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provoked that France might enjoy the Rhine as her natural 
frontier. 
At the conclusion of this period France had extended her 
national domain so that she stretched unbroken from the At- 
lantic Ocean to the Rhine. The acquisition of Alsace had 
given her a Rhine frontier ; the gap between this area and that 
of France proper v/as soon hlled in by the annexation of 
Franche Compte. While only the upper Rhine had been 
reached, yet France considered her achievement as one of 
distinct importance. France was well on the way to the as- 
cendancy in Europe. A fifth landmark in the historical geog- 
raphy of France and Germany had been set. Parts of the 
middle kingdom had changed hands ; another act in the drama 
of the Rhine had been enacted. Louis XIV had played the 
leading part. What excellent advice did this king, “the great- 
est actor of majesty that ever filled a throne”, give in his 
declining years when he said, “I have been too fond of wars ; 
do not imitate me”^ in this respect. 
The first attempt of the French to reach their “natural 
frontier” on the north and northeast realized barely half a 
loaf. The second attempt was more successful, but there was 
this difference: The acquisitions made during the period of 
Louis XIV were mainly permanent; those made later were 
largely temporary. The second attempt appears during the 
era of the French Revolution. It centers in the person of 
Napoleon. As early as 1797, Austria ceded the Netherlands 
to France and promised to aid her in obtaining additional ter- 
ritory on the Rhine. Four years later Holland was organized 
into the Batavian Republic under French hegemony, and the 
left bank of the Rhine was ceded to France. In 1806 the 
Holy Roman Empire was dissolved, and France organized 
the Confederation of the Rhine with Napoleon as president. 
The Rhine had not only been reached; it had been crossed. 
The Gaul of Caesar had not only been recovered; French 
power was paramount to the Elbe. 
The rapid changes in European historical geography made 
by Napoleon were of a short duration. He had touched the 
interests of every continental power as well as those of Eng- 
land, and when Waterloo announced the end of the arch con- 
queror of the early nineteenth century, all Europe was called 
^Arthur Hassall, Louis XIV (New York and London, 1904), 482, 
