It is said of him, that he "never committed a rash act, and never missed an opportunity for striking an effective blow." _Eugene_, on his father"s side, sprang from the house of Savoy. His mother was a niece of _Mazarin_. He was brought up at the court of _Louis XIV_.; but when the king repeatedly refused him a commission in the army, he entered the service of Austria, was employed in campaigns against the Turks, and rose to the highest distinction. Flattering offers from _Louis XIV_. he indignantly rejected. His career as a soldier was long and brilliant. The personal sympathy of _Eugene_ and _Marlborough_ with each other was one important cause of their success. _Eugene_ was first sent to Italy. There he drove _Catinat_, the French general, back on _Milan_, and captured his successor in command, _Villeroi_ (1702). After a drawn battle between _Eugene_ and _Vendome_ (1702), a commander of much more skill than his predecessor, the French had the advantage in Italy. In 1703, _Eugene_ came to Germany, and _Marlborough_ invaded the Spanish Netherlands. In 1704 Marlborough carried out the plan of a grand campaign which he had devised. He crossed the Rhine at Cologne, moved southward, captured _Donauworth_, and drove the Bavarians across the Danube. The united forces of _Marlborough_ and _Eugene_ defeated the French and Bavarian armies at _Blenheim_ (or _Hochstadt_), on the left bank of the river, with great slaughter. There were captured fifteen thousand French soldiers, with their general _Tallard_. This victory raised _Marlborough"s_ reputation, already great on account of his masterly conduct of his army, to the highest point. He was made a duke by Queen _Anne_, and a prince of the Empire by _Leopold_. In Spain, the English captured _Gibraltar_. _Charles_ of Austria (who had a.s.sumed the t.i.tle of _Charles III._ of Spain) conquered Madrid (1706), but held it for only a short time. The country generally favored _Philip_; the arms of _Vendome_ were triumphant; and _Aragon_, _Catalonia_, and _Valencia_ had to submit to Castilian laws as the penalty of their adhesion to the Austrian cause. In 1706 _Marlborough_ vanquished _Villeroi_ at _Ramillies_, a village in the Netherlands, in a great battle in which the French army was routed, and their banners and war material captured. The Netherlands submitted to Austria. At _Turin_, _Eugene_ gained a victory over an army of eighty thousand men; and the fame of this modest and unpretending, but brave and skillful leader was now on a level with that of the English general. Lombardy submitted to _Charles III_., and the French were excluded from Italy. Another victory of the two commanders at _Oudenarde_ (1708) over _Vendome_ and the _Duke of Burgundy_, broke down the hopes of _Louis_, and moved him to offer the largest concessions, which embraced the giving up of _Strasburg_ and of _Spain_. But the allies, flushed with success, went so far as to demand that he should aid in driving his grandson out of Spain. This roused France, as well as _Louis_ himself, to another grand effort. At _Malplaquet_, in a b.l.o.o.d.y conflict, the French were again defeated by _Marlborough_ and _Eugene_.
TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT.--Circ.u.mstances now favored the vanquished and humbled king of France. The Whig ministry in England, which the victories of _Marlborough_ had kept in office, fell from power (1710); and its enemies, and the enemies of _Marlborough_, were anxious to weaken him. _Anne_ dismissed from her service the d.u.c.h.ess of Marlborough, a haughty woman of a violent temper. _Harley_, Earl of Oxford, and _St. John_, afterwards Viscount _Bolingbroke_, became the queen"s princ.i.p.al ministers.
They wished to end the war. The Emperor _Joseph_ (1705-1711), who had succeeded _Leopold I._, died; so that _Charles_, if he had acquired Spain, would have restored the vast monarchy of _Charles V_., and brought in a new source of jealousy and alarm. Negotiations for peace began. _Marlborough_, who had been guilty of traitorous conduct, was removed from his command, and deprived of all his offices (1712). In 1713 the Peace of _Utrecht_ was concluded between England and France, in which Holland, Prussia, Savoy, and Portugal soon joined. It was followed by the Peace of _Rastadt_ and _Baden_ with the emperor (1714). Spain and Spanish America were left to _Philip V_., the Bourbon king, with the proviso that the crowns of France and Spain should never be united. France ceded to England _Newfoundland_, _Nova Scotia_, and the _Hudson Bay Territory_. Spain ceded to England _Gibraltar_ and _Minorca_. The _Elector of Brandenburg_ was recognized as _King of Prussia_. Savoy received the island of _Sicily_, which was exchanged seven years later for _Sardinia_, and for the t.i.tle of king for the duke. Holland gained certain "barrier" fortresses on its border. Austria received the appanages of the Spanish monarchy,--the _Spanish Netherlands_, _Naples_, _Sardinia_, and _Milan_, but not _Sicily_. The emperor did not recognize the Bourbons in Spain.
LAST DAYS OF LOUIS XIV.--In the next year after the peace, _Louis XIV_. died. Within two years (1710-1712) he had lost his son, his grandson the _Duke of Burgundy_ (whom the pious _Fenelon_ had trained), his wife, and his eldest great-grandson, and, two years later (1714), his third grandson, the _Duke of Berry_. He left France overwhelmed with debt, its resources exhausted, its credit gone, its maritime power prostrate; a land covered with poverty and wretchedness. This was the reward of lawless pride and ambition in a monarch who owed his strength, however, to the sympathy and subservience of the nation.
LAW"S BANK.--During the minority of _Louis XV_. (1715-1774) _Philip, Duke of Orleans_, was regent, a man of extraordinary talents, but addicted to shameful debauchery. The opportunity for effective reform was neglected. The most influential minister was Cardinal _Dubois_, likewise a man of unprincipled character. The state was really bankrupt, when a Scottish adventurer and gambler, _John Law_, possessed of unusual financial talents, but infected with the economical errors of the time, offered to rescue the national finances by means of a _bank_, which he was allowed to found, the notes of which were to serve as currency. Almost all the coined money flowed into its coffers; its notes went everywhere in the kingdom, and were taken for government dues; it combined with its business "the Mississippi scheme," or the control of the trade, and almost the sovereignty, in the _Mississippi_ region; it absorbed the privileges of the different companies for trading with the East; finally it took charge of the national mint and the issue of coin, and of the taxation of the kingdom, and it a.s.sumed the national debt. The temporary success of the gigantic financial scheme turned the heads of the people, and a fever of speculation ran through all ranks. The crash came, the shares in the bank sunk in value, the notes depreciated; and, in the wrath which ensued upon the general bankruptcy, _Law_, who had been honored and courted by the high and the low, fled from the kingdom. He died in poverty at _Venice_. The state alone was a gainer by having escaped from a great part of its indebtedness.
ITALY.--Before the middle of the eighteenth century, the Spanish Bourbons again had possession of _Naples_ and _Sicily_, besides other smaller Italian states. Austria, besides holding _Milan_, was the virtual ruler of _Tuscany_.
SPAIN IN ITALY.--_Philip V_. was afflicted with a mental derangement peculiar to his family. The government was managed by the ambitious queen, _Elizabeth_ of Parma, and the intriguing Italian, _Alberoni_, the minister in whom she confided. He sought to get back the Italian states lost by the Peace of _Utrecht_. But _Sardinia_ and _Sicily_ were restored when he was overthrown, through the fear excited by the _Quadruple Alliance_ of France, England, Austria, and Holland (1718). Later, the queen succeeded in obtaining the kingdom of _Naples_ and _Sicily_ for her oldest son, _Don Carlos_, under the name of _Charles III. Parma, Piacenza_, and _Guastalla_, she gained for her second son, _Philip_ (1735). When _Charles_ succeeded to the Spanish throne (1759-1788), he left _Naples_ and _Sicily_ to his third son, _Ferdinand_.
AUSTRIA IN ITALY.--The house of Savoy steadily advanced in power. By the Peace of Ryswick, Victor _Amadeus II_. (1675-1730), secured important places previously gained. He became "King of Sardinia"
(1720). By him the University of Turin was founded, and the administration of justice much improved. His next two successors carried forward this good work. _Venice_ lost _Morea_ to the Turks, but retained _Corfu_ and her conquests in _Dalmatia_ (1718). Liberty was gone, and there was decay and conscious weakness in the once powerful republic. _Genoa_ was coveted by Savoy, Austria, and France. The consequent struggles are the material of Genoese history for a long period. _Corsica_ was oppressed, and _Genoa_ called on France to lend help in suppressing its revolt (1736). The Corsicans especially, under _Paoli_, defended themselves with such energy that France found its work of subjugation hard and slow (1755). The island was ceded to France by Genoa(1768). _Milan_, with Mantua, was Austrian, after the Peace of Utrecht (1713). _Tuscany_ under _Ferdinand II_. (1628-1670) bestowed its treasure on Austria and Spain, and fell under the sway of ecclesiastics. Under _Cosmo III_. (1670-1723), the process of decline went on. After the death of the last of the Medici, _John Gasto_ (1737), Tuscany was practically under the power of Austria, notwithstanding the stipulation that both states should not have the same ruler. It was governed by _Francis Stephen_ (1738-1765), Duke of Lorraine, husband of the Empress _Maria Theresa_; and, when he became emperor (_Francis I_.), by his second son, _Leopold_ (1765-1790). At Rome, Pope _Innocent XI_. (1676-1689) had many conflicts with _Louis XVI_. which came to an end under the well-meaning _Innocent XII_. (1691-1700). Contests arose on the part of Rome against the Bourbon courts respecting the Jesuit order, and with the forces adverse to the Church and the Papacy, in the closing part of the eighteenth century. In 1735, the Emperor _Charles VI_. allowed that Naples and Sicily should be handed over, as a kingdom, to _Don Carlos_, the son of the Spanish Bourbon king, under the name of _Charles III_., by whom it was granted to his son _Ferdinand IV_. (1759).
CLOSE OF ANNE"S REIGN.--_Anne"s_ husband, Prince _George of Denmark_, had no influence, and deserved none. One of the important events of her reign was the Union of England and Scotland in 1707 (p. 461). After the Tories came into power, the two leaders, _Oxford_ and _Bolingbroke_, were rivals. An angry dispute between them hastened the queen"s death (1714). One of the Tory measures, prompted by hostility to Dissenters, was a law forbidding any one to keep a school without a license from a bishop.
GEORGE I, 1714-1727, _m._ Sophia Dorothea of Zell.
| +--GEORGE II, 1727-1760, _m._ Caroline, daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Ans.p.a.ch.
| +--Frederick, Prince of Wales, _d._ 1751, _m._ Augusta of Saxe Gotha.
| +--Augusta _m._ | Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick.
| | | +--Caroline | _m._ | +--GEORGE IV, 1820-1830.
| | +--GEORGE III, 1760-1820, _m._ Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
| +--WILLIAM IV, 1830-1837.
| +--Edward, Duke of Kent, _d._ 1820, _m._ Victoria of Saxe Coburg.
| +--VICTORIA, succeeded 1837, _m._ Albert of Saxe Coburg.
REIGN OF GEORGE I.--_George I_., the first king of the house of _Hanover_, could not speak English. His private life was immoral.
His first ministers were Whigs. _Bolingbroke_ and _Oxford_ were impeached, and fled the country. The "_Pretender_," _James Edward_ (son of _James II_.), with the aid of Tory partisans, endeavored to recover the English crown. His standard was raised in the Highlands and in North England (1715), but this Jacobite rebellion was crushed. After the rebellion of 1715, a law was pa.s.sed, which is still in force, allowing a Parliament to continue for the term of seven years. A second conspiracy in 1717 had the same fate. England had an experience a.n.a.logous to that of France with _Law_, with the _South Sea_ Company, which had a monopoly of trade with the Spanish coasts of South America. A rage for speculation was followed by a panic. The estates of the directors of the company were confiscated by Parliament for the benefit of the losers. _Robert Walpole_ was made first minister, a place which he held under _George I._ and _George II._ for twenty-one years. _William_ and _Anne_ had attended the meetings of the Cabinet. _George I._, who could not speak English, staid away. From this time, one of the ministers was called the "prime minister."
THE REIGN OF GEORGE II.--George II. was systematic in his ways, frugal, willful, and fond of war. In his private life, he followed the evil ways of his father. _Walpole"s_ influence was predominant. The clever Queen _Caroline_ lent him her support. Walpole reluctantly entered into war with _Spain_ (1739), on account of the measures adopted by that power to prevent English ships from carrying goods, in violation of the treaty of _Utrecht_, to her South American colonies. The princ.i.p.al success of England was the taking of _Porto Bello_ by _Admiral Vernon_.
When the war was declared, the people expressed their joy by the ringing of bells. "They are ringing the bells now," said _Walpole:_ "they will be wringing their hands soon." The blame for the want of better success in the war was laid on the prime minister, and he was driven to resign. Then followed the ministry of the _Pelhams_, Henry Pelham and the Duke of Newcastle, who, like Walpole, managed Parliament by bribing the members through the gift of offices.
In the war of the Austrian succession (1740), England took part with Austria, and the king in person fought in Germany. In 1745 _Prince Charles Edward Stuart_, the young _Pretender_ (whose father, the old Pretender, styled himself _James III_.), landed in the Highlands. The Highlanders defeated the English at _Preston Pans_, near Edinburgh. The Pretender marched into England as far as Derby, at the head of the Jacobite force, but had to turn back and retreat to Scotland. The contest was decided by the victory of the English under the _Duke of c.u.mberland_, at Culloden (1746), which was attended by an atrocious slaughter of the wounded. _Culloden_ was the last battle fought in behalf of the Stuarts. Nearly eighty Jacobite conspirators, one of whom was an octogenarian, _Lord Lovat_, were executed as traitors. These Jacobites were the last persons who were beheaded in England. The Pretender wandered in the Highlands and Western Islands for five months, under different disguises. He was concealed and aided by a Scottish lady, _Flora Macdonald_. Then he escaped to the Continent, where he led a miserable and dissipated life, and died in 1788. His brother Henry, Cardinal York, the last of the Stuarts in the male line, died in 1807.
CHAPTER III. THE GREAT NORTHERN WAR: THE FALL OP SWEDEN: GROWTH OF THE POWER OF RUSSIA.
SWEDEN.--The eventful epoch in the history of Sweden, in this period, is the reign of Charles XII. (1697-1718). At his accession, when he was only sixteen years old, Sweden ruled the Baltic. Its army was strong and well disciplined. What is now St. Petersburg was a patch of swampy ground in Swedish territory, where a few fishermen lived in their huts. The youth of Charles was prophetic of his career. In doors, he read the exploits of Alexander the Great; out of doors, gymnastic sports and the hunting of the bear were his favorite diversions. He became an adventurous warrior after, the type of Alexander. His rashness and obstinacy occasioned at last the downfall of his country. Three great powers, _Russia, Poland_, and _Denmark,_ with the support of _Patkul_, a disaffected Livonian subject of Sweden, joined in an attack on the youthful monarch (1699). _Patkul_, who was a patriot, unable to secure the rights of Livonia, and condemned as a rebel, had entered the service of the Elector Augustus of Saxony, who was king of Poland. There were territories belonging to Sweden which each of the confederates coveted. _Frederick IV._ of Denmark expected to incorporate Sweden itself in his dominions.
RUSSIA: PETER THE GREAT.--The first ruler of the house of Romanoff, which has raised Russia to its present rank, was _Michael_ (1613-1645). Under _Alexis,_ his son (1645-1676), important conquests were made from the Poles, and the _Cossacks_ acknowledged the sovereignty of the Czar. The princ.i.p.al founder of Russian civilization was _Peter the Great_ (1682-1725). Through the machinations of his half-sister _Sophia_, who contrived to get the armed aid of the streltzi,--the native militia,--he had to share the throne with a half-brother, _Ivan_, who was older than himself, and lived until 1696. _Sophia_ pushed aside Peter"s mother, and grasped the reins of power. Peter learned Latin, German, and Dutch, and acquired much knowledge of various sorts. As he grew older, his life was in danger; but at the age of seventeen, he was able to crush his enemies (1689). _Sophia_, who was at their head, he shut up in a monastery for the remainder of her days. From _Lefort_, a Swiss, and other foreigners, Peter derived information about foreign lands, and was led to visit them in order to instruct himself, and to introduce into his own country the arts and inventions of civilized peoples. He invited into Russia artisans, seamen, and officers from abroad. He traveled through _Germany _and _Holland _to _England_, and with his own hands worked at ship-building at the dock-yards of _Zaandam_ (near Amsterdam) and _Deptford_. On his way to Venice, he was called home by a revolt of the streltzi, which he put down. He was unsparing in his vengeance, and, despite his veneer of culture, never got rid of his innate barbarism. _Azoff _he conquered, and it was ceded to him by the Turks in the Peace of _Carlowitz_ (1699). Then his ambitious thoughts turned to the Baltic, for he was bent on making Russia a naval power. He formed a secret alliance with Denmark and Poland against Sweden.
CONDITION OF POLAND.--In 1697 _Frederick Augustus _II.,--Augustus _the Strong_,--Duke of Saxony, was elected king of Poland: he became a Roman Catholic that he might get the crown. But the Polish n.o.bles took care to increase their power, which was already far too great to be compatible with unity or order. Under the anarchical but despotic n.o.bility and higher clergy, stood the serfs, embracing nine-tenths of the whole population, who were without protection against the greed and tyranny of their lords.
EVENTS OF THE NORTHERN WAR.--The _Danes _first attacked the territory of _Holstein Gottorp_, whose duke had married the sister of _Charles XII_. _William III_. of England supported Sweden.
The Anglo-Dutch fleet came to Charles"s a.s.sistance. He landed his troops in _Zealand_. The Danes gave up their alliance, and sued for peace. Europe was now astonished to discover that the Swedish king was an antagonist to be feared. In the field he shared the hardships of the common soldier, and was as brave as a lion. _Charles _now attacked the Russian army before _Narva_, in Livonia. With the Swedish infantry he stormed the camp of the Russians, and routed their army, which was much larger in numbers than his own (1700). He then raised the siege of _Riga_, which the Poles and Saxons were besieging, having first defeated their troops on the _Dwina_. These brilliant successes might have enabled _Charles _to conclude peace on very advantageous terms. But he lacked moderation. He was as pa.s.sionate in his public conduct as _Peter the Great _was in his private life. He was resolved to dethrone _Augustus _in Poland. After the battle of _Clissau_ (1703), he occupied that country, and made the Diet give the crown to _Stanislas Lesczinski_, the Palatine of Posen. To prevent Russia and Saxony from uniting against the new king, _Charles_ carried the war into Saxony, and forced _Augustus_, in the Peace of _Altranstadt_, to renounce his claim to the Polish crown, and to surrender _Patkul_, the rebel, who had become a subject of Russia, whom he put to death with circ.u.mstances of cruelty. In 1703 _Peter_ laid the foundations of the new city of _St. Petersburg_. But, a few years later, Russia was invaded by _Charles_, who in 1708 almost captured the Czar at _Grodno_, defeated his army near _Smolensk_, and was expected to advance to _Moscow_. But the imprudent Swede turned southward into the district of the _Ukraine_, there to be joined by _Mazeppa_, the "hetman" of the Cossacks, who led them in revolt against Peter. Mazeppa was able, however, to bring him but few auxiliaries. The harshness of the winter, and other untoward events, weakened the Swedish force. The battle of _Pultowa_ (1709) was a great victory for the Czar. Charles escaped with difficulty to Turkey. There he remained for three years, supported with his retinue, at _Bender_, by the Sultan. His object was to bring about a war between the Sultan and the Czar. He so far succeeded that _Peter_, when surrounded on the _Pruth_ by Turkish troops, was rescued only by the courage and energy of _Catherine_, the mistress whom he afterwards married. _Charles_ was finally obliged to leave Turkey, after being exposed to imminent peril in an attack by the janizaries, who seized his camp and took him captive. With a few attendants, riding by day and sleeping in a cart or carriage by night, he journeyed back to Sweden, and arrived at _Stralsund_ (1714). The hostile allies, together with _Hanover_ and _Prussia_, were once more in array against him. _Baron van Gortz_, a German, became his princ.i.p.al adviser. He negotiated a peace with _Peter_, of whom the other allies were beginning to be jealous. _Charles"s_ plan was to invade Norway, then to land in Scotland, and, with the help of Spain and of the Jacobites, to restore the Stuarts to the English throne. While besieging _Friedrichshall_, a fortress in Norway, he exposed himself near the trenches, and was killed by a bullet (1718). It was long a question whether the fatal shot was fired from the enemy or by an a.s.sa.s.sin. Not until 1859 was it settled, by an examination of the skull, that the gun was discharged from the fortress.
RESULTS OF THE WAR--One result of the Northern war was the execution of _Gortz_, to whom the Swedish aristocracy were inimical, and a reduction of the king"s authority. _Hanover_ received _Bremen_ and _Verden_; _Prussia_, the largest part of _Pomerania_; _Sweden_ gave up its freedom from custom duties in the Sound. _Augustus_ was recognized as king of _Poland_. _Russia_, by the _Peace of Nystadt_ (1721), obtained _Livonia, Esthonia, Ingermannland,_ and a part of _Carelia_, but restored _Finland_. _Sweden_ no longer had a place among the great powers. The place that Sweden had held was now taken by _Russia_.
CHANGES IN RUSSIA.--The Czar, _Peter_, took the t.i.tle of emperor.
He transferred the capital from _Moscow_ to _St. Petersburg_.
By constructing ca.n.a.ls, roads, and harbors, he promoted trade and commerce. By fostering manufactures and the mechanic arts, and by opening the mines, he increased the wealth of the country. He altered the method of government, making the _ukases_, or edicts, emanate from the sole will of the emperor. He abolished the dignity of _Patriarch_, making the _Holy Synod_, of which the Czar is president, the supreme ecclesiastical authority. _Peter_ made a second journey through Germany, Holland, and France (1716). His son _Alexis_, who allied himself with a reactionary party that aimed to reverse the Czar"s policy, he finally caused to be tried for treason. He was condemned, but died either from the bodily torture inflicted on him to extort confession, or, as many have believed, by poison, or other means, used by the direction of his father. His friends, after being barbarously tortured, were put to death.
Great as was the work of _Peter_, "he brought Russia prematurely into the circle of European politics. The result has been to turn the rulers of Russia away from home affairs, and the regular development of internal inst.i.tutions, to foreign politics and the creation of a great military power." In his last years, the frugality of his own way of living in his new capital was in striking contrast with the splendor with which his queen, _Catherine_, preferred to surround herself. He died at the age of fifty-three, in consequence of plunging into icy water to save a boat in distress.
The doc.u.ment called "The Testament of Peter the Great," which explains what has to be done in order that Russia may conquer all Europe, is not genuine. It is first heard of in 1812, in a book published by _Lesur_, probably by direction of Napoleon I. "Lesur"s book," says _Mr. E. Schuyler_, "was merely a pamphlet to justify the invasion of Russia by Napoleon." (Schuyler"s _Life of Peter the Great_, vol. ii, p. 512.)
CHAPTER IV. WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCCESSION; GROWTH OP THE POWER OF PRUSSIA: THE DESTRUCTION OF POLAND.
THE PRAGMATIC SANCTION.--On the death of _Augustus II._, there were two compet.i.tors for the Polish crown,--his son, _Augustus III._ of Saxony, and _Stanislaus Lesczinski_ whom France supported. After a contest, by the consent of the Emperor _Charles VI._, _Lesczinski_, whose daughter had married _Louis XV._, obtained the duchy of _Lorraine_, which thus became a possession of France (1735). In return, the emperor"s son-in-law, _Francis Stephen_ (afterwards _Francis I._), was to have _Tuscany_; and France, in connection with the other powers, a.s.sented to the _Pragmatic Sanction_, according to which the hereditary possessions of Austria were to descend intact in the female line. It was expected that the empire would pa.s.s along with them.
PRUSSIA: FREDERICK WILLIAM I.--In 1611 the duchy of _Prussia_ and the mark or electorate of _Brandenburg_ were joined together. The duchy was then a fief of Poland. But under the Great Elector, _Frederick William_ (1640-1688), this relation of the duchy to Poland ended. By him the military strength of the electorate was increased. _Frederick_, his son (1688-1713), with the emperor"s license, took the t.i.tle of King of Prussia (_Frederick I._). He built up the city of _Berlin_, and encouraged art and learning. King _Frederick William I._ (1713-1740), unlike his predecessor, was exceedingly frugal in his court. He was upright and just in his principles, but extremely rough in his ways, and governed his own household, as well as his subjects generally, with a Spartan rigor. Individuals whom he met in the street, whose conduct or dress he thought unbecoming, he did not hesitate to scold, and he even used his cane to chastise them on the spot. He cared nothing for literature: artists and players were his abomination. He favored industry, and was a friend of the working-cla.s.s. Every thing was done with despotic energy. He disciplined the military force of Prussia, and gathered at _Potsdam_ a regiment of tall guards, made up of men of gigantic height, who were brought together from all quarters. He left to his son, _Frederick II._ (1740-1786), a strong army and a full treasury.
CHARACTER OF FREDERICK THE GREAT.--Young _Frederick_ had no sympathy with his father"s austere ways. The strict system of training arranged for him, in which he was cut off from Latin and from other studies for which he had a taste, his time all parceled out, and a succession of tasks rigorously ordained for him, he found a yoke too heavy to bear. Once he attempted to escape to the court of his uncle, _George II._ of England; but the scheme was discovered, and the incensed father was strongly inclined to execute the decree of a court-martial, which p.r.o.nounced him worthy of death. _Frederick_, from the window of the place where he was confined, saw _Katte_, his favorite tutor, who had helped him in his attempt at flight, led to the scaffold, where he was hanged. In the later years of the old king, the relations of father and son were improved. The prince had for his abode the little town of _Rheinsberg_, where he could indulge, with a circle of congenial friends, in the studies and amus.e.m.e.nts to which he was partial. He grew up with a strong predilection for French literature, and for the French habits and fashions--free-thinking in religion included--which were now spreading over Europe. On his accession to the throne, _Frederick_ broke up the Potsdam regiment of giants, and called back to Halle the philosopher _Wolf_, whom his father had banished. _Frederick_ was visited by _Voltaire_, who at a later day took up his abode for a time with him in _Berlin_. But the king was fond of banter, and the foibles of each of these companions were a target for the unsparing wit of the other; so that eventually they parted company with mutual disgust. Later they resumed their correspondence, and never wholly lost their intellectual sympathy with each other. As a soldier, _Frederick_ had not the military genius of the greatest captains. He applied superior talents to the discharge of the duties of a king, and to the business of war. He was cool, knew how to profit by his errors and to repair his losses, and to press forward in the darkest hour. Napoleon said of him that "he was great, especially at critical moments."
WAR OF THE AUSTRIAN SUCESSION---_Charles VI._ was succeeded, in 1740, by his daughter _Maria Theresa_, who united in her character many of the finest qualities of a woman and of a sovereign.
Notwithstanding the _pragmatic sanction_ by which all the Austrian lands were to be hers, different princes deemed the occasion favorable for seizing on the whole, or on portions, of her inheritance.
_Charles_, elector of Bavaria, claimed to be the lawful heir, and was aided by France, which was afraid of losing _Lorraine_ if _Maria Theresa"s _ husband, _Francis Stephen_, should become emperor. _Augustus III._ of Poland was a partic.i.p.ant in the plot. _Frederick II._ of Prussia claimed _Silesia_, and, after defeating the Austrians at _Molwitz_ (1741), seized the greater part of that district. Soon after, the French and Bavarians overran Austria. The Bavarian elector was chosen emperor. Even the elector of Hanover (_George II._ of England) engaged not to a.s.sist the empress.
The claims to Austria were as follows:--
_Augustus III._, king of Saxony, and _Charles Albert_, elector of Bavaria, had married daughters of the Emperor _Joseph I._ (the brother and predecessor of _Charles VI._). The wife of _Charles Albert _ was the _younger_ daughter; but he appealed to an alleged provision in the will of the Emperor _Ferdinand I._, according to which the posterity of his daughter _Anna_ (who married a Bavarian duke) was to inherit the duchy of Austria and Bohemia, in case his _male_ descendants should die out. It was not to the _male_ descendants, but to the _legitimate_ descendants, however, that the will referred. The _Bourbons_ in France and Spain seized the occasion to regain the possessions of Spain lost in the Peace of Utrecht (p. 466). _Francis Stephen_, the husband of _Maria Theresa_, it was feared, might seek to get back Lorraine from France (p. 474). Spain was anxious to recover Milan. _Philip V._ of Spain claimed the Austrian possessions on the basis of certain stipulations of _Charles V._ and _Philip III._ in the cession of them. To weaken the Austrian house in Germany, was an aim of France. The courts of France and Spain were ready, on all these grounds, to support _Charles_ of Bavaria. They were ready, also, to support _Frederick II._ in legal claims which he set up to a portion of Silesia. The empress rejected the offer of _Frederick_ to defend Austria if she would give up this territory.
SPIRIT OF THE EMPRESS: CESSION OF SILESIA.--_Maria Theresa_ proved herself a Minerva. She threw herself for support on her Hungarian subjects, who responded with loyal enthusiasm to her appeal made at the _Diet of Presburg_. Her forces drove the Bavarian and French troops before them in Austria, entered Bavaria, and captured _Munich_. Reluctantly the queen, in the _Peace of Breslau_ (1742), ceded _Silesia_ to _Frederick_, in order to lessen the number of her antagonists. She was crowned (1743) in _Prague_, and at length gained an ally in _George II._ of England. The "Pragmatic Army," as it was called, defeated the French under Marshal _Noailles_ at _Dettingen_. _Sardinia_ and _Saxony_ joined the Austrian alliance.
TO THE PEACE OF AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.--These events widened the dimensions of the contest. France declared war directly against England and Austria. _Frederick II._ of Prussia was now the ally of France, and began the _second Silesian war_. He took _Prague_, but, being deserted by the French, was driven back into _Saxony_. The son of _Charles Albert_ of Bavaria, _Maximilian Joseph_, made peace with Austria,--the Peace of _Fussen_,--promising to give his vote to _Francis_, the husband of _Maria Theresa_, for the office of emperor. _Francis_ (1745-1765) was crowned at Frankfort.
Victories in Saxony on the side of _Frederick_ led to the _Treaty_ of _Dresden_, which left _Silesia_ in his hands (1745). The most of the English army went back to England to fight the Pretender. The war went on in the Netherlands and in Italy, and between France and England; the English being victors on the sea under _Anson_ (1747), while the French were generally successful on the land. The peace of _Aix-la-Chapelle_ (1748) provided for a reciprocal restoration of all conquests: _Silesia_ was given to _Prussia_, and the _Pragmatic Sanction_ was sustained in _Austria_.
ALLIANCE AGAINST FREDERICK.--_Frederick the Great_ used the next eight years in doing what he could to encourage industry and to increase the prosperity and resources of Prussia, at the same time that he strengthened his military force. Prussia had evinced so much power in the late conflicts as to be an object of envy and apprehension. _Maria Theresa_ was anxious to recover _Silesia_. _Frederick_ had a foe in _Elizabeth_, empress of Russia, whose personal vices he made a subject of sarcastic remark, and who, besides, coveted Prussian provinces on the Baltic. An alliance was formed between _Russia_ and _Austria._ This was joined by _Saxony_, and by _France;_ since _Louis XV._ had become alarmed by the calculating selfishness of _Frederick"s_ policy, and was induced to depart from the French traditional policy, and to unite with Austria. The only ally of _Frederick_ was _George II. _of England, which was then engaged in a contest with France respecting the American colonies (1756).
THE SEVEN YEARS" WAR.--Thus arose the _Seven Years" War._ _Frederick,_ secretly informed of the plans of his enemies, antic.i.p.ated their action by invading Saxony and capturing _Dresden _(1756). At _Lobositz_ he defeated the Austrians: he soon took eighteen thousand Saxon troops. He had now to encounter the military strength of the various nations opposed to him. With the bulk of his forces he marched into Bohemia, and gained a great but costly victory at _Prague_ (1757). For the next six months, successes and reverses alternated; but before the end of the year (1757) _Frederick_ won two of his most famous triumphs,--one at _Rossbach,_ over the French and the Imperialists; and the other over the Austrians, at _Leuthen._ _Frederick_ was now admired as a hero in England, and was furnished by the elder _William Pitt,_ who had succeeded _Newcastle_, with money and troops. In 1758 the Prussians vanquished the Russians at _Zorndorf_, but were, in turn, soon defeated by the Austrians at _Hochkirch_ Of the numerous battles in this prolonged war, in which the military talents of _Frederick_ were so strikingly shown, it is possible to refer only to a few of the most important. He was defeated by the united Austrians and Russians at _Kunersdorf;_ and so completely that he was for the moment thrown into despair, and wrote to his minister _Finkenstein,_ "All is lost." In 1760 _Berlin_ was held for a few days by the Russians, but _Frederick_ soon defeated the Austrians once more at _Torgau._ In 1761, however, his situation was in the highest degree perilous. His resources were apparently exhausted. _Spain_ joined the ranks of his enemies. He faced them all with determined resolution, but he confessed in his private letters that his hopes were gone.
END OF THE WAR.--At this time there was a turn of events in his favor. In Russia, _Peter III._, who succeeded _Elizabeth_, was an admirer of _Frederick,_--so much so that he wore a Prussian uniform,--and hastened to conclude a peace and alliance with him (1762). _Peter_ was soon dethroned and killed by Russian n.o.bles; and his queen and successor, _Catherine II._, recalled the troops sent to _Frederick"s_ aid. Nevertheless, they helped him to a victory over the Austrians, under the command of _Daun,_ at _Burkersdorf_ (1762). Austria, too, was exhausted and ready for peace. The negotiations between England and France, which ended in the _Peace of Paris_ (1763), made it certain that the French armies would evacuate Germany. _Prussia_ and _Austria_ agreed to the _Peace of Hubertsburg_, by which Prussia retained _Silesia_, and promised her vote for the Archduke _Joseph_, son of _Maria Theresa_, as king of Rome and successor to the empire (1763).
POSITION OF PRUSSIA.--_Joseph II_. succeeded his father as emperor in 1765, and was a.s.sociated by his mother, _Maria Theresa_, in the government of her hereditary dominions. From the conclusion of the Seven Years" War, _Prussia_ took her place as one of the five great powers of Europe.
THE BRITISH INDIAN EMPIRE.--It was during this period that the empire of the British in _India_ grew up out of the mercantile settlements of a trading corporation, the _East India Company_. The result was effected after a severe struggle with the French. After the beginning of the eighteenth century, the _Mughal empire_ at _Delhi_ declined. Insubordinate native princes admitted only a nominal control over them. The effect of successive _Mahratta_ and _Afghan_ invasions was such, that when England and France went to war in Europe, in 1745, _India_ was broken up into different sovereignties, to say nothing of the great number of _petty_ chieftains who were practically independent. _Pondicherry_ was the chief French settlement. For a time it seemed that in the struggle for control France, under the masterly guidance of _Dupleix_, must triumph. In 1756 _Calcutta_ was taken from the English by the _Nabob of Bengal_, and many Englishmen died in the close room of the military prison in which they were shut up,--"the Black Hole." In 1757 _Clive_ defeated a great army of the natives, with whom were a few French, in the decisive battle of _Pla.s.sey_. He had previously shown his indomitable courage in the seizure of _Arcot_, and in its defense against a host of besiegers. The victory at _Pla.s.sey_ secured the British supremacy, which gradually extended itself over the country. The various local sovereignties became like Roman provinces. On the death of _Clive_, _Warren Hastings_ was made governor-general (1772). After his recall, he was impeached (1788), on charges of cruelty and oppression in India, and his trial by the House of Lords did not end until seven years after it began. He was then acquitted. Among the conductors of the impeachment on the part of the House of Commons, were the celebrated orators _Edmund Burke_ and _Richard Brinsley Sheridan_. In 1784 the power of the East-India Company had been restricted by the establishment of the _Board of Control_. Up to that time the Indian Empire, made up of dependent and subject states, had been governed by the sole authority of the company.