A History of Germany Part 30

All parties became more or less weary and exhausted, and the end of it all was the Treaty of Ryswick, concluded on the 20th of September, 1697.

By its provisions France retained Strasburg and the greater part of Alsatia, but gave up Freiburg and her other conquests east of the Rhine, in Baden. Lorraine was restored to its Duke, but on conditions which made it practically a French province. The most shameful clause of the Treaty was one which ordered that the districts which had been made Catholic by force during the invasion were to remain so.

[Sidenote: 1697. DECLINE OF THE EMPIRE.]

Nearly every important German State, at this time, had some connection or alliance which subjected it to foreign influence. The Hapsburg possessions in Belgium were more Spanish than German; Pomerania and the bishoprics of Bremen and Verden were under Sweden; Austria and Hungary were united; Holstein was attached to Denmark, and in 1697 Augustus the Strong of Saxony, after the death of John Sobieski, purchased his election as king of Poland by enormous bribes to the Polish n.o.bles.

Augustus the Strong, of whom Carlyle says that "he lived in this world regardless of expense," outdid his predecessor, John George II., in his monstrous imitation of French luxury. For a time he not only ruined but demoralized Saxony, starving the people by his exactions, and living in a style which was infamous as well as reckless.

The National German Diet, from this time on, was no longer attended by the Emperor and ruling Princes, but only by their official representatives. It was held, permanently, in Ratisbon, and its members spent their time mostly in absurd quarrels about forms. When any important question arose, messengers were sent to the rulers to ask their advice, and so much time was always lost that the Diet was practically useless. The Imperial Court, established by Maximilian I., was now permanently located at Wetzlar, not far from Frankfort, and had become as slow and superannuated as the Diet. The Emperor, in fact, had so little concern with the rest of the Empire, that his t.i.tle was only honorary; the revenues it brought him were about 13,000 florins annually. The only change which took place in the political organization of Germany, was that in 1692 Ernest Augustus of Hannover (the father of George I. of England) was raised to the dignity of Elector, which increased the whole number of Electors, temporal and spiritual, to nine.

[Sidenote: 1697.]

During the latter half of the seventeenth century, learning, literature and the arts received little encouragement in Germany. At the petty courts there was more French spoken than German, and the few authors of the period--with the exception of Spener, Francke, and other devout religious writers--produced scarcely any works of value. The philosopher, Leibnitz, stands alone as the one distinguished intellectual man of his age. The upper cla.s.ses were too French and too demoralized to a.s.sist in the better development of Germany, and the lower cla.s.ses were still too poor, oppressed and spiritless to think of helping themselves. Only in a few States, chief among them Brunswick, Hesse, Saxe-Gotha and Saxe-Weimar, were the Courts on a moderate scale, the government tolerably honest, and the people prosperous.

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

THE WAR OF THE SPANISH SUCCESSION.

(1697--1714.)

New European Troubles. --Intrigues at the Spanish Court. --Leopold I.

declares War against France. --Frederick I. of Brandenburg becomes King of Prussia. --German States allied with France. --Prince Eugene in Italy. --Operations on the Rhine. --Marlborough enters Germany. --Battle of Blenheim. --Joseph I. Emperor. --Victory of Ramillies. --Battle of Turin. --Victories in Flanders. --Louis XIV.

asks for Peace. --Battle of Malplaquet. --Renewed Offer of France.

--Stupidity of Joseph I. --Recall of Marlborough. --Karl VI.

Emperor. --Peace of Utrecht. --Karl VI.'s Obstinacy. --Prince Eugene's Appeal. --Final Peace. --Loss of Alsatia. --The Kingdom of Sardinia.

[Sidenote: 1700. TROUBLES IN SWEDEN AND SPAIN.]

The beginning of the new century brought with it new troubles for all Europe, and Germany--since it was settled that her Emperors must be Hapsburgs--was compelled to share in them. In the North, Charles XII. of Sweden and Peter the Great of Russia were fighting for "the balance of power"; in Spain king Charles II. was responsible for a new cause of war, simply because he was the last of the Hapsburgs in a direct line, and had no children! Louis XIV. had married his elder sister and Leopold I. his younger sister; and both claimed the right to succeed him. The former, it is true, had renounced all claim to the throne of Spain when he married, but he put forth his grandson, Duke Philip of Anjou, as the candidate. There were two parties at the Court of Madrid,--the French, at the head of which was Louis XIV.'s amba.s.sador, and the Austrian, directed by Charles II.'s mother and wife. The other nations of Europe were opposed to any division of Spain between the rival claimants, since the possession of even half her territory (which still included Naples, Sicily, Milan and Flanders, besides her enormous colonies in America) would have made either France or Austria too powerful. Charles II., however, was persuaded to make a will appointing Philip of Anjou his successor, and when he died, in 1700, Louis XIV. immediately sent his grandson over the Pyrenees and had him proclaimed as king Philip V. of Spain.

[Sidenote: 1701.]

Leopold I. thereupon declared war against France, in the hope of gaining the crown of Spain for his son, the Archduke Karl. England and Holland made alliances with him, and he was supported by most of the German States. The Elector, Frederick III. of Brandenburg (son of "the Great Elector"), who was a very proud and ostentatious prince, furnished his a.s.sistance on condition that he should be authorized by the Emperor to a.s.sume the t.i.tle of King. Since the traditional customs of the German Empire did not permit another king than that of Bohemia among the Electors, Frederick was obliged to take the name of his detached Duchy of Prussia, instead of Brandenburg. On the 18th of January, 1701, he crowned himself and his wife at Konigsberg, and was thenceforth called king Frederick I. of Prussia. But his capital was still Berlin, and thus the names of "Prussia" and "the Prussians"--which came from a small tribe of mixed Slavonic blood--were gradually transferred to all his other lands and their population, German, and especially Saxon, in character. Prince Eugene of Savoy saw the future with a prophetic glance when he declared: "the Emperor, in his own interest, ought to have hanged the Ministers who counselled him to make this concession to the Elector of Brandenburg!"

The Elector Max Emanuel of Bavaria and his brother, the Archbishop of Cologne, openly espoused the cause of France. Several smaller princes were also bribed by Louis XIV., but one of them, the Duke of Brunswick, after raising 12,000 men for France, was compelled by the Elector of Hannover to add them to the German army. With such miserable disunion at home, Germany would have gone to pieces and ceased to exist, but for the powerful partic.i.p.ation of England and Holland in the war. The English Parliament, it is true, only granted 10,000 men at first, but as soon as Louis XIV. recognized the exiled Stuart, Prince James, as rightful heir to the throne of England, the grant was enlarged to 40,000 soldiers and an equal number of sailors. The value of this aid was greatly increased by the military genius of the English commander, the famous Duke of Marlborough.

[Sidenote: 1703. FIGHTING ALONG THE RHINE.]

The war was commenced by Louis XIV. who suddenly took possession of a number of fortified places in Flanders, which Max Emanuel of Bavaria, then governor of the province, had purposely left unguarded. While the recovery of this territory was left to England and Holland, Prince Eugene undertook to drive the French out of Northern Italy. He made a march across the Alps as daring as that of Napoleon, transporting cannon and supplies by paths only known to the chamois-hunters. For nearly a year he was entirely successful; then, having been recalled to Vienna, the French were reinforced and recovered their lost ground. An important result of the campaign, however, was that Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy (ancestor of the present king of Italy), quarrelled with the French, with whom he had been allied, and joined the German side.

The struggle now became more and more confused, and we cannot undertake to follow all its entangled episodes. France encouraged a rebellion in Hungary; the Archbishop of Cologne laid waste the Lower Rhine; Max Emanuel seized Ulm and held it for France; Marshal Villars, in 1703, pressed back Ludwig of Baden (who had up to that time been successful in the Palatinate and Alsatia), marched through the Black Forest and effected a junction with the Bavarian army. His plan was to cross the Alps and descend into Italy in the rear of the German forces which Prince Eugene had left there; but the Tyrolese rose against him and fought with such desperation that he was obliged to fall back on Bavaria.

Marshal Villars and Max Emanuel now commanded a combined army of 60,000 men, in the very heart of Germany. They had defeated the Austrian commander, and Ludwig of Baden's army was too small to take the field against them. But the Duke of Marlborough had been brilliantly victorious in Belgium and on the Lower Rhine, and he was thus able to march on towards the Danube. Prince Eugene hastened from Hungary with such troops as he could collect, and the two, with Ludwig of Baden, were strong enough to engage the French and Bavarians. They met on the 13th of August, 1704, on the plain of the Danube, near the little village of Blenheim. After a long and furious battle, the French left 14,000 men upon the field, lost 13,000 prisoners, and fled towards the Rhine in such haste that scarcely one-third of their army reached the river.

Marlborough and Eugene were made Princes of the German Empire, and all Europe rang with songs celebrating the victory, in which Marlborough's name appeared as "Malbrook." His proposal to follow up the victory with an invasion of France was rejected by the Emperor, and the war, which might then have been pressed to a termination, continued for ten years longer.

[Sidenote: 1705.]

In 1705 Leopold I. relieved Germany, by his death, of the dead weight of his incapacity. He was succeeded by his son, Joseph I., who possessed, at least, a little ordinary common sense. He manifested it at once by making Prince Eugene his counsellor, instead of surrounding him with spies, as his jealous and spiteful father had done. Both sides were preparing for new movements, and the princ.i.p.al event for the year took place in Spain, where the Archduke, who had been conveyed to Barcelona by an English fleet, obtained possession of Catalonia and Aragon, and threatened Philip V. with the loss of his crown. The previous year, 1704, the English had taken Gibraltar.

In 1706 operations were recommenced, on a larger scale, and with results which were very disastrous to the plans of France. Marlborough's great victory at Ramillies, on the 23d of May, gave him the Spanish Netherlands, and enabled the Emperor to declare Max Emanuel and the Archbishop of Cologne outlawed. The city of Turin, held by an Austrian garrison, was besieged, about the same time, by the Duke of Orleans, with 38,000 men. Then Prince Eugene hastened across the Alps with an army of 24,000, was reinforced by 13,000 more under Victor Amadeus of Savoy, and on the 7th of September attacked the French with such impetuosity that they were literally destroyed. Among the spoils were 211 cannon, 80,000 barrels of powder, and a great amount of money, horses and provisions. By this victory Prince Eugene became also a hero to the German people, and many of their songs about him are sung at this day. The "Prussian" troops, under Prince Leopold of Dessau, especially distinguished themselves: their commander was afterwards one of Frederick the Great's most famous generals.

The first consequence of this victory was an armistice with Louis XIV., so far as Italian territory was concerned: nevertheless, a part of the Austrian army was sent to Naples in 1707, to take possession of the country in the name of Spain. The Archduke Karl, after some temporary successes over Philip V., was driven back to Barcelona, and Louis XIV.

then offered to treat for peace. Austria and England refused: in 1708 Marlborough and Prince Eugene, again united, won another victory over the French at Oudenarde, and took the stronghold of Lille, which had been considered impregnable. The road to Paris was apparently open to the allies, and Louis XIV. offered to give up his claim, on behalf of Philip V., to Spain, Milan, the Spanish-American colonies and the Netherlands, provided Naples and Sicily were left to his grandson.

Marlborough and Prince Eugene required, in addition, that he should expel Philip from Spain, in case the latter refused to conform to the treaty. Louis XIV.'s pride was wounded by this demand, and the negotiations were broken off.

[Sidenote: 1708. PEACE REJECTED BY JOSEPH I.]

With great exertion a new French army was raised, and Marshal Villars placed in command. But the two famous commanders, Marlborough and Eugene, achieved such a new and crus.h.i.+ng victory in the battle of Malplaquet, fought on the 11th of September, 1709, that France made a third attempt to conclude peace. Louis XIV. now offered to withdraw his claim to the Spanish succession, to restore Alsatia and Strasburg to Germany, and to pay one million livres a month towards defraying the expenses of expelling Philip V. from Spain. It will scarcely be believed that this proposal, so humiliating to the extravagant pride of France, and which conceded more than Germany had hoped to obtain, was rejected!

The cause seems to have been a change in the fortunes of the Archduke Karl in Spain: he was again victorious, and in 1710 held his triumphal entry in Madrid. Yet it is difficult to conceive what further advantages Joseph I. expected to secure, by prolonging the war.

Germany was soon punished for this presumptuous refusal of peace. A Court intrigue, in England, overthrew the Whig Ministry and gave the power into the hands of the Tories: Marlborough was at first hampered and hindered in carrying out his plans, and then recalled. While keeping up the outward forms of her alliance with Holland and Germany, England began to negotiate secretly with France, and thus the chief strength of the combination against Louis XIV. was broken. In 1711 the Emperor Joseph I. died, leaving no direct heirs, and the Archduke Karl became his successor to the throne. The latter immediately left Spain, was elected before he reached Germany, and crowned in Mayence on the 22d of September, as Karl VI. Although, by deserting Spain, he had seemed to renounce his pretension to the Spanish crown, there was a general fear that the success of Germany would unite the two countries, as in the time of Charles V., and Holland's interest in the war began also to languish. Prince Eugene, without English aid, was so successful in the early part of 1712 that even Paris seemed in danger; but Marshal Villars, by cutting off all his supplies, finally forced him to retreat.

[Sidenote: 1713.]

During this same year negotiations were carried on between France, England, Holland, Savoy and Prussia. They terminated, in 1713, in the Peace of Utrecht, by which the Bourbon, Philip V., was recognized as king of Spain and her colonies, on condition that the crowns of Spain and France should never be united. England received Gibraltar and the island of Minorca from Spain, Acadia, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and the Hudson's Bay Territory from France, and the recognition of her Protestant monarchy. Holland obtained the right to garrison a number of strong frontier fortresses in Belgium, and Prussia received Neufchatel in Switzerland, some territory on the Lower Rhine, and the acknowledgment of Frederick I.'s royal dignity.

Karl VI. refused to recognize his rival, Philip V., as king of Spain, and therefore rejected the Treaty of Utrecht. But the other princes of Germany were not eager to prolong the war for the sake of gratifying the Hapsburg pride. Prince Eugene, who was a devoted adherent of Austria, in vain implored them to be united and resolute. "I stand," he wrote, "like a sentinel (a watch!) on the Rhine; and as mine eye wanders over these fair regions, I think to myself how happy, and beautiful, and undisturbed in the enjoyment of Nature's gifts they might be, if they possessed courage to use the strength which G.o.d hath given them. With an army of 200,000 men I would engage to drive the French out of Germany, and would forfeit my life if I did not obtain a peace which should gladden our hearts for the next twenty years." With such forces as he could collect he carried on the war along the Upper Rhine, but he lost the fortresses of Landau and Freiburg. Louis XIV., however, who was now old and infirm, was very tired of the war, and after these successes, he commissioned Marshal Villars to treat for peace with Prince Eugene. The latter was authorized by the Emperor to negotiate: the two commanders met at Rastatt, in Baden, and in spite of the unreasonable stubbornness of Karl VI. a treaty was finally concluded on the 7th of March, 1714.

[Sidenote: 1714. END OF THE WAR.]

Austria received the Spanish Netherlands, Naples, Milan, Mantua and the Island of Sardinia. Freiburg, Old-Breisach and Kehl were restored to Germany, but France retained Landau, on the west bank of the Rhine, as well as all Alsatia and Strasburg. Thus the recovery of the latter territory, which Joseph I. refused to accept in 1710, was lost to Germany until the year 1870.

By the Treaty of Utrecht, Duke Victor Amadeus of Savoy had received Sicily as an independent kingdom. A few years afterwards he made an exchange with Austria, giving Sicily for Sardinia: thus originated the Kingdom of Sardinia, which continued to exist until the year 1860, when Victor Emanuel became king of Italy.

CHAPTER x.x.xII.

THE RISE OF PRUSSIA.

(1714--1740.)

Wars of Charles XII. of Sweden. --Invasion of Saxony. --Enlargement of Prussia and Hannover. --The "Pragmatic Sanction." --Sacrifices of Austria. --Battle of Peterwardein. --Treaty of Pa.s.sarowitz. --War in Italy. --Frederick I. of Prussia. --Frederick William I. --His Character and Habits. --His Policy as a Ruler. --His Giant Body-Guards. --The Tobacco College. --Decay of Austria. --The other German States. --First Emigration to America. --War of the Polish Succession. --French Invasion. --German Disunion. --The Treaty of Vienna. --Marriage of Maria Theresa. --Disastrous War with Turkey.

--Prussia at the Death of Frederick William I. --Austria at the Death of Karl VI.

[Sidenote: 1714.]

While the War of the Spanish Succession raged along the Rhine, in Bavaria and the Netherlands, the North of Germany was convulsed by another and very different struggle. The ambitious designs of Charles XII. of Sweden, who succeeded to the throne in 1697, aroused the jealousy and renewed the old hostility, of Denmark, Russia and Poland, and in 1700 they formed an alliance against Sweden. Denmark began the war, the same year, by invading Holstein-Gottorp, the Duke of which was the brother-in-law of Charles XII. The latter immediately attacked Copenhagen, and conquered a peace. A few months afterwards he crushed the power of Peter the Great, in the battle of Narva, and was then free to march against Poland. Augustus the Strong was no match for the young Northern hero, who compelled the Polish n.o.bles to depose him and elect Stanislas Lesczinsky in his stead, then marched through Silesia into Saxony, in the year 1706, and from his camp near Leipzig dictated his own terms to Augustus.

A year later, having exhausted what resources were left to the people after the outrageous exactions of their own Electors, Charles XII.

evacuated Saxony with an army of 40,000 men, many of them German recruits, and marched through Poland on his way to the fatal field of Pultowa. The immediate consequences of his terrible defeat there, in 1709, were that Peter the Great took possession of the Baltic provinces, and prepared to found his new capital of St. Petersburg on the Neva.

Then Denmark and Saxony entered into an alliance with Russia, Augustus the Strong was again placed on the throne of Poland, and the Swedish-German provinces on the Baltic and the North Sea were overrun and ravaged by the Danish and Russian armies. Towards the end of the year 1714, after peace had been concluded with France, Charles XII.

suddenly appeared in Stralsund, having escaped from his long exile in Turkey and travelled day and night on horseback across Europe, from the sh.o.r.es of the Black Sea. Then Prussia and Hannover, both eager to enlarge their dominions at the expense of Sweden, united against him. He had not sufficient military strength to resist them, and after his death at Frederickshall, in 1718, Sweden was compelled to make peace on conditions which forever destroyed her supremacy among the northern powers.