BISMARCK-SCHOXHAUSEN, OTTO EDUARD LEOPOLD, VON. 



lint yet made sun- of the neutrality of France, 

 wlu.se hopes of expansion in Belgium and Luxem- 

 burg he artfully fed : of the friendship of Russia. 

 which had obtained from Prussia a convention for 

 common action against the Poles, and had evensug- 

 d * league against Austria and France: of the 

 alliance with Italy. eager to strike from her limbs 

 the last of the Austrian shackles. 



In the spring of 1866 Bismarck presented his 

 scheme of reforms for the Germanic Confederation, 

 which was nothing but an nit imatiiiu. an anticipa- 

 tion of the fruits of victory. To substitute for the 

 old Confederation a North German Confederation 

 and a South German Confederation and to exclude 

 Austria from German councils altogether was a so- 

 lution in which neither she nor her German allies 

 could he expected to acquiesce except by focce of 

 arms. On the eve of the war Bismarck had to 

 flght for his own position, threatened by court in- 

 trigues, the "feminine undercurrents," which he 

 complained of as embittering his existence and en- 

 dangering his work on various occasions. The 

 English Crown Princess and the Queen both sought 

 to stay King Wilhelm's hand until the minister 

 carried the day by presenting the alternative of 

 war with him at the helm or peace without him. 

 <>n June 14, I860, Austria passed in the Frankfort 

 Diet a motion to mobilize the forces of the Con- 

 federation against Prussia. 



From the beginning of the Schleswig-Holstein 

 entanglement the Hapsburg Government had floun- 

 dered helplessly in the toils, while Bismarck, every 

 wire in hand, had planned the political denoue- 

 ment to coincide exactly with the Prussian military 

 preparations. In two days Prussian forces occu- 

 pied Hanover, Hesse, and Saxony; in three weeks 

 the Prussian army confronted the main Austrian 

 army in Bohemia. The King and Bismarck left 

 Berlin for the seat of war on June 23, and on 

 July 3 they watched the timely arrival of the 

 Crown Prince's troops and the final rout of the 

 brave Austrians at Sadowa. 



The North German Confederation thus came into 

 being by blood and iron, and Bismarck, who had 

 received the title of Graf after the Danish cam- 

 paign, became its Chancellor. He was tenderly 

 considerate of the feelings of the vanquished Aus- 

 trians and Saxons, forgiving and solicitous toward 

 the South German States, but to Hanover, Hesse- 

 Cassel. Nassau, and the free city of Frankfort, 

 which, with Schleswig-Holstein, were annexed to 

 Prus- i.-i. he was relentlessly severe and inexorable. 

 In the Reichstag of the North German Confedera- 

 tion, which came together in the spring of 1867, 

 the Chancellor broke away from all his earlier po- 

 litical associations to seek "the support of the popu- 

 lar National Liberal party, first stipulating that he 

 sln.uld have liberty to keep up the strength of the, 

 army. He was even willing to compromise on this 

 point, and accepted a vote for live years instead 



of tell. 



The Austrian war was only the first skirmish in 

 the action which Mismarck had foreseen and pre- 

 arranged, the issue of which was to be the consoli- 

 dation of the German nation. A victorious war 

 with France he regarded as even more essential. 

 and at one time he had proposed that Austria and 

 Prussia should compose their differences and join 

 togrther in wresting Alsace from France BOastb 

 make it. as () f ,ld. the outpost of the German 

 Empire. After the Austrian campaign it was the 

 French Kmprror who was restless and disturbed, 

 and who demanded compensation for the airgrand- 

 i/.emcnt of Prussia. To secure his neutrality Bis- 

 marck had promised him the duchy of Luxem- 

 burg, probably knowing that Germany would never 

 acquiesce in this arrangement. Every year the 



growth of the Prussian army made him more un- 

 easy. And all the time while the army was being 

 augmented, organized, trained, and armed Graf 

 Bismarck was playing his diplomatic game to 

 ensnare France as he had Austria, to place her in 

 the wrong, to catch her when his plans were ripe 

 without allies, without friends or sympathizers. 

 He made secret treaties of alliance with the South 

 German states, fostered friendly relations with 

 Russia, made sure of the neutrality of Austria, 

 cemented the understanding with Italy, and held 

 back for publication at the right moment Na- 

 poleon's secret agreement with the King of Holland 

 for the partition of Belgium, which would be sure 

 to alienate the sympathies of England. The rv/.-^.s 

 belli, the candidature of a German prince, a 

 Hohenzollern, for the Spanish throne, he held in 

 hand, so that he could draw from France the 

 provocation and the declaration of war as well. 

 When the affair came to a head King Wilhelm 

 almost defeated his scheme. By the Chancellor's 

 advice he had induced the Hohenzollern to with- 

 draw his candidature, but had declined to sign a 

 letter undertaking that it should never be re- 

 newed. Then of his own motion he had given 

 some reassuring explanations to Count Benedetti. 

 the French envoy, but refused to discuss matters 

 further in the absence of his minister. A telegram 

 was sent, first telling how the King had declined to 

 pledge himself that the Hohenzollern candidacy 

 should not be revived, then recounting the audi- 

 ences and explanations that Benedetti thankfully 

 accepted for the consideration of his Government, 

 and last the denial of a further interview. P>is- 

 marck asked Moltke if the army was strong enough, 

 and on receiving the answer that Prussia never had 

 a better instrument, he struck out of the dispatch 

 all the account of interviews, explanations, and 

 pacificatory assurances, leaving only the head and 

 the tail, that the King refused to give a pledge and 

 that he declined to receive the French envoy again 

 and had him informed through an adjutant "that he 

 had nothing further to communicate to him. The 

 publication of this dispatch stung the people of 

 Paris to madness and drew from France an imme- 

 diate declaration of war. 



The German armies had crossed the Rhine before 

 the Cabinets of Europe had time to deliberate on 

 the situation. The victorious advance was so rapid 

 that there was no opportunity for a European 

 coalition against Germany to be arranged. The 

 Chancellor, in his Jager uniform, accompanied the 

 King to the field, directed the Government from 

 the moving camp, and finally established himself in 

 the palace of Versailles, where on Jan. 18, 1871. the 

 German Empire was proclaimed, and where he 

 dictated to Tliiers the hard terms of peace, obdurate 

 to the intercession of the neutral powers. 



The imperial union of North and South Germany 

 was an idea of the Crown Prince, but the Crown 

 Prince was not allowed to have anything to do with 

 it. All was Bismarck's work the negotiations, 

 I he terms and conditions, the political constitution. 

 The French republic was also in a sense his work, 

 for lie nursed and encouraged this form of Govern- 

 ment as repellent to monarchical powers, and 

 hence the least dangerous to Germany. He was 

 astounded and disappointed at witnessing the 

 economic and military recovery of France alter t In- 

 payment of the indemnity of five milliards. Count 

 A mini, who intrigued with the Clericals and 

 Royalists of France and sought behind Bismarck's 

 back to enlist the sympathies of the Berlin court 

 for the Bourbon cause, the Iron Chancellor crushed 

 without compunction. The founder of the German 

 Empire was made its Chancellor, all-powerful in 

 external and internal affairs. He also received the 



