Outlines of Universal History, Designed as a Text-book and for Private Reading

by George Park Fisher

CHAPTER IV. EUROPE, FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR TO THE END OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR (1866-1871).

RIVALSHIP OF PRUSSIA AND AUSTRIA.—The brief but mighty struggle which secured for Prussia the preponderance in Germany grew immediately out of complications respecting Schleswig-Holstein. It was, however, the fruit of a rivalship which had been gaining in intensity since the times of Frederick the Great. It was the grand triumph of Prussia, after a long succession of defeats and humiliations in the field of diplomacy.

SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN.—The two duchies of Holstein and Schleswig had long been annexed to the crown of Denmark, whose king, as Duke of Holstein, was a member of the German Confederation. The two duchies, as regards their government, did not stand on the same footing; but the people of Holstein and the German portion of the Schleswig people held that by a treaty in 1460 the two duchies could not be separated. Moreover, the law of succession in the duchies excluded the female line, and when there was a prospect that the male line of the Danish dynasty would die out the Germans wished the duchies to become independent under an Augustenburg prince while the Danes wished to absorb the duchies in Denmark. In 1848 the Germans of Schleswig-Holstein revolted against Frederick VII. The troops of the German confederation assisted them; but the attitude of England and Russia, which favored the Danes, moved Prussia to conclude the armistice of Malmö,—an act that excited the anger of the German National Assembly at Frankfort. After the expiration of the truce, the war, with intermissions, went on, waged by Schleswig-Holstein, alone or with aid from Germany; later in a protocol—an agreement signed in London in 1852 by the Great Powers, in which Austria and Prussia concurred,—the king of Denmark and his heirs were guaranteed in the possession of the duchies. This act, however, was not accepted by the duchies themselves, or by the Diet of the German Confederation; so that the seeds of strife still remained.

PREPONDERANCE OF AUSTRIA.—After the suppression of the revolts of 1848, Austria, whose counsels were guided by the astute minister Schwarzenberg, labored to dwarf and supplant the influence of Prussia. Frederick William IV. of Prussia aimed to bring about a closer union of German states, and called a national parliament to meet at Erfurt. Austria withstood these attempts. The disposition of Prussia to support the resistance in Hesse to the tyranny of its elector, threatened to bring on an armed contest with Austria and its German allies; but the attitude of Russia caused Prussia to desist from its movement. At the conference at Olmütz (1850), Manteuffel, the Prussian minister, yielded every thing to Austria; and subsequently, under the influence of Russia, the German Confederation of 1815 was restored. Prussia took no part with the Western powers in the Crimean war, with which it had no direct concern, and thus did not, like Austria, make herself obnoxious to the Czar.

WILLIAM I: BISMARCK.—On the accession of William I. as regent (Oct. 1857), the Prussian government initiated a more spirited and independent policy in its relations to Austria. It refused to lend active aid to that country in the war with France and Sardinia (1859). The efficient measures of King William for the reorganization and increase of the army encountered constant opposition, year after year, in the assembly, from the liberal party, which did not divine his motives, and saw in them nothing but the usurping of an unconstitutional authority. In 1862 the king made Bismarck minister of foreign affairs, and the virtual head of the administration. This able man had widened his knowledge of European politics by serving as ambassador first at St. Petersburg and then at Paris. Previously he had been allied with the absolutist party of Manteuffel: he was always for "strong government." After 1851, when he was delegate of Prussia at the Federal Diet at Frankfort, he made up his mind to deliver Prussia from the domineering influence of Austria. But he was held in distrust by the Prussian liberals, who saw in him only an energetic supporter of the king in his reform of the army by acts of arbitrary power not warranted by the constitution. In 1863 Francis Joseph summoned a congress of German princes to Frankfort to frame a new German constitution; but as Prussia stood aloof, nothing was accomplished. There was much bitterness between the two states. For the moment, however, attention was diverted by the aspect of affairs in Schleswig-Holstein.

EVENTS LEADING TO WAR.—On March 30, 1863, Frederick VII. of Denmark issued a decree for the separation of Schleswig, and its incorporation in Denmark. The troops of the German Confederacy were sent by the Diet into Holstein. Prussia and Austria, who held that the Danes had broken the Treaty of 1852, announced their agreement to prosecute the war with Denmark as independent powers, apart from the confederation. They persisted in this purpose, and their victories over the Danes compelled Christian IX. to sign a treaty (Oct. 30, 1864) by which he resigned his rights in the duchies in favor of the emperor of Austria and the king of Prussia. How should the duchies be disposed of? It was Bismarck's aim to annex them to Prussia, which was sorely in need of seaports. He professed that the war had abrogated the London Treaty of 1852. The prime object of Austria was to prevent Prussia from making this gain. The dispute was hot and threatening; but in the Gastein Convention (Aug. 14, 1865), Lauenburg (which the Danes had also ceded) was sold to Prussia, and the disposition of the duchies was left to be determined later. Meantime the Prussians were to hold Schleswig, and the Austrians Holstein. The Prussians were, moreover, to hold provisionally the port of Kiel. The scheme of Austria was to hand over the debated question to the Diet of the Confederation, where it could command a majority. To this Prussia would not consent, but demanded that the Confederacy should be reconstituted in such a that Prussia, as well as Germany, might have strength in the event of a European war. Bismarck made a secret treaty with Sardinia, which provided that Prussia and Sardinia should act together in case of war with Austria, and that peace should not be made until Venetia had been given up to the kingdom of Italy. When Austria convoked the estates of Holstein Prussia retorted by sending twenty thousand troops into Holstein. The Austrian force, which was inferior, retired. When the Confederation (June 14) passed a motion made by Austria to put the confederate troops, not Austrian or Prussian, on a war footing, the Prussian plenipotentiary protested, and declared the Diet dissolved. He also presented a new constitution as the basis of a new league of states, from which Austria was to be excluded. Prussia issued a proclamation, to the effect that the purpose of the war that was now to begin was the union of Germany, and the establishment of a free parliament of the German nation.

THE AUSTRO-PRUSSIAN WAR.—The Prussian military plans were the work of Von Moltke, chief of the general staff, who was without a superior in military science. They were carried out with astonishing precision and celerity. On June 15 Prussia required Saxony, Hanover, and Hesse to disarm, to remain neutral, and to send delegates to a German parliament. A few hours were given them to decide. They refused the demand, and on the 16th the Prussian forces marched into their lands. On that day they seized the capital of Hesse, and took the elector prisoner. On the 29th they had surrounded King George of Hanover, and he was compelled to surrender with his whole army. The main Austrian army, under Benedek, made up of contingents from the various nations subject to the emperor, with the troops of Saxony, one of his German allies, were gathered in Bohemia. Thither three Prussian armies moved, on different lines, as they were directed by telegraph from Berlin. Several battles occurred. The armies approached one another, but were purposely kept apart. On June 30 King William and Von Moltke left Berlin. On the 2d of July it was determined to attack the Austrians the next day; and word was sent to the crown prince, whose division was not so far that he could not bring up his forces to take part in the combat. In the morning the battle of Sadowa, in which between two hundred thousand and three hundred thousand men were in each of the contending hosts, began. It raged until noon, with no decisive advantage on either side. At two o'clock the division of the crown prince, after a hard march, arrived; and their attack on the flank of the Austrians was the signal for a forward movement along the whole Prussian line. The battle in its course resembled that of Waterloo. The defeat of the Austrians virtually decided the whole contest. Francis Joseph asked France to mediate, but Prussia and Italy refused to consent to the proposal. The Austrian emperor ceded Venice by telegraph to Louis Napoleon. The Austrians had defeated the Italians at Custozza (June 24), and in a naval battle at Lissa. But a great part of the Austrian army it was necessary to transfer to the North.

THE PEACE OF PRAGUE: THE PEACE OF VIENNA.—The Peace of Prague was concluded between Prussia and Austria (Aug. 23, 1866). Austria was excluded from Germany, and gave up her rights in Schleswig-Holstein to Prussia. At the request of Prussia, Venice was ceded to Italy. Schleswig-Holstein, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and Frankfort were incorporated in Prussia. The population of Prussia from about nineteen millions was increased to twenty-three millions five hundred thousand. In the Peace of Vienna (Oct. 3), Austria recognized the kingdom of Italy, to which Venice had been ceded.

NORTH GERMAN CONFEDERATION.—The South German states remained independent; but the North German Confederation was formed, under the leadership of Prussia, which was to have control of the military forces of its members. In the council of the Confederation, Prussia was to have seventeen votes, and the other states together twenty-six votes. An imperial Diet was established, the members of which were to be elected by general suffrage. Bismarck was made chancelor of the Confederation.

THE AUSTRO-HUNGARIAN EMPIRE.—The war with Prussia was followed by the political reorganization of the Austro-Hungarian empire on a more liberal basis. Von Beust, who had been a Saxon minister, became minister of foreign affairs (1866), and afterwards president of the ministry and chancellor of the empire. The Hungarian constitution of 1848 was restored, and a separate ministry was constituted for Hungary; while, as regards the army and foreign affairs of both divisions of the empire, an imperial ministry was established. The Cisleithan division, composed of the German and Slavonic provinces, was to have its own ministry and constitution. This conferred on the people and their representatives "rights and privileges of the greatest importance,—equality of all citizens before the law, freedom of the press, right of association and meeting, complete liberty of faith and conscience, the unrestricted right to impose taxes and levy recruits, etc." The reconciliation with Hungary having been effected, Francis Joseph was crowned as King of Hungary at Pesth. Transylvania and Croatia were united with Hungary. Great legal improvements in Austria ensued. The army was re-constituted after the example of the Prussian military system. There was an improvement in financial administration. Marriage by civil contract was authorized; and on subjects connected with marriage, the clergy were deprived of jurisdiction. The control of education, except religious education, was assumed by the state. In case of marriage between Catholics and Protestants, the male children were to be educated according to the faith of the father; the female children, according to that of the mother.