HISTORY 



115 



matter at the disposal of the Bund, and then 

 proceeded to convoke the t-tates of Holstein 

 "to assist in the settlement of the future desti- 

 nation of the duchy." Prussia protested 

 against this as an insult and a violation of treaty. 

 The Prussians lost no time, war was declared 

 air:iinst Austria, and, following the example set 

 by Frederick the Great, the troops immediately 



to inarch into Bohemia, invading it at 

 no less than three several points. This brief 

 war ended in the utter defeat of Austria, and a No 

 in the restoration of Venetia to Italy. In 1870 

 the famous Franco-Prussian War opened, to the 

 utteT humiliation of the French arms, and the 

 c< --inn of Alsace and German-Lorraine, 62,000 

 square miles of territory, to the Germans, 

 totrcther with the payment of 5,000,000,000 

 francs as additional indemnity for the expense 

 of the war. The Germanic Empire, recon- 

 structed in 1870, as a result of this fierce con- 

 flict, grew out of the North German Confeder- 

 ation, established in 1866, by treaties between 

 the King of Prussia and the governments of 

 Bavaria, Wiirternberg, Baden, and Hesse, 

 ratified by the Diet of north Germany, Decem- 

 ber 10, 1870. The legislative power of the 

 empire is vested in a Federal Council represent- 

 ing the twenty-five states of which the Confed- 

 eration is composed. Prussia has seventeen 

 votes, Bavaria six, Wurtemberg four, Saxony 

 four, Baden three, Hesse three, Mecklenburg- 

 Schwerin two, Brunswick two, and the rest of 

 the states one vote each, the total number being 

 fifty-eight. The executive is intrusted to the 

 emperor and a ministry selected by him and 

 presided over by the chancellor of the empire; 

 ministers are responsible to the emperor only. 

 On January 18, 1871, King William of Prussia 

 proclaimed his assumption of the imperial power 

 for himself and his successors. Whatever spirit 

 of opposition there may have been on the part 

 of tin- antagonists of the supremacy of Prussia 

 was smothered in the general acclamations of 

 triumph. He died 1888, and was succeeded by 

 his son Frederick William (Frederic III.), who, 

 however, only reigned three months, dying the 

 same year of a throat affection. He was suc- 

 ce< -'led by his son William, as William II. The 

 early y< -ar^ of the present emperor's reign were 



i l>y the rise of the Social Democrats, the 

 formation of the Triple Alliance (consisting of 

 (iirmany. AIM ria-Hungary, and Italy); the 

 acquisition, since 1884, of foreign dependencies 



heres of influence, and the retirement of 

 k in 1890. In 1908, the emperor ac- 

 quired a royal residence in the island of Corfu, 

 whose climate it is thought, mil alleviate a 



trouble to which his majesty has been 



r some years. 



< . . n ysburg, Battle of, fought July 1-3, 



on the Union Army under General 



Meade. and the Confederates under General 



Lee. DurniL' May the armies lay fronting each 



ipon tin- Rappahannock. Early in June 



UMII his movement for the inv.i 

 Pwuuwvania, c-ro-ini; the Potomac on the 24th 



''h. and rearhini; < 'hamlttnbuig, Pa., OD 



h. (iener.il Hooker, then in niMimaml 



\rmy of the Potomac, moved in the same 

 ! direction, but on the 28th was relieved, 



and the command given to Meade. In order 

 to prevent his communications from being 

 severed, Lee turned back toward Gettysburg: to 

 give battle. Meade had intended to give battle at 



j a spot several miles from Gettysburg, near which 



| was, however, a small portion of his army. This 

 came into collision a little before noon, July 1st, 

 with the advance of Lee, and was forced back, 

 taking up a strong position on Cemetery Hill, 

 in the rear of Gettysburg. Hancock, wno had 

 been sent forward to examine the position, 

 reported that Gettysburg was the place at which 

 to receive the Confederate attack, and Meade 

 hurried his whole force to that point. The 

 action on the second day, July 2d, began about 

 noon with an attempt made by Lee to seize 

 Round Top, a rocky hill from which the Union 

 position could be enfiladed. When this day's 

 fighting closed Lee was convinced that he had 



! greatly the advantage, and he resolved to press 

 it the next day. On the morning of July 3d, an 



i attempt was made upon the extreme Union 

 right, but repelled. The main attack on the 

 center was preluded by a cannonade from 150 

 guns, which was replied to by eighty, little 

 injury being inflicted by either side. About 

 noon the Union fire was slackened in order to 

 cool the guns, and Lee, thinking that the batte- 



' ries were silenced, launched a column of 15,000 

 or 18,000 against the Union lines. Some of this 

 column actually surmounted the low works, and 

 a brief hand-to-hand fight ensued. But the 

 column was practically annihilated, only a small 

 portion escaping death or capture. The forces 

 on each side were probably about 80,000, though 

 all were not really engaged. No official report 

 of the Confederate loss was ever published; the 

 best estimates put it at about 18,000 killed and 

 wounded, and 13,600 missing, most of them 



| prisoners. The Union loss was 23,187, 16,543 

 of whom were killed and wounded. 

 Ghibellines (glb'M-lfm). The name of a 



j celebrated political faction which existed in Italy 



| during the Thirteenth Century and sprung out of 

 the disputed succession to the imperial throne of 

 Germany, vacated in 1137 by the death of 

 Lothaire II. Conrad of Honenstauffen, his 

 elected successor, found his claim disputed by 



i Henry of Guelph (surnamed the Proud), Duke 



! of Saxony and Bavaria. At the latter' s death 

 his pretentions became personified in his son 

 Henry the Lion, Duke of Brunswick, whose 



I adherents called themselves Guelphs after his 

 patronymic, in distinction from the GhibeUine t 

 who derived their cognomen from Conrad's 

 lordship of Weiblinqen, 1140. Their feud after 

 a while extended to Italy, over which the German 

 emperors claimed supremacy, against the popes; 

 the Guelphs becoming then- the supporters or 

 the latter. 'I hi- -mfe did not terminate until 

 the French ima-ion of Charles VIII. in 1495. 



Girondists (/i'-ron'</i'.s/.s). tin- name given 

 to the moderate Republicans in the first 1 

 Revolution. The name was derived from the 

 department of Gironde, which chose for its rep- 

 resentatives in the Legislative Assembly five men 

 who greatly distinguished themselves by their 

 oratory, and who, being jome.i by Condorcet, 



ot. and t! publican- \\h<> 



the adherents of Roland, formed a powerful 



