A History of Germany from the Earliest Times to the Present Day

by Bayard Taylor

The collective history of the German States,—for we can hardly say "History of Germany" when there really was no Germany—at this time, is a continuous succession of wars and diplomatic intrigues, which break out in one direction before they are settled in another. In 1713, Frederick I. of Prussia died, and was succeeded by his son, Frederick William I.: in 1714, George I., Elector of Hannover, was made king of England, and about the same time the Emperor Karl VI. issued a decree called the "Pragmatic Sanction," establishing the order of succession to the throne, for his dynasty. He was led to this step by the example of Spain, where the failure of the direct line had given rise to thirteen years of European war, and by the circumstance that he himself had neither sons nor brothers. A daughter, Maria Theresa, was born in 1717, and thus the provision of the Pragmatic Sanction that the crown should descend to female heirs in the absence of male, preserved the succession in his own family, and forestalled the claim of the Elector of Bavaria and other princes who were more or less distantly related to the Hapsburgs.

1714.

The Pragmatic Sanction was accepted in Austria without difficulty, as there was no power to dispute the Emperor's will, but it was not recognized by the other States of Germany and other nations of Europe until after twenty years of diplomatic negotiations and serious sacrifices on the part of Austria. Prussia received more territory on the Lower Rhine, the Duchies of Parma and Piacenza in Italy were given to Spain, and the claims of Augustus III. of Saxony and Poland were so strenuously supported that in 1733 the so-called "War of the Polish Succession" broke out. In the meantime, however, two other wars had occurred, and, although both of them affected Austria rather than the German Empire, they must be briefly described.

In 1714 the Emperor Karl VI. formed an alliance with the Venetians against the Turks, who had taken the Morea from Venice. The command was given to Prince Eugene, who marched against his old enemy, determined to win back what remaining Hungarian or Slavonic territory was still held by Turkey. The Grand-Vizier, Ali, opposed him with a powerful force, and after various minor engagements a great battle was fought at Peterwardein, in August, 1716. Eugene was completely victorious: the Turks were driven beyond the Save and sheltered themselves behind the strong walls of Belgrade. Eugene followed, and, after a siege which is famous in military annals, took Belgrade by storm. The victory is celebrated in a song which the German people are still in the habit of singing. The war ended with the Treaty of Passarowitz, in 1718, by which Turkey was compelled to surrender to Austria the Banat, Servia, including Belgrade, and a part of Wallachia, Bosnia and Croatia.

Before this treaty was concluded, a new war had broken out in Italy. Philip V. of Spain, incensed at not being recognized by Karl VI., took possession of Sardinia and Sicily, with the intention of conquering Naples from Austria. England, France, Holland and Austria then formed the "Quadruple Alliance," as it was called, for the purpose of enforcing the Treaty of Utrecht, and Spain was compelled to yield.

1711. RISE OF PRUSSIA.

The power of Prussia, during these years, was steadily increasing. Frederick I., it is true, was among the imitators of Louis XIV.: he built stately palaces, and spent a great deal of money on showy Court festivals, but he did not completely exhaust the resources of the country, like the Electors of Saxony and the rulers of many smaller States. On the other hand, he founded the University of Halle in 1694, and commissioned the philosopher Leibnitz to draw up a plan for an Academy of Science, which was established in Berlin, in 1711. He was a zealous Protestant, and gave welcome to all who were exiled from other States on account of their faith. As a ruler, however, he was equally careless and despotic, and his government was often entrusted to the hands of unworthy agents. Frederick the Great said of him: "He was great in small matters, and little in great matters."

His son, Frederick William I., was a man of an entirely different nature. He disliked show and ceremony: he hated everything French with a heartiness which was often unreasonable, but which was honestly provoked by the enormous, monkey-like affectation of the manners of Versailles by some of his fellow-rulers. While Augustus of Saxony spent six millions of thalers on a single entertainment, he set to work to reduce the expenses of his royal household. While the court of Austria supported 40,000 officials and hangers-on, and half of Vienna was fed from the Imperial kitchen, he was employed in examining the smallest details of the receipts and expenditures of his State, in order to economize and save. He was miserly, fierce, coarse and brutal; he aimed at being a German, but he went back almost to the days of Wittekind for his ideas of German culture and character; he was a tyrant of the most savage kind,—but, after all has been said against him, it must be acknowledged that without his hard practical sense in matters of government, his rigid, despotic organization of industry, finance and the army, Frederick the Great would never have possessed the means to maintain himself in that struggle which made Prussia a great power.

Some illustrations of his policy as a ruler and his personal habits must be given, in order to show both sides of his character. He had the most unbounded idea of the rights and duties of a king, and the aim of his life, therefore, was to increase his own authority by increasing the wealth, the order and the strength of Prussia. He was no friend of science, except when it could be shown to have some practical use, but he favored education, and one of his first measures was to establish four hundred schools among the people, by the money which he saved from the expenditures of the royal household. His personal economy was so severe that the queen was only allowed to have one waiting-woman. At this time the Empress of Germany had several hundred attendants, received two hogsheads of Tokay, daily, for her parrots, and twelve barrels of wine for her baths! Frederick William I. protected the industry of Prussia by imposing heavy duties upon all foreign products; he even went so far as to prohibit the people from wearing any but Prussian-made cloth, setting them the example himself. He also devoted much attention to agriculture, and when 17,000 Protestants were driven out of Upper Austria by the Archbishop of Salzburg, after the most shocking and inhuman persecutions, he not only furnished them with land but supported them until they were settled in their new homes.

1725.