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friendly to Sweden, he was forced by circumstances to | Prussia occupied the fourth place in point of military
take up arms against it. In September 1713 Stettin was
captured by the allies and handed over to the custody of
Frederick William, who paid the expenses of the siege and
undertook to retain possession of the town until the end
of the war.
But Charles XII. refused to recognize this
arrangement and returned from his exile in Turkey to
demand the immediate restitution of the town. With this
demand the Prussian monarch naturally declined to comply,
unless the money he had advanced was reimbursed, and the
upshot was the outbreak of the only war in which Frederick
William ever engaged. The struggle was of short dura-
tion and was practically ended in 1715 by the capture of
Stralsund by the united Prussians, Saxons, and Danes
under the command of the king of Prussia. The Swedes
were driven from Pomerania, and at the peace of 1720
Frederick William received the greater part of Vorpom-
mern, including the important seaport of Stettin. Sweden
now disappeared from the ranks of the great powers, and
Prussia was left without a rival in northern Germany.

:

power. The king himself took the greatest interest in the management of his army, in which the discipline was of the strictest; and he carried the habits of the military martinet into all departments of the administration. His untiring industry occupied itself with the minutest details of government, and his downright blunt character showed there to greater advantage than in diplomatic circles. His chief innovation was the abolition of the distinction between the military and civil funds, and the assignment of the entire financial management of the country to a Hitherto general directory of finance, war, and domains. the proceeds of the excise and contribution had been paid into the military chest, while those of the royal monopolies and domains belonged to the civil service, deficiencies in one department being made good by the surplus of the other. Now, however, the directory was instructed to pay for everything out of a common fund, and so to regulate the expenditure that there should invariably be a surplus at the end of the year. As the army absorbed five-sevenths A detailed history of Frederick William's reign would of the revenue, the civil administration had to be conducted necessitate the recital of a long and tedious series of with the greatest economy. The king himself set the exdiplomatic proceedings, centring in the question of the ample of the frugality which he expected from his officials, succession to the duchies of Jülich and Berg. In 1725 we and contented himself with a civil list of 52,000 thalers find the king trusting for support to an alliance with (£7800). The domains were now managed so as to yield England, while the queen has set her heart on a double a greater income than ever before, and important reforms marriage between her eldest son and daughter and an were made in the system of taxation. By the substitution English princess and prince. The treaty of Wusterhausen of a payment in money for the obsolete military tenure between Austria and Prussia was concluded in the follow- the nobles were deprived of their practical exemption ing year, and was confirmed with some modifications by from taxation, and they were also required to pay taxes the treaty of Berlin in 1728. Frederick William engaged for all the peasant holdings they had absorbed. Attempts to recognize the Pragmatic Sanction, while the emperor on were made to better the condition of the peasants, and his side undertook to support Prussia's claims to Jülich the worst features of villainage were abolished in the and Berg. The policy of the latter, however, was far from crown domains. The military system of cantonment, straightforward, as he had already entered into a similar according to which each regiment was allotted a district compact with the count palatine of Sulzbach, the rival in which to recruit, was of constitutional as well as claimant to the succession, who was a Roman Catholic and military importance, since it brought the peasants into therefore a more sympathetic ally. Frederick William's direct contact with the royal officials. The collection of intervention in the matter of the succession to the throne the taxes of the peasantry was removed from the hands of of Poland, rendered vacant by the death of Augustus II. the landowners. The duties of the state officials were in 1733, proved barren of advantage to Prussia and failed laid down with great detail, and their performance was to secure the hoped-for reversion of the duchy of Cour- exacted with great severity. Official corruption was Justice seems to have land. A Prussian contingent took part none the less in punished with extreme rigour. the ensuing war between Austria and France, but Austria been administered in an upright if somewhat Draconian concluded peace in 1735 without consulting her ally. In In manner, though the frequent and often arbitrary inflic 1737 the king was resolute enough to withstand the tion of the penalty of death by the king strikes us with pressure brought to bear upon him by England, France, astonishment. The agricultural and industrial interests Holland, and Austria in order to induce him to submit to of the country were fostered with great zeal. The most their settlement of the Jülich-Berg question; and in 1739, important industrial undertaking was the introduction of convinced at last of the confirmed duplicity of the emperor, the manufacture of woollen cloth, the royal factory at he turned to his hereditary enemy for help and concluded Berlin supplying uniforms for the entire army. The coma defensive alliance with France. This action may be mercial regulations, conceived in a spirit of rigid prolooked upon as marking the end of that phase in the rela- tection, were less successful. In the ecclesiastical sphere tions of the houses of Hapsburg and Hohenzollern in the king was able to secure toleration for the Protestants which the latter regarded the former with simple loyalty in other parts of Germany by reprisals on his own Roman as its natural suzerain; the rivalry between Austria and Catholic subjects, and he also gave welcome to numerous Prussia had begun, and for the rest of the century formed Protestant refugees, including 18,000 exiled peasants from the pivot on which the politics of Europe mainly turned. Salzburg. For art, science, and the higher culture he had Frederick William died in 1740, conscious of his diplo- no respect, but he has the credit of founding the commonmatic failures, but confident that his son would repair school system of Prussia and of making elementary education compulsory.

Penesia

under Frederick

his errors.

If the external history of Frederick William's reign is not especially glorious, and if in diplomacy he was worsted William by the emperor, the country at least enjoyed the benefits of a twenty-five years' peace and those of a well-meaning, though somewhat too patriarchal, government. During this reign the revenues of Prussia were doubled, and the king left at his death a well-filled treasury and an army of 85,000 men. Though not ranking higher than twelfth among the European states in extent and population,

After the accession of Frederick the Great (1740-1786) Frederick the external history of Prussia coincides to such an extent II. with that of the German empire that it has already been treated with considerable detail in the article GERMANY (vol. x. pp. 503-4; see also FREDERICK II.). The outline of Frederick's foreign policy was probably determined in some degree by the events of the later years of his father's reign, and Austrian duplicity in the matter of Jülich gave him a colourable pretext for his hostile attitude in reviving

XX.

-- 2

Prussia
under
Frederick
II.

the long dormant claims of Prussia to the Silesian duchies. | all the ruined villages had been rebuilt; the ground was
Within a year of his accession he had embarked on the
first Silesian War, and this was closely followed by the
second, which ended in 1745, leaving Frederick in undis-
puted possession of almost the whole of Silesia, with the
frontier that still exists. East Friesland, the Prussian claim
to which dated from the time of the Great Elector, was
absorbed in 1744 on the death without issue of the last
duke. The two Silesian wars completely exhausted the
stores left by Frederick William, both of grenadiers and
thalers, and Frederick gladly welcomed the interval of
peace to amass new treasures and allow his subjects time
to recover from their exertions. The measures he took
were so successful that when the Seven Years' War broke |
out in 1756 he had an army of 150,000 men at his com-
mand, representing about one-seventh of the available male
population of his little kingdom. He had also a fund of
eleven million thalers in his treasury, though this would
have gone but a small way in defraying the expenses of
the protracted struggle had he not been assisted by the
subsidies of England and able to make the fertile plains
of Saxony his chief basis of supply. The succession of
brilliant campaigns in which Frederick maintained himself
against a coalition embracing nearly the whole of Europe
has been narrated in the article AUSTRIA (vol. iii. p. 127 sq.).
As Macaulay points out in a somewhat highly-coloured
passage, Frederick ruled over a population of less than
five million souls, while his adversaries could draw their
armies from a joint population of a hundred millions.
The disproportion in wealth was at least as great. Nor
was the small size of Frederick's land made up for by
its strong patriotism and loyalty; on the contrary, the
affections of his subjects had been partially alienated by
the severity of his rule and the weight of taxation.
Prussia had no strong natural bulwarks on its frontiers,
but lay exposed to every foe. Yet Frederick's brilliant
military genius was able to counteract all these dis-
advantages and carry on the contest in spite of all odds.

Though without gain in extent or population, Prussia
emerged from the war as an undoubted power of the first
rank, and henceforth completely eclipsed Saxony, Bavaria,
and Hanover, while it was plain that Austria would no
longer stand without a rival for the hegemony of the Ger-
man empire. The glorious victories over the French and
Russians also awakened a spirit of German patriotism that

had hitherto been almost unknown. But the price paid
for these results was enormous. Of the 850,000 soldiers
who, as is estimated, perished during the war about
180,000 fell in the service of Prussia, and the gross popu-
lation of the kingdom had decreased in seven years to the
extent of half a million souls. The misery and poverty
indirectly attendant on the war were incalculable. Numer-
ous Prussian towns and villages were destroyed or made
tenantless; large tracts were left uncultivated for want of
labourers; and famine reigned to such an extent that even
the seed-corn was converted into bread. The development
of the country was thrown back for many years, which
were almost a repetition of the period succeeding the
Thirty Years' War. But, while nearly a century elapsed
before the traces of that struggle disappeared, Frederick,
who showed himself great in peace as in war, repaired most
of the ravages of the Seven Years' War in a tenth of the
time. By great dexterity in the management of his finances
he had kept clear of debt, and was soon able to advance
large sums to the most impoverished districts. Foreign
colonists were invited to repeople the deserted villages;
taxes were in several instances remitted for a series of
years; the horses of the army were employed in farm
labour; and individual effort in every department was
liberally supported by the Government. By 1770 nearly

again under cultivation; order had been restored; the
vacant offices had been filled; and the debased currency
had been called in. Throughout the kingdom agriculture
was encouraged by the drainage of marshy districts; in-
dustry was extended by the introduction of new manu-
factures, by bounties, and by monopolies; and commerce
was fostered by a series of well-meant, if economically
unsound, measures of protection. Frederick's methods of
administration did not greatly differ from those of his pre-
decessor, though the unrelenting severity of Frederick
William was relaxed and the peculiarities of his system
toned down. Frederick's industry and activity were as
great as those of his father, his insight keener, and his
views more liberal. His rule was quite as personal and
absolute, and the despotism was altered only in so far as
the character of the despot was different. His own personal
supervision extended to every department, and his idea of
his position and duties made him his own first minister
in the widest and most exacting sense of the term. He
endeavoured to spare his subjects as far as was compatible
with the immense army he maintained, and sought to raise
the necessary revenues rather by improving the resources
of the country than by additional taxation. He kept the
charges of the civil administration down to the lowest point
consistent with efficiency, and the court establishment was
very economical, though it avoided the extreme of shabbi-
ness witnessed under Frederick William. His efforts to
improve the administration and the bureaucracy were un-
ceasing, and he succeeded in training a body of admirable
public servants. One of his most sweeping reforms was in
the department of law, where, with the able aid of Cocceji,
he carried out a complete revolution both in procedure and
personnel. The expenses of justice were greatly lightened,
and no suit was allowed to drag on for more than a year.
A complete divorce was effected between the departments
of justice and provincial administration, a change that
greatly strengthened the position of the private citizen in
any contest with the officials of Government. One of the
king's first acts was to abolish legal torture, and he rarely
sanctioned capital punishment except in cases of murder.
The application of the privilegium de non appellando (1746)
freed Prussia from all relations with the imperial courts
and paved the way for a codification of the common law
of the land, which was begun under Frederick but not
completed till the end of the century. In matters of reli- 1794
gion Frederick not only exercised the greatest toleration,
remarking that each of his subjects might go to heaven
after his own fashion, but distinctly disclaimed the con-
nexion of the state with any one confession. Equal liberty
was granted in speaking and writing. Though his finances-
did not allow him to do much directly for education, his
example and his patronage of men of letters exercised a
most salutary effect. The old system of rigid social privi-
lege was, however, still maintained, and unsurmountable
barriers separated the noble from the citizen and the
citizen from the peasant. The position of the last was
very deplorable; villainage still to a great extent existed,
and the mental attitude of the rural population was servile
in the extreme.1 The paramount defect of Frederick's ad-
ministration, as future events proved, was the neglect of
any effort to encourage independence and power of self-
government among the people. Every measure emanated
from the king himself, and the country learned to rely on
him alone for help in every emergency. Public opinion
on political matters could not be said to exist; and the
provincial diets met simply to receive the instructions of
the royal agents.

1 One illustration of this is afforded by the fact that the private
soldiers felt no resentment at being struck by their officers.

II.

In 1772 Prussia and Austria, in order to prevent an overweening growth of Russia, joined in the first partition of Poland. Frederick's share consisted of West Prussia and the Netze district, a most welcome addition, filling up the gap between the great mass of his territories and the isolated district of East Prussia. It had also this advantage over later acquisitions at Poland's expense, that it was a thoroughly German land, having formed part of the colonizations of the Teutonic Order. In 1778 Prussia found herself once more in opposition to Austria on the question of the Bavarian succession, but the war that ensued was almost entirely nominal, and the difficulty was adjusted without much bloodshed. The same question elicited the last action of importance in which Frederick engaged, the formation of a "Fürstenbund," or league of German princes under Prussian supremacy, to resist the encroachments of Austria. The importance of this union was soon obscured by the momentous events of the French Revolution, but it was a significant foreshadowing of the duel of Austria and Prussia for the pre-eminence in Germany. Frederick died on 17th August 1786, having increased his territories to an area of 75,000 square miles, with a population of five and a half millions. The revenue also had immensely increased and now amounted to about twenty million thalers annually, of which, however, thirteen were spent on the army. The treasury contained a fund of sixty million thalers, and the land was free of debt. Frederick A continuation of the personal despotism under which William Prussia had now existed for seventy years, as well as of its disproportionate influence in Europe, would have required a ruler with something of the iron will and ability of Frederick the Great. Unfortunately Frederick's nephew and successor, Frederick William II. (1786-1797), had neither the energy nor the insight that his position demanded. He was too undecided to grasp the opportunity of adding to Prussia's power by adhering to the vigorous external policy of his predecessor, nor did he on the other hand make any attempt to meet the growing discontent of his subjects under their heavy burdens by putting himself at the head of an internal movement of liberal reform. The rule of absolutism continued, though the power now lay more in the hands of a "camarilla" or cabinet than in those of the monarch; and the statesmen who now came to the front were singularly short-sighted and inefficient. The freedom of religion and the press left by Frederick the Great was abrogated in 1788 by royal ordinance. In 1787 the army engaged in an expensive and useless campaign against Holland. The abandonment of Frederick's policy was shown in a tendency to follow the lead of Austria, which culminated in an alliance with that power against revolutionary France. But in 1795 Prussia, suspicious of the Polish plans of Russia and Austria, concluded the separate peace of Basel, almost the only redeeming feature of which was the stipulation that all north German states beyond a certain line of demarcation should participate in its benefits. This practically divided Germany into two camps and inflicted a severe blow on the imperial system. The indifference with which Prussia relinquished to France German lands on the left bank of the Rhine, compared with her eagerness to increase her Slavonic territories on the east, was certainly one of the great blunders of the reign. Prussia's share in the second and third partitions of Poland (1793 and 1795) nearly doubled her extent, but added little or nothing to her real power. The twelve years following the peace of Basel form one of the most sombre periods of the history of Prussia. Her prestige was lost by her persistent and ill-timed neutrality in the struggle with France; the old virtues of economy, order, and justice disappeared from the bureaucracy; the army was gradually losing its excellence and was weakened

rather than strengthened by the hordes of disaffected Polish
recruits; the treasury was exhausted and a large debt in-
curred; the newly-awakened feeling of German patriotism
had died away, especially among
the upper classes.
Frederick William III. (1797-1840) possessed many Frederick
virtues that did him credit in his private capacity, but he William
lacked the vigour that was at this juncture imperatively III.
required from a ruler of Prussia, while he was unfortu-
nately surrounded by counsellors who had as little concep-
tion as himself of Prussia's proper rôle. He continued to
adhere closely to a policy of timid neutrality and seemed
content to let Prussia slip back into the position of a
second-rate state, the attitude of which in the great Euro-
pean struggle could be of no special importance. Not even
the high-handed occupation of Hanover by the French in
1803 could arouse him; and the last shred of self-respect
seemed to have been parted with in 1805 when Prussia
consented to receive Hanover, the property of its ally
England, from the hands of France. The formation of
the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 and the intelligence
that France had agreed to restore Hanover to England at
last convinced Frederick William of what he had to fear
from Napoleon; while Napoleon on his side, being now
free of his other antagonists, was only too glad of an
opportunity to destroy his tool. Prussia declared war on
9th October 1806; and the short campaign that ensued
showed that the army of Frederick the Great had lost its
virtue, and that Prussia, single-handed, was no match
for the great French commander. On 14th October the
Prussian armies were overthrown at Jena and Auerstädt,
and a total collapse set in. Disgraceful capitulations of
troops and fortresses without a struggle followed one
another in rapid succession; the court fled to East Prussia;
and Napoleon entered Berlin in triumph. At the peace
of Tilsit (9th July 1807) Frederick William lost half his
kingdom, including all that had been acquired at the
second and third partitions of Poland and the whole of
the territory to the west of the Elbe. An enormous war
indemnity was also demanded, and the Prussian fortresses
were occupied by the French until this should be paid.
Prussia now paid heavily for its past remissness and
drained the cup of humiliation to the dregs.

The next half-dozen years form a period of the greatest significance in the history of Prussia, embracing, as they do, the turning-point in the moral regeneration of the country. The disasters of 1806 elicited a strong spirit of devoted patriotism, which was fanned by the exertions of the "Tugendbund," or League of Virtue, and by the writings of men like Fichte and Arndt. This was accompanied by a wonderful revelation of vitality and recuperative

power.

The credit of the reformation belongs mainly to Stein's the great minister Stein, and in the second place to the reforms chancellor Hardenberg. The condition on which Stein based his acceptance of office was itself of immense importance; he insisted that the system of governing through irresponsible cabinet councillors, which had gradually become customary, should cease, and that the responsible ministers of departments should be at once the confidential advisers and the executive agents of the king. Stein's designs and wishes extended to the establishment of a regular system of parliamentary and local government like that of England, but he had not an opportunity to do much more than begin the work. His edict of 1807 abolished serfdom and obliterated the legal distinction of classes by establishing freedom of exchange in land and free choice of occupation. The "Städteordnung" of 1808

1 Previous to this measure the distinction between "noble,' "burgher," and "peasant" land and occupations was strictly observed, and no transition of property or employment from one class to another was possible.

in 1809.

William

IV.

reformed the municipalities and granted them important marked by much material and social progress, was in the rights of self-government. His administrative reforms political sphere a period of the most deplorable reaction. amounted to a complete reconstruction of the ministerial At first the king seemed disposed to fulfil his promise of departments and the machinery of provincial government, 1815 and grant the country a constitution, but ultimately and practically established the system now in force. In both he and his minister Hardenberg suffered themselves 1810 Hardenberg, with a precipitancy which Stein would to be dragged in the wake of the retrogressive policy of Metternich. scarcely have approved, continued the reform in the conThe only concession made to the popular dition of the peasants by making them absolute owners of demand was the utterly inadequate patent of 1823, appointpart of their holdings, the landlords obtaining the rest as ing triennial provincial diets with a merely consultative an indemnity for their lost dues.1 The revolution thus function. The king also allowed himself to be alarmed effected in Prussia has been aptly compared in its results by the ultra-liberal movement at the universities, and to the great revolution in France; but, while there the joined in the notorious Carlsbad decrees (1819) and in reforms were exacted by a people in arms, here they were the senseless prosecutions of demagogues that formed the rather forced upon the people by the crown. The army sequel. Many of Prussia's noblest and most patriotic sons was also reorganized by Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, while now suffered unmerited punishment, and the Government the condition imposed by Napoleon that it should not showed a total incapacity to understand the real state of exceed 42,000 men was practically evaded by replacing affairs. Respect for the aged king, however, prevented each body of men by another as soon as it was fairly versed an outburst during his reign. After 1830 Prussia began in military exercises. The educational reforms of William to shake herself clear of the Austrian leading-strings, and von Humboldt established the school system of Prussia on the establishment of the "Zollverein," or customs union of its present basis, and the university of Berlin was founded the German states under Prussian supremacy, was a decided step towards a policy of independence. In ecclesiastical matters this reign is memorable for the union forced by the crown upon the Lutherans and Calvinists, and for the preliminary symptoms of the "Culturkampf." Frederick William IV. (1840-1861), a man of character Frederick and intelligence, began his reign promisingly by an amnesty for political offenders and by well-meant concessions to the dissatisfied Ultramontanes; but it soon became evident that he held too exalted an idea of the divine right of kings willingly to grant such a constitution as was required. Then followed the contest between the crown and the people, the various steps of which have been chronicled in the article GERMANY. At last the king had to give way and grant a constitution based upon democratic principles, and substituting a representative parliament for the old This constitution was proPrussian system of estates. mulgated on 31st January 1850, and Prussia therewith formally entered the ranks of modern and constitutional But in the following years the king maintained as reactionary a policy as was in any way compatible with the constitution, receiving his chief support in this line of action from the Prussian "Junkerthum," or squirearchy. In external politics the chief feature of the reign is Prussia's neglect of the opportunity to take up a strong position as the political and military leader of northern and central Germany: the king refused the imperial crown offered to him by the Frankfort Parliament in 1849, and allowed Prussia to play a subordinate rôle at Olmütz in the following year. Towards the close of his life the Prussian Government was distrusted at home and discredited abroad. In 1858 William, prince of Prussia, became regent in William consequence of the mental illness of his brother, and in I. His acces1861 he succeeded to the throne as William I. sion was hailed as likely to increase both the liberalism of Prussia's internal institutions and the vigour of its external policy; and the second at least of these expectations was not disappointed. But at an early period of his reign the king became involved in a constitutional dispute with the House of Representatives, which declined to grant the supplies necessary for an extensive system of military reorganization. Bismarck, who became prime minister in 1862, refused to allow the crown to be hampered by parliamentary restrictions and raised the funds required in defiance of the attitude of the lower house. This internal conflict may have had its influence in forcing upon the ministry the necessity of a strong foreign policy, especially in its dealings with Austria, though the party of reform believed that the hegemony of Germany might have been secured by Prussia without war if she had simply placed

Frederick William hesitated to take part in the Austrian of 1809, but his opportunity came in 1813, when reon fled from Russia, denuded of his troops. General commander of the corps that Prussia had been obliged Contribute to the French expedition, anticipated the formal declaration of war by joining the Russians with his troops on his own responsibility (30th December 1812). On the outbreak of the war the people rose en masse and with the utmost enthusiasm. The regular army was supported by hosts of "Landwehr," or militia, eager to share in the emancipation of their country. A treaty of alliance between Russia and Prussia was concluded at Kalisch, and Austria, after some hesitation, also joined the league against Napoleon. In the struggle that followed (see AUSTRIA, vol. iii. pp. 134-135) Prussia played one of the most prominent parts, and her general Blücher ranks high among the heroes of the war. Between 1813 and the battle of Waterloo Prussia lost 140,000 men, and strained her financial resources to the utmost. As compensation she received at the congress of Vienna the northern half of Saxony, her old possessions to the west of the Elbe, Swedish Pomerania, the duchies of Berg and Jülich, and other districts in Westphalia and on the Rhine. The acquisitions of the last partition of Poland, with the exception of the grand-duchy of Posen, were resigned to Russia, Friesland went to Hanover, and Bavaria was allowed to retain Baireuth and Ansbach, which had come into her hands in 1806. This rearrangement of the map did not wholly restore Prussia to its former extent, as its area was now only 108,000 square miles compared with 122,000 square miles at the beginning of 1806, but the substitution of German for Slavonic territory and the shifting of the centre of gravity towards the west more than made up for any slight loss in mere size. Hanover still formed a huge wedge splitting Prussia completely in two, and the western frontier was very ragged. Prussia's position required caution, but forced upon it a national German policy, and the situation of the new lands was vastly more effectual in determining the future leader of Germany than was Austria's aggrandizement in Italy. The work of incorporating the new provinces was accomplished with as little friction as possible, and the Prussian statesmen had the good sense to leave the Rhenish districts in the full enjoyment of the institutions they had been used to under the French régime.

The remainder of Frederick William III.'s reign, though 1 The patrimonial jurisdiction of the landowners was not taken

away till 1848.

states.

บก

herself at the head of the liberal movement. Prussia's | and in the Prussian landtag. In spite of the continued
neutral attitude in the Austro-Italian War was the first existence of the special law passed against the socialists,
sign of the coming storm; and then followed the Schleswig- which has been prolonged from time to time, their numbers
Holstein episode, culminating in the war of 1866 (see have grown steadily, and in the autumnal election of 1884
AUSTRIA), the successful issue of which expelled Austria they returned no fewer than twenty-four of their candidates
from Germany and left its rival in undisputed possession. to the reichstag, polling 550,000 votes, or about ten per
The territorial acquisitions which Prussia now made, con- cent. of the total number recorded. Their success was
sisting of Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Nassau, Frankfort, especially marked in Berlin, where they returned two
and Schleswig-Holstein, increased its extent by about a members and polled 70,000 votes. The same election was
fifth and for the first time gave a satisfactory rounding-off also remarkable for the diminution of the German Liberal-
to its form. The Prussian landtag, carried away by success, ists (Deutsch-Freisinnige), a party formed by the fusion of
granted Bismarck, by a large majority, the indemnity he the Progressists and Secessionists.
had the grace to ask for in regard to his previous unconsti-
tutional proceedings in the financial dispute.

The war of 1866 gave the deathblow to the Germanic Confederation of 1815, and in its place appeared the North German Confederation under the lead of Prussia. The transformation was completed five years later, after the successful war with France, when the south German states also joined the union and the king of Prussia became the German emperor. The united Germany that Frederick the Great had sought in the Fürstenbund, that Frederick William III. had tried to organize in 1806 in opposition to the Confederation of the Rhine, that Frederick William IV. had hoped to achieve in 1850, was at length an accomplished fact. In entering this union Prussia may in a sense be said to have abdicated her position as a great power in favour of Germany, but her influence within the empire, practically comprising that of all the small north German states, is so overwhelming that her identity is not likely ever to be wholly lost. Any measure increasing the power of the empire at the expense of the individual states is tantamount to an increase of the power of Prussia.

Since the Franco-German War the history of Prussia has been for the outside world practically identical with that of Germany and has centred in the figure of Prince Bismarck. The policy of the imperial chancellor and Prussian premier is essentially autocratic in its nature, and seems to have for its keynote the necessity of maintaining at any price a strong central Government to cope with external emergencies. He identifies himself with no party, but generally manages by timely concessions to form such temporary parliamentary combinations as are necessary to carry the measures he has most at heart. On the other hand, he does not hesitate freely to call into requisition the royal veto on resolutions of parliament of which he does not approve. His reversion to a strong protectionist policy, which became marked in 1879, the date to which the history is brought down in the article GERMANY, has so far proved permanent, and numerous protective measures have been passed, though his favourite scheme of a Government monopoly of tobacco has been decisively rejected both by the imperial and the Prussian chambers. As a pendant to these measures may be mentioned the laws intended to improve the position of the working classes, most of which are inspired by a spirit of state socialism. The alienation of the National Liberals, occasioned by the change in Bismarck's economic policy, has compelled him to seek his later majorities in a combination of Conservatives and Ultramontanes, the benefit of which has been mainly reaped by the latter. On the accession of Pope Leo XIII. some conciliatory advances were made by Rome and Prussia; in 1881 diplomatic relations were reopened with the Vatican, and several important concessions were made by a measure passed in 1883. The May laws have not been repealed, but they have latterly been put in force with much less stringency, and a great many of the vacant bishoprics and pastorates have been at least temporarily filled. The Ultramontanes continue to form one of the largest "fractions" both in the reichstag

Perhaps the most significant event in the recent history of Germany has been her entrance into the ranks of the colonial powers by the annexation in 1884 of several districts on the west coast of Africa, and among the islands of the Pacific Ocean. In this step Prince Bismarck has revived a policy that has slumbered since the time of the Great Elector (see p. 8), but there seems little reason to doubt that this new scheme of colonization will prove of more permanent importance than that of the 17th century.

cognized as an electorate.

CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE OF THE CHIEF EVENTS IN THE HISTORY OF PRUSSIA. 930. Foundation of the North Mark, the nucleus of Brandenburg. 1134, Albert the Bear is invested with the North Mark, and founds the Ascen line of margraves. 1230-83. Conquest of Preussen by the Teutonic 1324-66. Margraves of the Bavarian line. 1356. Brandenburg defin 1373-1413. Luxemburg line of electors Frederick of Hohenzollern becomes elector of Brandenburg. 1539. R tion proclaimed by Joachim II. 1618. Duchy of Prussia inherited by EX John Sigismund. 1640. Accession, of Frederick William, the Great Elector. 1648. Brandenburg-Prussia receives Farther Pomerania, Magdeburg, Halberstadt, and Minden at the peace of Westphalia. 1657. Independence of the duchy of Prussia recognized. 1675. Victory over the Swedes at Fehrbellin. 1701. Elector Frederick assumes the title of "king of Prussia." 1720. Acquisition of Hither Pomerania. 1740. Accession of Frederick the Great. 1742. Acquisition of Silesia at the close of the first Silesian War. 1744-45. Second Silesian War. 1756-63. Seven Years' War; principal victories: Prague (6th May 1757), Rossbach (5th November 1757), Leuthen (5th December 1757), Liegnitz (15th August 1760), and Torgau (3d November 1760); principal defents: Kolin (18th June 1757), Hochkirch (14th October 1758), Kunersdorf (12th August 1759). 1772. First partition of Poland; acquisition of West Prussia. 1792. War with France. 1793. Second partition of Poland; acquisition of South Prussia. 1795. Third partition of Poland; acquisition of New East Prussia; peace of Basel, providing for Prussia's neutrality in the struggle with France. 1806. War declared against Napoleon; defeats of Jena and Auerstädt; Prussia conquered by the French. 1807. Peace of Tilsit and dismemberment of the kingdom. 1808. Beginning of Stein's constitutional reforms. 1813. War of liberation; battle of Leipsic (16th to 19th October). 1814-15. Congress of Vienna; Prussia rehabilitated; establishment of the Germanic Confederation. 1815. Battle of Waterloo. 1850. Promulgation of the Prussian constitution. 1864. War with Denmark. 1866. War with Austria; battle of Königgrätz (3d July); acquisition of Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, and electoral Hesse; establishment of North German Confederation. 1870-71. War with France. 1871. The king of Prussia proclaimed German emperor.

of

GEOGRAPHY AND STATISTICS.

Physical Features.1-Fully three-fifths of Prussia belong to the Physical great north European plain and may be generally characterized as features. lowlands. The plain is much wider on the east, where only the southern margin of Prussia is mountainous, than on the west, where the Hanoverian hills approach to within less than 100 miles the sea. A line drawn from Düsseldorf through Halle to Breslau would, roughly speaking, divide the flat part of the country from the hilly districts. In the south-east Prussia is separated from Austria and Bohemia by the Sudetic chain, which begins at the valley of the Oder and extends thence towards the north-west. This chain includes the Riesen Gebirge, with the highest mountain in Prussia (Schneekoppe, 5266 feet), and subsides gradually in the hills of Lusatia. The Harz Mountains, however, beyond the Saxon plain, follow the same general direction and may be regarded as a detached continuation of the system. To the south of the Harz the Prussian frontier intersects the northern part of the Thuringian Forest, which is also prolonged towards the north-west by the Weser Hills and the Teutoburgian Forest. The south-west of Prussia is occupied by the plateau of the lower Rhine, including on the left bank the Hundsrück and the Eifel, and on the right the Taunus, the Westerwald, and the Sauerland. Between the lower Rhenish and Thuringian systems are interposed the Vogelsberg, the Rhön, and other hills belonging to the Triassic system of the The Silesian mountains are composed chiefly of upper Rhine. granite, gneiss, and schists, while the Harz and the lower Rhenish plateau are mainly of Devonian and Silurian formation. To the north of the Sauerland is the important Carboniferous system of the

The physical features of Prussia have been already so fully described under GERMANY that it has been deemed unnecessary to give here more than the briefest recapitulation. For other points which the reader may here miss he is also referred to that article.

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