Convention now came to an end, in October 1795, and the new assemblies met. People were tired of political troubles at home. They saw, or felt that nothing could be gained by altering the government every year. So they turned round, they looked outwards at the surrounding world. Their hearts fired up. All their enthusiasm they put behind their soldiers in the field. The old regime was smashed in France. Now they were ready to destroy it in all the world.
The victories of the revolutionary armies had caused Prussia to withdraw from the war, yielding to France territories on the left bank of the Rhine, and obtaining promise that Prussia should be regarded as the chief power in North Germany, and should not be attacked. Spain also came out of the war. This left France to face Britain and Austria only.
Austria was the immediate enemy. She was to be attacked by one army in Italy, whilst two others marched towards Vienna. Napoleon had command of the Italian army. The Italians themselves loathed the Austrian rule, so they welcomed his advance against their masters. France watched, electrified. They saw the brilliant way in which Napoleon defeated and broke the Austrians in Italy. Austria made peace in 1797, and this left France with only one enemy, Britain.
The next step was a strange one. The Directors in Paris ordered Napoleon to undertake the invasion of Egypt. He reached Egypt safely, and then his position was endangered by Nelson’s victory of the Nile. At the same time Napoleon heard that there was a new coalition of powers in Europe, against the French. He determined to return. Russia had joined Austria in the attack on the Republic. He hastened back. His Italian campaign had made him the hero of France. Everybody believed he could bring peace and order to the land. He was expected with excitement, the coming great man.
Meanwhile the executive government called the Directory, composed of five Directors, were muddling things at home. When Napoleon arrived in Paris many leaders and politicians came to him complaining bitterly of this. He listened to these unsatisfied republicans. They asked him to be the leader, to take control of the government. He was such a hero among the people that they thought this could be done without any more fighting in Paris. But the muddling Directors and assemblies refused to come out of office. Napoleon had command of the troops of Paris. He just marched down to the Assembly Rooms and scattered the obstinate legislators. Then there was nothing to oppose him.
After this, for twenty years the history of France is a history of Napoleon Bonaparte. He was a wonderful military genius, but he was also a brilliant ruler in peace time. He knew that if the government rested with the mass of the people, it would be a disastrous mob rule where everything was pulled down as soon as it was put up. So he most carefully arranged a government which depended upon the richer, more stable, property-owning, privileged classes. And yet he ruled in the name of the people.
Again we see the Tyrant rising up. Napoleon became an almost absolute sovereign, much as Louis xiv. had been. But Napoleon ruled in the name of the people, according to the agreement of the people. Though he was supreme, he was supreme because the people willed it, not because he had been appointed by God. Louis xiv. claimed to be king by divine right: the people had nothing to do with it. Napoleon was emperor by the will of the people, although, for form’s sake, he crowned himself in presence of the Pope.
God-made kings and nobles were destroyed in France for ever. The new ones would be man-made. This was the great change. The actual government rested in the hands of the educated, well-to-do citizen classes, very much as it had done in Louis xiv.’s time. The poor were not in any very different position. Money ruled instead of birth, that was all. A man who had no money found himself pretty much where he was before, though some of the annoyances were removed, and he was free from the insult of God-made inferiority. In the new system, any man who might become rich might become a ruler. So a modern commercial or industrial state, be it kingdom or republic, was established.
The difference lies in this, that if a man had ability to make money, he might ultimately govern the republic. Henceforth there was to be no superiority of one man over another: only the superiority of the money-maker. Prosperity was the only clue to life.
Chapter XVII. Prussia
The changes of the Reformation and the difficulty of settling the disputes brought about by the new order led to one of the most disastrous wars that Europe has ever seen, the fatal Thirty Years War. This fearful war between the Protestant princes of the north and the Catholic forces of the imperialists ravished and utterly ruined Germany.
In 1650 Germany was almost a deserted land, the remaining peasants were almost driven to savagery. Hardly any traffic passed along the desolate roads. In the country the people clustered in dilapidated, obscure hovels, rough, brutalised, demoralised. In the towns civilisation was almost at a standstill. By the sword, by famine, by plague, in this horrible war ten million people had perished, leaving only about five millions in the great land of Germany. The population of Berlin fell from 24,000 to 6,000, a mere village. In Hesse, 300 villages, 17 towns, 47 castles were burned out; in Wurtemberg, 3,600 dwellings; and these were comparatively small states. Of all countries, only Ireland after the reign of Elizabeth and the wars of Cromwell has ever been reduced to such a ghastly state. It was this destruction of Germany which left France free to become so powerful and dominant under Louis xiv., and which finished the mediaeval spirit in Europe.
Germany was left divided into innumerable parts. There were reckoned 343 sovereign states in the country; 158 were under lords and princes, 123 were under bishops, 63 were imperial cities, but all were separate and practically self-governing. The confusion was incredible. The imperial power had almost vanished. The emperors, the Hapsburgs, had to confine their attention to their remaining dominions of Austria-Hungary and North Italy. The rest were gone. Switzerland and the United Netherlands became independent, France had gained Alsace and the three bishoprics of Metz, Toule, and Verdun.
Out of all this chaos the state of Prussia rose. It is Prussia which has led and made Germany. But modern Prussia is a new thing. The core of the state is Brandenburg, the great Mark or frontier-province established in the tenth century to keep off the Slavs to the east. Brandenburg lay between the Elbe and the Oder. Beyond the Oder lay heathen Prussia, Prussia proper, inhabited by pagan Slavs. When the crusades to the Holy Land began to wane, the great Crusading Order of the Teutonic Knights turned to preach to their neighbours, the heathen Prussians beyond the Mark of Brandenburg. Thus the Slavs of Prussia became Christian and Germanised, the Teutonic Knights held the eastern frontier against the wild peoples of Russia.
In 1415 Frederick of Hohenzollern, one of the Emperor’s counts, was made Elector of Brandenburg by Sigismund, for Frederick had been a staunch friend to Sigismund all through the stormy times of the Council of Constance, when popes were deposed and Huss was burned. The Hohenzollerns had been minor princes, imperial counts of Nuremberg. Barbarossa long ago had said that he saw the day when the Hohenzollerns would displace the Hohen- staufens, his own imperial house. But the Hohenstaufens were gone before the Hohenzollerns rose to power. Barbarossa overlooked the Hapsburgs, that family which produced so few great men, yet which ruled for so many centuries over such large territories.
When the Hohenzollerns came to Brandenburg they were isolated between Hanover and Bremen on the west, and the Prussian lands of the Teutonic Knights which lay to the east. The knights were doing badly. They were defeated by the Poles, and Poland seized a great strip of territory, called West Prussia, intervening between Brandenburg and Prussia proper, and stretching to the sea at Danzig. So that Brandenburg’s new neighbour was Poland; Prussia was cut off to the east.
The Teutonic Order needed a new chief. Albert of Hohenzollern was chosen Grand Master in 1511. He was a cousin of the Hohenzollerns across in Brandenburg. He wanted to establish a realm for himself. Wisely, he calculated that if he became Protestant, then, after the Reformation was secure his family might really establish itself as dukes of Prussia. This actually came to pa
ss. The Albertian Hohenzollerns ruled Prussia.
But this line died out, and the cousin Hohenzollerns of Brandenburg became heirs to Prussia. John Siismund of Hohenzollern, Elector of Brandenburg, became now also Duke of Prussia in 1618. But his two countries or lands did not touch: the Polish province of West Prussia lay between them. After this the Hohenzollerns inherited Cleves and Berg, away on the Rhine. So now they ruled three separate territories in North Germany.
During the Thirty Years War George William, Elector of Brandenburg, played a very poor part. He did not want to take either side, so the Electorate was ravaged by both parties, and suffered horribly. But in 1610 the strong ruler Frederick William came to power. He was called the Great Elector. At the Peace of Westphalia he compelled the parties to yield Magdeburg and East Pomerania to Brandenburg. Pomerania lay just between Brandenburg and the sea, Magdeburg lay to the south. So Frederick William stretched his central territory to the Baltic, and had a sea-board, and advanced his frontier southwards towards Saxony.
The Great Elector wanted to raise his estate from the position of shame into which it had fallen in the Thirty Years War. He made himself master in his own lands, suppressed the estates or parliaments of Brandenburg, East Prussia, and Cleves, and thus obtained clear, single control. This made for unity and success. Then he strengthened his armies and defeated the Poles, making them promise not to attack East Prussia. This was a great step. Next he defeated the French and Swedes when they advanced into Brandenburg, beat them in a fierce battle. For this remarkable victory he received the title of the Great Elector.
He now turned his attention to the commercial prosperity of his realm. He had canals constructed, and encouraged trade along the still waters. His final step for the promotion of industry was taken when, in 1685, he gave houses and many privileges in Berlin and the country round to the Huguenots who were fleeing from the persecutions of the ageing, short-sighted Grand Monarch of France. After the settlement of these Huguenots, Berlin, the central city of Brandenburg, began her course of industrial greatness, while the agriculture in the provinces round was immensely improved by these more civilised new-comers. Thus a new source of riches and strength to the State was established.
Frederick William was succeeded in 1688 by his son, the Elector Frederick hi., a pompous and foolish man. At this time kings were being made. The Elector of Hanover was to be King of England, the Elector of Saxony was King of Poland, the Duke of Holstein was King of Denmark. Brandenburg might easily hope for the same title. When the nations began to unite against Louis xiv., after that old monarch claimed Spain for his grandson Philip, the Emperor Leopold thought Brandenburg would make a splendid ally against France. Brandenburg asked for the kingly title. The Emperor agreed, sp long as the Elector Frederick should not take his title from any of the territory of the Empire. Now Brandenburg was supposed to be subject to the empire, whilst Prussia was not. So that the Elector Frederick in. of Brandenburg, instead of becoming King of Brandenburg, became King Frederick I. of Prussia. He died shortly after achieving this new dignity. His soldiers had fought well at Blenheim, and kept up the new Prussian reputation.
Frederick I., was succeeded in 1713 by Frederick William I., his son. Frederick William I. of Prussia is one of the strangest men. He utterly despised his father’s vanity and pomp of ceremony, and at once dismissed all the showy ministers. Then he turned to his kingdom. ‘ We remain King and Master,’ he wrote, ‘ and we do what we like.’ He appointed royal officials, paid them badly, watched them strictly, and punished them harshly if they were guilty of the least offence. His lands were poor in comparison with those of France or Britain or Bavaria. He was bent on making them produce as much as they could, and in getting out of them all the taxes possible, without damaging the rate of production. His rage against any form of financial dishonesty among his officials was beyond bounds terrible.
His other mania was the production of a perfect” army. When he came to the throne in 1713 the army numbered 38,000 men; by 1739 it had more than 83,000, and this was peace strength. The great France had 160,000 soldiers, and Austria about 100,000. But these were first- rate powers, Prussia was as yet insignificant. And then Frederick William, who was rather a drill-sergeant than a king, clothed, armed and disciplined his forces to a rare pitch of perfection. He made a regiment of giant grenadiers, ransacked the lands for them, and he went almost mad in his admiration of this corps. Yet he was no soldier, and did no fighting. He is the insane royal drill-sergeant.
He had a son Frederick. Frederick William was a coarse, foul-mouthed, uneducated bully, drinking, feeding, smoking, yelling, and domineering. The son was just the opposite, delicate and sensitive, cultured, almost French in his education, loving books and painting and philosophy. The father tormented and tortured his son incredibly, loathed him, calling him a weakling and a ninny and a paltry knave. The young Frederick escaped from court at last, for his father had always taunted him to this. He was caught, brought back, and condemned to death by his father. The violent king raved, and would have shot his son at once. The nobles would not permit it. So, grudgingly, Frederick William spared the life of the young man, whom he almost longed to annihilate. Instead he executed the Crown Prince’s dear friend, and brutally punished others of his son’s companions.
The young prince yielded, since there was nothing else to do. Like his friend Voltaire, the famous French writer, he was a sceptic in matters of religion: with a bitter heart he professed the religious opinions his father forced on him: he took a wife he neither loved nor wanted, at his father’s command: and he obediently began the dreary hack-work of administration to which he was driven.
All the while, the young Frederick was a far finer, more intellectual, and even a much stronger man, in his soul and his will, than the bullying Frederick William his father. But by the time the prince came to the throne, in 1740, the sweetness of his nature was spoiled, his soul embittered. He did not believe in kindness any more. He saw that force, and force alone, triumphed: it was no use a man’s being sensitive and wise: he must merely be unbreakably strong.
So the new King Frederick II. came to the throne of Prussia. He became one of the most famous men of the modern world, Frederick the Great, one of the makers of Europe.
At the very beginning of his reign Frederick invaded Silesia, which stretchcd south of Brandenburg, and belonged to Austria. The War of the Austrian Succession followed, when Prussia and France fought Austria and Britain. When peace was made in 1748 Prussia kept the large territory of Silesia, though France, who had beaten Britain at Fontenoy, had to give up everything.
Soon war began again. This time it was Britain and Prussia against France and Austria, in the Seven Years War. In this war the great Pitt, Earl of Chatham, arose in England, and Britain secured Canada and India from France. But Prussia suffered terribly, almost as badly as in the Thirty Years War. Frederick had to face the much improved armies of Austria in the south, and the strength of France on the west, whilst Elizabeth, Czarina of Russia, joined Austria and attacked him in the east. Against these three, the greatest powers in Europe, Frederick had no ally but Britain, and Britain was a naval power, she could not at first help him on land.
Frederick showed himself one of the finest soldiers the world has known, a master of campaign and of battle attack. In 1757 he won the great victory of Leuthen, by his quite new methods of attack; and in the same year he defeated the French so easily, by his skilful handling of his troops in the battle of Rossbach, that the enemy was not only beaten but put to shame. Napoleon afterwards said that the battle of Rossbach was the beginning of the French Revolution. He meant that an absolute monarch could only keep firm on his throne by winning military victories, and that if his armies suffered such humiliating defeats, as did those of Louis xv. at Rossbach, then his people were bound to turn against him. Pitt also proved a great ally to Frederick, unexpectedly sending him over many troops from England. For Pitt was a gi-eat war-master.
In spite of everyt
hing, in spite of all his patient endurance and skill, Frederick was heavily beaten by the Russians in 1759. In 1760 Russians and Austrians entered Berlin. In 1761 the whole of Prussian territory was in the hands of the enemy. The splendid troops with which Frederick had set out were for the most part killed or taken prisoners. His money was exhausted. And then, worst of all, George III. in England caused Pitt to resign, and the one ally became useless. Prussia now seemed destined to disappear again, divided between the Empire and Russia. Frederick, in his bitter despair, even thought of suicide.
Then suddenly he was saved by the death of the Czarina Elizabeth, who hated him determinedly. Her . weak- minded nephew Peter hi. worshipped Frederick, calling him ‘ my king, my master.’ Russia at once made alliance with Prussia, and the whole situation changed. But this only lasted for four months, when poor Peter III. was overthrown and put to death by his own wife, the Czarina Catherine II. She at once withdrew from the alliance with Frederick. But Prussia was saved, Austria ousted. The powers were exhausted by the struggle. In 1763 the Peace of Paris was made, and Frederick still kept Silesia, which Austria so badly wanted back.
Prussia was now the wonder of Europe. A new kingdom of the second rate, she had maintained herself against the three greatest powers. Frederick’s system of government, his management of the war, were looked upon with admiration and amazement. Even the neighbours he had beaten began to imitate him.
In the eighteenth century most of the countries of Europe became stronger, more united, more prosperous and developed in every way, through the concentration of the power into the hands of the Crown, which ruled wisely and well. This period is called the age of the Enlightened Despot. Austria, Russia, Denmark, Sweden and Prussia are examples of the great advance made by countries whose monarchs united the scattered powers of their realm into one wise, strong control. But Prussia is the finest example, and she is the very opposite of the Grand Monarchy of France. Frederick’s court was simple and natural, there was no show, no pomp. It is said that once, when Frederick the Great walked out in Berlin, he saw on a wall a big placard, or cartoon, abusing him, calling him a bad king and an absurd man. ‘ Hang it higher,’ said Frederick, ‘ so that the people can see it.’
Complete Works of D.H. Lawrence Page 916