain +Margrave of Brandenburg, she had lost Silesia and was compelled to +listen to the praises of her enemy resounding through Europe and to +hear him called "the Great." +</P> + +<P> +It was a bitter pill for her nine years later, when she had to confer +with the Prussian King as an equal, over the partition of Poland, and +to see him further enriched by a goodly slice of that unhappy country. +</P> + +<P> +But before that event, and just two years after the conclusion of the +war, Francis I. died (1755). He had worn the title, but she had +wielded the power and guided the events ever since that day when, with +her infant son in her arms, she had captured the Hungarian Diet at +Presburg. +</P> + +<P> +And now that son was Joseph II. But the scepter was still in reality +to remain with her while she lived, and in fact her name was to be the +last ray of splendor which should illumine the throne of Austria. But +these were sunset glories after a long and troubled day, while in +Prussia was the brightness of the dawn. +</P> + +<P> +That friendship with Louis XV. so eagerly sought by Maria Theresa led +to a very momentous alliance of a different sort. The Empress and the +French King together arranged a marriage between her fair young +daughter Marie Antoinette and Louis, the young Dauphin of France. +</P> + +<P> +How should the Empress of Austria, born, nurtured, and fed in the very +center of despotism—not hearing or heeding the current ideas about +human rights and freedom—entirely misunderstanding the past, the +present, and the future—how should she suspect the terrific forces +which were accumulating beneath the throne of France, or that it would +become a scaffold for her child? Hapsburg and Bourbon, to her mind, +were realities as fixed and enduring as the Alps. +</P> + +<P> +She saw no special significance in the fact that thirteen English +colonies in America were in rebellion and setting up a novel form of +government for themselves. That was England's affair, not hers, and +would in time, like other rebellions against properly constituted +authority, be put down. +</P> + +<P> +She did not live to see the end of this struggle, nor the events to +which it led in France. Her death occurred in 1780. Her son, Joseph +II., strange to say, was imbued with the new ideas of human rights. +Great was the astonishment of Frederick and of Europe, when this young +man set about the task of establishing a new and progressive order of +things in Austria; and it was a strange spectacle to behold a Hapsburg +trying to force upon his people reforms they did not desire, and rights +which they did not know how to use. +</P> + +<P> +His plans were high and noble, but he failed to see that they were too +sweeping and too suddenly developed to be permanent. His people were +not ripe for emancipation from old shackles, which they had grown to +like and venerate. In striving to free the church from the Jesuits, +and to emancipate the serfs in Hungary, he had accomplished nothing, +and had created chaos. Depressed by the failure in his great design of +reformation, Joseph's health gave way. He died in 1790 and was +succeeded by his brother Leopold II. +</P> + +<P> +It is not to be supposed that Frederick felt much sympathy with the +free young Republic established in America. And if he sent a sword of +honor to Washington in 1783, it was because he recognized the greatness +of the man; and perhaps, too, because he felt a malicious pleasure in +the humiliation of George III.! +</P> + +<P> +The intellectual awakening which this King had failed to understand had +wrought a mighty change in Germany. Lessing had been the first to +break away from an enfeebling imitation of French <I>Sentimentlalism</I>. +The genius of Goethe and Schiller awakened a new spirit in literature, +that of <I>Romanticism</I>, and there commenced that intellectual convulsion +known as <I>Sturm und Drang</I>, or storm and stress period. While Goethe +and Schiller were supreme in the kingdom of letters, Herder and the +Schlegels were great in history and criticism; Humboldt and Ritter in +geographical science; Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and Kant in philosophy; +Fouqué and Tieck in imagination, and Jean Paul Richter in the +mysterious ether of transcendental thought. +</P> + +<P> +When Karl August called Goethe to his Court in Saxe-Weimar, among that +group of other illustrious authors, and gave to Weimar the name of the +"German Athens," it was a Golden Age for Germany. +</P> + +<P> +It is interesting to recall that it was Luther who gave the first +impulse to this movement, by revealing to the people the riches of +their own tongue. In his translation of the Bible, and in his hymns, +so grandly simple, he created the modern German language. +</P> + +<P> +The influence of Luther was felt in another art, too. The enthusiasm +awakened by the singing of his hymns revolutionized the form of +ecclesiastical music. In this Golden Age in Germany music, too, had +become a great art, with such immortal names as Mozart, Gluck, Haydn, +and Beethoven; and the period of great orchestration also had +commenced.[<A NAME="chap14fn1text"></A><A HREF="#chap14fn1">1</A>] +</P> + +<P> +Although Frederick's tastes led him so strongly to letters and to +music, these two arts had attained this rich development in Germany +without any assistance from him. When he died in 1786 the monument he +left was a Kingdom of Prussia; equal in rank with any of the Great +Powers of Europe, enlarged in territory, rich in population, with a +great army and an overflowing treasury. +</P> + +<P> +As Frederick the Great had no son, this splendid inheritance passed to +his nephew Frederick William II. +</P> + +<P> +With the new ascendency of Prussia in the German Empire, a process +which had long been going on was accelerated. That empire had become a +fiction, a form from which the substance had long ago departed; almost +its only remaining relic being an Imperial Diet, where thirty solemn +old men supposed they were holding the venerated structure together by +weaving about it, and repairing, the thin, worn threads of tradition. +</P> + +<P> +The German Empire had in its best time existed by grace of God and +force of circumstances, more than by reason of a sound and perfect +organism. It always struggled with fatal inherent defects. Its life +currents never flowed freely and had been growing more and more +sluggish for centuries. And now, they had ceased to flow at all. +There was no vital relation whatever between its various parts. Of +national feeling there was absolutely none. Lessing, one of the +greatest Germans of that time, said, "Of the love of country I have no +conception!" +</P> + +<P> +And what was there to inspire patriotism in this great empty shell of +despotism! The shattered lifeless old structure was wrong at its very +foundation. It was built upon feudal injustice; that injustice which +compelled the people to bear the whole burden of taxation, from which +it exempted the nobility and the clergy. England had long ago +redressed this grievous wrong. France was just preparing to free +herself from it by a tremendous convulsion. Germany had been offered +emancipation at the hands of her enlightened and gracious Emperor +Joseph, but so spiritless and benumbed had she become that she could +not understand his message. +</P> + +<P> +He was attempting a vain task in trying to infuse new life into the +empire. There were no living channels to convey the current. The only +thing to be done with it was to sweep it away—and the man and the time +for doing this were close at hand. The surface calm which existed +while Leopold II. was repairing the disorder left by his reforming +brother Joseph, was the calm which precedes the hurricane. +</P> + +<BR> + +<P CLASS="footnote"> +<A NAME="chap14fn1"></A> +[<A HREF="#chap14fn1text">1</A>] See Chart of Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV. +</H3> + +<P> +The energies which were to transform the face of Europe had been +gradually centering in France. They commenced when Voltaire and +Rousseau made it the fashion to scoff at the Church. Then, as religion +and morality are closely allied, virtue became also a subject of +ridicule. The spirit animating this was supposed to be a reforming +spirit. It was an effort to free the people from the fetters of +ecclesiasticism. Naturally, this led to assaults upon other fetters, +other prevailing abuses. The vices of the Court were held up to +view—its extravagance and luxury; all of which people were reminded +that <I>they</I> had to pay for. +</P> + +<P> +Just at this time the Colonies in North America threw off the English +yoke because of this very matter of taxation unjustly imposed, and +France enthusiastically helped them to establish a free republic and to +humiliate her rival! +</P> + +<P> +Frenchmen returned from the United States and contrasted the fresh +vigor and purity of its institutions with the decrepit corruptions in +France. The current began to flow very swiftly now. A Richelieu or a +Louis XIV. would have been powerless to arrest the mad forces which +quickly developed. What could the feeble, well-intentioned Louis XVI. +do! He was like a skiff caught in the rushing rapids of the Niagara +River. It was only a question of how long he could hold on to passing +twigs and branches before he should go over the precipice. In 1793 +Europe read with shuddering horror of his execution, and nine months +later Maria Theresa's daughter—the beautiful, the adored Marie +Antoinette—sat in a cart with her arms pinioned behind her, as she was +driven to the scaffold. +</P> + +<P> +The men who had guided this storm in its beginnings had themselves been +engulfed in it, and a French republic was proclaimed which had been +erected upon a tragedy unparalleled in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +It was a horrible avenging of centuries of wrong and oppression. But +its purpose was thoroughly accomplished. No vestige of the old +tyrannies remained. If France was again enslaved, the fetters would +have to be forged anew! +</P> + +<P> +The powers of Europe were not only filled with horror and indignation +at the means by which this was accomplished, but they saw with alarm a +pestilential republic, in imitation of that one across the sea, at +their very doors. +</P> + +<P> +They formed a combination, called the First Coalition, for its +overthrow. If the states of Europe had really acted in concert, the +life of the new republic would have been very brief. But Austria was +jealous of Prussia, and Prussia was jealous of the close friendship +forming between Austria and England, withdrew from the alliance, and +made peace with the French republic. +</P> + +<P> +Catherine, Empress of Russia, for reasons of her own also declined to +join the coalition. While all Europe was thus engaged she thought it a +good time to settle some scores with the Turks and to look after +Poland, where a revolution was in progress. So, while the German +Empire was engaged in suppressing republicanism in France, Frederick +William II. of Prussia offered his services to Catherine to overthrow +the independence of Poland. +</P> + +<P> +Kosciusko vainly defended that unhappy country. With the fall of +Warsaw, 1794, it ceased to exist as one in the family of nations. +</P> + +<P> +So Austria had been left practically alone to put down the new +republic, which was developing wonderful strength while these languid +and inefficient efforts were being made against it; for even Austria +was diverted by what was going on in Poland, and fearful that she was +not going to get her share of the spoils. +</P> + +<P> +Marie Antoinette's brother Leopold had died the year before his +sister's execution and his son Francis II. was Emperor of Germany. The +government of this new republic which had caused such a stir in Europe +was a very simple affair. Five men who were called Directors were at +its head, and an obscure young man of twenty-six, named Napoleon +Bonaparte, had been given command of the army, with Italy as its field +of operations. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt Francis thought it would be an easy matter to deal with France +after the more important matter of the partition of Poland was disposed +of. Little did he suspect that the time was approaching when he would, +at the bidding of that young man, take off his Imperial crown, and that +Napoleon Bonaparte would rise to ascendency in Europe upon the ruins of +the German Empire. +</P> + +<P> +In 1796 the young Corsican led a ragged, unpaid army into Italy. +Without supplies, and almost without ammunition, he had audaciously +planned to make the invaded country pay the expenses of the war waged +against it. +</P> + +<P> +He pointed to the Italian cities, and said to his soldiers, "There is +your reward. It is rich and ample; but you must conquer it." He knew +the French character and how in words brief, concise, forcible to +address them like another Cæsar addressing his legions; to create +incentives to glory, and to inspire enthusiasm as never man did before. +</P> + +<P> +He also knew the infirmities of his adversaries, and how to play upon +them as Cæsar did upon the rivalries and jealousies of the Gauls, and +so to make the characteristics of Frenchmen, of German, and of Italian +all serve him. He knew how to confound the enemy with new and +unexpected methods, which rendered unavailing all which military +science and experience had before taught. +</P> + +<P> +In a brief time central Italy lay open before him, and princes, +trembling at his vengeance, were suing for peace and offering money and +treasure to procure it. Even then he was planning to make of Paris +another Rome, and to adorn her with the jewels which had been worn by +the proud Italian cities. So he demanded rare collections of paintings +as the price of safety. The Duke of Parma laid at his feet priceless +treasures of art; and even the Pope purchased neutrality by the payment +of twenty-one million francs, one hundred costly pictures, and two +hundred rare manuscripts. +</P> + +<P> +When the treaty of Campo Formio was signed in 1797, Napoleon had won +fourteen battles, and had subjugated Italy. The German Empire had lost +all of its Italian possessions, which were now grouped together into a +Cisalpine Republic, under the protectorship of France. Another +Helvetic Republic was set up in Switzerland under the same +protectorate. And then Napoleon scornfully tossed Venice as an apple +of discord into the lap of the Emperor, in exchange for the +Netherlands. And another republic under a French protectorate was +created in Holland. +</P> + +<P> +As the left bank of the Rhine had already been ceded to France, that +country, which had been only four years before in a state of political +chaos, was at the head of Europe. +</P> + +<P> +What would she not do at the bidding of the man who could accomplish +such things? He dramatically conceived the idea of crippling England +by threatening her Asiatic possessions, and led an army into Egypt. +There every bulletin, every address to his army, added to the glamour +of his name. Even the Pyramids were made to serve his consummate art +and ambition! +</P> + +<P> +Although his fleet was destroyed by Nelson and his army left in +perilous position, he was needed at home, and returned with all the +arrogance of a conqueror. He was appointed Generalissimo over the army +by an enraptured France, and then swept aside the five Directors and +appointed himself and two others Consuls. +</P> + +<P> +A second coalition was now formed against France, consisting of +England, Russia, and Austria, and there followed another campaign in +which Napoleon made permanent the results of the previous ones in +Italy. By the treaty of peace in 1801, the three republics created by +him were formally recognized, and the princes of Germany, in +compensation for their losses, had apportioned among them the dominions +of the priestly rulers. +</P> + +<P> +Thus at one blow were abolished one hundred states governed by +archbishops, bishops, and other clerical dignitaries, and one of the +foundation stones of the empire, laid by Charlemagne himself, was +shattered. +</P> + +<P> +This extraordinary man, dreaming of universal empire, superstitiously +believed that Fate intended him to hold Europe in his hand. But we can +see now that he was designed by that remorseless Fate for a very +different purpose, and a very brief office. He was a terrible +instrument, which she intended to use for one specific purpose, and +then to cast him aside. +</P> + +<P> +This work was the destruction of the Romano-Germanic Empire. That +lifeless mass, whose oppressive weight had crushed the life and hope +out of Central Europe for centuries, needed some tremendous force from +without to break up its time-encrusted rivets. And that force was now +in the hands of a workman who supposed he was engaged in rearing a +great edifice for himself. Instead of which he was overturning, and +plowing, and harrowing Germany, and preparing the ground for new forms +of political life; and nothing more effectually pulverized the old +tyrannies than this secularization of the priestly dominions. When, +added to this, we see the extinction of a multitude of petty states and +the abolition of the special privileges of nearly a thousand "Imperial" +noble families, we realize how he was relieving Germany from the +incubus which had paralyzed her for centuries. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI. +</H3> + +<P> +The eighteenth century closed upon a strangely altered Europe. France +was the ruling power on the Continent. Prussia had hidden herself in a +timid neutrality, and left Austria to fight with foreign allies for the +life of the empire. That battle had been a losing one, and now Francis +II. sat upon a trembling throne and bore a title which had no longer +any meaning. +</P> + +<P> +But Napoleon was building his own edifice. In 1803 he had himself +declared First Consul for life, and in 1804 he assumed the title of +Napoleon, Emperor of the French. His coronation took place at Paris, +where he compelled the Pope to come and perform that ceremony. +</P> + +<P> +Then, after changing the groups of Italian republics into a Kingdom of +Italy, he crowned himself, after the fashion of the Emperors whose +successor he meant to be, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. +</P> + +<P> +He had entered upon the most daring scheme ever attempted in Europe: to +convert the whole Continent into one vast empire, with the kings and +princes over the several nations all subject to him. +</P> + +<P> +Then there was a third coalition from which Prussia still held aloof, +and which was composed of England, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. +Alexander I. was now Emperor of Russia, and the timorous and +unpatriotic policy of Prussia was guided by Frederick William III., who +had succeeded his father Frederick William II. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussian King, influenced by antagonism to Austria and by the hope +of obtaining safety and reward for Prussia, stubbornly maintained his +attitude of neutrality, while the German Empire was receiving its +death-blow at Austerlitz. That "battle of the three Emperors," as it +is called, was a paralyzing defeat to the Allies. +</P> + +<P> +Prussia ignominiously received Hanover as her reward, and seventeen +German states, including Bavaria, Baden, Würtemberg, and +Hesse-Darmstadt, formally separated themselves from the German Empire +and declared themselves subject to the French Emperor. This was known +as the Rheinbund. +</P> + +<P> +The German Empire was now reduced to three separate bodies: the +Rheinbund, a federation of states giving willing allegiance to +Napoleon; <I>Prussia</I>, practically in alliance with her destroyer; and +<I>Austria</I>, helpless in that destroyer's grasp, while he, sitting in the +Imperial Palace at Vienna, dictated terms of peace. +</P> + +<P> +The Empire was broken beyond repair. On the 6th of August its +dissolution was formally announced. Francis II. abdicated the Imperial +crown and assumed the title of the "Emperor of Austria." +</P> + +<P> +It was not the people of Prussia who bartered their allegiance to the +fatherland for peace and for Hanover. It was their King and princes +who brought this stain upon them, and their beautiful Queen Louise, +mother of the late Emperor William, had pleaded in vain with the King +to pursue a loyal and patriotic course. +</P> + +<P> +The punishment came swiftly. The insatiate conqueror had no thought of +leaving a great state like Prussia undisturbed. And soon it developed +that his plan was also to create a northern bund under his +protectorate, which would be composed of the Prussian states on the +northern coast. +</P> + +<P> +Forced in her own defense to take up arms, Prussia suffered a terrible +defeat at Jena, 1806. The conqueror for whose friendship Frederick +William had sacrificed his country was in Berlin. The beautiful +Prussian Queen who, he knew, had used her influence against him, was +treated with the grossest insolence, while for the cowed people +recently in revolt, and now prostrating themselves, he did not restrain +his contempt. +</P> + +<P> +The Peace of Tilsit (1807) determined the full measure of Prussia's +retribution. Her Polish acquisitions were made into a "Grand Duchy of +Warsaw," under a French protectorate. One half of the rest of her +territory was converted into a kingdom of Westphalia, over which +Napoleon's brother Jerome was king. To the remainder of Prussia was +assigned the burden of an immense indemnity, and the maintenance of a +French army in her territory. +</P> + +<P> +But the cup of humiliation was not drained until later when, standing +with the Continent under his feet, Napoleon compelled the Prussian King +to join the Rheinbund with what was left of his kingdom, to furnish +France with troops, and thus to become tributary to his designs upon +Europe. +</P> + +<P> +Napoleon in the meantime, in an hour's interview with Alexander of +Russia, had by the magic of his influence secured that Emperor's +friendship. All this excellent man was fighting for was the peace of +Europe! And he disclosed to Alexander his plan that they two should be +the eternal custodians of that peace; which was to be secured by +restraining the arrogance of England; and that was to be done by +destroying her commercial prosperity. All of Europe was to be +forbidden to trade with that country. There was to be a Continental +blockade against a "nation of shopkeepers." Alexander was completely +won, and he promised not to molest his new friend in his benevolent +task. +</P> + +<P> +The provinces dependent upon France were now divided up into kingdoms +and principalities, and to make his own control over them more assured, +Napoleon placed members of his own family and personal friends upon the +various thrones. +</P> + +<P> +His brother Louis was created King of Holland. His brother-in-law +Murat was made King of Naples; Eugene Beauharnais, his step-son, +Viceroy of Italy. Jerome Bonaparte, as we have seen, was King of +Westphalia, and his brother Joseph he had already made King of Spain, +in the time he could spare from more important matters in Germany. +</P> + +<P> +And what was the real sentiment in Germany concerning this man at such +a time? We hear that ninety German authors dedicated books to him and +that servile newspapers were praising him; and we know that one of the +immortal compositions of Beethoven was inspired by him. But we must +recollect that he was too colossal and too dazzling to be accurately +measured, except from a distance. Even yet we are almost too near to +him for that, and the world is as divided in its estimate of Napoleon +as of the true meaning of Shakspeare's "Hamlet." It is an eternal +controversy. He was a monstrous creation; colossal in his plans, +colossal in his grasp of the forces about him, colossal in ambition, in +selfishness, in cruelty, and in intelligence. +</P> + +<P> +Napoleon realized the value of hereditary grandeur. He had been able +to climb without it; but the sons who would succeed him as masters of +Christendom must have the dignity of ancestry to fortify them. No +blood but the Hapsburg was fit for this great office. He swept away +Josephine as remorselessly as he had the Pope in Rome, and compelled +Francis II. to bestow his daughter Marie Louise upon the man who had +stripped him of his Crown and his Empire, and who was steadily +absorbing what remained of his dignity. +</P> + +<P> +The marriage took place in 1810, and with his Hapsburg Empress, +Napoleon established a temporary court at Dresden. +</P> + +<P> +Then there commenced the process which was intended finally to engulf +all the separate German kingdoms in one universal abyss. The Kingdom +of Holland was first annexed to the French Empire; then North Germany +was swallowed up in the same way; the same fate evidently being +intended next for the Rheinbund. The satellites had begun to fall into +the sun! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII. +</H3> + +<P> +To the man guiding these astounding changes it seemed a very small +matter then that a handful of Tyrolese peasants were in revolt against +the French King in Bavaria; nor that a small group of philosophers, +poets, and men of letters, were consulting together in Prussia over the +shame of their betrayal by their rulers, and considering plans for +guiding a popular movement for the emancipation of Germany. +</P> + +<P> +But these were the first stirrings of a force Napoleon had not before +had to contend with. He had fought with kings and princes and proud +aristocracies clinging to their ancient splendor and possessions, but +his armies had never been face to face with <I>patriotism</I>. +</P> + +<P> +He had not met it, because it did not exist in the German Empire until +he himself made its existence possible by breaking up the old stifling +tyrannies. Now a few patriotic and courageous men all over Germany +were combining, and inciting the people to revolt; an association +called "The League of Virtue" was created. Then the Tyrolese peasants +were subdued and their leader Hofer was shot in cold blood by +Napoleon's orders. The King of Prussia was ordered to suppress the +"League of Virtue," and French spies supposed they were uprooting +patriotism by reporting it as treason to France. +</P> + +<P> +Napoleon was at this moment at the climax of his greatness. He decreed +that Rome should be annexed to his empire, and that his infant son +should receive the title "King of Rome," which title should thereafter +belong to the oldest son of the French Emperor. What if this did bring +curses upon his name? He was now beyond the reach of blessings or +curses from men; and probably was rather pleased than otherwise when +Alexander I. threw off their sentimental friendship and defied him, by +abandoning the plan of a Continental blockade for the ruin of England. +</P> + +<P> +Now he was free to develop his gigantic plan. Does anyone suppose that +the conquest of Russia was all of that plan? Far from it! There is +every reason to believe that it was his intention, after Russia was +subdued, to press on into Asia and to expel the English from their +precious India! +</P> + +<P> +Not since the days of Attila had there been seen such an army as was +led into Russia—six hundred thousand men, of whom only one out of +twenty was ever to return! And was it the lives of Frenchmen that he +was spending so lavishly? Not at all. This great host was composed +chiefly of Germans, Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Bavarians, Swiss, who +should have been fighting for their own liberation at home. +</P> + +<P> +Lest Prussia should revolt in his absence the wary Napoleon garrisoned +that kingdom with sixty thousand French troops, and took the sons of +Prussia with him for the great human sacrifice in Russia. +</P> + +<P> +It was the 7th of September when the great army moved. On and on they +marched for two months through a silent and deserted land, only to +reach at last a mysteriously silent city. Had a whole people fled at +his approach? Napoleon took up his quarters in the Kremlin. Suddenly +fires broke out in a hundred places. The city became a roaring +furnace. In vain did they try to stay the conflagration. In a few +hours Moscow, his rich prize, was a mass of ruin and ashes. +</P> + +<P> +Napoleon waited for a message from Alexander begging for peace; but +none came. Then the snowflakes began to fall and fierce winds began to +sweep down from the north. At length his stubborn pride had to bend. +He sent his messengers to Alexander—still there was no answer. +Provisions were failing, and there were leagues and leagues of deep and +white snow between him and food for his famishing soldiers. +</P> + +<P> +Then the Russians came. How could this starved, benumbed, frightened +wreck of a great army stand before the Cossacks? The story of that +"retreat" could never be written. Men, hollow-eyed and gaunt with +misery, flung away their arms and fought with each other like wolves +for a morsel of bread or a dead horse. +</P> + +<P> +On the 5th of December Napoleon quietly slipped away, leaving the +freezing, famishing victims of his ambition to make their own way back +as they could; knowing that for all, save a fragment, of that mighty +host the snow must be a winding sheet. +</P> + +<P> +When Frederick William III. accepted that last humiliation and sent a +Prussian army in the train of the conqueror to fight his battles, while +Frenchmen guarded Prussians at home, the indignation was deep and +wide-spread. Three of his best generals, Blücher and two others, +resigned. +</P> + +<P> +The Prussian contingent in the great invading army, which was under +General York, had escaped many of the horrors of the retreat; and had +returned with seventeen thousand out of the sixty thousand which had +entered Russia. +</P> + +<P> +This Prussian commander, as soon as he crossed the line with his +soldiers, on his own responsibility abandoned the French and arranged a +treaty of neutrality with the Russian general. Frederick disavowed the +act, but it was received by the people of Prussia with wild enthusiasm. +York called an assembly together at Königsberg, and boldly ordered that +all men capable of bearing arms should be mustered into the Prussian +army. +</P> + +<P> +The force of public sentiment revealed by this was too overwhelming for +the King to oppose. It swiftly swelled into a popular uprising in +which all classes took part. It was the first great patriotic movement +in Germany; and to Prussia belongs the glory of having initiated it. +It was the Prussian people who converted their whole male population +into an army and their country into an arsenal, and with one voice, and +animated by one heart, refused longer to bear the degradation put upon +them by their King. Hitherto the people had been led by their rulers. +Now for a brief time they were going to be leaders, reluctantly +followed by kings and princes. +</P> + +<P> +Within five months two hundred and seventy thousand men were under arms +and Frederick had been obliged to declare war against the Emperor of +the French, in alliance with Russia and Sweden. Austria remained +neutral, but the Rheinbund, with only two exceptions, still held to +France. +</P> + +<P> +Napoleon by the irresistible magic of his influence assembled an army +nearly as large as the one he had just sacrificed in Russia. The +campaign opened in April (1813). By June his star seemed to be waning, +and Austria offered to mediate a peace. Napoleon insulted Metternich, +who brought the proposals, and Francis II. joined the allies against +his son-in-law. In October the end arrived. +</P> + +<P> +The battle of Leipzig was to the people of Germany what Jena and +Austerlitz had been to Napoleon. The news of this great victory was +electrifying. From the Baltic to the Alps the air resounded with +rejoicings. +</P> + +<P> +There are no persuasions needed to make people leave a sinking ship. +Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia—the Rheinbund +dissolved—Holland, Switzerland, Italy fell away. Wurtemberg joined +the allies and the great movement for emancipation became national, not +Prussian. +</P> + +<P> +The allied princes offered to Napoleon that the Rhine, the Alps, the +Pyrenees, and the sea should be the frontiers of France. Still +believing in his invincibility, he scorned the proposition. His star +had certainly deserted him, for while he was collecting his broken +forces in Germany, and while hope was reviving over small victories, +the allied armies, unknown to him, were advancing on Paris! +</P> + +<P> +He learned it too late. History holds no picture more powerfully +impressive than that of this man waiting at Fontainebleau, twelve +leagues from Paris, still believing in his power to retrieve, and +unconscious that he is already deposed! And the magic of his +influence, the power of the spell he cast over mankind, is illustrated +by the fact that even now, knowing him to have been a tyrant and a +scourge as we do, rejoicing in his defeat as we must, we still cannot +look at that picture without a moistened eye and almost a regret at his +downfall! +</P> + +<P> +Alexander, and Frederick William, and the allied armies were in Paris, +which had capitulated, and at their bidding had consented to the +deposition of Napoleon. +</P> + +<P> +On the 6th of April, 1814, Louis XVIII., brother of the murdered Louis, +was proclaimed King of France, and to the man who had been master of +Europe was assigned—the island of Elba on the coast of Italy. +</P> + +<P> +But in March of the following year, while sovereigns were still +wrangling over the disorder he had left, and while Talleyrand was +scheming for his new master as faithfully as he had for the old, the +startling news came that Napoleon had landed in France. Louis XVIII. +vanished into thin air before the man whom the people were receiving +with wild acclamations of delight. +</P> + +<P> +Europe again united, and again Napoleon was seen advancing, as of old, +with a great army. Blücher was in command of one division of the +allied armies and Wellington of the other. +</P> + +<P> +The battle of Waterloo began on the morning of the 18th of June, 1815. +To England was to belong the glory of Napoleon's final downfall. +Wellington accomplished his defeat, and then Blücher came in time to +make that defeat an annihilation. +</P> + +<P> +The mistake of the year before was not to be repeated. From that +moment until his death at St. Helena, in 1821, Napoleon was a prisoner +and an exile. He had finished the work he had been appointed to do, +and Fate had flung him aside! +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII. +</H3> + +<P> +Now came the difficult task of reconstruction and redistribution of +territory. In what form should they arise out of this chaos? The +dream of the people, like that of Hermann eighteen hundred years +before, was of a German UNITY; not a renewal of the empire, but a great +and new national life, in some firmer and truer form than it had yet +known. But these were only dreams, vague and without any practical +ideas as to their realization. +</P> + +<P> +In the meantime men well versed in the arts and tricks of governing +were deciding how all should be arranged. The plan proposed by +Metternich, that master of diplomacy, who was minister to the Emperor +of Austria, was the one adopted. +</P> + +<P> +There was to be a confederation of thirty-nine German states. The <I>Act +of Union</I>, by which this was effected, had a pleasant sound to the ear +of the German people. But the Union existed only in a mutual defense +against foreign foes, and a mutual aid in keeping the people of Germany +well in check! The one outward and visible expression of this <I>Unity</I> +was in a <I>General Diet</I>, to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency +of Austria! +</P> + +<P> +And this was what the <I>people</I> who had liberated their country were to +receive as their reward! They were in no way recognized; were to +possess no political power; the right of suffrage was not bestowed, and +the Diet was prohibited from making any change in this form of +confederation, except by a <I>unanimous</I> (<I>!</I>) vote. The German people +were practically effaced and lost sight of in an autocratic +confederation of states, with the Austrian Empire at its head. +</P> + +<P> +That empire had received back its Italian possessions. Prussia had +recovered Westphalia and her territory on the Rhine, and given up her +Polish territory to Russia. Belgium and Holland had been merged into a +kingdom of the Netherlands. Saxony, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, which +states had been made kingdoms by Napoleon, were permitted to remain +such. Switzerland was a republic; and by the successful diplomacy of +Talleyrand, Alsace and Lorraine, those insecure possessions, passed to +France. +</P> + +<P> +Such were some of the territorial adjustments. That the rulers of +these kingdoms were reactionary in their purposes soon became apparent. +One of the first acts of the King of Wurtemberg was to court-martial +and cashier the general who had gone over to the German side at the +battle of Leipzig! If none had gone over to the German side, where +would have been the kingdom of Wurtemberg? In Mecklenburg the people +were openly declared serfs. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel gave evidence +that he was looking backward by putting his soldiers into the dress of +the last century and powdered queues, and almost without exception the +sovereigns were trying to construe the provisions of the <I>Act of Union</I> +in a way to give the least liberty to the German people. +</P> + +<P> +The currents of German thought and feeling move slowly, but they are +deep and persistent. They had never been intemperate in their desires +for freedom, but had simply asked for a government which should be more +in conformity with the existing views of human rights. Their +disappointment had been profound and bitter. The fathers earnestly +talked over their wrongs at home, while their more fiery sons at the +universities made speeches, sang songs, and banded themselves together +into societies, with mottoes and badges and insignia, all under the +same inspiring ideas,—UNION AND FREEDOM. +</P> + +<P> +This began to look like Revolution. The freedom of the press was +abolished. The formation of societies among students and mechanics was +prohibited, and the universities were placed under the immediate +control of the government. A savage police system was established. +Hundreds of young men were thrown into prison, and hundreds more fled +the country. +</P> + +<P> +But while this repression produced a calm surface, it did not change +the conditions beneath. In the meantime a "Holy Alliance" had been +formed between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, for the purpose of +repressing aspirations toward liberty in other lands, where this +pestilential modern spirit was also rife. +</P> + +<P> +But in 1830 there was a popular uprising in France. Charles X., +another brother of the murdered Louis, had been pursuing a reactionary +policy precisely similar to the one employed by the sovereigns in +Germany. It was too late to do that in France. The people with small +ceremony flung the Bourbon aside, and set up a constitutional monarchy +with Louis Philippe at its head. This stirred anew the latent feeling +in Germany. The people did not rise in a body, but so threatening did +it appear that the Diet quickly yielded certain reforms and concessions +for fear of more extreme resistance. +</P> + +<P> +Francis II. died in 1835, and was succeeded by an almost imbecile son, +Ferdinand I. In 1840 Frederick William III. of Prussia also died, and +Frederick William IV., his son, became King. Metternich was now +guiding the affairs of Austria, and William von Humboldt was the +adviser of the new Prussian King, who inspired the people with a hope +of better things. But while this King fostered science and art, he +gave little care to the redressing of political wrongs, and things +drifted toward a crisis. +</P> + +<P> +Again a revolution in France reacted upon Germany. In 1848, Louis +Philippe was cast aside as unceremoniously as had been his predecessor, +and a Republic was proclaimed, with Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great +Napoleon, at its head. +</P> + +<P> +This new Bonaparte was a son of Louis Bonaparte, whom his imperial +brother had made King of Holland. He married Hortense, the daughter of +Josephine. So Fate intended that a child of the discarded Josephine, +and not of Napoleon, should rule over France. +</P> + +<P> +The proclamation of a republic in France awoke the slumbering forces of +revolution in Europe. Not in one place, nor in two, did the fires +spring up, but simultaneously in every German state. Hungary, led by +Kossuth, was in revolt, and fighting to the death to be freed from the +Hapsburgs. In Italy Victor Emmanuel, the young King of Sardinia, was +trying to drive the Austrian governor of Milan out of the kingdom, and +when checked, he shook his sword at the advancing Austrians and said +prophetically, "<I>There shall yet be an Italy!</I>" And while these things +were going on in Italy and in Hungary, men were fighting in the streets +of Vienna. The ozone of freedom had penetrated even to that last +stronghold of despotic sentiment. The Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in +this time of agitation, and his young nephew, Francis Joseph, ascended +the Austrian throne. +</P> + +<P> +The things the people were demanding in every state were: freedom of +speech and of the press; the right of every man to bear arms; of all to +assemble when and where they liked for political or other purposes; +trial by jury; and the abolition of the hated Diet, with a complete +reorganization of the state governments. +</P> + +<P> +The princes were terrified. It seemed as if their expulsion, like that +of Louis Philippe, was at hand. +</P> + +<P> +And so it was, and would have ensued, had the people known their power +or how to use it. But gradually the opportunity was lost. Concessions +were made, new liberties were gained, but the <I>Unity</I> they hungered for +was to come in another and unexpected way, and for ten years the +confederation was to exist practically unchanged. +</P> + +<P> +Still, although the fruits of their efforts seemed meager in comparison +with what had been hoped, there had been one great concession made. +The Diet, under the pressure of the crisis, had consented to steps +which led finally to the formation of a National Parliament. +</P> + +<P> +When that parliament met at Frankfort, German patriots believed the +hour of liberation had struck. Full of hope and confidence they +thought the end was attained, when six hundred men of character and +intelligence came together to formulate a new plan of union based upon +<I>The Sovereignty of the People</I>! +</P> + +<P> +But such a task requires something more than patriotism and enthusiasm, +and theoretic views about human rights. It needs practical political +experience, and clearly defined plans for action. After vainly trying +to harmonize conflicting opinions a plan of union was finally adopted, +and Frederick William IV. was elected "Hereditary Emperor of Germany." +</P> + +<P> +All save the smaller states refused to accede to the proposed plan, and +Frederick William himself declined the proffered title, saying, "They +forget that there are princes still in Germany, and that I am one of +them." +</P> + +<P> +So the attempt at reorganization was a miserable failure, and the +national parliament gradually dissolved. In the meantime the +revolutionary fires in Europe had burned out. Hungary was again +submissive in the grasp of the Hapsburgs, and Austria was also once +more supreme in Italy; while the French republic, which had lighted +this conflagration, had become a monarchy. +</P> + +<P> +The national party had developed no great leader, had shown no ability +to grasp its opportunity. The people, disheartened and in sullen +disappointment, saw the old Bund-Diet restored at Frankfort, in 1851, +and found themselves back in a slightly improved and amended +confederation, still under the headship of Austria. +</P> + +<P> +Then Louis Napoleon's assumption of Imperial power, in 1851, gave +renewed strength to the German rulers. It demonstrated the instability +of popular governments, and the sure return to the good old methods of +their fathers, as soon as the temporary madness of the people had +subsided. +</P> + +<P> +So all things conspired to depress aspiration and to make the hopes +awakened in 1848 a tantalizing delusion. It was not night, but it was +a very dark and dreary day for patriotism in Germany. The country was +under a spell which no one knew how to break. +</P> + +<P> +In 1857 Frederick William IV. was stricken with apoplexy, and his +brother, Prince William, was appointed Prince Regent. +</P> + +<P> +The new emperor of the French, with oppressive sense of the greatness +of his name, was looking about for opportunities to be Napoleonic. In +1856 he had formed an alliance with England against Russia. The fact +of the alliance of itself gave weight to the rather flimsy fabric of +his greatness, while the results of the Crimean War added much to its +solidity. In the year 1859 Italy was vainly struggling to free herself +from the grasp of Austria. Mazzini, the exalted dreamer, and +Garibaldi, the soldier and patriot, with Cavour, the no less patriotic +statesman, though with different ends in view, were working together +for the destruction of the Austrian yoke, which must be preliminary to +any form of Italian nationality. The astute statesman saw in the +ambition of Napoleon III. a means to that end. +</P> + +<P> +When Napoleon promised an "Italy free from the Alps to the Apennines," +and when the splendid victory of Magenta was quickly followed by that +of Solferino, and when the young Francis Joseph, with tears in his +eyes, ordered the retreat of his defeated army over the Mincio, the +dream of centuries seemed about to be realized. Then came the +startling news that the two emperors were in consultation at +Villafranca over the terms of peace! Venice was not to be liberated. +There was to be a consolidation of the Italian kingdoms "under the +honorary Presidency of the Pope"—whatever that meant—and a "general +amnesty" was declared. It was with sullen rage that the disappointed +patriots saw Nice and Savoy handed over to France, and Rome garrisoned +with French troops, while a French emperor was posing as the liberator +of an Italy which was not liberated! But although the mills of the +gods were moving slowly, they were going to grind exceeding fine. +Victor Emmanuel and a regenerated Italy were not far off, and for +Germany there was at hand a new era. +</P> + +<P> +Frederick William IV. died, and in 1861 William I. was crowned King of +Prussia. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX. +</H3> + +<P> +King William's youth was far behind him. He had already spent a long +life (sixty-four years) and had never expected to occupy a throne. He +had not the brilliant qualities of his brother, he did not concern +himself much about science or letters; but he was profoundly impressed +with the responsibilities of his position; and it at once became +apparent that Prussia had a wise and sagacious King, who would make her +well-being his sole care and ambition. +</P> + +<P> +His first act was a thorough reorganization of the army. Then he +looked about him for a man wise enough and strong enough for him to +lean upon. Baron Otto von Bismarck-Schönhausen had just returned from +St. Petersburg, where he had been Prussian ambassador. +</P> + +<P> +He was a conservative of the extreme type, hated and feared by the +liberal and national party no less than Metternich. But no man better +than he comprehended the policy of Austria, and all the complicated +threads composing the web of German politics. +</P> + +<P> +The choice of this man for minister to the King augured ill for the +liberals. The outlook had never been darker than at this hour before +the dawn. +</P> + +<P> +But great political storms, like storms of another sort, are full of +surprises. The ominous storm clouds we have feared roll away and +vanish in calm, and the little ones, not larger than a man's hand, +suddenly expand and darken our sky. A fateful storm was gathering for +Germany in the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. +</P> + +<P> +Of the nature of the Schleswig-Holstein entanglement someone (Was it +Beaconsfield?) wittily said that there were only two men in Europe who +understood it, himself and another; and the other was dead. But that +was a mistake. There was a man in Prussia who understood it, and who +lived to use it for his own far-reaching designs. +</P> + +<P> +The principal threads in the tangled web were as follows: +</P> + +<P> +The two adjacent dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, which constitute a +sort of natural bridge about 150 miles long and 50 miles wide, between +Denmark and Prussia, are, by the way, the land of nativity for the +Anglo-Saxon race, the Angles having inhabited Schleswig, and the Saxons +Holstein, at the time they so kindly protected the Britons from the +Picts and Scots. +</P> + +<P> +So it is probable that every member of the Anglo-Saxon family has some +ancestral root running back to that fertile strip of pasture land. +</P> + +<P> +It had for many years been under the Danish protectorate, the King of +Denmark being, by virtue of his position, also Duke of +Schleswig-Holstein, just as the German Emperor is now King of Prussia +by virtue of his imperial office. +</P> + +<P> +But this little people was by no means merged with the Danish by this +arrangement; on the contrary, they preserved very jealously their own +traits and ancestral traditions. Among these was the exclusion of +women from the royal succession—the Salic law, framed by their Frank +ancestors centuries before on the banks of the river Saale, being part +of their constitution. Hence, when King Frederick VII. of Denmark died +in 1862 without male heir, and King Christian IX. became King, the +people of the two dukedoms hotly refused to recognize him as their +lawful ruler, but claimed their right of reversion to Duke Frederick +VIII., who was in the direct male line of succession. +</P> + +<P> +Had the Salic law prevailed in Denmark, this Duke Frederick (father of +the present young Empress of Germany) would now be King of Denmark +instead of Christian IX. But it did not exist, so Christian, father of +the Dowager Empress of Russia—of the Princess of Wales—and of King +George of Greece—became, in 1862, lawful King of Denmark, with rights +unimpaired by female descent. +</P> + +<P> +Schleswig-Holstein revolted against being held by a ruler who, +according to her constitution, was not the terminal of the royal line, +and insisted upon bestowing herself instead upon the German Duke +Frederick VIII. Denmark naturally resisted. Salic law or no Salic +law, the dukedoms were hers, and should stay. Of course Austria, as +the head of the German confederation, had to be consulted, and she +thought well of uniting with Prussia to compel the cession of the twin +dukedoms, which would have been quickly absorbed had not the European +powers intervened and forbidden this encroachment upon the rights of +Denmark. +</P> + +<P> +It was just at this crisis that Bismarck was appointed prime minister +of Prussia, and commenced his series of brilliant moves upon the +European chessboard. +</P> + +<P> +King Christian of Denmark, pleased with his success in retaining the +refractory states, determined to go still farther; that is, to adopt a +new constitution separating these Siamese twins, which should, in fact, +detach Schleswig from Holstein, incorporating it permanently with +Denmark. +</P> + +<P> +This was in direct violation of the treaty with the Great Powers made +in London, 1852, and afforded the needed pretext for war. +</P> + +<P> +The moment and the man had arrived. Bismarck, with the intuition of a +good player, saw his opportunity, pushed up the pawn, +Schieswig-Holstein, and said, "Check to your king." +</P> + +<P> +The Prussian and Austrian troops poured into Denmark, and in a few +short weeks the blooming isthmus had ceased to be Danish and had become +German. +</P> + +<P> +Austria generously said, "We will divide the prize. Schleswig shall be +Prussian, and Holstein Austrian." +</P> + +<P> +Could anything be more odious to the Prussians? The long arm of +Austrian tyranny stretching way over their land, up to their northern +seaboard! It might better have become Danish. But all things come to +him who waits, and—Bismarck waited. +</P> + +<P> +Neither Austria nor the German people had the slightest comprehension +of the Minister's deep-laid plans. When he said that the German +question could "only be settled by blood and steel," the people +construed it as the brutal utterance of despotism. And when it looked +as if they might be involved in a war with Austria over this paltry +Holstein affair they were stunned, and believed that a desperate man +was leading Prussia to her ruin for his own ambitious purposes. What +could they with their nineteen millions of people do against Austria, +with her fifty millions! +</P> + +<P> +But Bismarck cared not and heeded not. He was too intent upon his +game. He knew what no one else seemed to know, that there was no +chance for Germany until she was emancipated from Austria. +</P> + +<P> +Again he pushed up his useful little pawn and said "check," but this +time to the Emperor of Austria. Ah! here was a game worth watching. +Europe and America, too, were willing to let their morning coffee get +cold in studying the moves. Francis Joseph did not see as far into the +game as his astute adversary, whose keen eye was focused at long range +upon a renewed Germany, in which there should be no Austria. +</P> + +<P> +The conflict was short (only seven weeks), but the preparation had been +thorough. The 3d of July will long be remembered by Germany. King +William was there; the Crown Prince was there, now become "Unser +Fritz," by his superb military achievements, the ideal prince and +soldier of modern Europe; and Königgrätz, like Waterloo, decided the +game. Francis Joseph was checkmated. A galling servitude to Austria +existed no more. What wonder that the people were glad, or that Unser +Fritz was their idol, and Bismarck became their demigod! +</P> + +<P> +A great physician correctly diagnoses the disease before he treats it. +Bismarck knew why the attempts at a German union had been futile. He +knew such a union never could exist until Austria was eliminated from +it. +</P> + +<P> +An overwhelming revulsion in sentiment followed. The man whom the +despotic element had leaned upon became the adored leader of the +liberal party. He had no sentimental theories about human rights. His +personal tendencies were toward despotism rather than freedom. But he +had the acuteness to recognize the advantages which would be derived +from a liberal policy and the ardent support of the <I>people</I>. +</P> + +<P> +A new confederation of states was formed called the <I>North German +Union</I>, with a parliament elected by the people. It was composed of +all the states except Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden. +</P> + +<P> +The several states were united under a general Federal Government, +somewhat like that of the United States of America, of which the King +of Prussia was <I>President</I>, and Bismarck was <I>Chancellor</I>. +</P> + +<P> +This new union was Protestant and Prussian, and forever separated from +all that was Catholic and Austrian. In five short years what a change! +Truly, "blood and iron" had proved a wonderful tonic for Germany! +</P> + +<P> +In the year 1763 Prussia won the province of Silesia after a seven +years' war with Austria. Just one century later, in 1866, a war of +seven weeks with that same power placed her at the head of a firmly +consolidated German nation. A result so astonishing from a conflict so +brief must ever be a phenomenon in history; and had it been necessary, +seven years would not have been too long to struggle for such a reward. +</P> + +<P> +And what of poor little Schleswig-Holstein, that land of our race +nativity? If she had indulged in any innocent expectation of benefit +from such brilliant espousal of her cause she was disappointed. And +she must have realized that she had been only the humble hinge upon +which the door of opportunity had swung open for Germany. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX. +</H3> + +<P> +There was a man in France to whom these overturnings were especially +distasteful. Napoleon III., sitting in brand-new splendor upon his +newly created throne, was industriously engaged in building up an +empire and a reputation upon Napoleonic lines. These lines of course +were despotic. So the triumph of liberalism in Germany, the creation +of a new political power with Austria and despotism cast out, was a +severe blow to his policy and to his prestige. It weakened him in +Europe, where he aspired to headship, and at home, where he should be +considered invincible, not alone in arms, but in statecraft. +</P> + +<P> +The Crimea, Magenta, and Solferino had been splendid decorations to his +reign; but they looked tame and insignificant since this transforming +<I>Seven Weeks' War</I>. Then, too, his magnificent scheme of an empire in +Mexico, with a Hapsburg ruling under a French protectorate—that had +miserably failed. And now there had suddenly arisen, as if out of the +ground, a new political Germany, which rivaled France in strength. +Frenchmen began to ask whether this man was, after all, such a great +leader, and destined to wear the mantle of his uncle! +</P> + +<P> +Obviously the thing to do was to recover his waning prestige by a +splendid victory over this new power of which Prussia was the head. +</P> + +<P> +If the Emperor had any misgivings they were swept away by the beautiful +Empress Eugénie, who, intensely Catholic, saw in the ascendency of +Protestant Prussia, and the humiliation of Catholic Austria, an impious +blow at the Catholic faith in Europe. +</P> + +<P> +So the war was determined upon. Only one obstacle existed. There was +nothing to fight about! But that could be overcome, and in 1870 a +pretext was found. +</P> + +<P> +Queen Isabella had been expelled from Spain, and there existed that +perennial source of disturbance in Europe, a vacant Spanish throne. +From among the several candidates, Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a +relative of William I. of Prussia, was chosen. +</P> + +<P> +The French ambassador Benedetti received instant orders to demand of +King William that he should prohibit Prince Leopold from accepting the +offer. +</P> + +<P> +The King made answer that "not having advised it, he could not forbid +it." However, to the disappointment of the Emperor, the Hohenzollern +prince voluntarily declined, and the way to a war seemed closed again. +</P> + +<P> +But the Empress Eugénie was intent upon her object, and the war-fever +had taken deep hold upon the people of France. So the fateful dispatch +was sent to Benedetti—"Be rough to the King." +</P> + +<P> +The kindly old King William was peacefully sunning himself at Ems, when +the ambassador discourteously approached him and made an abrupt demand +for a guarantee that no Hohenzollern should <I>ever</I> occupy the throne of +Spain. The words and the manner were offensive—as they were intended +to be. +</P> + +<P> +The King, recognizing an intended impertinence, without replying turned +away and left Benedetti standing. Here was the opportunity. The +telegraph swiftly bore the news that the French ambassador had been +publicly insulted by the King of Prussia. France was in a blaze of +indignation. These Prussians should be taught that the great French +Empire was not to be insulted with impunity. +</P> + +<P> +Not a shadow of doubt existed as to the result. The French army was +invincible, and the southern German states would be glad at the +deliverance. They would welcome an invading army, and perhaps Hesse +and Hanover also would revolt and the new Prussian confederation would +fall to pieces in their hands. The birthday of Napoleon I., the 15th +of August, must be celebrated in Berlin! +</P> + +<P> +Such were the wild expectations when the French army moved, bearing +away with it the boy Prince Imperial, that he might witness for himself +his father's triumphs, and receive an object lesson, as it were, in +avenging insult to the imperial dignity, which would one day be in his +keeping! +</P> + +<P> +This was the way it looked in France. How was it in Germany? There +was no north and no south German. Men and states sprang together as a +unit, showing how vital was the bond which had existed only for four +years. It was no longer a German race combining with a common purpose, +but a German nation instinct with one life, and solemnly resolved to +defend it or to perish. In only eleven days an army of four hundred +and fifty thousand soldiers was under the command of Moltke, with the +Crown Prince Frederick William leading one of the three great divisions. +</P> + +<P> +In less than three weeks, instead of waging an aggressive war in +Germany, the French were fighting for their existence on their own soil. +</P> + +<P> +In less than a month the French Emperor was a prisoner, and in seven +months his empire was swept out of existence; the Germans were in +Paris—and King William, Unser Fritz, Bismarck, and Von Moltke were +quartered at Versailles. +</P> + +<P> +France had given up Alsace and Lorraine, had agreed to pay an indemnity +of <I>five thousand millions</I> of francs, and was glad to have peace even +at that price! +</P> + +<P> +The surrenders of Metz (August 4), and of Sedan (September 2), were +monumental disasters, and history would be searched in vain for such a +crushing defeat of a proud and strong nation as was consummated by the +Treaty of Peace signed at Paris on the 10th of May, 1871. +</P> + +<P> +Even the three southern states, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, had +participated in this Franco-Prussian war. So the last barrier to a +completed union was removed, and a dramatic climax occurred in the Hall +of Mirrors at Versailles on the 18th of January, 1871. +</P> + +<P> +In that very hall where Richelieu, and Louis XIV., and Louis XV. had +schemed to entangle and cripple and rob Germany, and where Napoleon I. +had plotted the destruction of the German Empire, Ludwig II., King of +Bavaria, in the name of the rest of the German states, laid their +united allegiance at the feet of King William of Prussia, begging him +to assume the crown and with it the title of "Hereditary Emperor of the +German Empire." +</P> + +<P> +It is a curious fact that Bavaria, which had always been a thorn in the +side of the Empire, which from the time of the first Duke Welf had +stood for all that was conservative and despotic and reactionary, +should have taken the initiative in the final act which set a seal upon +the triumph of liberalism in Germany. It was recompense full and ample +for the trouble she had given in the past! +</P> + +<P> +The return to Germany was a march of triumph. The popular enthusiasm +knew no bounds. It was less than ten years since those days of gloom +and depression. What a change had been wrought! Was it all done by +blood and iron? They had been mighty factors certainly, but they had +been used by a masterful intelligence, which had also recognized the +power of <I>patriotism</I>. The empire which was immediately organized was +simply a renewal of the <I>North German Union</I>. +</P> + +<P> +The dream of Hermann had at last been realized. There was a United +Germany. +</P> + +<P> +When in 1888 Emperor William I. sank under the weight of years and the +crown rested upon the head of his son Frederick, that adored prince was +no longer in the full tide of victorious youth, but being borne by a +swiftly ebbing tide beyond the reach of earthly honors. He was a +stricken and indeed a dying man when the opportunity came to carry out +the policy he had intended for Germany. +</P> + +<P> +What that policy was we shall never know, nor whether it would have +been a safe and a wise one. We are sure it would have been beneficent, +for no gentler, kindlier prince ever had power and opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +The distrust of him manifested by the conservative party, and notably +by Bismarck, and one still nearer to him, leads us to believe that he +leaned too strongly toward the ideal of the patriots of 1860. But we +shall never know. We can only conjecture whether in Frederick's death +Germany escaped a danger or missed an opportunity. +</P> + +<P> +The unseemly dissensions, the heartbreaking complications, which +tormented this dying man make one of the saddest chapters in history; +and his reign of five months can scarcely be matched in suffering. At +last it was ended. The untarnished soul and tortured body parted +company, and William II. reigned in his stead. +</P> + +<P> +It is not the province of history to pass judgment upon the living. +When the young Emperor William II. dismissed his great chancellor, he +assumed the full responsibility of his empire. Whether he has the +intelligence and the wisdom required to control, unaided, the forces at +home, or to guide his bark amid the whirl of European currents, later +histories will tell. +</P> + +<P> +But one thing is very certain. Time spent to-day in riveting +antiquated chains upon Germany is time thrown away; and the ruler who +desires his work to be permanent must turn his back upon medievalism +and must realize that the true source of abiding power in his country +is that sentiment which emancipated her from Napoleon in 1814, and +which in 1871 made of her a UNITED GERMANY. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Short History of Germany, by Mary Platt Parmele + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY *** + +***** This file should be named 34397-h.htm or 34397-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34397/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: A Short History of Germany + +Author: Mary Platt Parmele + +Release Date: February 13, 2011 [EBook #34397] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + + + + +A SHORT + +HISTORY OF GERMANY + + +BY + +MARY PLATT PARMELE + + + + +NEW YORK + +CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + +1898 + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1897, BY + MARY PLATT PARMELE + + + COPYRIGHT, 1898, BY + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS + + + + + + + _BY THE SAME AUTHOR_ + + A SHORT HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES + A SHORT HISTORY OF ENGLAND + A SHORT HISTORY OF FRANCE + A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY + A SHORT HISTORY OF SPAIN + + + + +PREFACE. + +It is more important to comprehend the forces which have created a +great nation, and the progressive steps by which it has unfolded, than +to know the multitudinous events and incidents which have attended such +unfolding. + +In order to forestall criticism for the absence of some events in this +History of Germany the author desires to say, that there has been an +effort to keep strictly to the main line of development and to resist +the temptation of introducing details which do not bear directly upon +such line. + +The bypaths of history are fascinating, but they are of secondary +importance, and may better be explored after the main road has been +traveled and is thoroughly known. + +Such is the ideal which has been very imperfectly followed in this book. + +M. P. P. + +NEW YORK, _June_ 21, 1897. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + +CHAPTER I. + +Indo-European Migrations--Divisions of the Aryan Family into European +Races--The Teutonic Race + + +CHAPTER II. + +Hermann--Defeat of Varus--Characteristics of the Ancient Germans + + +CHAPTER III. + +Social Conditions--Form of Government--The Goth in Rome--A Gothic +Kingdom in Spain--The Teuton Race Covering the European Surface--The +Angles and Saxons in Britain + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Ulfilas--The Hunnish Invasion--The Roman Empire Perishing--Its +Conversion--An Eastern Empire--Increasing Power of the +Church--Charlemagne--France and Germany Separated--Feudal System + + +CHAPTER V. + +Early Conditions--Hungarian Invasions--Creation of +Burgs--Knighthood--Pope and Emperor Become Rivals--Henry +IV.--Canossa--First Hohenstaufen--Welf and Waiblingen--The +Crusaders--Conrad--Frederick Barbarossa + + +CHAPTER VI. + +Source of Weakness in the Empire--The Great Interregnum--The Nibelungen +Lied--The Hanseatic League--The Guilds--Meistersingers + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Conditions--First Hapsburg and First Hohenzollern--Swiss +Freedom--Intellectual Awakening--The Golden Bull--Hussite War--A +Hohenzollern Receives a Mortgage on the Territory of +Brandenburg--Discovery of Gunpowder--Conditions Existing under +Frederick III.--Invention of Printing--The Passing of the Old and +Coming of the New + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +General European Conditions--Centralizing Tendencies at +Work--Maximilian I.--A New World--The Rise of Spain--Isabella--Charles +IV. + + +CHAPTER IX. + +Triple Game between Francis I., Henry VIII., and Charles IV.--Leo +X.--Luther--The Diet of Worms--Protestantism Born--Margrave of +Brandenburg Usurps Sovereignty over Prussia--The Peasants War--The +Augsburg Confession--Charles V. Thwarted--Protestantism a Dominant +Power in his Empire--Schisms in the New +Faith--Calvinism--Reformers--Lutherans--The Schmalkaldian +League--Anabaptists--Abdication of Charles V.--Philip II.--Death of +Charles--Ferdinand I.--Council of Trent--Society of Jesus + + +CHAPTER X. + +A Protestant Germany--A Divided Protestantism--True Meaning of the +Struggle--Unfruitful Waiting--The Renaissance--Music, Art, Letters, +Born Anew--Thought Awakened--Copernicus--Galileo--Kepler--Impending +Calamity--Protestant Union and Catholic League--Thirty Years' War +Commenced--Wallenstein--Gustavus Adolphus--His Triumph and +Death--Richelieu--Death of Wallenstein--Peace of Westphalia--Division +of Territory + + +CHAPTER XI. + +Romano-Germanic Empire Perishing--European Conditions--Louis +XIV.--Decay of National Spirit--Rise of Brandenburg--Combination +against Louis XIV.--Spanish Succession--Under Frederick I. Brandenburg +Becomes Prussia--Alliance with England--Marlborough and Prince +Eugene--Blenheim--Peace of Utrecht--Territorial Changes--Charles XII. +and Peter the Great--Pragmatic Sanction--Frederick William +I.--Stirrings of Thought in this Time of Chaos--Birth of German +Speculative Philosophy--Spinoza--Soul Awakening + + +CHAPTER XII. + +Frederick the Great--His Childhood--Von Katte's Execution--Frederick at +Potsdam--Frederick II., King of Prussia--Maria Theresa, Empress--War of +Austrian Succession--Silesia--Personal Traits of the Two +Sovereigns--Frederick Joins France against Austria--Peace of +Dresden--Frederick Becomes "The Great"--Healing the Wounds Left by Two +Wars--Voltaire's Influence--Frederick a Reformer and a Despot--Growth +in Thought and Birth of a Native Literature--Voltaire at Frederick's +Court--Change Wrought by a Nearer View of King and Poet + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +War over American Boundary between England and France--Maria Theresa +Joins France--Her Policy--A Combination against Frederick II.--Seven +Years' War--Peace of Hubertsburg--Silesia Forever Abandoned by +Austria--Prussia One of the "Five Great Powers"--Healing Wounds +Again--Conditions External and Internal + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +Marie Antoinette Married to the French Dauphin Louis--Unsuspected +Conditions--Joseph II.--Reforms by a Progressive Hapsburg are a +Failure--Romanticism Replaces Sentimentalism in Literature--_Sturm und +Drang_ Period--Luther's Influence upon Letters--Frederick Succeeded by +his Nephew--Effect of Prussia's Ascendancy in the German Empire--Its +Coming Dissolution--Why Patriotism Could Not Exist--The Calm before the +Hurricane + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The Beginnings of the Storm--The United States of America and +France--The Thought-Currents Which Moved toward a Vortex--Execution of +King and Queen--France a Ruin but Free--A Republic--First +Coalition--Poland and its Partition--Austria Fighting Alone for the +Empire--Napoleon Bonaparte in Italy--His Methods and Their +Result--Treaty of Campo Formio--Three New Republics--Napoleon in +Egypt--His Return--Second Coalition--Dominions of Ecclesiastical Rulers +Given Away--Napoleon the Instrument of Fate + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +Napoleon Emperor of the French--Third Coalition--Prussian +Neutrality--The Rheinbund--Dissolution of the Empire and Abdication of +Francis II.--Retribution for Prussia--Battle of Jena--Peace of +Tilsit--A Continental Blockade--Marriage with Marie Louise + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +Revolt of Bavarian Peasants--The "League of Virtue"--Invasion of +Russia--Burning of Moscow--Retreat--General York Leads a Popular +Movement--Prussia at War with Napoleon--The Battle of Leipzig--The +Allies in Paris--Napoleon Deposed--Louis XVIII. King--Return of +Napoleon--Waterloo and St. Helena + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Reconstruction--The Act of Union--Sentiment of the +People--Concessions--Francis II. Died--A Republic in France--Blaze of +Revolutionary Fires in Europe--A National Parliament Granted--Its +Failure--Napoleon III. in France--Magenta and Solferino--Revolution in +Italy--Victor Emmanuel King--William I. King of Prussia + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +King William and Bismarck--Schleswig-Holstein--Proposed Division--War +against Austria--Koeniggraetz--The North German Union + + +CHAPTER XX. + +Napoleon III. Plans the Overthrow of Prussian Dominion--Vacant Throne +in Spain--A Hohenzollern Candidate--Benedetti and King William--War +Declared by France--Metz--Sedan--King William at Versailles--Crowned +Hereditary Emperor of the German Empire--Death of Emperor William +I.--Emperor Frederick--His Unfulfilled Dreams and his Death--William +II. Emperor + + + + +A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY. + + + +CHAPTER I. + +Foundation building is neither picturesque nor especially interesting, +but it is indispensable. However fair the structure is to be, one must +first lay the rough-hewn stones upon which it is to rest. It would be +much pleasanter in this sketch to display at once the minarets and +towers and stained-glass windows; but that can only be done when one's +castle is in Spain. + +Would we comprehend the Germany of to-day, we must hold firmly in our +minds an epitome of what it has been, and see vividly the devious path +of its development through the ages. + +The German nation is of ancient lineage, and indeed belongs to the +royal line of human descent, the Aryan; its ancestral roots running +back until lost in the heart of Asia, in the mists of antiquity. + +The home of the Aryan race is shrouded in mystery, as are the impelling +causes which sent those successive tides of humanity into Europe. But +we know with certainty that when the last great wave spread over +Eastern Europe, or Russia, about one thousand years before Christ, the +submergence of that continent was complete. + +Before the coming of the Aryan, the Rhine flowed as now; the Alps +pierced the sky with their glistening peaks as they do to-day; the +Danube, the Rhone, hurried on, as now, toward the sea. Was it all a +beautiful, unpeopled solitude, waiting in silence for the richly +endowed Asiatic to come and possess it? Far from it! It was teeming +with humanity--if, indeed, we may call such the race which modern +research and discovery have revealed to us. It is only within the last +thirty years that anything whatever has been known of prehistoric man; +but now we are able to reconstruct him with probable accuracy. A +creature bestial in appearance and in life; dwelling in caves, which, +however, a dawning sense of a higher humanity led him to decorate with +carvings of birds and fishes; but certain it is, the brain which +inhabited that skull was incapable of performing the mental processes +necessary to the simplest form of civilization; and life must have been +to him simply a thing of fierce appetites and brutal instincts. Such +was the being encountered by the Aryan, when he penetrated the +mysterious land beyond the confines of Greece and Italy. + +The extermination, and perhaps, to some extent, assimilation, of this +terrible race must have required centuries of brutalizing conflict, +and, it is easy to imagine, would have produced just such men as were +the northern barbarians who, for five hundred years, terrorized Europe; +men insensible to fear, terrible, fierce, but with fine instincts for +civilization--dormant Aryan germs, which quickly developed when brought +into contact with a superior race. + +The earliest Indo-European migration is supposed to have been into +Greece and Italy, where was laid the basis for the civilization of the +world. The second was probably into Western Europe and the British +Isles; then, after many centuries, the central and last, and at a time +comparatively recent, into the Eastern portion of the continent. + +So, by the fourth century B.C., three great divisions of the Aryan race +occupied Europe north of Greece and Italy: the Keltic, the western; the +Teutonic, the central; the Slavonic the eastern; and these, in turn, +had ramified into new subdivisions or tribes. + +To state it as in the pedigree of the individual, the Aryan was the +founder, the father of the family; Slav, Teuton, and Kelt the three +sons. Gaul and Briton were sons of the Kelt; Saxon, Angle, Helvetian, +etc., sons of the Teuton; and all alike grandchildren of the Aryan; +whom--to carry the illustration farther--we may imagine to have had +older children, who long ago had left the paternal home and settled +about the Caspian and Mediterranean seas: Mede, Persian, Greek, Roman; +apparently bearing few marks of kinship to these uncouth younger +brothers whom we have found in Europe in the fourth century B.C., but +with nevertheless the same cradle and the same ancestral roots. + +It is the Teutonic branch of the Aryan family with which we have to do +now, between whom and their Keltic brothers there flowed the River +Rhine. + +Greece and Rome were unaware of the existence of the Teuton until about +the year 330 B.C., when Pythias, a Greek navigator, came home from a +voyage to the Baltic with terrible tales of the Goths whom he had met. +Nearly one century before Christ the inhabitants of Italy were enabled +to judge for themselves of the accuracy of the description. Driven +from their homes by the inroads of the sea, the Goths poured in a +hungry torrent down into the tempting vineyards of Northern Italy. +Gigantic in stature, with long yellow hair, eyes blue but fierce--what +wonder that the people thought they were scarcely human, and fled +affrighted, leaving them to enjoy the vineyards at their leisure! + +Accounts of this uncanny host reached Rome, which soon knew of their +breastplates of iron, their helmets crowned with heads of wild beasts, +their white shields glistening in the sun, and, more terrible than all, +of their priestesses, clad in white linen, who prophesied and offered +human sacrifices to their gods. + +But the sacrifices did not avail against the legions which the great +Consul Marius led against them. The ponderous Goth was not yet a match +for the finer skill of the Roman, and the invaders were exterminated on +the plain near Aix, 102 B.C. The women, in despair, slew first their +children, then themselves, a few only surviving to be paraded in chains +at the triumph accorded to Marius on his return to Rome. Such was the +first appearance of the Teuton in the Eternal City, and the last until +five hundred years later, when the conditions were changed. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +At the time of this first invasion the German race was divided into +tribes with no affinity for each other, who were indeed much of the +time in fierce conflict among themselves. One of these tribes, called +the Cherusci, occupied the southern part of what is now Hanover. Their +chief, Hermann, had in his youth been taken to Rome as a hostage, and +there had been educated. + +Hermann was the first to dream of German unity. While the infant +Christ was growing into boyhood in Palestine, this Hermann was studying +Latin and history at Rome; and as he read he pondered. He found that +the Romans had achieved such tremendous power by _combination_. If his +people would unite and stand as one nation before the world, why might +not they too become great? These Romans were pleasure-loving and +vicious. His Germans in their rude homes were just and true. They did +not laugh at vice; they were rough, but simple and sincere; love bound +the father and mother and children closely together. The idea of +German unity took possession of Hermann. He resolved to devote his +life to its accomplishment, and to return to his country and try to +inspire his race with a sense of common brotherhood, and a +comprehensive patriotism. + +Julius Caesar, the great Roman general, was governor of Gaul, and with +one eye fixed on Britain and another on Germany was steadily bringing +Europe into subjection to Rome. + +The task of subduing the stubborn Teutons was given by Augustus to +Varus, a trusted general. In the year 9 A.D., Varus had arrived with +his great army in the heart of Germany. Little suspecting the plans +and purposes surging in the young man's brain, he leaned upon Hermann, +whom he had known in Rome, as his guide and counselor in a new and +strange land. + +Unsuspectingly he marched with his heavily armed legions, as if for a +holiday excursion, into the fastnesses of the Teutoberger Forest, into +which Hermann led him. + +When fairly entangled in the dense wood, surrounded by morasses and wet +marshes instead of roads, suddenly there was a thundering war-cry, and +barbarians swarmed down upon him from all sides. Hundreds who escaped +the rain of arrows were lost in the morasses. It was not a question of +victory, but of escape, for the entrapped and heavily armed legions. +Only a handful returned to tell the story, and Varus, unable to bear +his disgrace, threw himself upon his sword. + +The great Emperor Augustus clothed himself in mourning, let his beard +and hair grow, and cried in the bitterness of his soul, "Varus, Varus, +give me back my legions!" + +But Hermann, like many another hero, was not comprehended by the people +he wished to inspire. He had arrested the tide of Roman conquest in +Germany. How was he rewarded? His people could not understand his +dream of unity. Should they be friends with the Cimbri and Suevi, who +were their enemies? They suspected his motives. There were intrigues +for his downfall. His adored wife, Thusnelda, and his child were +delivered to the Romans and graced a triumph at Rome, and when only +thirty-seven years old, the first heroic character in the history of +Germany was assassinated by his own people. + +Our Saxon ancestors, four centuries later, made the British Isles echo +with the songs in which they chanted the praises of this "War Man," +this "Man of Hosts," who was the "Deliverer of Germany." Hermann had +not consolidated his people, but he had arrested their conquest and +subjugation by the Romans. Many, many centuries were to roll away +before his dream of unity was to be realized. + +What sort of people were these ancient Germans, for whom Hermann hoped +so much almost nineteen hundred years ago? + +They were pagan barbarians, without one gleam of civilization to +illumine the twilight of their existence. They had no art, no +literature, nor even an alphabet. They were fierce and cruel; but they +had simple, uncorrupted hearts. They were brave, truthful, hospitable, +romantic, with instincts singularly just, and a passion for the +mysterious realities of an unseen world. War and hunting were their +pursuits, the family and domestic ties were strong and abiding, and +over all else, religion was supreme. + +Like their Scandinavian kinsmen, they worshiped the gods of their +ancient Aryan ancestors in sacred groves; and offered sacrifices, +sometimes human, to _Wotan_, and _Donar_, or _Thor_, the Thunderer, for +whom they named Thursday, Thorsday, or _Donners-tag_, and in honor of +one of their goddesses, _Freyja_, another was called Frei-tag, or +Friday. The decrees of fate were read in the flights of birds, or +heard in the neighing of wild horses, and then interpreted to the +people by priestesses, who, clad in snow-white robes, presided also at +the terrible sacrifices. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +During the three centuries after Hermann had arrested the flood of +Roman conquest, a civilization of the simplest sort was slowly +developing in Germany, where society was divided into the _free_ and +the _unfree_ classes. + +The tribes in the south differed greatly from those in the north. They +had no settled homes, nor ownership in land. This was divided among +them every year by lot; one-half of the people remaining yearly at home +to till the soil, and the other half giving their entire time to the +wars which were as perennial as the growing crops of grain. + +In the north, however, where lived the ancestors of the Anglo-Saxon +race, conditions very different prevailed. There the lands were +bestowed in perpetuity upon the most powerful members of the tribes, +and by them handed down to their sons. The unfree class tilled the +soil, and were thus the serfs of a ruling class, and only freemen could +bear arms. + +There were no cities in ancient Germany, only villages which were +composed of rude huts. A collection of these villages formed a group +which was called a _Hundred_. Every Hundred had its chief, who was +elected by the people; and the one chosen by the combined will of all +these Hundreds was the chief or King of the tribe. + +The chiefs of the Hundreds formed a sort of advisory council to the +King or tribal chief. But supreme over the will of these chiefs and +their King was the will of the people. Every village had its _meetings +of the people_, which all freemen were entitled to attend. The real +governing power lay in these meetings, to which both chiefs of the +Hundreds and the King were compelled to defer. + +Was a new King to be elected, or were there grave questions concerning +wars to be considered--they were discussed in advance by the chiefs and +the King. But the ultimate decision lay with the people themselves; a +general meeting of the whole tribe being required to elect a new King; +the people clashing their arms in token of approval, or shouting their +dissent. + +As all freemen bore arms, there was no distinct military organization. +Every man held himself ready at any moment to respond to a call, and +the army was the people! + +About the middle of the third century, numerous small German tribes +became united into large confederacies. Conspicuous among these were +the Allemani, the Franks, the Saxons, and the Goths. + +The Allemani, in the south of Germany, it is said were so called +because of the fact that _all men_ held the land in common. If this be +so, then the French name for Germany is essentially communistic, and it +is not strange that communism has always found a congenial soil in that +land. + +The Franks occupied the banks of the Rhine and of the river Saal. The +Saxons were spread over North Germany, and the Goths, on both sides of +the river Dnieper, were divided into the Ostro-Goths and the Visi-Goths +(or the East and West Goths). + +It was these Visigoths under Alaric who inflicted the deadliest blows +upon the Roman Empire. The sacking of Rome in 410, and the +establishing of a Gothic kingdom in Spain, shook the very foundations +of that power. Then the legions could no longer be spared in distant +Britain, which was left to its fate. And that fate was of deepest +import to us! The Saxons and the Angles overflowed and absorbed the +land, and Keltic Britain was Teutonized. + +So this untamed and untamable Teuton was being spread, like some coarse +but renovating element, over the surface of old Europe. And with the +occupation of Gaul by the Franks in 481, and the annexing of France to +the Frankish kingdom under Clovis, the process was complete. + + +I cannot resist the temptation of saying a few words about the +Anglo-Saxon occupation of Britain, which, as it virtually converted us +from Kelts into Teutons, is not a digression. + +From the time of Julius Caesar the island of Britain had been occupied +by the Romans, and in consequence had become partly civilized and +Christianized. Upon the fall of the empire, the Roman legions were +withdrawn, and the people, left defenseless, became the prey of their +own northern barbarians, the Picts and Scots; the drama of Southern +Europe and the Goths being re-enacted on a diminished scale. In the +fourth century the Britons implored the Angles and Saxons to come and +protect them from these savages. Invited as allies, they came as +invaders, and remained as conquerors, implanting their habits, speech, +and paganism upon the prostrate island. It was the extermination of +this exotic paganism which impelled to those deeds of valor recited in +the Round Table romances, and which made King Arthur and his knights +the theme of poet and minstrel for centuries. + +But the Saxon had come to stay, and Teuton and Kelt became merged, much +as do the lion and lamb, after the former has dined! The Teutonic +Saxon may be said to have dined on the Keltic Briton, and remained +master of the island until the Normans came, six centuries later, and +in turn dominated, and made him bear the yoke of servitude. + +Nor was this French-speaking Norman French at all, except by adoption; +being, in fact, the terrible Northman of two centuries before, on +account of whose ravages the noble had intrenched himself in his strong +castle, and the wretched serf had in mortal terror sold himself and all +that he possessed, for the protection of its solid walls and moat; and +thus had been laid the foundations of feudalism. He it was who, with +longhair reeking with rancid oil, battle-ax, spear, and iron hook--with +which to capture human and other prey--had held France in a state of +unspeakable terror for centuries, but who had finally settled down as a +respectable French citizen in the sea-board province of Normandy, and +in two centuries had made such wonderful improvement in manners, +apparel, and speech that the simple Saxon baron stood abashed before +the splendid refinements of his conquerors. + +The origin of this mysterious Northman is unknown; but whatever it was, +or whoever he was, he certainly possessed Aryan germs of high potency. + +So the Saxon had built the solid walls of the racial structure upon a +foundation of Britons; and, though with no thought for beauty, had +built well, with strong, true structural lines. It was the Norman who +finished and decorated the structure, but he did not alter one of these +lines; the speech, traits, institutions, and habits of England being at +the core Saxon to-day, while there is a decorative surface only of +Norman. + +So when the Englishman calls himself, with swelling pride, a Briton, he +speaks wide of the mark. The Keltic Briton was buried fathoms deep +under seven centuries of Saxon rule, and then, to make the extinction +more complete, was overlaid with this brilliant lacquer of Norman +surface. And if that mixed product, the English people, have any race +paternity, it is Teutonic, and herein may lie the impossibility of +making the English and Irish a homogeneous people--the English Teuton +and Irish Kelt being in the nature of things antagonistic, the +particles refuse to combine chemically, and can only be brought +together (to use the language of the chemist) in mechanical mixture. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +Among the German tribes it was the Goths who had first come under the +civilizing influence of the Christian religion. + +As some winged seed is wafted from a fair garden into a dark, distant +forest, and there takes root and blossoms, so was the seed-germ of +Christianity caught by the wind of destiny, and carried from Palestine +to the heart of pagan Germany, where, strange to say, it found +congenial soil. + +The story is a romantic one. A Christian boy in Asia Minor, while +straying on the shores of the Mediterranean, was captured by some +Goths, who took their fair-haired prize home to their own land, and +named him Ulfilas. + +The boy, with his heart all aflame for the religion in which he had +been nurtured, told his captors the story of Calvary--of Christ and his +gospel of peace and love; and lived to see the terrible sacrificial +altars replaced by the Cross. + +The Goths had no alphabet, so Ulfilas invented one, and then translated +the Bible into their rude speech. A part of this translation is now +preserved in Sweden and is the earliest extant specimen of the Gothic +language. This Gothic version of the Lord's Prayer, written by Ulfilas +more than fifteen centuries ago, bears such close resemblance to the +German and English versions that it can be easily read by us to-day; +and makes us realize our own near kinship to those simple barbarians of +the fourth century. + +In the year 375, thirty-five years before the sacking of Rome, from the +vast plains lying between Russia and China there had poured into Europe +a terrible race of beings called Huns. They seemed more like demons +than men. Insensible alike to fear, to hunger, thirst, or cold, they +appeased their ferocious appetites upon wild roots and raw meat. These +hideous men ate, drank, and slept on horseback, their no less hideous +wives and children following them in wagons, as they ravaged through +the Continent of Europe. + +The Huns, under the leadership of Attila, swept everything before them; +leaving a track of blood and ashes through Germany. + +The Goths deserted their lands and homes on account of this brutish +invasion and pressed down into Italy and Southern Gaul; the Ostro-Goths +(or East Goths) becoming in time masters of Italy under King Theodoric, +while the Visigoths (or West Goths), who were already in Southern Gaul, +had overflowed the Pyrenees and established a Gothic empire in Spain +(or Hispania, as it was then called). + +It was not alone the Goths who were swept before Attila and his Hunnish +hosts. The Vandals, the Burgundians, the Longobards were carried by +the same tide into Southern Europe; the Vandals thence into northern +Africa; while the Slavs from the northeast in turn pressed down after +them, and, like the waters of the sea, occupied the lands which they +had deserted. + +So this Hunnish invasion was a tremendous upturning force--in itself +bearing no relation to the future result more than the plow to the +future grain; but it was a terrible instrument, used in bringing the +German race into contact with higher civilizations, where, in the +alchemy of time, they were destined to survive not as a nation, but +rather as an element, and where, in the great creative processes, they +were intended to re-enforce the decaying races of Southern Europe with +their rude but uncorrupted vitality. + +Of the Huns themselves nothing remained in Europe after the defeat of +Attila, excepting in Dacia, over which they had permanently spread, and +which was later called Hungary. + +During this process of re-creating the old races of Southern Europe, +the Roman Empire was perishing. Its conversion to Christianity in the +fourth century, under Constantine, was too late to save it. For three +hundred years pagan Rome had been drenching the soil of Southern Europe +with the blood of Christians. Then this zealous new convert not only +espoused the religion of Christ, but determined by her Church Councils +what that religion meant and what it did not mean, and made fierce war +upon heretics like the Gothic Christians, who knew nothing about these +strange doctrines of which Ulfilas had not told them, nor concerning +which did their simple Gothic Bible say one word! (A conflict between +_Trinitarianism_ and _Arianism_.) + +The Roman Empire was the "_Holy_ Roman Empire," now. When Constantine +removed his capital to Byzantium, it required two Emperors, an Eastern +and a Western, to govern the crumbling mass. But as the temporal power +declined, there was at Rome a new and spiritual kingdom which was +expanding and claiming an empire over all Christendom. The Bishops of +Rome had become Popes. Gaul or France was now governed by the German +Franks. And the Frankish Kings in France, and the Visigoth Kings in +Spain, and Christians everywhere must bow to the will of the Pope. + +But the Roman Emperors were becoming less and less able to protect +their dominions. The Teuton Lombards had overrun Italy, and at last +the lowest point of degradation seemed to be reached, when the Imperial +Crown at Byzantium was grasped by Irene, who deposed and blinded her +own son in order to reach the throne once occupied by Augustus. + +Who could be more fit to fill this august position at the head of +Christendom than Charlemagne, the great conqueror of men and defender +of the Holy Faith? + +The coronation of Charlemagne, King of France and Germany, at Rome, in +the year 800, was a revolt of the West against the sluggard Emperors at +Byzantium; just as his father Pepin's had been, fifty years before, a +revolt against the sluggard Kings of France. + +Not for 800 years had there been such a commanding personality on the +earth; not since Caesar hurled his legions into Gaul and Britain had +there been such a display of military genius and valor, and perhaps +never before such a breadth of intelligence in controlling a vast and +heterogeneous empire. + +Thenceforth, Charlemagne and his successors (when crowned by the Pope) +were the successors of the Caesars and the temporal heads of the Holy +Roman Empire. Excepting in name the once great empire had ceased to be +Roman. The rude barbarian race which, in the time of Julius Caesar, was +buried in the forests of Central Europe, was at the head of +Christendom; and under Charlemagne, a map of the German Empire was a +map of Europe. + +Charlemagne acknowledged the Pope who crowned him as his spiritual +sovereign, while, on the other hand, the Pope bowed before the Emperor +who appointed him as his temporal sovereign. It was a magnificent, +all-embracing scheme of empire, of which the spiritual head was at +Rome, and the temporal at Aix-la-Chapelle. + +It seemed as if, by this dual supremacy, Charlemagne had provided for +all possible exigencies of human government. He rested content, no +doubt thinking he had embodied a perfect ideal in creating a system +which should thus co-ordinate and embrace both the spiritual and +temporal needs of an empire. But as soon as his controlling hand was +removed unexpected dangers assailed his work. + +In less than fifty years from his coronation his three grandsons had +quarreled and torn the empire into as many parts. With this event +France commenced a separate existence as a kingdom and the Imperial +title belonged alone to Germany (treaty of Verdun, 843). + +It was the strong, rough arm of the Goth which had hammered in pieces +the Roman Empire and brought these tremendous results for the Teuton +race; but it was the Frank which had survived as the governing power. + +These Franks established a new system of land tenure, which combined +the two opposing systems prevailing in North and South Germany. They +proclaimed that the land belonged to the Crown. But the Crown, upon +certain conditions, bestowed it upon landholders who were called +barons. These barons might hold their land from generation to +generation, so long as these conditions were fulfilled. They, in like +manner, parceled out their lands into farms, which were held by the +class below them upon like conditions of submission and fealty to them. +The people bound themselves to furnish military service and food, and +to work for their barons a specified number of days in the year, and to +receive in return a certain protection, and a refuge within the castle +of their chief. The baron was responsible to the count who was his +superior, and the count to the King. + +This was the feudal system, which was a net-work of reciprocal duties. +No man, be he peasant or count, could call anything his own unless he +discharged his obligations and responsibilities. + +The system met great opposition for a time in South Germany; especially +from Welf, Count of Bavaria, from whom the historic Guelphs are +descended. But it survived, as we know, increasing in oppressive +weight and rigidity, until for centuries it crushed the life out of +Europe. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +One century after Charlemagne, the kingship of Germany ceased to be +hereditary. The great nobles, or vassals as they were called, elected +the King, who was crowned at Aix. And then, after the Pope had crowned +him at Rome (but not until then), he was also King of Italy and Emperor +of the Holy Roman Empire. + +The condition of Germany was at this time very disordered. There were +jealousies and conflicts between the various states composing it and +incessant incursions from those troublesome neighbors, the Magyars or +Hungarians, the Turanian people on their southeast border. This latter +led to an important phase in the development of Germany. Henry I., +father of King Otto the Great, in 924 offered these Hungarians a large +yearly tribute if they would cease to annoy his country. For nine +years the tribute was paid. The Germans in the meantime were busily +engaged in building fortresses on their frontier, and walled cities +throughout the land. These were called _burgs_, and were placed under +the command of counts, who were called _Burgraves_. + +So, in the tenth year, when the Hungarians insolently demanded their +tribute, Henry threw a dead dog at their messengers' feet, and told +them that was his tribute in the future. + +The Hungarians in a fury poured into Germany. But--lo! instead of +collections of helpless villages lying at their mercy, there were +walled towns which defied all their efforts to capture, and after some +futile attempts the Hungarians troubled Germany no more. + +Another important development of this period was an eventful one for +Europe. There was a large class of young men, younger sons of nobles, +for whom there was no suitable classification. They were proud and by +necessity were idle. + +This same Saxon King Henry invited these young men to serve the empire +in a new and peculiar way. They must be men of honor and truth; they +must be devoted and loyal to the Holy Roman Empire; never have injured +a weak woman nor run away in battle; they must be gentle and courteous +and brave, and faithful to the Church. + +The men who could take these oaths and make these pledges were called +knights, or _Knechts_, servants of the King. Thus was created the +order of knighthood, which quickly spread over Europe. + +The great Charlemagne, in accepting the crown of the Holy Roman Empire +in 800, unconsciously inflicted a deep injury upon the future Germany. +That glittering bauble, the crown of the Caesars, was very costly, and +retarded the development of Germany for centuries. + +That country needed all her resources and energies at home, to solidify +and develop a great nation during its formative period. + +Instead of that, for seven hundred years the ambitions of the Kings of +Germany were diverted from what should have been their first care--the +unity and prosperity of their own nation; and were chasing a +phantom--the re-establishment of the great old empire, with Rome as its +heart and center. + +Another mistake made by Charlemagne was far-reaching in its +consequences. + +He little suspected the nature and the latent power existing in that +spiritual kingdom with which he formed so close an alliance. He feared +not the Church, but the ambitious and scheming nobles. So, in order to +create a friendly bulwark about the throne, he made some of the +archbishops and bishops secular princes, and bestowed upon them +dominions over which they might reign as sovereigns. + +The Church, which had not been growing any too spiritual since it was +adopted by Rome, was more and more secularized when it had Primates +ravenous for wealth and power. + +The Pope and Emperor, instead of close allies as Charlemagne had +intended, had finally become jealous and angry rivals. In the open +warfare which in time developed two political parties came into +being--the Guelphs and the Ghibellines, which represented the adherents +of the Pope and the Emperor. + +It was a part of the settled policy of the Popes to stir up strife in +Italy, and thus, by compelling the Emperor to pour his revenues and his +energies into that land, to weaken and undermine him at home. + +For the first five hundred years of its existence the Church had been +governed by the bishops of Rome. In the next five hundred years these +bishops had grown into Popes, who were the spiritual heads of +Christendom. As the Church was entering upon its third +five-hundred-year lease in the year 1073, the miter was worn by the +fiery monk, Hildebrand, who had become Gregory VII. This man resolved +to establish the supremacy of the Church over the secular arm of the +government. As a weak Emperor wore the Imperial crown, the time was +favorable for claiming a religious empire existing by divine right, and +superior to the will of kings and emperors. + +In the conflict which followed Henry IV. deposed the Pope--this +creature of his own appointing, who would override the authority of the +power which had created him! And as a counter-move the Pope +excommunicated the Emperor. + +Had Henry stood his ground as he might, for he would have had ample +support from his people, it would have been a gain of centuries for +Europe.. But the ban of excommunication, with its attendant horrors +here, and still worse hereafter--it was more than he could bear. +Affrighted, trembling, penitent, he crossed the Alps in dead of winter, +crept to the castle of Canossa, near Parma, where Hildebrand had taken +refuge; and there this successor to Charlemagne, this ruler of all +Christendom, standing barefoot and clad in sackcloth shirt, humbly +begged admittance. The Pope's triumph was complete. So he let him +shiver for three days in cold and rain before he opened the gates and +gave him forgiveness and the kiss of peace. + +The Church had never scored so tremendous a victory. She was supreme +over every earthly authority, and the hands on the face of time were +set back for centuries. Let Guelph and Ghibelline storm and struggle +as they might, there was no question of supremacy now between temporal +and spiritual heads. All the lines of power, all the threads of human +destiny led to Rome, and were found at last in the papal hand. + +In the three centuries of its existence the empire had been ruled first +by Frank, and then by Saxon emperors. But the eventful visit to +Canossa led to a new dynasty, the Swabian. When that humiliated +monarch, Henry IV., crossed the Alps in midwinter, when Europe's +mightiest prince stood woolen-frocked and barefoot upon the snow for +three days, humbly entreating forgiveness, there was one knight who +attended him with marked fidelity. This was Frederick of Bueren, and +verily he had his reward! The Emperor created him Duke of Swabia, and +bestowed upon him his daughter Agnes as his wife. + +The Duke of Swabia then built himself a castle on a high plateau of +land called Hohenstaufen. But this fortunate duke had also another +great estate called Waiblingen. So he was Frederick of Hohenstaufen, +and of Waiblingen as well. The last name had a very conspicuous +destiny awaiting it. + +The dukes of Bavaria had been a great power in Germany, ever since that +first stormy Welf, who tried to put down the new-fangled system of +land-tenure which we know as feudalism! + +These Welfs were evidently not progressive; they seem in fact to have +been the Tories of ancient Germany. And when Conrad, grandson of +Frederick, the first Hohenstaufen, was elected King of Germany, there +was a very stormy time. The people divided into two factions: the +adherents of the new dynasty and the Emperor in the one, and the +malcontents who were led by Welf, Duke of Bavaria, in the other. As +hostility to the Emperor meant friendship with the Pope, this party of +the Welfs was also that of the papal faction. + +The tongue of the Italian could not master the two words Welf and +Waiblingen; which, as they became fastened upon the two political +factions in Italy, were changed to Guelph and Ghibelline. + +The Waiblingen family long ago disappeared. But the ancient name of +Welf is represented to-day by the gracious Queen of England. + +The party of the Guelphs in Germany was that of disaffected dukes and +nobles, who from personal or other reasons desired to embarrass the +Emperor, even to the extent of an alliance with his enemy the Pope. + +The Ghibellines expressed the anti-papal sentiment of the people, among +whom there was a growing dread and hatred of Romish power, and the time +was approaching when Teutonic patriotism would mean resistance to +Italian priestcraft. + +While this antagonism was developing, the most stupendous event in all +history was taking place in Europe. The Christian conscience--more +sensitive than it is to-day--had been roused to a frenzy of indignation +by Mahomedan outrages in the Holy Land. That first "European Concert" +had been formed to drive the Mahomedan out of the land, where a concert +of Europe is striving to keep him undisturbed to-day! + +This time of a great religious war was not favorable for an anti-papal +policy in Germany. Conrad allowed himself to be swept into the +current. He headed a great Crusade in the year 1147. + +Not one tithe of his vast host ever reached the Holy Land. They melted +like the dew before disease, starvation, and the sword of the Moslems +in Asia Minor. + +When the despondent Conrad returned to Germany he brought back one +lasting memorial of his ill-fated Crusade. He had seen at +Constantinople, on the Imperial standard of the Byzantine Emperor, a +double-headed eagle. This representation of a double empire he +determined to adopt for the emblem of his own, and hence it is that it +exists to-day on the Austrian standard, and upon the coins of Germany +and Austria. + +It was well for Germany that, while she was thus torn and distracted by +contending political factions, and while her life blood was being +drained into Italy, Frederick I., or Barbarossa (1152), came to hold +the reins of government as they had not been held since Charlemagne. + +This great Hohenstaufen threw his lion-like weight into the controversy +concerning Papal and Imperial supremacy. He spurned the pretensions of +the Pope and his encroachments upon secular authority. + +He claimed that his office was from God--not from the Pope; and that it +was not a whit less sacred than his rival's. To which the Pope +replied: "Who was the Frank before Pope Zacharias befriended Pepin? and +what is the Teutonic King now, till consecrated by papal hands? What +he gives, can he not withdraw?" + +But the Imperial power never reached such height as under this +imperious, commanding Teuton; who exists now as a half-mythic hero, +honored in picture, statue, song, and legend throughout Germany. His +reign was a splendid fight against the two antagonists which were +finally to be fatal to the Empire--Italian nationality and the Papacy. + +The knighthood established by his Saxon predecessor, in 930, had during +the Crusades expanded into great orders of chivalry throughout Europe. +Frederick Barbarossa fostered and brought the chivalry of Germany to +great splendor. + +He also brought to an end the long and destructive feud between the +Welfs and the Waiblingers, pacifying the former by bestowing upon them +the territory of Brunswick; to which fact England owes her present +Queen, who is a daughter of the house of Brunswick. + +For many centuries the people believed the legend that their hero had +not died in Palestine; but they pointed to the mouth of a great cavern +on the frowning heights of the Kyfhaeuser mountain, where he was said to +be surrounded by his knights in an enchanted sleep; waiting the hour +when he should awaken and descend with his Crusaders, to bring back a +golden age of peace and unity to Germany! + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +There are three conditions in national life of which all nations more +or less partake. One is where the elements combine with a tendency +toward organic development; another, where these elements fall apart +with a tendency toward disintegration; and still another, where all +processes, constructive and destructive, are arrested as in a crystal. +The United States, the Ottoman Empire, and China illustrate these three +conditions to-day. + +The Teuton, who had been such a powerful element in renovating other +European nations, had thus far seemed incapable of consolidating his +own national life when left to himself. The tendency was steadily +toward disintegration rather than growth. + +This was not alone because the strength of the Teutonic kingdom was +wasted in pursuit of that glittering toy bestowed by the Pope; but on +account of internal strifes and rivalries which employed the hostile +schemes of the Roman Pontiff for their own ends and purposes. + +The rivalry with the Pope, in itself a destructive element, was made +still more destructive when it was thus used by disaffected dukes as a +means of annoying and circumventing Emperors whom they disliked. + +A Frederick Barbarossa might arrest these processes for a time. But +one century later the ruin was complete. + +Frederick II., the last of the Hohenstaufens, died, leaving an empty +throne and a broken and shattered empire. It was destined to rise +again and to wear the name and trappings of its former greatness, but, +crippled and degraded, to be in reality a mere shadow and semblance of +what it had once aspired to be--the head of the world. + +A period of twenty years then followed, known as the "Great +Interregnum." A time when there was no King nor Emperor; when robbery +and brigandage became the employment of needy knights, and when great +barons made war upon and waylaid each other on the highways. + +It was a time of strange chaos and darkness. And yet this period, +apparently so unfavorable to growth, brought forth two of the most +pregnant events in the history of Germany. These were the creation of +the Hanseatic League and the birth of German literature. The one laid +the foundation of a real national life in which the people should +participate; while the other gave expression to the romantic ideals of +a hitherto silent race. + +The great German epic, which is the Iliad of the Middle Ages, was +produced at this darkest hour in the history of Germany. The +Nibelungen Lied deals with the colossal crimes, loves, and sorrows of +Burgundian kings and princesses at the time of the Hunnish invasion. +And it has been the good fortune of Germany, six hundred years later, +to have a son (Richard Wagner) who has clothed that great epic in music +which matches it in heroic dignity and splendor. + +The other event was of deeper import than this. The burgs, or cities, +which were created as a defense against the Hungarians, had become busy +centers of manufacture and trade, and to some extent of learning. Many +of them had been made free cities. That is, they were under the direct +control of the Emperors instead of the hereditary nobles as at first. +These cities enjoyed especial privileges and immunities which drew to +them population and prosperity. The true policy for German Emperors, +harassed by Italian intrigues and at war with their own archbishops and +disaffected nobles, would have been to form close alliance with these +free cities, and make friends of their burghers and guilds. + +When there was no king, no ruler in the land, when robbery ran riot so +that traveling was impossible, two cities, Hamburg and Lubeck, agreed +together to keep order in their neighborhood. Then Brunswick and +Bremen joined; and at last over a hundred towns had combined together +in what was called the "Hanseatic League." + +This Confederacy became the mightiest power in the North of Europe; and +at one time even threatened the overthrow of feudalism, and to convert +West Germany into a federation of free municipalities. + +When trades increased in the cities, each trade managed its own affairs +by an organization called a _guild_. The guilds in the course of time +obtained a share in the government of the towns; and it was the +regenerating power of these guilds which brought about this great +movement. With their simple ideals of truth, sincerity, and justice, +they were the storehouses of that power which is the real life of a +nation. As well expect a tree to flourish when its sap is not +permitted to rise, or a man to be well when the blood is obstructed in +his veins, as to look for healthful growth and expansion in a nation +from which the life of its common people is excluded! + +Among these early guilds, that of the Meistersingers, which was +chartered in 1340, was of vast importance in the development of the +German people. + +It was composed of artisans and governed by the strict, pedantic rules +then existing in the arts of musical and literary composition. + +The prizes did not confer as great an honor as those bestowed at +Olympia two thousand years before, but they were sought with an intense +enthusiasm. + +The soul of the Teuton was by nature set to music. For him that art +was not a luxury reserved for the rich and cultured, but the daily food +which nourished the life of the most untutored. Within this musical +and literary guild the two arts of music and poetry for centuries +existed in their most elementary form, and were the soil out of which +later came such marvelous blossom and fruit. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +Germany, which had always been a loosely compacted mass, was at the +close of the Hohenstaufen dynasty composed of 60 independent cities, +116 priestly rulers, and 100 reigning dukes, princes, counts, and +barons, always rivals and usually at war with each other, in +perpetually changing combinations for attack or defense. + +Lying beneath this body of small and struggling sovereigns was a people +in whom was the first dawning consciousness of human rights; which +consciousness was gradually extending to that helpless mass underlying +the whole--the peasantry. + +In 1273 the German princes succeeded in electing an Emperor; and the +Great Interregnum was over. + +It is a curious fact that the two names _Hapsburg_ and _Hohenzollern_ +should have appeared simultaneously in German history. Rudolf, Count +of Hapsburg, through the influence of his brother-in-law Frederick of +Hohenzollern, Count of Nuremburg, was chosen to fill the vacant throne. +It was during the reign of Albert, son of this first Hapsburg, that the +Swiss first revolted against imperial authority. + +Gessler, who had been sent by Albert to subdue the refractory Alpine +shepherds, so exasperated them by his atrocities that he was shot by +William Tell. It was a long way from Tell to Swiss freedom and +independence. But the people from that hour never wavered in their +determination not to be serfs to the house of Hapsburg. + +The Hanseatic League in North Germany, and the invincibly free spirit +in Switzerland, were the two things of deepest significance at this +time of political chaos. + +Side by side with this assertion of political rights, there had +commenced a general intellectual awakening. The Bishop of Ratisbon, +Albertus Magnus, was so learned in mathematics and in science that +people believed he was a sorcerer.[1] Godfrey of Strasburg had written +an epic poem about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. +Wolfram of Eschenbach had told of the Holy Grail in his Parsifal; and a +learned history of Denmark had been written, without which our own +literature would have suffered immeasurable loss, for in it Shakspeare +found the story of Hamlet! + +It was at this time (1356) that the famous "Golden Bull" was issued, a +new electoral system, which reduced the number of electors to seven. + +The idea was that as the sun and the seven planets illumined our +heavens, so that great luminary, the German Emperor, should be the +center of a political system composed of seven Electors. + +These earthly luminaries, whose duty it was to elect a new Emperor, +were the Archbishops of Mainz, Cologne, and Treves, and the temporal +princes of Bohemia, Brandenburg, Saxony, and the Palatine of the Rhine. + +The very first act of these seven wise men was to place upon the throne +Wenceslas, a brutal madman, who might better have been confined as a +maniac. + +It was during the reign of his brother and successor Sigismund that the +burning of John Huss lighted the conflagration in Bohemia known as the +Hussite War. + +John Huss, a professor of the University of Prague, had dared to raise +his voice against the temporal enrichment of a church whose Founder had +not where to lay his head, and who had put behind him the kingdoms of +this earth, when offered to him by Satan! + +Huss, for this offense, came under the displeasure of the bishops. +Charges were brought against him that he had maintained the existence +of four Gods, and he was condemned and burnt (1415). + +The Hussite war had none of the reforming purpose which led to the +martyrdom they wished to avenge. It was a mad strife, beginning over +some detail of the Communion Service, and ending in a war between +Bohemian and German, in which for nearly twenty years the country ran +with blood. + +At this period an event occurred of trifling significance then, but of +profound importance to future Germany. + +In 1411 the Emperor borrowed one hundred thousand florins of Frederick +of Hohenzollern, the Burgrave, or "Count of the Castle," of Nuremburg, +direct descendant from that first Hohenzollern who helped to found the +Hapsburg dynasty. For this loan Sigismund gave his creditor a mortgage +on the territory of Brandenburg. Frederick at once took up his +residence there, and subsequently made an offer of three hundred +thousand gold florins more to purchase the territory. The Emperor +accepted the terms, so the then small state was thereafter the home of +the Hohenzollerns, and was on its way to become Prussia. + +Sigismund and his brother Wenceslas belonged to another dynasty, that +of Luxemburg. But after the death of the former, in 1440, the +Hapsburgs succeeded again to the crown, which they wore until it was +taken off at the bidding of Napoleon in 1806. + +Just before the issuance of the Golden Bull, there had occurred that +most revolutionary event, the discovery of gunpowder. When a man in +leathern jacket could do more than a knight in armor, when safety +depended upon quickness and lightness, and ponderous iron and steel +were fatal--then a momentous change in conditions was at hand! The +destruction of feudalism was involved in this discovery of 1344. + +Under Frederick III., that Hapsburg who came to the throne in 1440, the +Empire seemed to have reached a climax of disorder. Old things were +passing away, and the new had not yet come to take their place. + +On the eastern shore of the Baltic the march of German civilization had +received an almost fatal check. The "German Order," an organization of +knights intended to keep back the Slavonic tide, had failed to do so. +Holland was becoming estranged from the German Empire. France had +obtained possession of Flanders. Luxemburg, Lorraine, and Burgundy +were becoming practically independent; while it began to seem as if +Switzerland were forever lost to Germany. + +And now the Hungarians were setting up their new king, the valiant +Hunyadi; and the Bohemians theirs, George of Podjebrod. Not only were +these kingdoms and principalities slipping away, but the peasants in +the cantons of the Alps, and elsewhere in revolt, were some of them led +by great nobles. + +Still another, and perhaps the gravest of all these dangers, was one +which yet darkens our horizon in this closing nineteenth century! + +In the year 1250 the Turks had commenced their existence in Asia Minor, +with one little clan, led by one obscure chieftain. This clan had +grown as if by miracle into a great empire in the East, rivaling in +power that of the Saracens, whose successors they were as the head of +the Mahomedan Empire. The Turks had been steadily encroaching upon +Germany; had made havoc in Hungary; had devastated Austria, and were +now insolently pressing on toward their goal, the Imperial palace at +Vienna. + +While the incompetent and drowsy Emperor Frederick III. was helplessly +viewing these stupendous overturnings, there occurred that other event, +as important in the empire of thought as the invention of gunpowder had +been in that of political institutions. + +The invention of printing (1450),--that art preservative of all +arts,--was the greatest step yet taken in the emancipation of the human +mind. + +The poor inventor was, after the manner of inventors, badly treated. +John Fust, on account of Gutenberg's inability to pay back the money he +had loaned him for his experiment, seized the printing press, and +himself proceeded to finish printing the Bible. + +The rapidity with which the copies were produced, and their precise +resemblance to each other, created such astonishment that a report +spread that Fust had sold himself to the devil, with whom he was in +league. + +This, together with the identity of names, led Victor Hugo, Klinger, +and other writers to confuse John Fust, the practicer of the Black Art +in mediaeval times, with John Fust the printer. And as the original +Fust had come to stand for the emancipation of the human intellect +through free learning, and as printing was above all else the means for +such emancipation, the coincidence, if such it be, was, to say the +least, remarkable! + +When we approach the time of Isabella of Castile and of Columbus, and +when we are confronted with that familiar specter, the Turk, in +Southeastern Europe, we feel that we are in sight of the lights on +familiar headlands, and are not far from port. We are not very near to +that haven, but we are passing the line which divides the old from the +new. + + + +[1] See chart of Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +It was not alone in Germany that the old was vanishing. The movement +in that country was part of a general condition prevailing in England, +France, and Spain; all with the same tendency--the passing of the power +from many small despotisms to one greater one. It was an advance, +although a slow one, in the path of progress. Feudalism--that +newfangled system which had so tried the soul of Duke Welf in the ninth +century--was dissolving. + +In England the war with France, and the War of the Roses, by +impoverishing the nobles had broken their remaining authority, and that +system which had been gradually perishing since the Conquest was +virtually dead. + +In France Louis XI. had cunningly conceived the idea of recovering the +power of the throne by an apparent friendship with the people; and a +combination was thus formed against which a decrepit feudalism could +not long stand. + +In Spain the smaller kingdoms had at last been merged into two larger +ones, and by the union of Castile and Aragon under Ferdinand and +Isabella, and the expulsion of the Moors which quickly followed that +event, that country was at last consolidated into one kingdom--in which +feudalism no longer existed as a disturbing power. + +In northern Italy also, among that brilliant group of small republics, +there was this same centralizing tendency at work. Florence had passed +into the strong keeping of the Medici (1434), while Genoa and most of +the Lombard republics were gravitating toward the control of Milan. + +It was at this period that there were for the first time formed those +combinations and alliances between the nations of Europe which led +finally to a system existing for the preservation of the _balance of +power_. In fact, after the various monarchies had assumed these firmer +and more definite outlines, there began a process of weaving them +together into a larger whole; and the threads used in this process are +known as _European diplomacy_, which, as we have recently seen, is +stronger than individual sovereigns! + +It was perfectly in keeping with the spirit of the fifteenth century +that the Imperial throne of Germany should be occupied, at this time of +centralizing tendencies, by a man determined not alone to reign but to +rule. + +Maximilian I., son of the sleepy Frederick III., was chosen by the +electors in 1486. He was full of energy, intelligence, and heart, and +was, besides, the handsomest prince in Europe, and his wife, Mary of +Burgundy, was the fairest of princesses. + +The people, weary of disorder and insecurity, were glad to feel the +touch of a strong hand. Maximilian firmly planted the foundations of +the house of Hapsburg. From that time the choice of the Electors was +merely a formal recognition of the hereditary rights of that family. + +This prince, standing on the dividing line between the old and new, +possessed the qualities of both. He was stately, brave, and chivalric, +and at the same time educated according to the highest standards of his +time, devoted to literature, art, and poetry, and with comprehensive +and progressive plans for his kingdom. He had a sincere desire to +reform abuses. He introduced into Germany the post office, and the +system for the conveyance of letters, throughout two thousand +independent territories! + +The Turks were advancing on the east, the French King was harassing him +on the west, and the Pope always trying to embroil him with other +kingdoms and to drain his Empire. His was not an easy task. + +He was not a Charlemagne nor a Frederick Barbarossa, but he infused +strength and a power of resistance into Germany at a period of extreme +weakness, and he reunited to the house of Hapsburg the kingdoms of +Hungary and Bohemia. + +There was evidence that the long thraldom to Rome was passing away, in +the fact that Maximilian assumed Imperial authority without receiving +the crown from papal hands; his father Frederick having been the last +Emperor who made pilgrimage to Rome for that purpose (in 1452). + +When Maximilian came to the throne in 1493 an event of transcendent +importance had just occurred. Europe had learned with amazement that +when the sun disappeared in that mysterious Western Ocean, it passed on +to shine upon other lands beyond--lands teeming with life and riches. + +The most fascinating field for adventure the world had ever known was +suddenly opened to Europe, and the magnet of boundless wealth was +transferred from the East to the West. A stream of adventurous and +rapacious men, from all the lands excepting Germany, was moving toward +the setting sun. + +Spain, only recently obscure, poor and struggling to free her land from +an alien race, suddenly found herself mistress of her own territory, +consolidated, and with an empire and resources in the West, practically +boundless. + +The good Queen Isabella, who had been the instrumentality in bringing +about these changes for her country, had the satisfaction of seeing her +kingdom at one bound take its place in the first rank among the nations +of Europe. + +Her chief care now was to make alliances for her children suited to +this new position. She and Ferdinand aimed high. They secured the +daughter of Maximilian, Emperor of Germany, for their son, who was heir +to the crown of Spain; but the hopes from this union were quickly +blighted, as the young prince suddenly died during the wedding +festivities. Then another marriage was arranged for their oldest +daughter Joanna with Philip, Maximilian's son, who was also heir to the +Imperial throne. + +But Isabella's sorrows matched her triumphs and successes in magnitude. +Joanna became hopelessly insane. Another daughter, who married the +King of Portugal, was buried in the same grave with the infant who was +expected to unite the crowns of Spain and Portugal, while for her +youngest child Katharine was reserved the unhappy fate of becoming the +wife of Henry VIII. of England. + +It is sad to remember that this admirable woman, in her intense desire +to drive heretic Jews out of her country, was prevailed upon, by her +confessor Torquemada, to establish the Inquisition in Spain. Believing +as she devoutly did that heresy meant eternal death, and little +suspecting the engine for cruelty it was to become, this kindest and +best of women may be forgiven for this fatal mistake. + +Overwhelmed by private griefs and sorrows, Isabella died in 1506, +leaving her crazed daughter Joanna a widow, with two sons, the elder +six years old. She would have been consoled could she have known that, +in thirteen years from that time, this grandson would wear not alone +the crown of Spain, but the great Imperial crown of Germany, and would +be lord of a greater empire, and wield more power, than any living +sovereign. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +The period of Maximilian's reign was a bridge which spanned two +colossal events: the discovery of America and the Reformation. When +this Emperor died in 1517, a greater work was at hand than any he or +his predecessors had ever accomplished, and the humble man who was to +be its instrument was destined to become a power above all princes, and +to shake the Church of Rome to its foundation after an undisturbed +reign of a thousand years. + +The Reformation had long been preparing in the hearts of the people. +The persecutions of the Albigenses in France, the Waldenses in Savoy, +and the burning of Huss and of Jerome, had all come from the growing +conviction that the Bible was the only true source of Christian truth +and doctrine. + +The art of printing had made this well of pure truth accessible to all, +and there was a deep though unspoken belief in the hearts and minds of +the people that a church grasping at secular power and riches had +wandered far from the simple teachings of its Founder. + +These smoldering fires were very near to the surface when Maximilian +died. Charles, his grandson, was then King of Spain. The ambitious +Francis I. of France struggled hard for the crown laid down by the +Emperor, but, in 1519, it was placed upon the head of his rival, and +Charles V. was the first of whom it could be said that the sun never +set upon his dominions. + +At this most critical moment in the history of the world, the fate of +Europe was in the hands of three men: Charles V., Emperor of Germany; +Francis I., King of France, and Henry VIII., King of England. + +Charles, half Fleming and half Spaniard, had the grasping +acquisitiveness of the one nation, and the proud, fanatical cruelty of +the other. Small of stature, plain in feature, sedate, quiet, crafty, +he was playing a desperate game with Francis I. for supremacy in Europe. + +Francis, handsome as an Apollo, accomplished, fascinating, profligate, +was fully his match in ambition. Covering his worst qualities with a +gorgeous mantle of generosity and chivalrous sense of honor, he was the +insidious corrupter of morals in France, creating a sentiment which +laughed at virtue and innocence as qualities belonging to a lower class +of society. + +Each of these men was striving to enlist Henry VIII. upon his side, by +appealing to the cruel caprices of that vain, ostentatious, arrogant +King, who in turn tried to use them for the furthering of his own +desires and purposes. + +It was a sort of triangular game between the three monarchs--a game +full of finesse and far-reaching designs. If Charles attacked Francis, +Henry attacked Charles, while the astute Charles, knowing well the +desire of the English King to repudiate Katharine and make Anne Boleyn +his queen, whispered seductive promises of the papal chair to Wolsey, +who was in turn to establish his own influence over his royal master by +bringing about the marriage with Anne, upon which the King's heart was +set, and then be rewarded by securing Henry's promise of neutrality for +Charles, in his designs of overreaching Francis--and, after that, the +road to Rome for the aspiring cardinal would be a straight one! + +It was an intricate diplomatic net-work, in which the thread of Henry's +desire for the fair Anne was mingled with Wolsey's desire for +preferment, and both interlaced with the ambitious, far-reaching +purposes of the other two monarchs. + +All these events were very absorbing, and while they were splendidly +gilding the surface of Europe in the first half of the sixteenth +century, it seemed a small matter that an obscure monk was denouncing +the Pope and defying the power of the Catholic Church. Little did +Charles suspect that, when his victories and edicts were forgotten, the +words of the insolent heretic would still be echoing down the ages. + +A few years later, and the Apollo-like beauty and false heart of +Francis I. were dissolving in the grave; Henry VIII. had gone to +another world, to meet his reward--and his wives; and Charles V. was +sadly counting his beads in the monastery of St. Jerome, at Juste, +reflecting upon the vanity of human ambitions. But the murmur of +protest from the unknown monk had become a roar--the rivulet had +swollen into a threatening torrent. As it is the invisible forces that +are the most powerful in nature, so it is the obscure and least +observed events that have accomplished the most tremendous revolutions +in human affairs. + +But before all this had happened, in the year 1517, when it had not yet +occurred to Henry's sensitive conscience that his marriage with +Katharine, his brother's widow, was illegal, and while Charles V., that +sedate young man, who "looked so modest and soared so high," was +quietly revolving plans for the extension of his empire, Pope Leo X., +the pious Vicar of Christ upon earth, and elegant patron of Michael +Angelo and Raphael, found his income all too small for his magnificent +tastes. It does not seem to have occurred to him that his tastes were +too costly for his income; he simply recognized that something must be +done, and at once, to fill his empty purse. But what should it be? A +simple and ingenious expedient solved the perplexing problem. He would +issue a proclamation to his "loving, faithful children," that he would +grant absolution for all sorts of crimes, the prices graduated to suit +the enormity of the offense. We have not seen the proclamation, but +doubt not it was in most caressing Latin, for can anything exceed the +velvety softness of the gloves worn on the hands which have signed +papal decrees? + +Simple lying and slander were cheap; perjury and sins against chastity +more costly; while the use of the stiletto, of poison, and the hired +assassin could be enjoyed only by the richest. It worked well. In the +hopeful words of a pious dignitary, "as soon as the money chinks in the +coffer, the soul springs out of purgatory." Who could resist such +promise? Money flowed in swollen streams into the thirsty coffers, +many even paying in advance for crimes they intended to commit! + +Martin Luther was the one man who dared to stand up and denounce this +tax upon crime, this papal trade in vice. The people had at last found +a voice and a leader. + +Protestantism, which had long been maturing in silence and in darkness, +sprang full-armed into existence, and was the first thing to confront +Charles when he assumed the Imperial crown. + +He, no doubt, thought that he would soon be able to dispose of the new +heresy, as had his royal father and mother in Spain disposed of heretic +Jews a few years before. But this new specter of Protestantism would +not down! + +When Charles called together an assembly of states (or Diet) at Worms, +in 1521, he supposed he was going to deal with one obscure monk, +leading an obscure movement. But it assumed quite a different aspect +when Luther, the culprit, was sustained by two great electors and many +princes of his realm; and when a long list of grievances against the +Papacy was formally presented by several states, which he was firmly +told he would be required to redress! + +The princes were in earnest. They began to seize church property, to +send monks and nuns adrift, and to make free with gold and silver +vessels and treasure belonging to the Church. + +This time of confusion was used by one ambitious ruler for his own +ends. The German, or Teutonic, order was a knightly organization +created expressly to hold the frontier against the Slavonic people. +After the year 1230 this order held Prussia, which they ruled like +princes. The Margrave of Brandenburg, who was at the time of the +Reformation Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights, realized his +opportunity in the existing disorder. He made himself sovereign over +Prussia, and annexed the possessions of the Teutonic order to his +family. + +But it was not alone the princes who saw their opportunity in this time +of overturning. The wrongs of the peasants were very real and very +grievous, and of long, long standing. The entire burden of taxation +rested on them--the archbishops and the nobles and the _gentlemen_ all +being exempt! + +When the Reformation began the _bauer_, or peasantry, believed that +their hope lay in the abolishing of Catholicism and of the feudal +system. + +It takes a very small spark to fire a train of gunpowder. When the +Countess of Luepfen ordered the peasants on her estate to spend their +Sundays in picking strawberries and gathering snail shells for +pincushions, she dropped such a spark! They refused, and the revolt +spread, gathering in fury as it moved like a cyclone through the German +states. All throughout Germany there are to be seen, to-day, ruined +castles which tell the story of this "Peasants' War" (1525). Hideous +atrocities were committed, and, as has so often happened, the cause of +a people whose grievances were real and heartrending was so stained +with crime that sympathy with and pity for their sufferings were +obliterated. Even Luther--whose followers they claimed to be--said of +them, "they should be treated as a man would treat a mad dog." + +The bold stand taken by Luther against this rebellion strengthened him +with the princes. Not only Saxony, Hesse, and Brunswick and many free +cities, but the Augustine order of monks, a part of the Franciscans, +and a number of priests had embraced the new doctrine contained in the +"Augsburg Confession," the creed or summary of belief which was +prepared by Luther's friend, Philip Melancthon. + +The principles asserted in this were that men are justified by faith +alone; that an assembly of believers constitutes a Church; that +monastic vows, invocation of saints, fasting, celibacy, etc., are +useless. + +Such were the chief points in the celebrated "Confession," which was +signed by the Protestant cities and princes in 1530. + +So while Charles was engaged in his great game of finesse with Francis +I. and Henry VIII. for preponderance in Europe--while the Turks were +pressing toward Vienna on the east, and the French into Flanders on the +west, and while the Pope, who should have been his ally, jealous of his +power was circumventing and weakening him so far as he could, worse +than all else, the foundations of the Protestant Church were being +permanently laid in Germany. + +The two great aims of the Emperor were to restore papal supremacy over +Christendom and firmly to unite Germany and Spain. But how could he do +the one, when at the hour of a great schism in the Church, a jealous +Pope was trying to weaken his hands? Or the other, when Germany was +always suspicious of him because he was a Spaniard, and Spain because +he was a Hapsburg? + +Charles was profound in his methods, crafty and powerful; but +circumstances were stronger than he. In order to succeed at one point, +he had to weaken himself at another. He could do nothing in repelling +the Turks or the French, unless aided by the Protestant states. And +these states would only give assistance in exchange for concessions to +their cause, while Francis I., as crafty as he, found a sure way to +circumvent his rival in giving aid to the Protestants. + +The new faith was spreading not only in Germany, but in Denmark, +Sweden, and England. The movement in Switzerland diverged somewhat in +character under Zwingli, another Reformer, and the new Protestantism +began to have its own schismatics. + +Calvin in Geneva rejected Luther's doctrine of _justification by +faith_, and for it substituted that of _election_. The doctrine that +men were predestined to heaven or hell was thereafter held by that +branch of the Church known as Reformers, as distinguished from the +Lutherans, while from the _protest_ of Saxony, Brandenburg, Brunswick, +Hesse, and fifteen imperial cities against the decree outlawing Luther +and his doctrines, the name Protestants took its rise, which included +Lutherans and Reformers alike. + +The famous Schmalkaldian League was so called from the little Hessian +town where the Protestant princes assembled in 1530 and made a solemn +promise of mutual support against the Emperor; when they also entered +into a secret treaty with Francis I., and received promises of support +from the Kings of England, Sweden, and Denmark. + +In 1540 the strength of the Catholics had been re-enforced by the order +of Jesuits, which was founded by Ignatius Loyola. This order made the +suppression of Protestant doctrines its chief task. + +Meyerbeer has, by his great opera, made so famous the strange tragedy +enacted at Muenster in 1534 that it must have brief mention, although it +was only a bit of driftwood in the great current of events. A +religious sect called the Anabaptists was led by a Dutch tailor, John +of Leyden, who claimed to be inspired. The chief things he was +inspired to do were to crown himself king, to introduce polygamy, and +to cut off the heads of all who resisted his decrees! For more than a +year the city was held by this madman and his associates; and then the +tragedy was concluded by the torturing to death of the tailor-king and +his chief abettors; their bodies being left suspended in iron cages +over the Cathedral door at Muenster. This grewsome story is the one +used by Meyerbeer in his opera of "Le Prophete." + +In 1552 Charles saw his ambitious plans for the government of the world +failing at every point. By the treaty of Passau, religious freedom had +been conceded to the Protestants; and while his army was needed to +fight the Turks in Hungary, Henry II. of France (who had succeeded +Francis I., 1547), in league with the Protestant states, was invading +Lorraine. + +Sick at heart and failing in health, the weary Emperor (1556) resolved +to lay down the heavy crown he had worn for thirty-six years. + +To his son Philip II. he gave the Netherlands, Naples, Spain, and the +American Colonies, while the Imperial title, and the German-Austrian +lands passed to his brother Ferdinand I. + +The singular cause of his death, two years later, makes us wonder +whether his unfortunate mother Joanna could have transmitted to her son +the insanity which darkened her own life. + +At the monastery at St. Juste to which the Imperial monk had retired +after his abdication, he yielded to a morbid whim to rehearse his own +funeral. The grave-clothes were damp. He was seized with a chill, and +after a brief illness died (1558). + +Charles had been thwarted in his two great aims of establishing the +supremacy of his Church, and the permanent union of Germany and Spain. +But perhaps his bitterest disappointment was in not being permitted to +leave the Imperial crown to his son Philip. + +His brother Ferdinand, although firmly Catholic, was a just and +moderate prince, who had always favored conciliatory measures to the +Protestants while the course of Philip II., in the Netherlands, soon +showed how heavily his hand would have rested upon Germany. He +appointed the Duke of Alva Spanish governor in that unfortunate +territory. Never had cruel king more cruel agent in carrying out his +policy. Torture, fire, and sword were the instruments intended to +subjugate, but which in the end brought about the independence of +Holland. + +The prelates of the Church in 1543 had come together in what was called +the "Council of Trent," with the avowed object of reforming abuses +which had crept into the Church. The real purpose, however, was to +examine the foundations of that venerable structure, to discover where +it had been injured in the assaults made upon it since 1517, and to +strengthen it where it seemed to need new supports. + +In 1563, after eighteen years' deliberation, the work of this Council +was finished. The cardinal doctrines of purgatory, absolution, +celibacy, invocation of saints, censorship of press, etc., etc., were +reaffirmed, and terrible anathemas pronounced against such as should +reject them. + +Thus was created a chasm which nothing could ever bridge, eternally +dividing the old religion from the new. + +Another tremendously re-enforcing agent was at work in Loyola's Society +of Jesus, which was to be to the Church what the brain is to the human +body. In 1540 Loyola's ten disciples received the papal blessing. In +1600 there were ten million Jesuits, and in 1700 twenty millions! + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +It was the invincible march of Protestantism in the land of its birth +which brought about this buttressing of the old belief and this +adopting of fresh methods for its efficiency. + +When Ferdinand died in 1564 the great majority of the German people had +become Protestants. The Empire was honeycombed with the new faith. +Even in Austria, that everlasting stronghold of Papacy, the Catholics +were in a minority. True to the traditions of the past, Bavaria, the +home of the ancient Welfs, was the one thoroughly zealous and obedient +champion of the Pope in all Germany. + +It seemed as if the great conflict was almost over. But it had not +even commenced! + +The history of this great movement would have been very different, had +it been carried on steadily under one leader. But it had four! Those +devout souls who believed they had found in the simple gospel truths of +Protestantism a religion in which all might unite were soon convinced +of their mistake. + +Lulled by the apparent triumph of the new faith, reformers set about +the task of defining the belief and correcting the errors of Protestant +doctrine. To the followers of Calvin the belief of the Lutherans +became almost as abhorrent as Papacy itself, while the Lutherans were +again subdivided into an extreme and a moderate party; the one +following to the letter the doctrines of Luther, and the other the more +modified views of Melancthon. Not only men but states were divided and +in bitter strife over these differences, so that the Emperor Ferdinand +had said, "Instead of being of one mind they are so disunited, have so +many different beliefs, the God of truth surely cannot be with them!" + +It is apparent now that the issue underlying all this upheaval was +deeper than anyone then knew. The real struggle was not for the +supremacy of Romanist or Protestant; not to determine whether this +dogma or that was true and should prevail, but to establish the right +of every human soul to choose its own faith and form of worship. The +great battle for human liberty had commenced, and the Romish Church had +been shaken to its foundations not because its doctrine was false, but +because it was a _despotism_! + +From the abdication of Charles V. to 1600 was a period of political +tranquillity in Germany. The reign of two conciliatory sovereigns, +Ferdinand I., and his son Maximilian II., tended to produce a +surface-calm, which, although ruffled, was not broken by the stern and +despotic reign of Rudolf II., who succeeded in 1576. + +It was a half century of unfruitful and sullen waiting--waiting for a +future which no one could divine. Protestantism was not blossoming; +but the seed was germinating amid elements good and evil, strangely +mingled together. + +While the Reformation was the leading fact in Europe at this period, +another event had created a new and pervading atmosphere, in which all +else existed. The impulse given to civilization by the taking of +Constantinople by the Turks (1452), and the consequent disseminating of +Greek culture throughout Europe, was a transforming event in the +history of civilization. Literature, art, music, took on new forms and +thrilled with a new life. The activity of the human mind manifested +itself in everything. It was an age of great men and great things. +Copernicus, followed by Tycho Brahe, Galileo, and Kepler, brought order +into the heavens. The Medici in Italy, who were guiding these new and +enriching streams which had set in from the East, helped to produce a +wonderful art period, which swept in successive tides over Europe. +Fainting and sculpture reached their climacteric. Music, still in its +infancy, developed into the new forms of opera and oratorio.[1] And +while these things were happening, a mysteriously inspired man--seeming +to hold as in a crucible the wisdom distilled from all ages and all +human experiences--was writing immortal plays in England! + +The Teuton race does not take on the graces of life very quickly. The +serious and sincere German mind must inspect the idea first, and then +become thoroughly imbued with it, before the hand will act! But when +the Teuton roots do begin to draw upon the soil, they strike deep and +hold firmly, and know just what they are going to do with the rising +sap; concerning themselves much more about that than the foolish +branches and leaves! + +So this new light did not at once flood Germany, but its influence was +felt there. Thought was quickened, knowledge increased, art and +science began to flourish, wealth accumulated, and the people became +less simple and more luxurious in their ways of living. The King of +Spain was occupied in his hopeless attempt to subdue the Netherlands, +and Hungary and Austria were still struggling with the Turkish invasion. + +Such was the condition at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In +spite of the material advance there was a feeling of impending +misfortune. But the magnitude of the coming disaster none then could +have imagined or dreamed. + +The fatal circumstance was that the Protestants were divided into two +angry and hostile camps, at the very time when the Catholics, under the +teachings of the Jesuits, were uniting with solid front against them. +The Thirty Years' War would never have been undertaken against a united +adversary who held four-fifths of Germany! + +During the despotic reign of Rudolf II. the Protestants for their +protection formed a Union with the Elector Palatine Frederick at its +head. Thereupon the Catholic princes also united in a _Catholic +League_ under Maximilian of Bavaria. The forces were now gathering for +the great explosion. Matthias had succeeded his brother Rudolf as +Emperor. + +When a great storm is impending, it takes only a trifling disturbance +in equilibrium to precipitate it. + +Such a disturbance occurred in Prague (1618) over a church which the +Protestants were erecting. An angry mob armed itself, burst into the +Imperial Castle at Prague, and flung out of the window two Catholic +Bohemian nobles. + +With this act of violence commenced the Thirty Years' War, which lasted +through three reigns, those of Matthias, Ferdinand II., and Ferdinand +III., and caused unparalleled misery in Germany. + +Two years from that day the Protestant faith was obliterated in the +realm of Austria, and the progress of a hundred years was wiped out. +In three years more, not only Austria, but Germany, was in a worse +condition than she had known for centuries--the wretched people, a prey +to both parties, were slaughtered, robbed, driven hither and thither, +and a country only recently rejoicing in its material prosperity was a +waste and a ruin. + +The Imperial troops were splendidly led by two great generals--Tilly +and Wallenstein. The Protestant nations--England, Holland, Denmark, +and Sweden--looked on in dismay as they saw a powerful and triumphant +Protestantism being wiped out of existence in the land of its birth. + +By 1629 Ferdinand II. considered his power re-established absolutely +over all Germany. He issued what was called the "Edict of +Restitution," which ordered the restoration of all Protestant territory +to Catholic hands. Wallenstein, in addition to this, declared that +reigning princes and a national diet should be abolished and all power +centered in the Emperor! Indeed this Wallenstein was minded to play +the dictator as well as general. He traveled in regal state, with his +one hundred carriages, one thousand horses, fifteen cooks, and fifteen +young nobles for his pages! + +This taste for splendor was, like Wolsey's, his undoing. People began +to fear the ambitious leader, and Ferdinand dismissed him. With rage +and hate in his heart he retired to Prague to await developments. + +Twelve years of war in horrible form had wrought utter ruin and broken +the spirit of the Protestants. But help and hope suddenly came in 1630. + +Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, with his heart all aflame with zeal +to defend the falling cause of Protestantism in Germany, is the +knightliest figure which adorns the pages of history. + +We in this present age have reached a point of development when, +without the quivering of an eyelash, we can hear of the destruction of +suffering peoples, even if it involves the principles and things most +sacred to us. Whether it be the effacing of Christianity in Crete, or +of liberty in Cuba, the motto of practical men and nations is--"hands +off." + +Gustavus Adolphus had not learned that potent phrase. He was still in +that undeveloped condition when the elemental impulses of the heart +sway men's action. And without a regret, without an enfeebling doubt, +he could turn his back upon a throne and an adoring people, in defense +of an imperiled Protestantism in another land. + +From the moment his foot touched the soil of Germany on that 4th of +July, 1630, life and hope revived. The Emperor Ferdinand laughed and +called him the "Snow King," who would melt away after one winter. But +when one city after another was stormed and taken, when he left behind +him a path of religious liberty and rejoicing--when Tilly was no longer +able to cope with this Snow King and Wallenstein had to be recalled, +and when it looked as if the work of twelve years might be undone, then +Ferdinand no longer laughed! + +Wallenstein would only return upon conditions which actually made him +the lord and Ferdinand the subject. Having thus become absolute master +of the Imperial cause, he confidently set about the task of defeating +Gustavus. + +The Queen of Sweden had joined her husband in Germany. On the 27th of +October, 1632, he took leave of her. As he passed through the country, +the people fell on their knees, kissing his garments, calling him +Deliverer. He exclaimed, "I pray that the wrath of the Almighty may +not be visited upon me, on account of this idolatry toward a weak and +sinful mortal." + +Before the great conflict began he made an address to his Swedes, and +then the whole army united in singing Luther's grand hymn, "A tower of +strength is our Lord!" + +For hours the battle raged furiously, and while the issue was trembling +in the balance, the sight of the riderless horse of the Swedish King, +covered with blood and wildly galloping to and fro, told the awful +story. The terrified animal had carried him with a shattered arm right +into the enemy's ranks, where he was instantly shot. + +While Wallenstein was retreating to Leipzig, the body of this most +royal of kings was lying under a heap of dead, so mutilated by the +hoofs of horses as to be almost unrecognizable. + +The Protestant cause had lost its soul and inspiration. But, in +falling, the heroic king had so broken the enemy that there was a long +pause in hostilities. And the wily general retired again to Prague, +there to evolve new plans for his own aggrandizement. + +At this crisis a new champion arose. It was not to be expected that +Richelieu, who had been putting down Protestantism with an iron hand in +France, would feel sympathy for the Protestant cause in Germany! But +that wary primate and minister was not going to stand on a little +matter of religion, when he saw an advantage to be gained for France! + +He had long ago determined how this conflict should end. He did not +intend to permit Imperial Germany under Ferdinand to rise to ascendancy +in Europe. + +With the weight of France thrown into the scale when the Imperial cause +was already so shattered by Gustavus, it was easy to see how it must +end. + +Wallenstein secretly opened negotiations from Prague with the French +ambassador, and steadily disregarded the Emperor's orders to return to +his command. The project was that he should go over to the Protestant +side in return for the crown of Bohemia. + +A general whom the traitor trusted, in turn betrayed him to the +Emperor. Six soldiers, under the pretense of bearing dispatches, +entered his room. + +"Are _you_ the traitor who is going to deliver your Emperor's troops to +the enemy?" shouted one of the men. + +Wallenstein realized that his hour had come. He said not a word, but +stretched out his arms and silently received his death-blow. + +With an invading French army in Germany, under the famous Marshals +Turenne and Conde, looking about for choice bits of territory for +France, a religious war had become a political one. It lasted until +1648, when the "Peace of Westphalia" concluded the most desolating +struggle in the history of wars. + +And what had been gained? The very principle for which it was +undertaken was surrendered. Entire religious freedom was granted to +Protestants (excepting in Austria); four great states were lost to the +empire; a population of seventeen millions was reduced to four +millions, with Imperial authority abridged and broken. + +France took Alsace, and Sweden Pomerania. Holland and Switzerland were +recognized as independent States. The supreme power was invested in +the Reichstag, and the several German princes were made almost +independent. The empire, as a unity, had been reduced to a shadow. + +The devastation which had been wrought by those thirty terrible years +cannot be described. Its details are too awful to be dwelt upon. +Famine had converted men into wild beasts, who formed themselves into +bands, and preyed on those they caught. + +Such a band was attacked near Worms and was found cooking in a great +caldron human legs and arms! + +The spirit of the people was broken. Germany had been set back two +hundred years. And for what? Not to accomplish any high purpose, not +even from mistaken Christian zeal, but simply to carry out the despotic +resolve of the Catholic Church to rule the minds and consciences of all +men through its Popes and priesthood. It was the old battle commenced +six centuries before. Had Henry not gone to Canossa in 1073, there had +been no Thirty Years' War in 1618! + + + +[1] For a comprehensive understanding of this period see Chart of +Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +For seven hundred years, from the treaty of Verdun (843), to Charles V. +(1520), Germany had held the leading position in Europe as the head of +the "Holy Roman Empire." The reality had been gradually departing from +that alluring title; and now, with the Peace of Westphalia, it was gone. + +With a large body of its people accorded full rights, while they were +engaged in open war upon the Roman Church, the last link binding +Germany to Rome was broken. The Holy Roman Empire was now the German +Empire. + +And, in very fact, it was no empire at all, but a loose confederacy of +miniature kingdoms, administered without any regard to each other, and +in great measure independent of Imperial authority. + +Great changes had taken place throughout Europe. Louis XIV. was King +of France. In England Charles I. had lost his throne and his head, and +Cromwell was laying the foundations of a power more enduring than that +of Tudor or Stuart. Spain was rapidly declining, and the new Republic +of Holland ascending in the scale. Sweden was supreme in the North, +and Russia just beginning to be recognized as a power in Europe. +Venice and the Italian republics were crumbling to pieces; while across +the sea, on the coast of America, a few English, Dutch, and Swedish +colonies were struggling into existence. + +Richelieu was dead, but the fortunes of France were in the keeping of +one quite as ambitious for her as was the Great Minister. There was a +new aspirant for headship in Europe. When Ferdinand III. died, Louis +XIV. tried hard to be elected his successor. He spent money freely +among the Electors, and was only defeated by the sturdy opposition of +Brandenburg and Saxony. + +Of the people of Germany there is really nothing to tell in the years +which followed the Peace of Westphalia. Spiritless and disheartened in +their ruined cities, they seemed to have lost all national spirit and +even religious enthusiasm. They languidly saw the Catholic Hapsburgs +becoming absolute in the land, while the Court at Vienna and the +smaller German Courts were absorbed in establishing servile imitations +of the Court at Versailles. Churches and schoolhouses were in ruins, +but palaces were being built in which the fashions of the French Court +were closely imitated, and princes were trying to unlearn their native +language and to install that of a cormorant French King, who was +planning to devour their demoralized empire! + +The one exception among the German rulers of this time was Frederick +William of Brandenburg, the "Great Elector." This incorruptible German +lost no time in learning French. As soon as peace was declared he set +about restoring his wasted territory. He organized a standing army and +built a fleet, and he used them, too, to recover Pomerania from Sweden +and to circumvent the French King, and so enlarged his boundaries and +strengthened his authority that Brandenburg, now next in size to +Austria, was treated with the respect of an independent power, and the +name of Hohenzollern began to shine bright even beside that of Hapsburg. + +From the year 1667 until 1704 Germany was the center of the Grand +Monarch's ambitious designs. In 1687, while Prince Eugene was leading +a German army against the Turks, and while German princes, excepting +the Great Elector, were engaged in copying French fashions, two +powerful French armies suddenly appeared upon the Rhine, and the great +war which was to involve all Europe had commenced. + +It was not love for Germany which brought Holland, England, Spain, and +Sweden into this war with France, but fear of the advancing power of a +King who aspired to be supreme in Europe. + +In the year 1700, an event occurred which intensified the situation. +Charles II., the last of the half Castilian and half Hapsburg kings of +Spain descended from Charles V., died without children, and that +country was looking for the next nearest heir in foreign lands from +which to choose a new king. Of the two it found, one was son of the +Emperor of Germany and the other grandson of Louis XIV. It was a +choice of evils for Europe; as in one case the German Empire with Spain +annexed would be a preponderating power, as in the time of Charles V.; +and in the other, the grasping Louis would be far on the road to the +very end which Europe had combined to defeat! + +Inflammable oil, poured on fire, does not make a fiercer blaze than did +this question of the _Spanish Succession_ at that time. The +embarrassing thing for Louis was that, when he had married the Infanta, +he had solemnly renounced the throne of Spain for her heirs! But the +Pope, with whom the ultimate decision lay, had more need of the rising +house of Bourbon than of the waning Hapsburg, so, after "prayerful +deliberation," he concluded that the King might be absolved from that +little promise, and that Philip V. was rightful King of Spain. + +There was rage in Vienna. The Emperor Leopold I. and his disappointed +son the Archduke Karl declared they would wrest the throne from Philip +and have vengeance upon Louis, who with swelling pride was declaring +that "the Pyrenees had ceased to exist." + +When Leopold called upon the German states to arm, the Great Elector of +Brandenburg was dead. But his son Frederick took advantage of the +opportunity. He would assist the Emperor on one condition, that he be +permitted to assume the title of King! An embarrassment arose in the +fact that traditional custom permitted only one King among the Electors +(King of Bohemia), and therefore the Elector of Brandenburg could not +be also King of Brandenburg. + +The difficulty was overcome by adopting for the new kingdom the name of +his detached duchy of Prussia, that province which had been snatched +from Russia by the Teutonic knights long before, and had then been +appropriated by that masterful Hohenzollern who was then head of the +Order, as his own kingdom. It was this high-handed proceeding which +thereafter inseparably linked the name of Hohenzollern with that of +Prussia. + +So, in 1701, the Elector and his wife traveled in midwinter to +Koenigsberg, almost in the confines of Russia, where he was crowned +Frederick I. of Prussia, and then returned to Berlin in Brandenburg, +which thereafter remained his capital. And so it was that Prussia--the +name of a small Slavonic people on the frontier--became that of the +entire kingdom of which Berlin was the capital. + +England and Holland were in alliance with Leopold--not for the sake of +setting up the Hapsburg, but rather to put down the great Bourbon who +began to wear the prestige of invincibility. England entered the +alliance languidly at first, but when the French king threw down the +glove by recognizing the exiled Stuart (son of James II.) as the heir +to her throne, she needed no urging and sent the best of her army into +Germany under the command of the man who was going to destroy that +prestige of invincibility, and to hold in check the arrogant king. + +Marlborough and Prince Eugene formed a combination too strong for +Louis. Marlborough's great victory at Blenheim in 1704 virtually +decided the contest, although it continued for many years longer. He +was created Duke of Marlborough and received the estate of Blenheim as +his reward. + +But the long war outlived the enthusiasm it had created. England grew +tired of fighting for the Hapsburgs; there were court intrigues for +Marlborough's downfall, and finally he was recalled, and cast aside +like a rusty sword. Louis, too, had grown old and weary, and so in +1713 the Peace of Utrecht terminated the long struggle. Philip V. was +left upon the throne of Spain, with the condition that the crowns of +Spain and France should never be united. + +The disappointed Archduke Karl had now succeeded to the Imperial throne +as Karl VI. If the life of a nation be in its people, there was really +no Germany at this time. There was nothing but a wearisome succession +of wars and diplomatic intrigues, and new divisions and apportionments +of territory. Prussia was expanding and Poland declining, while +Hungary and Naples, and Milan and Mantua, were fast in the grasp of +Austria. Indeed, to tell of the territorial changes occurring at this +period is like painting a picture of dissolving elements, which form +new combinations even as you look at them. + +At the North, too, there were these same changing combinations, where +had arisen two new ambitious kings. Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter +the Great of Russia were at war; and Denmark and Poland were lending a +hand to defeat the Swedish King. Peter the Great was extending his +Baltic provinces and preparing to build his new capital of St. +Petersburg (1709); but Charles XII. was defeated by Prussia and +Hanover, in his attempt to make of Sweden one of the great powers of +Europe. His death in 1718 ended that dream. + +Not since the infamous Irene's deposition at Byzantium had there been a +woman on the throne of the Caesars. When Karl VI. issued the decree +called the "Pragmatic Sanction," providing that the crown should +descend to female heirs in the absence of male, he forged one of the +most important links in the chain of events. This secured the +succession to his little daughter Maria Theresa, who was born in 1717. +The link had need to be a strong one, for there were to be twenty years +of effort to break it. But it held. + +At about this same time there was another important link forging in +Prussia, where Frederick William I. had succeeded his father Frederick +I. as king. By these two events the long spell was to be broken. + +Volumes have been written about this fierce, miserly King Frederick +William and his coarse brutalities. But his reign was the rough, +strong bridge which led to a Frederick the Great, and the reign of the +Great Frederick was that other bridge which led to a powerful and +dominating kingdom of Prussia,--from which was to spring a new German +Empire! + +If Frederick William was a tyrant of the most savage sort, on the other +hand he organized industry, finance, and an army. If he was a miser in +his family, he brought wealth and prosperity to his people. If he beat +and cudgeled his own son for playing the flute, he left that son a +kingdom and an army which were the foundation of his greatness. + +His hatred for all that was French, for art, for the formalities and +even the decencies of life, was an enraged protest against the +prevailing affectations and artificiality of his time. + +We can imagine how the polished and refined Court at Vienna must have +regarded this Prussian King. Austria, entirely Catholic, in a state of +moral and intellectual decline, sat looking backward and sighing for +the return of the spirit of the Middle Ages. Prussia, altogether +Protestant, had set her face toward a future which was to be greater +than she dreamed. + +In 1736 Maria Theresa was married to Francis of Lorraine. In 1740 she +succeeded her father Karl VI., on the Imperial throne; and that very +same year Frederick William of Prussia died, and was succeeded by his +son, who was to be known as Frederick the Great. + +Through the barren period succeeding the Thirty Years' War some vital +processes were going on; indeed that most vital of all processes, +thought, was active. Broken into fragments as by an earthquake, the +people had been left without one healing touch from the hands of their +infatuated rulers. It was a sorry spectacle to see those German +princes gayly arraying themselves in French finery while their country +was a ruin. Did they not know that a wound might better not heal at +all, than to begin by forming new tissue at the top! + +Whatever capacity Germany had for being, was in those neglected +fragments. If she ever developed into greatness it must be along the +line of their elemental tendencies, and by being German, not French. + +So a nation, helpless, broken, disorganized, out of harmony with itself +and with others, could not act, but it could think. And in this time +of chaos and confusion there commenced mighty stirrings in the thought +of Germany. Slumbering in that chaos were the germs of wonderful music +and a wondrous literature. + +The gloomy and despondent Spinoza had found peace in discovering that +the reality of things was not in political overturnings, nor in the +disappointing facts and phenomena which we call life, but in the +_Eternal Order_, of which we are all a part. + +He might have discovered the same sustaining truth in religion; but +Spinoza's mind led him to seek it instead in a philosophical system +which should harmonize the discordant facts of existence. This was the +foundation of German speculative philosophy, which took possession of +the German mind and which by progressive steps was to lead to a union +with a science, _founded_ upon the despised facts of life--and finally, +whether they wished it or not--a harmonizing of both with RELIGION. + +With deeply philosophical mind the great German, Leibniz, was +investigating the truths of the natural world; and Handel also belongs +to this time of soul-awakening during a period of national neglect and +depression, while at this very time there was also borne in a +stimulating wave from England, where Newton had revealed the +fundamental law and the "ETERNAL _order_" of the _physical_ universe. + +It would seem like a dim twilight to us if we should go back to it now; +but then these new lights were very dazzling, almost blinding people +with their splendor. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +It was into such a world as this that Frederick the Great was ushered +in 1712. Few children, be they princes or peasants, have ever had a +more unhappy childhood. If he had not been born to be a King, +Frederick's tastes would have led him to be a musician or a poet. A +son whose chief pleasures consisted in playing the flute, and reading +French books, became an object almost of aversion to the austere +Frederick William. In the midst of severities past belief Frederick +obtained most of his education in secret, at the hands of French +_emigres_, who formed his taste after French models, the influence of +which could be traced throughout his life. His passion for music was +pursued also in the same secret way. + +The tyranny and the beatings to which he was subjected became at last +so intolerable that, when he was eighteen years old, Frederick +determined to run away. His adored sister Wilhelmine was his +confidante. His bosom friend, Lieutenant Von Katte, was his +accomplice. A letter to Von Katte, written at this time, fell into +other hands and was sent to the King. + +The barbarities which followed make one think this Hohenzollern should +have been in a madhouse instead of on a throne. It was a small matter +that he beat his son until his face was covered with blood, for he had +done that before; but he sent him as a prisoner of state to Prussia. +He then annulled the sentence of imprisonment passed by the +court-martial upon Von Katte, and ordered his immediate execution. To +inflict more suffering he ordered that the hanging take place before +the window of the cell where his son was confined! + +When this was carried into effect the young prince fainted, and lay so +long insensible that it was thought he was dead. + +The King then insisted that he be tried by court-martial; and when the +court decided that it had no authority to condemn the Crown Prince, he +overruled the decision and ordered his execution. + +The horror and indignation caused by this extended as far as Vienna. +The Emperor Charles VI. informed the King of Prussia that the Crown +Prince could only be condemned capitally at an Imperial Diet. The King +answered, "Very well; then, I will hold my own court on him at +Koenigsberg. Prussia is my own and outside the confines of the empire, +where I can do as I please." + +But the fury of this madman was abating. He did not resent it when a +daring attendant reminded him that "God also ruled--even in Prussia." +Finally he was satisfied with humiliating his son by making him work +for one year in the lowest position in the departments of the +government. + +At the wedding festivities of his sister Wilhelmine, Frederick secreted +himself among the servants in humble attire. He was discovered, and +the King, who must have been in a genial mood that night, pulled him +forth from his hiding, and leading him to the trembling queen said, +"Here, madam, our Fritz is back again!" And the reconciliation made +three aching hearts glad. + +For the ten succeeding years Frederick was permitted to reside in his +own castle near Potsdam, and the relations with his father became +kinder and almost cordial. The son in his castle pursued his +philosophical studies, corresponded with Voltaire, and played the flute +to his heart's content. + +But he did other things too, as the future demonstrated. The study of +profound subjects, conversation, and intimate friendships with learned +men, trained his active mind to wonderful acuteness, and when he +applied this to the study of history, when he read of the dignity of +kings, and of what stuff greatness was made in the past--he formed his +own ideals for the future. When Frederick William died in 1740 he was +prepared to take the reins of government with a comprehensiveness of +grasp of which his austere father was incapable, and with clearly +defined plans to make Prussia great. + +Six months later Maria Theresa succeeded to her father's throne. She +had no fear of this young flute-playing King of Prussia, and was fully +occupied in defending her own Imperial rights, which were assailed by +the Elector of Bavaria, who claimed to be Emperor Karl VII., by virtue +of a descent superior to hers. + +But the war of the _Austrian Succession_, in which she was soon +involved, was quickly overshadowed by a greater conflict, which was +immediately commenced by the bold and ambitious young Prussian King. + +He claimed, by virtue of some obscure transaction in the past, that +Silesia belonged to him. But he gallantly offered, if it was returned +to him, to support Maria Theresa's cause in the fight with her kinsman +of Bavaria over the succession. + +The offer was rejected, and almost before the ink in the correspondence +was dry, a Prussian army, with Frederick at its head, was in the heart +of the disputed province. + +Two characteristics marked Frederick's movements--the perfect secrecy +with which they were planned, and the swiftness with which they were +carried out. He formed his own plans, and even his Prime Minister did +not know of their existence until he was ordered to execute them. The +cunning methods then prevailing in Courts, by which foreign ambassadors +defeated designs while they were maturing, were powerless against this +young King, as none but himself knew what was going to happen. He gave +his personal and unremitting care to every detail of government, and +astonished his people by the prodigies of labor he performed, and the +sacrifices of his time, rest, and comfort. + +Of course this ancient wrong done his family in the matter of Silesia +was only a pretext. Frederick had made up his mind at Potsdam that +Prussia must be solidified by bringing together her detached provinces, +and he had long ago drawn a new map in his mind, which should include +Silesia. + +Nature had endowed him with a bold and aspiring genius. He had a +consciousness of strength, combined with a belief that he was a chosen +instrument appointed by fate to perform a definite work: the raising of +Prussia to the first rank in the German empire. + +When we see Frederick's ideal of a despotic personal government, with a +divinely appointed ruler leading his country to greatness, independent +of ministers and advisers,--it is easy to recognize the model which is +being studied by a certain young ruler in Europe to-day! + +There was another strong personality on the throne at Vienna. To have +her crown threatened by a powerful combination, and at the same time a +war of conquest waged against her in her own Austria, was a heavy +burden to be borne by a young girl of twenty-four years. But Maria +Theresa maintained herself with astonishing bravery and firmness. She +listened to the counsels of her ministers, and then decided for +herself; even her husband Francis being unable to sway her judgment. + +France, Spain, and Saxony sustained the claims of the Bavarian Archduke +to her throne; and when a French army was on the Danube and Vienna +threatened, she fled to Hungary and made a personal appeal to the +Hungarian Diet to stand by her. She promised the restoration of rights +for which they had been contending, and by her personal charm and +radiance captured the wavering nobles, who placed on her head the crown +of St. Stephen. They cheered wildly as she galloped up "the king's +hill," and waved her sword toward the four quarters of the earth in +true Imperial fashion. + +Then she appeared before the Diet in their national costume with her +infant son Joseph in her arms, and in an eloquent speech depicted the +dangers which beset her, and the enthusiastic nobles drew their sabers, +shouting, "We will die for our _King_, Maria Theresa!" + +This saved Vienna. The support of Hungary arrested the advance toward +the capital, and the invading army moved instead on to Prague, where +her rival was crowned King of Bohemia, and later at Frankfort was +proclaimed Emperor Karl VII. + +While these distracting combinations were engrossing the young +sovereign, Frederick had invaded Silesia, and when the second Silesian +war ended in 1742, Prussia held that province, and was enriched by 150 +large and small cities, and about 5000 villages. + +England, Holland, and Hanover now came to the support of Maria Theresa +against Karl VII. and his French ally. + +The wary Frederick saw that, with such a coalition, Austria's success +was certain, and he also saw that, if victorious, her next step would +be to try to recover Silesia. So he offered to join France in support +of Karl VII., and threw himself into the war of the Austrian succession. + +This lasted three years longer and was concluded by the Peace of +Dresden (1745), which again confirmed Prussia in the possession of +Silesia, left Maria Theresa's husband wearing the disputed Imperial +title as Francis I., and to Frederick left the more unique and renowned +title of "the Great," which was bestowed by acclamation on his return +to Berlin. + +Frederick's first care was to heal the wounds inflicted by the two +Silesian wars. + +It is interesting to speculate upon what this man might have been, had +his childhood been spent in an atmosphere of kindness and love, and had +his heart and intelligence been symmetrically nurtured and trained. + +But he was trained as the tree is trained which is blasted in its youth +by lightnings, then twisted and distorted by hands which defeat its +natural tendency upward and sunward! + +An eager and impressionable boy with warm affections, acute +intelligence, and a strong sense of justice had been subjected to +inhuman barbarities in his own home. In his heart-hunger he turned to +pursuits for which he had a passionate love, and was nourished in +secret upon a poisonous diet. A nature which in the fire of his youth +had been full of generous enthusiasms was embittered by suffering, and +then became cold and cynical under the teachings of Voltaire. + +So fascinated had he become with this man that he regarded him as the +most exalted of beings, and his friendship a treasure above all others. +Faith, hope, love, and filial respect were, through this influence, +destroyed in the germ before they had time to unfold; and in the place +of everything sacred was a cynical cold-blooded search after what these +philosophers of the eighteenth century were pleased to call--_truth_. +And the way to discover this truth was to analyze, dissect, and then to +demolish! + +So there had been created a strangely composite man, compounded of +elements native to himself, to that undeveloped barbarian Frederick +William, and to Voltaire! Joined to a strong practical common sense in +the management of affairs was a passion for insincere, unsound, and +shallow French ideals. And combined with the most despotic and +arbitrary of wills, was an inflexible regard for the right of the +humblest. While he despised the beliefs of Protestant and Catholic +alike, he declared "I mean that every man in my kingdom shall have the +right to be saved in his own way." And he secured that right for his +people, too! + +His rule was a despotism, but it was a despotism of intelligence and +justice. He called himself the first official servant of the state, +and no clerk in his kingdom gave such faithful service as he. He arose +at four o'clock in the morning. He made himself personally acquainted +with every village and landed estate in his kingdom, which he treated +as if it were a great private enterprise and interest, for which he was +responsible. + +He was a reformer without heart; a King intent upon the well-being of +his people, without tenderness; a leader prepared, if need be, not to +lead, but to drag Prussia with a rough hand up the rugged path of +virtue and prosperity; and determined to make his nation great, whether +it wanted to be or not! + +There were many pleasanter companions and gentler fathers in his day. +There were sovereigns who did not terrify wrong-doers and children on +the street with uplifted canes. But this Frederick, with character +scarred and distorted, was the one man in Europe who was converting a +kingdom into a POWER, and the one man of his age whom history would +call GREAT! + +But such a being as this, one who has turned to adamant in heroic mold, +cannot sympathetically comprehend the finer currents about him. There +was going on, quite unnoticed by King Frederick, an awakening in the +German mind, and while he was building a structure of material +greatness, there had commenced, unobserved by him, another structure, +which was to be the chief glory of Germany. + +The passion for speculative thought awakened by Spinoza was stirring +the German soul to its depths. Kant had found that Spinoza's _Eternal +Order_ must be a _Moral Order_. That the moral instincts which guided +mankind, and were the all in all, were the God in us, the in-dwelling +of the Divine. Thus was embodied the essence of Christianity in a new +and speculative philosophy. + +Klopstock and Lessing were creating a national literature, which +revealed for the first time the strength, resources, and unsuspected +beauty of their own language, and which was for the first time being +used to express a genius untouched by foreign influence. + +But all unconscious of this new, rushing stream of life, Frederick was +entertaining Voltaire, spending his evenings in listening to the latest +satirical verses of that vain and gifted Frenchman, and laughing at the +latest witty epigram from Paris. + +It had been one of Frederick's dreams, in his youth, to have his great +friend some day reside in his Court. In 1750 this was realized, and +the King and the poet settled down to what was to be an everlasting +banquet of sympathetic tastes and opinions, seasoned with mutual +admiration and friendship! + +Frederick felt that he was something of a poet himself, and that he was +only prevented by cares of state from letting the world find it out. +The wily Frenchman had been the literary confidant of his royal friend, +and many pages of verses had been submitted to him during their long +correspondence, and had received flattering commendation from the great +critic. So one of the pleasantest features in this closer +companionship was expected to be this drop of honeyed praise to sweeten +the evening after the day's work was done. + +But Frederick's verses bored Voltaire very much, and the royal host +began to discover that his great guest was selfish, and cold, and +jealous, and even malignant. The nimbus of fascination began to fade. +He could be cutting and satirical as well as Voltaire. The great poet +was no less hungry for praise than he, and it was an easy matter to +yawn and be bored by his verses, too. And so they became gradually +estranged, and finally enemies. They parted in anger, and Voltaire +returned to France, to write bitter satires about the King, whose +character and ideals he had been one of the chief agents in forming. + +There was then in Germany a man whose glory was to outshine Voltaire's +or that of any contemporary in Europe, even as the sun does the stars. +But Frederick's ear could not detect music in his own language, nor was +his stunted soul attuned to the native and sublime harmonies of +Goethe's genius. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +There had been a time when two nations in Europe could fight each other +to the death without disturbing their neighbors, but since there had +developed in the sixteenth century that larger unity of European +states, there was no such isolated security. + +So when, in 1755, England and France came into collision over the +boundaries of their American colonies, the shock was felt all over +Europe. Just as the earthquake which swallowed up Lisbon at that very +time had made the shores of Lake Ontario tremble, so the peace of +Germany, which had lasted for eleven years, was broken by an event in +far-off Canada. + +The two contending parties, England and France, began after the fashion +of the time to look about for allies. Maria Theresa, who had +invitations from both countries to join them, was considering which +could best serve her own private interests. England, since 1714, had +been ruled by Hanoverian kings, which practically annexed her to +Hanover. It was by no means sure that she could get assistance from +that nation in recovering Silesia--which was to be the price of her +alliance. She decided that her best policy was to secure the aid of +Louis XV., who would be glad to help her in her plans against +Frederick, in return for the assistance of Austria in this war with +England. + +As astute and profound as any statesman in Europe, this wonderful +Empress adopted means and methods entirely feminine to carry out her +immense design. + +She knew that Elizabeth, Empress of Russia, was mortally offended with +the King of Prussia, on account of some disparaging remarks he had made +about her, so she deftly used that to her own advantage. +Then--perfectly understanding how to reach the enslaved Louis XV.--she +wrote a flattering letter to Mme. de Pompadour, then in the full tide +of her ascendency over the king. + +With the greatest secrecy these negotiations were carried on, and at +last the compact between the three great powers was concluded and +everything ready to commence a war upon Prussia in the spring of 1757; +even to the agreement as to the way in which they should cut up and +divide among themselves the kingdom of Prussia! + +Frederick, through secret agents, was perfectly well informed of their +plans. He saw that his ruin was determined upon, and could only be +prevented by unhesitating courage. He determined to anticipate them. +Before the allied armies were ready, he made one of his catlike leaps +into the neutral territory of Saxony, and was in Dresden, half way to +Prague, with seventy thousand men. + +This so disconcerted the plans of the allies that there was a pause, +and conferences were held, in which it was concluded to ask Sweden to +join the coalition. Finally, that almost forgotten body, the Diet of +the German Empire, formally declared war against Prussia, and the Third +Silesian War, or the Seven Years' War, had commenced. + +As the avowed object of this great combination was not the recovery of +Silesia but the dismemberment of the kingdom, to deprive Frederick of +his royal title, and to reduce him to a simple Margrave of Brandenburg, +it is easy to see the incentive he had to great deeds. + +England and a few small German States were his allies; but, as George +II. heartily disliked him, he received small assistance from him, and +stood practically alone with half of Europe allied against him. + +There were great victories and great defeats during the seven years +which followed. There were times when the cause of Prussia seemed +lost, and other times when that of the Allies appeared hopeless. But +the tide of victory more often set toward Frederick's standard than +that of his adversaries. He defeated the Austrians at Prague; the +Imperial and French army at Rossbach; a Russian army at Zorndorf; and +these and a hundred other names stand in the annals of Prussia for +monumental courage, daring, and sacrifice. + +In the confused narrative of advancing and retreating armies, of +battles and of slaughter, but one distinct impression remains. That is +amazement--amazement that so many thousands were willing at the bidding +of one ambitious man to die, to lay down their bodies in that heap of +dead, for Prussia's greatness to rise upon! That not one was ready to +reproach him for having brought these calamities upon them for the sake +of Silesia; but instead, with twenty thousand still lying unburied upon +one field, that they respond with infatuated enthusiasm to his appeal +for more! + +But Prussia owes her rise to just such infatuation as this. +_Acquisition_ and _conquest_ are written on her foundation stones, the +chief of which were laid by her Great Frederick. + +It is pleasant to tell of peace once more. The Allies, wearied of the +long war, gradually withdrew from Austria. Being unable to carry it on +alone, Maria Theresa was compelled to abandon her dream of ruining +Frederick. With bitterness of heart and humiliation she consented to +give up Silesia forever as the price of a peace she did not desire. In +1763, the articles were signed (the Peace of Hubertsburg) and the Seven +Years' War was over. + +Frederick was now called "the Great" throughout Europe; and Prussia +took her place among the "Five Great Powers." + +The next thing to be done was to repair the desolation left by seven +years of war. Nearly fifteen thousand houses were in ashes. So many +men had been consumed in the army that there were not enough left to +till the fields, nor horses to draw the harvest. + +The practical King, anticipating this, had been enforcing the +cultivation of the much despised potato; and this useful tuber saved +Prussia and Silesia from famine, and some of their neighbors as well. +For as many as twenty thousand famishing people came from the trampled +and burnt corn-fields of Bohemia to feed upon the Prussian potato and +live. + +Again the people set about the oft-repeated task of repairing the +devastation of war. Indeed for 150 years they had always been either +enduring the horrors of a great conflict, or healing its wounds and +building up the waste places it had made. Can we wonder that they were +strong and serious? The weaklings were winnowed out by these great +storms, and the chastened souls of those who survived knew little of +pleasure. Religion, which had once been their solace and refuge, had +lost much of its power on account of the bitterness of sectarian strife. + +A few men groping for a solution of the problems of sin and suffering, +and for the meaning of this troubled existence, thought they had found +it in the new philosophy. France, under the teachings of Voltaire and +Rousseau, had cast off the restraints of religious faith without +providing any substitute, but Germany, more provident, was building a +spacious house for the soul's refuge when the old was demolished; +untrammeled freedom of thought was inscribed upon its doors, and +PHILOSOPHY was enshrined within! + +All this tumultuous inner life was growth: the growth and unfolding of +a great and earnest soul; and the awakening of new capacities for being +and doing. There was a rapturous surprise in discovering these +capacities, and speculative thought and literature became an absorbing +passion. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +At the close of the Seven Years' War, Maria Theresa had spent the +twenty-three years of her reign in a fruitless struggle with Frederick. +Instead of dismembering his kingdom and reducing him to a plain +Margrave of Brandenburg, she had lost Silesia and was compelled to +listen to the praises of her enemy resounding through Europe and to +hear him called "the Great." + +It was a bitter pill for her nine years later, when she had to confer +with the Prussian King as an equal, over the partition of Poland, and +to see him further enriched by a goodly slice of that unhappy country. + +But before that event, and just two years after the conclusion of the +war, Francis I. died (1755). He had worn the title, but she had +wielded the power and guided the events ever since that day when, with +her infant son in her arms, she had captured the Hungarian Diet at +Presburg. + +And now that son was Joseph II. But the scepter was still in reality +to remain with her while she lived, and in fact her name was to be the +last ray of splendor which should illumine the throne of Austria. But +these were sunset glories after a long and troubled day, while in +Prussia was the brightness of the dawn. + +That friendship with Louis XV. so eagerly sought by Maria Theresa led +to a very momentous alliance of a different sort. The Empress and the +French King together arranged a marriage between her fair young +daughter Marie Antoinette and Louis, the young Dauphin of France. + +How should the Empress of Austria, born, nurtured, and fed in the very +center of despotism--not hearing or heeding the current ideas about +human rights and freedom--entirely misunderstanding the past, the +present, and the future--how should she suspect the terrific forces +which were accumulating beneath the throne of France, or that it would +become a scaffold for her child? Hapsburg and Bourbon, to her mind, +were realities as fixed and enduring as the Alps. + +She saw no special significance in the fact that thirteen English +colonies in America were in rebellion and setting up a novel form of +government for themselves. That was England's affair, not hers, and +would in time, like other rebellions against properly constituted +authority, be put down. + +She did not live to see the end of this struggle, nor the events to +which it led in France. Her death occurred in 1780. Her son, Joseph +II., strange to say, was imbued with the new ideas of human rights. +Great was the astonishment of Frederick and of Europe, when this young +man set about the task of establishing a new and progressive order of +things in Austria; and it was a strange spectacle to behold a Hapsburg +trying to force upon his people reforms they did not desire, and rights +which they did not know how to use. + +His plans were high and noble, but he failed to see that they were too +sweeping and too suddenly developed to be permanent. His people were +not ripe for emancipation from old shackles, which they had grown to +like and venerate. In striving to free the church from the Jesuits, +and to emancipate the serfs in Hungary, he had accomplished nothing, +and had created chaos. Depressed by the failure in his great design of +reformation, Joseph's health gave way. He died in 1790 and was +succeeded by his brother Leopold II. + +It is not to be supposed that Frederick felt much sympathy with the +free young Republic established in America. And if he sent a sword of +honor to Washington in 1783, it was because he recognized the greatness +of the man; and perhaps, too, because he felt a malicious pleasure in +the humiliation of George III.! + +The intellectual awakening which this King had failed to understand had +wrought a mighty change in Germany. Lessing had been the first to +break away from an enfeebling imitation of French _Sentimentlalism_. +The genius of Goethe and Schiller awakened a new spirit in literature, +that of _Romanticism_, and there commenced that intellectual convulsion +known as _Sturm und Drang_, or storm and stress period. While Goethe +and Schiller were supreme in the kingdom of letters, Herder and the +Schlegels were great in history and criticism; Humboldt and Ritter in +geographical science; Fichte, Hegel, Schelling, and Kant in philosophy; +Fouque and Tieck in imagination, and Jean Paul Richter in the +mysterious ether of transcendental thought. + +When Karl August called Goethe to his Court in Saxe-Weimar, among that +group of other illustrious authors, and gave to Weimar the name of the +"German Athens," it was a Golden Age for Germany. + +It is interesting to recall that it was Luther who gave the first +impulse to this movement, by revealing to the people the riches of +their own tongue. In his translation of the Bible, and in his hymns, +so grandly simple, he created the modern German language. + +The influence of Luther was felt in another art, too. The enthusiasm +awakened by the singing of his hymns revolutionized the form of +ecclesiastical music. In this Golden Age in Germany music, too, had +become a great art, with such immortal names as Mozart, Gluck, Haydn, +and Beethoven; and the period of great orchestration also had +commenced.[1] + +Although Frederick's tastes led him so strongly to letters and to +music, these two arts had attained this rich development in Germany +without any assistance from him. When he died in 1786 the monument he +left was a Kingdom of Prussia; equal in rank with any of the Great +Powers of Europe, enlarged in territory, rich in population, with a +great army and an overflowing treasury. + +As Frederick the Great had no son, this splendid inheritance passed to +his nephew Frederick William II. + +With the new ascendency of Prussia in the German Empire, a process +which had long been going on was accelerated. That empire had become a +fiction, a form from which the substance had long ago departed; almost +its only remaining relic being an Imperial Diet, where thirty solemn +old men supposed they were holding the venerated structure together by +weaving about it, and repairing, the thin, worn threads of tradition. + +The German Empire had in its best time existed by grace of God and +force of circumstances, more than by reason of a sound and perfect +organism. It always struggled with fatal inherent defects. Its life +currents never flowed freely and had been growing more and more +sluggish for centuries. And now, they had ceased to flow at all. +There was no vital relation whatever between its various parts. Of +national feeling there was absolutely none. Lessing, one of the +greatest Germans of that time, said, "Of the love of country I have no +conception!" + +And what was there to inspire patriotism in this great empty shell of +despotism! The shattered lifeless old structure was wrong at its very +foundation. It was built upon feudal injustice; that injustice which +compelled the people to bear the whole burden of taxation, from which +it exempted the nobility and the clergy. England had long ago +redressed this grievous wrong. France was just preparing to free +herself from it by a tremendous convulsion. Germany had been offered +emancipation at the hands of her enlightened and gracious Emperor +Joseph, but so spiritless and benumbed had she become that she could +not understand his message. + +He was attempting a vain task in trying to infuse new life into the +empire. There were no living channels to convey the current. The only +thing to be done with it was to sweep it away--and the man and the time +for doing this were close at hand. The surface calm which existed +while Leopold II. was repairing the disorder left by his reforming +brother Joseph, was the calm which precedes the hurricane. + + + +[1] See Chart of Civilization in Six Centuries, "Who, When, and What." + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +The energies which were to transform the face of Europe had been +gradually centering in France. They commenced when Voltaire and +Rousseau made it the fashion to scoff at the Church. Then, as religion +and morality are closely allied, virtue became also a subject of +ridicule. The spirit animating this was supposed to be a reforming +spirit. It was an effort to free the people from the fetters of +ecclesiasticism. Naturally, this led to assaults upon other fetters, +other prevailing abuses. The vices of the Court were held up to +view--its extravagance and luxury; all of which people were reminded +that _they_ had to pay for. + +Just at this time the Colonies in North America threw off the English +yoke because of this very matter of taxation unjustly imposed, and +France enthusiastically helped them to establish a free republic and to +humiliate her rival! + +Frenchmen returned from the United States and contrasted the fresh +vigor and purity of its institutions with the decrepit corruptions in +France. The current began to flow very swiftly now. A Richelieu or a +Louis XIV. would have been powerless to arrest the mad forces which +quickly developed. What could the feeble, well-intentioned Louis XVI. +do! He was like a skiff caught in the rushing rapids of the Niagara +River. It was only a question of how long he could hold on to passing +twigs and branches before he should go over the precipice. In 1793 +Europe read with shuddering horror of his execution, and nine months +later Maria Theresa's daughter--the beautiful, the adored Marie +Antoinette--sat in a cart with her arms pinioned behind her, as she was +driven to the scaffold. + +The men who had guided this storm in its beginnings had themselves been +engulfed in it, and a French republic was proclaimed which had been +erected upon a tragedy unparalleled in Europe. + +It was a horrible avenging of centuries of wrong and oppression. But +its purpose was thoroughly accomplished. No vestige of the old +tyrannies remained. If France was again enslaved, the fetters would +have to be forged anew! + +The powers of Europe were not only filled with horror and indignation +at the means by which this was accomplished, but they saw with alarm a +pestilential republic, in imitation of that one across the sea, at +their very doors. + +They formed a combination, called the First Coalition, for its +overthrow. If the states of Europe had really acted in concert, the +life of the new republic would have been very brief. But Austria was +jealous of Prussia, and Prussia was jealous of the close friendship +forming between Austria and England, withdrew from the alliance, and +made peace with the French republic. + +Catherine, Empress of Russia, for reasons of her own also declined to +join the coalition. While all Europe was thus engaged she thought it a +good time to settle some scores with the Turks and to look after +Poland, where a revolution was in progress. So, while the German +Empire was engaged in suppressing republicanism in France, Frederick +William II. of Prussia offered his services to Catherine to overthrow +the independence of Poland. + +Kosciusko vainly defended that unhappy country. With the fall of +Warsaw, 1794, it ceased to exist as one in the family of nations. + +So Austria had been left practically alone to put down the new +republic, which was developing wonderful strength while these languid +and inefficient efforts were being made against it; for even Austria +was diverted by what was going on in Poland, and fearful that she was +not going to get her share of the spoils. + +Marie Antoinette's brother Leopold had died the year before his +sister's execution and his son Francis II. was Emperor of Germany. The +government of this new republic which had caused such a stir in Europe +was a very simple affair. Five men who were called Directors were at +its head, and an obscure young man of twenty-six, named Napoleon +Bonaparte, had been given command of the army, with Italy as its field +of operations. + +No doubt Francis thought it would be an easy matter to deal with France +after the more important matter of the partition of Poland was disposed +of. Little did he suspect that the time was approaching when he would, +at the bidding of that young man, take off his Imperial crown, and that +Napoleon Bonaparte would rise to ascendency in Europe upon the ruins of +the German Empire. + +In 1796 the young Corsican led a ragged, unpaid army into Italy. +Without supplies, and almost without ammunition, he had audaciously +planned to make the invaded country pay the expenses of the war waged +against it. + +He pointed to the Italian cities, and said to his soldiers, "There is +your reward. It is rich and ample; but you must conquer it." He knew +the French character and how in words brief, concise, forcible to +address them like another Caesar addressing his legions; to create +incentives to glory, and to inspire enthusiasm as never man did before. + +He also knew the infirmities of his adversaries, and how to play upon +them as Caesar did upon the rivalries and jealousies of the Gauls, and +so to make the characteristics of Frenchmen, of German, and of Italian +all serve him. He knew how to confound the enemy with new and +unexpected methods, which rendered unavailing all which military +science and experience had before taught. + +In a brief time central Italy lay open before him, and princes, +trembling at his vengeance, were suing for peace and offering money and +treasure to procure it. Even then he was planning to make of Paris +another Rome, and to adorn her with the jewels which had been worn by +the proud Italian cities. So he demanded rare collections of paintings +as the price of safety. The Duke of Parma laid at his feet priceless +treasures of art; and even the Pope purchased neutrality by the payment +of twenty-one million francs, one hundred costly pictures, and two +hundred rare manuscripts. + +When the treaty of Campo Formio was signed in 1797, Napoleon had won +fourteen battles, and had subjugated Italy. The German Empire had lost +all of its Italian possessions, which were now grouped together into a +Cisalpine Republic, under the protectorship of France. Another +Helvetic Republic was set up in Switzerland under the same +protectorate. And then Napoleon scornfully tossed Venice as an apple +of discord into the lap of the Emperor, in exchange for the +Netherlands. And another republic under a French protectorate was +created in Holland. + +As the left bank of the Rhine had already been ceded to France, that +country, which had been only four years before in a state of political +chaos, was at the head of Europe. + +What would she not do at the bidding of the man who could accomplish +such things? He dramatically conceived the idea of crippling England +by threatening her Asiatic possessions, and led an army into Egypt. +There every bulletin, every address to his army, added to the glamour +of his name. Even the Pyramids were made to serve his consummate art +and ambition! + +Although his fleet was destroyed by Nelson and his army left in +perilous position, he was needed at home, and returned with all the +arrogance of a conqueror. He was appointed Generalissimo over the army +by an enraptured France, and then swept aside the five Directors and +appointed himself and two others Consuls. + +A second coalition was now formed against France, consisting of +England, Russia, and Austria, and there followed another campaign in +which Napoleon made permanent the results of the previous ones in +Italy. By the treaty of peace in 1801, the three republics created by +him were formally recognized, and the princes of Germany, in +compensation for their losses, had apportioned among them the dominions +of the priestly rulers. + +Thus at one blow were abolished one hundred states governed by +archbishops, bishops, and other clerical dignitaries, and one of the +foundation stones of the empire, laid by Charlemagne himself, was +shattered. + +This extraordinary man, dreaming of universal empire, superstitiously +believed that Fate intended him to hold Europe in his hand. But we can +see now that he was designed by that remorseless Fate for a very +different purpose, and a very brief office. He was a terrible +instrument, which she intended to use for one specific purpose, and +then to cast him aside. + +This work was the destruction of the Romano-Germanic Empire. That +lifeless mass, whose oppressive weight had crushed the life and hope +out of Central Europe for centuries, needed some tremendous force from +without to break up its time-encrusted rivets. And that force was now +in the hands of a workman who supposed he was engaged in rearing a +great edifice for himself. Instead of which he was overturning, and +plowing, and harrowing Germany, and preparing the ground for new forms +of political life; and nothing more effectually pulverized the old +tyrannies than this secularization of the priestly dominions. When, +added to this, we see the extinction of a multitude of petty states and +the abolition of the special privileges of nearly a thousand "Imperial" +noble families, we realize how he was relieving Germany from the +incubus which had paralyzed her for centuries. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +The eighteenth century closed upon a strangely altered Europe. France +was the ruling power on the Continent. Prussia had hidden herself in a +timid neutrality, and left Austria to fight with foreign allies for the +life of the empire. That battle had been a losing one, and now Francis +II. sat upon a trembling throne and bore a title which had no longer +any meaning. + +But Napoleon was building his own edifice. In 1803 he had himself +declared First Consul for life, and in 1804 he assumed the title of +Napoleon, Emperor of the French. His coronation took place at Paris, +where he compelled the Pope to come and perform that ceremony. + +Then, after changing the groups of Italian republics into a Kingdom of +Italy, he crowned himself, after the fashion of the Emperors whose +successor he meant to be, with the Iron Crown of Lombardy. + +He had entered upon the most daring scheme ever attempted in Europe: to +convert the whole Continent into one vast empire, with the kings and +princes over the several nations all subject to him. + +Then there was a third coalition from which Prussia still held aloof, +and which was composed of England, Austria, Russia, and Sweden. +Alexander I. was now Emperor of Russia, and the timorous and +unpatriotic policy of Prussia was guided by Frederick William III., who +had succeeded his father Frederick William II. + +The Prussian King, influenced by antagonism to Austria and by the hope +of obtaining safety and reward for Prussia, stubbornly maintained his +attitude of neutrality, while the German Empire was receiving its +death-blow at Austerlitz. That "battle of the three Emperors," as it +is called, was a paralyzing defeat to the Allies. + +Prussia ignominiously received Hanover as her reward, and seventeen +German states, including Bavaria, Baden, Wuertemberg, and +Hesse-Darmstadt, formally separated themselves from the German Empire +and declared themselves subject to the French Emperor. This was known +as the Rheinbund. + +The German Empire was now reduced to three separate bodies: the +Rheinbund, a federation of states giving willing allegiance to +Napoleon; _Prussia_, practically in alliance with her destroyer; and +_Austria_, helpless in that destroyer's grasp, while he, sitting in the +Imperial Palace at Vienna, dictated terms of peace. + +The Empire was broken beyond repair. On the 6th of August its +dissolution was formally announced. Francis II. abdicated the Imperial +crown and assumed the title of the "Emperor of Austria." + +It was not the people of Prussia who bartered their allegiance to the +fatherland for peace and for Hanover. It was their King and princes +who brought this stain upon them, and their beautiful Queen Louise, +mother of the late Emperor William, had pleaded in vain with the King +to pursue a loyal and patriotic course. + +The punishment came swiftly. The insatiate conqueror had no thought of +leaving a great state like Prussia undisturbed. And soon it developed +that his plan was also to create a northern bund under his +protectorate, which would be composed of the Prussian states on the +northern coast. + +Forced in her own defense to take up arms, Prussia suffered a terrible +defeat at Jena, 1806. The conqueror for whose friendship Frederick +William had sacrificed his country was in Berlin. The beautiful +Prussian Queen who, he knew, had used her influence against him, was +treated with the grossest insolence, while for the cowed people +recently in revolt, and now prostrating themselves, he did not restrain +his contempt. + +The Peace of Tilsit (1807) determined the full measure of Prussia's +retribution. Her Polish acquisitions were made into a "Grand Duchy of +Warsaw," under a French protectorate. One half of the rest of her +territory was converted into a kingdom of Westphalia, over which +Napoleon's brother Jerome was king. To the remainder of Prussia was +assigned the burden of an immense indemnity, and the maintenance of a +French army in her territory. + +But the cup of humiliation was not drained until later when, standing +with the Continent under his feet, Napoleon compelled the Prussian King +to join the Rheinbund with what was left of his kingdom, to furnish +France with troops, and thus to become tributary to his designs upon +Europe. + +Napoleon in the meantime, in an hour's interview with Alexander of +Russia, had by the magic of his influence secured that Emperor's +friendship. All this excellent man was fighting for was the peace of +Europe! And he disclosed to Alexander his plan that they two should be +the eternal custodians of that peace; which was to be secured by +restraining the arrogance of England; and that was to be done by +destroying her commercial prosperity. All of Europe was to be +forbidden to trade with that country. There was to be a Continental +blockade against a "nation of shopkeepers." Alexander was completely +won, and he promised not to molest his new friend in his benevolent +task. + +The provinces dependent upon France were now divided up into kingdoms +and principalities, and to make his own control over them more assured, +Napoleon placed members of his own family and personal friends upon the +various thrones. + +His brother Louis was created King of Holland. His brother-in-law +Murat was made King of Naples; Eugene Beauharnais, his step-son, +Viceroy of Italy. Jerome Bonaparte, as we have seen, was King of +Westphalia, and his brother Joseph he had already made King of Spain, +in the time he could spare from more important matters in Germany. + +And what was the real sentiment in Germany concerning this man at such +a time? We hear that ninety German authors dedicated books to him and +that servile newspapers were praising him; and we know that one of the +immortal compositions of Beethoven was inspired by him. But we must +recollect that he was too colossal and too dazzling to be accurately +measured, except from a distance. Even yet we are almost too near to +him for that, and the world is as divided in its estimate of Napoleon +as of the true meaning of Shakspeare's "Hamlet." It is an eternal +controversy. He was a monstrous creation; colossal in his plans, +colossal in his grasp of the forces about him, colossal in ambition, in +selfishness, in cruelty, and in intelligence. + +Napoleon realized the value of hereditary grandeur. He had been able +to climb without it; but the sons who would succeed him as masters of +Christendom must have the dignity of ancestry to fortify them. No +blood but the Hapsburg was fit for this great office. He swept away +Josephine as remorselessly as he had the Pope in Rome, and compelled +Francis II. to bestow his daughter Marie Louise upon the man who had +stripped him of his Crown and his Empire, and who was steadily +absorbing what remained of his dignity. + +The marriage took place in 1810, and with his Hapsburg Empress, +Napoleon established a temporary court at Dresden. + +Then there commenced the process which was intended finally to engulf +all the separate German kingdoms in one universal abyss. The Kingdom +of Holland was first annexed to the French Empire; then North Germany +was swallowed up in the same way; the same fate evidently being +intended next for the Rheinbund. The satellites had begun to fall into +the sun! + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +To the man guiding these astounding changes it seemed a very small +matter then that a handful of Tyrolese peasants were in revolt against +the French King in Bavaria; nor that a small group of philosophers, +poets, and men of letters, were consulting together in Prussia over the +shame of their betrayal by their rulers, and considering plans for +guiding a popular movement for the emancipation of Germany. + +But these were the first stirrings of a force Napoleon had not before +had to contend with. He had fought with kings and princes and proud +aristocracies clinging to their ancient splendor and possessions, but +his armies had never been face to face with _patriotism_. + +He had not met it, because it did not exist in the German Empire until +he himself made its existence possible by breaking up the old stifling +tyrannies. Now a few patriotic and courageous men all over Germany +were combining, and inciting the people to revolt; an association +called "The League of Virtue" was created. Then the Tyrolese peasants +were subdued and their leader Hofer was shot in cold blood by +Napoleon's orders. The King of Prussia was ordered to suppress the +"League of Virtue," and French spies supposed they were uprooting +patriotism by reporting it as treason to France. + +Napoleon was at this moment at the climax of his greatness. He decreed +that Rome should be annexed to his empire, and that his infant son +should receive the title "King of Rome," which title should thereafter +belong to the oldest son of the French Emperor. What if this did bring +curses upon his name? He was now beyond the reach of blessings or +curses from men; and probably was rather pleased than otherwise when +Alexander I. threw off their sentimental friendship and defied him, by +abandoning the plan of a Continental blockade for the ruin of England. + +Now he was free to develop his gigantic plan. Does anyone suppose that +the conquest of Russia was all of that plan? Far from it! There is +every reason to believe that it was his intention, after Russia was +subdued, to press on into Asia and to expel the English from their +precious India! + +Not since the days of Attila had there been seen such an army as was +led into Russia--six hundred thousand men, of whom only one out of +twenty was ever to return! And was it the lives of Frenchmen that he +was spending so lavishly? Not at all. This great host was composed +chiefly of Germans, Austrians, Prussians, Saxons, Bavarians, Swiss, who +should have been fighting for their own liberation at home. + +Lest Prussia should revolt in his absence the wary Napoleon garrisoned +that kingdom with sixty thousand French troops, and took the sons of +Prussia with him for the great human sacrifice in Russia. + +It was the 7th of September when the great army moved. On and on they +marched for two months through a silent and deserted land, only to +reach at last a mysteriously silent city. Had a whole people fled at +his approach? Napoleon took up his quarters in the Kremlin. Suddenly +fires broke out in a hundred places. The city became a roaring +furnace. In vain did they try to stay the conflagration. In a few +hours Moscow, his rich prize, was a mass of ruin and ashes. + +Napoleon waited for a message from Alexander begging for peace; but +none came. Then the snowflakes began to fall and fierce winds began to +sweep down from the north. At length his stubborn pride had to bend. +He sent his messengers to Alexander--still there was no answer. +Provisions were failing, and there were leagues and leagues of deep and +white snow between him and food for his famishing soldiers. + +Then the Russians came. How could this starved, benumbed, frightened +wreck of a great army stand before the Cossacks? The story of that +"retreat" could never be written. Men, hollow-eyed and gaunt with +misery, flung away their arms and fought with each other like wolves +for a morsel of bread or a dead horse. + +On the 5th of December Napoleon quietly slipped away, leaving the +freezing, famishing victims of his ambition to make their own way back +as they could; knowing that for all, save a fragment, of that mighty +host the snow must be a winding sheet. + +When Frederick William III. accepted that last humiliation and sent a +Prussian army in the train of the conqueror to fight his battles, while +Frenchmen guarded Prussians at home, the indignation was deep and +wide-spread. Three of his best generals, Bluecher and two others, +resigned. + +The Prussian contingent in the great invading army, which was under +General York, had escaped many of the horrors of the retreat; and had +returned with seventeen thousand out of the sixty thousand which had +entered Russia. + +This Prussian commander, as soon as he crossed the line with his +soldiers, on his own responsibility abandoned the French and arranged a +treaty of neutrality with the Russian general. Frederick disavowed the +act, but it was received by the people of Prussia with wild enthusiasm. +York called an assembly together at Koenigsberg, and boldly ordered that +all men capable of bearing arms should be mustered into the Prussian +army. + +The force of public sentiment revealed by this was too overwhelming for +the King to oppose. It swiftly swelled into a popular uprising in +which all classes took part. It was the first great patriotic movement +in Germany; and to Prussia belongs the glory of having initiated it. +It was the Prussian people who converted their whole male population +into an army and their country into an arsenal, and with one voice, and +animated by one heart, refused longer to bear the degradation put upon +them by their King. Hitherto the people had been led by their rulers. +Now for a brief time they were going to be leaders, reluctantly +followed by kings and princes. + +Within five months two hundred and seventy thousand men were under arms +and Frederick had been obliged to declare war against the Emperor of +the French, in alliance with Russia and Sweden. Austria remained +neutral, but the Rheinbund, with only two exceptions, still held to +France. + +Napoleon by the irresistible magic of his influence assembled an army +nearly as large as the one he had just sacrificed in Russia. The +campaign opened in April (1813). By June his star seemed to be waning, +and Austria offered to mediate a peace. Napoleon insulted Metternich, +who brought the proposals, and Francis II. joined the allies against +his son-in-law. In October the end arrived. + +The battle of Leipzig was to the people of Germany what Jena and +Austerlitz had been to Napoleon. The news of this great victory was +electrifying. From the Baltic to the Alps the air resounded with +rejoicings. + +There are no persuasions needed to make people leave a sinking ship. +Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia--the Rheinbund +dissolved--Holland, Switzerland, Italy fell away. Wurtemberg joined +the allies and the great movement for emancipation became national, not +Prussian. + +The allied princes offered to Napoleon that the Rhine, the Alps, the +Pyrenees, and the sea should be the frontiers of France. Still +believing in his invincibility, he scorned the proposition. His star +had certainly deserted him, for while he was collecting his broken +forces in Germany, and while hope was reviving over small victories, +the allied armies, unknown to him, were advancing on Paris! + +He learned it too late. History holds no picture more powerfully +impressive than that of this man waiting at Fontainebleau, twelve +leagues from Paris, still believing in his power to retrieve, and +unconscious that he is already deposed! And the magic of his +influence, the power of the spell he cast over mankind, is illustrated +by the fact that even now, knowing him to have been a tyrant and a +scourge as we do, rejoicing in his defeat as we must, we still cannot +look at that picture without a moistened eye and almost a regret at his +downfall! + +Alexander, and Frederick William, and the allied armies were in Paris, +which had capitulated, and at their bidding had consented to the +deposition of Napoleon. + +On the 6th of April, 1814, Louis XVIII., brother of the murdered Louis, +was proclaimed King of France, and to the man who had been master of +Europe was assigned--the island of Elba on the coast of Italy. + +But in March of the following year, while sovereigns were still +wrangling over the disorder he had left, and while Talleyrand was +scheming for his new master as faithfully as he had for the old, the +startling news came that Napoleon had landed in France. Louis XVIII. +vanished into thin air before the man whom the people were receiving +with wild acclamations of delight. + +Europe again united, and again Napoleon was seen advancing, as of old, +with a great army. Bluecher was in command of one division of the +allied armies and Wellington of the other. + +The battle of Waterloo began on the morning of the 18th of June, 1815. +To England was to belong the glory of Napoleon's final downfall. +Wellington accomplished his defeat, and then Bluecher came in time to +make that defeat an annihilation. + +The mistake of the year before was not to be repeated. From that +moment until his death at St. Helena, in 1821, Napoleon was a prisoner +and an exile. He had finished the work he had been appointed to do, +and Fate had flung him aside! + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +Now came the difficult task of reconstruction and redistribution of +territory. In what form should they arise out of this chaos? The +dream of the people, like that of Hermann eighteen hundred years +before, was of a German UNITY; not a renewal of the empire, but a great +and new national life, in some firmer and truer form than it had yet +known. But these were only dreams, vague and without any practical +ideas as to their realization. + +In the meantime men well versed in the arts and tricks of governing +were deciding how all should be arranged. The plan proposed by +Metternich, that master of diplomacy, who was minister to the Emperor +of Austria, was the one adopted. + +There was to be a confederation of thirty-nine German states. The _Act +of Union_, by which this was effected, had a pleasant sound to the ear +of the German people. But the Union existed only in a mutual defense +against foreign foes, and a mutual aid in keeping the people of Germany +well in check! The one outward and visible expression of this _Unity_ +was in a _General Diet_, to be held at Frankfort, under the presidency +of Austria! + +And this was what the _people_ who had liberated their country were to +receive as their reward! They were in no way recognized; were to +possess no political power; the right of suffrage was not bestowed, and +the Diet was prohibited from making any change in this form of +confederation, except by a _unanimous_ (_!_) vote. The German people +were practically effaced and lost sight of in an autocratic +confederation of states, with the Austrian Empire at its head. + +That empire had received back its Italian possessions. Prussia had +recovered Westphalia and her territory on the Rhine, and given up her +Polish territory to Russia. Belgium and Holland had been merged into a +kingdom of the Netherlands. Saxony, Wurtemberg, and Bavaria, which +states had been made kingdoms by Napoleon, were permitted to remain +such. Switzerland was a republic; and by the successful diplomacy of +Talleyrand, Alsace and Lorraine, those insecure possessions, passed to +France. + +Such were some of the territorial adjustments. That the rulers of +these kingdoms were reactionary in their purposes soon became apparent. +One of the first acts of the King of Wurtemberg was to court-martial +and cashier the general who had gone over to the German side at the +battle of Leipzig! If none had gone over to the German side, where +would have been the kingdom of Wurtemberg? In Mecklenburg the people +were openly declared serfs. The Elector of Hesse-Cassel gave evidence +that he was looking backward by putting his soldiers into the dress of +the last century and powdered queues, and almost without exception the +sovereigns were trying to construe the provisions of the _Act of Union_ +in a way to give the least liberty to the German people. + +The currents of German thought and feeling move slowly, but they are +deep and persistent. They had never been intemperate in their desires +for freedom, but had simply asked for a government which should be more +in conformity with the existing views of human rights. Their +disappointment had been profound and bitter. The fathers earnestly +talked over their wrongs at home, while their more fiery sons at the +universities made speeches, sang songs, and banded themselves together +into societies, with mottoes and badges and insignia, all under the +same inspiring ideas,--UNION AND FREEDOM. + +This began to look like Revolution. The freedom of the press was +abolished. The formation of societies among students and mechanics was +prohibited, and the universities were placed under the immediate +control of the government. A savage police system was established. +Hundreds of young men were thrown into prison, and hundreds more fled +the country. + +But while this repression produced a calm surface, it did not change +the conditions beneath. In the meantime a "Holy Alliance" had been +formed between Russia, Austria, and Prussia, for the purpose of +repressing aspirations toward liberty in other lands, where this +pestilential modern spirit was also rife. + +But in 1830 there was a popular uprising in France. Charles X., +another brother of the murdered Louis, had been pursuing a reactionary +policy precisely similar to the one employed by the sovereigns in +Germany. It was too late to do that in France. The people with small +ceremony flung the Bourbon aside, and set up a constitutional monarchy +with Louis Philippe at its head. This stirred anew the latent feeling +in Germany. The people did not rise in a body, but so threatening did +it appear that the Diet quickly yielded certain reforms and concessions +for fear of more extreme resistance. + +Francis II. died in 1835, and was succeeded by an almost imbecile son, +Ferdinand I. In 1840 Frederick William III. of Prussia also died, and +Frederick William IV., his son, became King. Metternich was now +guiding the affairs of Austria, and William von Humboldt was the +adviser of the new Prussian King, who inspired the people with a hope +of better things. But while this King fostered science and art, he +gave little care to the redressing of political wrongs, and things +drifted toward a crisis. + +Again a revolution in France reacted upon Germany. In 1848, Louis +Philippe was cast aside as unceremoniously as had been his predecessor, +and a Republic was proclaimed, with Louis Napoleon, nephew of the great +Napoleon, at its head. + +This new Bonaparte was a son of Louis Bonaparte, whom his imperial +brother had made King of Holland. He married Hortense, the daughter of +Josephine. So Fate intended that a child of the discarded Josephine, +and not of Napoleon, should rule over France. + +The proclamation of a republic in France awoke the slumbering forces of +revolution in Europe. Not in one place, nor in two, did the fires +spring up, but simultaneously in every German state. Hungary, led by +Kossuth, was in revolt, and fighting to the death to be freed from the +Hapsburgs. In Italy Victor Emmanuel, the young King of Sardinia, was +trying to drive the Austrian governor of Milan out of the kingdom, and +when checked, he shook his sword at the advancing Austrians and said +prophetically, "_There shall yet be an Italy!_" And while these things +were going on in Italy and in Hungary, men were fighting in the streets +of Vienna. The ozone of freedom had penetrated even to that last +stronghold of despotic sentiment. The Emperor Ferdinand abdicated in +this time of agitation, and his young nephew, Francis Joseph, ascended +the Austrian throne. + +The things the people were demanding in every state were: freedom of +speech and of the press; the right of every man to bear arms; of all to +assemble when and where they liked for political or other purposes; +trial by jury; and the abolition of the hated Diet, with a complete +reorganization of the state governments. + +The princes were terrified. It seemed as if their expulsion, like that +of Louis Philippe, was at hand. + +And so it was, and would have ensued, had the people known their power +or how to use it. But gradually the opportunity was lost. Concessions +were made, new liberties were gained, but the _Unity_ they hungered for +was to come in another and unexpected way, and for ten years the +confederation was to exist practically unchanged. + +Still, although the fruits of their efforts seemed meager in comparison +with what had been hoped, there had been one great concession made. +The Diet, under the pressure of the crisis, had consented to steps +which led finally to the formation of a National Parliament. + +When that parliament met at Frankfort, German patriots believed the +hour of liberation had struck. Full of hope and confidence they +thought the end was attained, when six hundred men of character and +intelligence came together to formulate a new plan of union based upon +_The Sovereignty of the People_! + +But such a task requires something more than patriotism and enthusiasm, +and theoretic views about human rights. It needs practical political +experience, and clearly defined plans for action. After vainly trying +to harmonize conflicting opinions a plan of union was finally adopted, +and Frederick William IV. was elected "Hereditary Emperor of Germany." + +All save the smaller states refused to accede to the proposed plan, and +Frederick William himself declined the proffered title, saying, "They +forget that there are princes still in Germany, and that I am one of +them." + +So the attempt at reorganization was a miserable failure, and the +national parliament gradually dissolved. In the meantime the +revolutionary fires in Europe had burned out. Hungary was again +submissive in the grasp of the Hapsburgs, and Austria was also once +more supreme in Italy; while the French republic, which had lighted +this conflagration, had become a monarchy. + +The national party had developed no great leader, had shown no ability +to grasp its opportunity. The people, disheartened and in sullen +disappointment, saw the old Bund-Diet restored at Frankfort, in 1851, +and found themselves back in a slightly improved and amended +confederation, still under the headship of Austria. + +Then Louis Napoleon's assumption of Imperial power, in 1851, gave +renewed strength to the German rulers. It demonstrated the instability +of popular governments, and the sure return to the good old methods of +their fathers, as soon as the temporary madness of the people had +subsided. + +So all things conspired to depress aspiration and to make the hopes +awakened in 1848 a tantalizing delusion. It was not night, but it was +a very dark and dreary day for patriotism in Germany. The country was +under a spell which no one knew how to break. + +In 1857 Frederick William IV. was stricken with apoplexy, and his +brother, Prince William, was appointed Prince Regent. + +The new emperor of the French, with oppressive sense of the greatness +of his name, was looking about for opportunities to be Napoleonic. In +1856 he had formed an alliance with England against Russia. The fact +of the alliance of itself gave weight to the rather flimsy fabric of +his greatness, while the results of the Crimean War added much to its +solidity. In the year 1859 Italy was vainly struggling to free herself +from the grasp of Austria. Mazzini, the exalted dreamer, and +Garibaldi, the soldier and patriot, with Cavour, the no less patriotic +statesman, though with different ends in view, were working together +for the destruction of the Austrian yoke, which must be preliminary to +any form of Italian nationality. The astute statesman saw in the +ambition of Napoleon III. a means to that end. + +When Napoleon promised an "Italy free from the Alps to the Apennines," +and when the splendid victory of Magenta was quickly followed by that +of Solferino, and when the young Francis Joseph, with tears in his +eyes, ordered the retreat of his defeated army over the Mincio, the +dream of centuries seemed about to be realized. Then came the +startling news that the two emperors were in consultation at +Villafranca over the terms of peace! Venice was not to be liberated. +There was to be a consolidation of the Italian kingdoms "under the +honorary Presidency of the Pope"--whatever that meant--and a "general +amnesty" was declared. It was with sullen rage that the disappointed +patriots saw Nice and Savoy handed over to France, and Rome garrisoned +with French troops, while a French emperor was posing as the liberator +of an Italy which was not liberated! But although the mills of the +gods were moving slowly, they were going to grind exceeding fine. +Victor Emmanuel and a regenerated Italy were not far off, and for +Germany there was at hand a new era. + +Frederick William IV. died, and in 1861 William I. was crowned King of +Prussia. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +King William's youth was far behind him. He had already spent a long +life (sixty-four years) and had never expected to occupy a throne. He +had not the brilliant qualities of his brother, he did not concern +himself much about science or letters; but he was profoundly impressed +with the responsibilities of his position; and it at once became +apparent that Prussia had a wise and sagacious King, who would make her +well-being his sole care and ambition. + +His first act was a thorough reorganization of the army. Then he +looked about him for a man wise enough and strong enough for him to +lean upon. Baron Otto von Bismarck-Schoenhausen had just returned from +St. Petersburg, where he had been Prussian ambassador. + +He was a conservative of the extreme type, hated and feared by the +liberal and national party no less than Metternich. But no man better +than he comprehended the policy of Austria, and all the complicated +threads composing the web of German politics. + +The choice of this man for minister to the King augured ill for the +liberals. The outlook had never been darker than at this hour before +the dawn. + +But great political storms, like storms of another sort, are full of +surprises. The ominous storm clouds we have feared roll away and +vanish in calm, and the little ones, not larger than a man's hand, +suddenly expand and darken our sky. A fateful storm was gathering for +Germany in the duchy of Schleswig-Holstein. + +Of the nature of the Schleswig-Holstein entanglement someone (Was it +Beaconsfield?) wittily said that there were only two men in Europe who +understood it, himself and another; and the other was dead. But that +was a mistake. There was a man in Prussia who understood it, and who +lived to use it for his own far-reaching designs. + +The principal threads in the tangled web were as follows: + +The two adjacent dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, which constitute a +sort of natural bridge about 150 miles long and 50 miles wide, between +Denmark and Prussia, are, by the way, the land of nativity for the +Anglo-Saxon race, the Angles having inhabited Schleswig, and the Saxons +Holstein, at the time they so kindly protected the Britons from the +Picts and Scots. + +So it is probable that every member of the Anglo-Saxon family has some +ancestral root running back to that fertile strip of pasture land. + +It had for many years been under the Danish protectorate, the King of +Denmark being, by virtue of his position, also Duke of +Schleswig-Holstein, just as the German Emperor is now King of Prussia +by virtue of his imperial office. + +But this little people was by no means merged with the Danish by this +arrangement; on the contrary, they preserved very jealously their own +traits and ancestral traditions. Among these was the exclusion of +women from the royal succession--the Salic law, framed by their Frank +ancestors centuries before on the banks of the river Saale, being part +of their constitution. Hence, when King Frederick VII. of Denmark died +in 1862 without male heir, and King Christian IX. became King, the +people of the two dukedoms hotly refused to recognize him as their +lawful ruler, but claimed their right of reversion to Duke Frederick +VIII., who was in the direct male line of succession. + +Had the Salic law prevailed in Denmark, this Duke Frederick (father of +the present young Empress of Germany) would now be King of Denmark +instead of Christian IX. But it did not exist, so Christian, father of +the Dowager Empress of Russia--of the Princess of Wales--and of King +George of Greece--became, in 1862, lawful King of Denmark, with rights +unimpaired by female descent. + +Schleswig-Holstein revolted against being held by a ruler who, +according to her constitution, was not the terminal of the royal line, +and insisted upon bestowing herself instead upon the German Duke +Frederick VIII. Denmark naturally resisted. Salic law or no Salic +law, the dukedoms were hers, and should stay. Of course Austria, as +the head of the German confederation, had to be consulted, and she +thought well of uniting with Prussia to compel the cession of the twin +dukedoms, which would have been quickly absorbed had not the European +powers intervened and forbidden this encroachment upon the rights of +Denmark. + +It was just at this crisis that Bismarck was appointed prime minister +of Prussia, and commenced his series of brilliant moves upon the +European chessboard. + +King Christian of Denmark, pleased with his success in retaining the +refractory states, determined to go still farther; that is, to adopt a +new constitution separating these Siamese twins, which should, in fact, +detach Schleswig from Holstein, incorporating it permanently with +Denmark. + +This was in direct violation of the treaty with the Great Powers made +in London, 1852, and afforded the needed pretext for war. + +The moment and the man had arrived. Bismarck, with the intuition of a +good player, saw his opportunity, pushed up the pawn, +Schieswig-Holstein, and said, "Check to your king." + +The Prussian and Austrian troops poured into Denmark, and in a few +short weeks the blooming isthmus had ceased to be Danish and had become +German. + +Austria generously said, "We will divide the prize. Schleswig shall be +Prussian, and Holstein Austrian." + +Could anything be more odious to the Prussians? The long arm of +Austrian tyranny stretching way over their land, up to their northern +seaboard! It might better have become Danish. But all things come to +him who waits, and--Bismarck waited. + +Neither Austria nor the German people had the slightest comprehension +of the Minister's deep-laid plans. When he said that the German +question could "only be settled by blood and steel," the people +construed it as the brutal utterance of despotism. And when it looked +as if they might be involved in a war with Austria over this paltry +Holstein affair they were stunned, and believed that a desperate man +was leading Prussia to her ruin for his own ambitious purposes. What +could they with their nineteen millions of people do against Austria, +with her fifty millions! + +But Bismarck cared not and heeded not. He was too intent upon his +game. He knew what no one else seemed to know, that there was no +chance for Germany until she was emancipated from Austria. + +Again he pushed up his useful little pawn and said "check," but this +time to the Emperor of Austria. Ah! here was a game worth watching. +Europe and America, too, were willing to let their morning coffee get +cold in studying the moves. Francis Joseph did not see as far into the +game as his astute adversary, whose keen eye was focused at long range +upon a renewed Germany, in which there should be no Austria. + +The conflict was short (only seven weeks), but the preparation had been +thorough. The 3d of July will long be remembered by Germany. King +William was there; the Crown Prince was there, now become "Unser +Fritz," by his superb military achievements, the ideal prince and +soldier of modern Europe; and Koeniggraetz, like Waterloo, decided the +game. Francis Joseph was checkmated. A galling servitude to Austria +existed no more. What wonder that the people were glad, or that Unser +Fritz was their idol, and Bismarck became their demigod! + +A great physician correctly diagnoses the disease before he treats it. +Bismarck knew why the attempts at a German union had been futile. He +knew such a union never could exist until Austria was eliminated from +it. + +An overwhelming revulsion in sentiment followed. The man whom the +despotic element had leaned upon became the adored leader of the +liberal party. He had no sentimental theories about human rights. His +personal tendencies were toward despotism rather than freedom. But he +had the acuteness to recognize the advantages which would be derived +from a liberal policy and the ardent support of the _people_. + +A new confederation of states was formed called the _North German +Union_, with a parliament elected by the people. It was composed of +all the states except Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden. + +The several states were united under a general Federal Government, +somewhat like that of the United States of America, of which the King +of Prussia was _President_, and Bismarck was _Chancellor_. + +This new union was Protestant and Prussian, and forever separated from +all that was Catholic and Austrian. In five short years what a change! +Truly, "blood and iron" had proved a wonderful tonic for Germany! + +In the year 1763 Prussia won the province of Silesia after a seven +years' war with Austria. Just one century later, in 1866, a war of +seven weeks with that same power placed her at the head of a firmly +consolidated German nation. A result so astonishing from a conflict so +brief must ever be a phenomenon in history; and had it been necessary, +seven years would not have been too long to struggle for such a reward. + +And what of poor little Schleswig-Holstein, that land of our race +nativity? If she had indulged in any innocent expectation of benefit +from such brilliant espousal of her cause she was disappointed. And +she must have realized that she had been only the humble hinge upon +which the door of opportunity had swung open for Germany. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +There was a man in France to whom these overturnings were especially +distasteful. Napoleon III., sitting in brand-new splendor upon his +newly created throne, was industriously engaged in building up an +empire and a reputation upon Napoleonic lines. These lines of course +were despotic. So the triumph of liberalism in Germany, the creation +of a new political power with Austria and despotism cast out, was a +severe blow to his policy and to his prestige. It weakened him in +Europe, where he aspired to headship, and at home, where he should be +considered invincible, not alone in arms, but in statecraft. + +The Crimea, Magenta, and Solferino had been splendid decorations to his +reign; but they looked tame and insignificant since this transforming +_Seven Weeks' War_. Then, too, his magnificent scheme of an empire in +Mexico, with a Hapsburg ruling under a French protectorate--that had +miserably failed. And now there had suddenly arisen, as if out of the +ground, a new political Germany, which rivaled France in strength. +Frenchmen began to ask whether this man was, after all, such a great +leader, and destined to wear the mantle of his uncle! + +Obviously the thing to do was to recover his waning prestige by a +splendid victory over this new power of which Prussia was the head. + +If the Emperor had any misgivings they were swept away by the beautiful +Empress Eugenie, who, intensely Catholic, saw in the ascendency of +Protestant Prussia, and the humiliation of Catholic Austria, an impious +blow at the Catholic faith in Europe. + +So the war was determined upon. Only one obstacle existed. There was +nothing to fight about! But that could be overcome, and in 1870 a +pretext was found. + +Queen Isabella had been expelled from Spain, and there existed that +perennial source of disturbance in Europe, a vacant Spanish throne. +From among the several candidates, Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a +relative of William I. of Prussia, was chosen. + +The French ambassador Benedetti received instant orders to demand of +King William that he should prohibit Prince Leopold from accepting the +offer. + +The King made answer that "not having advised it, he could not forbid +it." However, to the disappointment of the Emperor, the Hohenzollern +prince voluntarily declined, and the way to a war seemed closed again. + +But the Empress Eugenie was intent upon her object, and the war-fever +had taken deep hold upon the people of France. So the fateful dispatch +was sent to Benedetti--"Be rough to the King." + +The kindly old King William was peacefully sunning himself at Ems, when +the ambassador discourteously approached him and made an abrupt demand +for a guarantee that no Hohenzollern should _ever_ occupy the throne of +Spain. The words and the manner were offensive--as they were intended +to be. + +The King, recognizing an intended impertinence, without replying turned +away and left Benedetti standing. Here was the opportunity. The +telegraph swiftly bore the news that the French ambassador had been +publicly insulted by the King of Prussia. France was in a blaze of +indignation. These Prussians should be taught that the great French +Empire was not to be insulted with impunity. + +Not a shadow of doubt existed as to the result. The French army was +invincible, and the southern German states would be glad at the +deliverance. They would welcome an invading army, and perhaps Hesse +and Hanover also would revolt and the new Prussian confederation would +fall to pieces in their hands. The birthday of Napoleon I., the 15th +of August, must be celebrated in Berlin! + +Such were the wild expectations when the French army moved, bearing +away with it the boy Prince Imperial, that he might witness for himself +his father's triumphs, and receive an object lesson, as it were, in +avenging insult to the imperial dignity, which would one day be in his +keeping! + +This was the way it looked in France. How was it in Germany? There +was no north and no south German. Men and states sprang together as a +unit, showing how vital was the bond which had existed only for four +years. It was no longer a German race combining with a common purpose, +but a German nation instinct with one life, and solemnly resolved to +defend it or to perish. In only eleven days an army of four hundred +and fifty thousand soldiers was under the command of Moltke, with the +Crown Prince Frederick William leading one of the three great divisions. + +In less than three weeks, instead of waging an aggressive war in +Germany, the French were fighting for their existence on their own soil. + +In less than a month the French Emperor was a prisoner, and in seven +months his empire was swept out of existence; the Germans were in +Paris--and King William, Unser Fritz, Bismarck, and Von Moltke were +quartered at Versailles. + +France had given up Alsace and Lorraine, had agreed to pay an indemnity +of _five thousand millions_ of francs, and was glad to have peace even +at that price! + +The surrenders of Metz (August 4), and of Sedan (September 2), were +monumental disasters, and history would be searched in vain for such a +crushing defeat of a proud and strong nation as was consummated by the +Treaty of Peace signed at Paris on the 10th of May, 1871. + +Even the three southern states, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, and Baden, had +participated in this Franco-Prussian war. So the last barrier to a +completed union was removed, and a dramatic climax occurred in the Hall +of Mirrors at Versailles on the 18th of January, 1871. + +In that very hall where Richelieu, and Louis XIV., and Louis XV. had +schemed to entangle and cripple and rob Germany, and where Napoleon I. +had plotted the destruction of the German Empire, Ludwig II., King of +Bavaria, in the name of the rest of the German states, laid their +united allegiance at the feet of King William of Prussia, begging him +to assume the crown and with it the title of "Hereditary Emperor of the +German Empire." + +It is a curious fact that Bavaria, which had always been a thorn in the +side of the Empire, which from the time of the first Duke Welf had +stood for all that was conservative and despotic and reactionary, +should have taken the initiative in the final act which set a seal upon +the triumph of liberalism in Germany. It was recompense full and ample +for the trouble she had given in the past! + +The return to Germany was a march of triumph. The popular enthusiasm +knew no bounds. It was less than ten years since those days of gloom +and depression. What a change had been wrought! Was it all done by +blood and iron? They had been mighty factors certainly, but they had +been used by a masterful intelligence, which had also recognized the +power of _patriotism_. The empire which was immediately organized was +simply a renewal of the _North German Union_. + +The dream of Hermann had at last been realized. There was a United +Germany. + +When in 1888 Emperor William I. sank under the weight of years and the +crown rested upon the head of his son Frederick, that adored prince was +no longer in the full tide of victorious youth, but being borne by a +swiftly ebbing tide beyond the reach of earthly honors. He was a +stricken and indeed a dying man when the opportunity came to carry out +the policy he had intended for Germany. + +What that policy was we shall never know, nor whether it would have +been a safe and a wise one. We are sure it would have been beneficent, +for no gentler, kindlier prince ever had power and opportunity. + +The distrust of him manifested by the conservative party, and notably +by Bismarck, and one still nearer to him, leads us to believe that he +leaned too strongly toward the ideal of the patriots of 1860. But we +shall never know. We can only conjecture whether in Frederick's death +Germany escaped a danger or missed an opportunity. + +The unseemly dissensions, the heartbreaking complications, which +tormented this dying man make one of the saddest chapters in history; +and his reign of five months can scarcely be matched in suffering. At +last it was ended. The untarnished soul and tortured body parted +company, and William II. reigned in his stead. + +It is not the province of history to pass judgment upon the living. +When the young Emperor William II. dismissed his great chancellor, he +assumed the full responsibility of his empire. Whether he has the +intelligence and the wisdom required to control, unaided, the forces at +home, or to guide his bark amid the whirl of European currents, later +histories will tell. + +But one thing is very certain. Time spent to-day in riveting +antiquated chains upon Germany is time thrown away; and the ruler who +desires his work to be permanent must turn his back upon medievalism +and must realize that the true source of abiding power in his country +is that sentiment which emancipated her from Napoleon in 1814, and +which in 1871 made of her a UNITED GERMANY. + + + + +THE END. + + + + + + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's A Short History of Germany, by Mary Platt Parmele + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A SHORT HISTORY OF GERMANY *** + +***** This file should be named 34397.txt or 34397.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/3/9/34397/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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