The Story of Mankind [154]
Austrian masters. They were supported
by king Albert of Sardinia, but a strong Austrian army
under old Radetzky marched into the valley of the Po, defeated
the Sardinians near Custozza and Novara and forced
Albert to abdicate in favour of his son, Victor Emanuel, who
a few years later was to be the first king of a united Italy.
In Germany the unrest of the year 1848 took the form of a
great national demonstration in favour of political unity and a
representative form of government. In Bavaria, the king who
had wasted his time and money upon an Irish lady who posed as
a Spanish dancer--(she was called Lola Montez and lies buried
in New York's Potter's Field)--was driven away by the enraged
students of the university. In Prussia, the king was
forced to stand with uncovered head before the coffins of those
who had been killed during the street fighting and to promise a
constitutional form of government. And in March of the year
1849, a German parliament, consisting of 550 delegates from
all parts of the country came together in Frankfort and proposed
that king Frederick William of Prussia should be the
Emperor of a United Germany.
Then, however, the tide began to turn. Incompetent Ferdinand
had abdicated in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph.
The well-drilled Austrian army had remained faithful to their
war-lord. The hangman was given plenty of work and the
Habsburgs, after the nature of that strangely cat-like family,
once more landed upon their feet and rapidly strengthened
their position as the masters of eastern and western Europe.
They played the game of politics very adroitly and used the
jealousies of the other German states to prevent the elevation
of the Prussian king to the Imperial dignity. Their long train-
ing in the art of suffering defeat had taught them the value of
patience. They knew how to wait. They bided their time
and while the liberals, utterly untrained in practical politics,
talked and talked and talked and got intoxicated by their own
fine speeches, the Austrians quietly gathered their forces, dismissed
the Parliament of Frankfort and re-established the old
and impossible German confederation which the Congress of
Vienna had wished upon an unsuspecting world.
But among the men who had attended this strange Parliament
of unpractical enthusiasts, there was a Prussian country
squire by the name of Bismarck, who had made good use of his
eyes and ears. He had a deep contempt for oratory. He knew
(what every man of action has always known) that nothing
is ever accomplished by talk. In his own way he was a sincere
patriot. He had been trained in the old school of diplomacy
and he could outlie his opponents just as he could outwalk
them and outdrink them and outride them.
Bismarck felt convinced that the loose confederation
of little states must be changed into a strong united country
if it would hold its own against the other European powers.
Brought up amidst feudal ideas of loyalty, he decided that
the house of Hohenzollern, of which he was the most faithful
servant, should rule the new state, rather than the incompetent
Habsburgs. For this purpose he must first get rid of the
Austrian influence, and he began to make the necessary
preparations for this painful operation.
Italy in the meantime had solved her own problem, and had
rid herself of her hated Austrian master. The unity of Italy
was the work of three men, Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi.
Of these three, Cavour, the civil-engineer with the short-sighted
eyes and the steel-rimmed glasses, played the part of the careful
political pilot. Mazzini, who had spent most of his days
in different European garrets, hiding from the Austrian police,
was the public agitator, while Garibaldi, with his band of red-
shirted rough-riders, appealed to the popular imagination.
Mazzini and Garibaldi were both believers in the Republican
form of government.
by king Albert of Sardinia, but a strong Austrian army
under old Radetzky marched into the valley of the Po, defeated
the Sardinians near Custozza and Novara and forced
Albert to abdicate in favour of his son, Victor Emanuel, who
a few years later was to be the first king of a united Italy.
In Germany the unrest of the year 1848 took the form of a
great national demonstration in favour of political unity and a
representative form of government. In Bavaria, the king who
had wasted his time and money upon an Irish lady who posed as
a Spanish dancer--(she was called Lola Montez and lies buried
in New York's Potter's Field)--was driven away by the enraged
students of the university. In Prussia, the king was
forced to stand with uncovered head before the coffins of those
who had been killed during the street fighting and to promise a
constitutional form of government. And in March of the year
1849, a German parliament, consisting of 550 delegates from
all parts of the country came together in Frankfort and proposed
that king Frederick William of Prussia should be the
Emperor of a United Germany.
Then, however, the tide began to turn. Incompetent Ferdinand
had abdicated in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph.
The well-drilled Austrian army had remained faithful to their
war-lord. The hangman was given plenty of work and the
Habsburgs, after the nature of that strangely cat-like family,
once more landed upon their feet and rapidly strengthened
their position as the masters of eastern and western Europe.
They played the game of politics very adroitly and used the
jealousies of the other German states to prevent the elevation
of the Prussian king to the Imperial dignity. Their long train-
ing in the art of suffering defeat had taught them the value of
patience. They knew how to wait. They bided their time
and while the liberals, utterly untrained in practical politics,
talked and talked and talked and got intoxicated by their own
fine speeches, the Austrians quietly gathered their forces, dismissed
the Parliament of Frankfort and re-established the old
and impossible German confederation which the Congress of
Vienna had wished upon an unsuspecting world.
But among the men who had attended this strange Parliament
of unpractical enthusiasts, there was a Prussian country
squire by the name of Bismarck, who had made good use of his
eyes and ears. He had a deep contempt for oratory. He knew
(what every man of action has always known) that nothing
is ever accomplished by talk. In his own way he was a sincere
patriot. He had been trained in the old school of diplomacy
and he could outlie his opponents just as he could outwalk
them and outdrink them and outride them.
Bismarck felt convinced that the loose confederation
of little states must be changed into a strong united country
if it would hold its own against the other European powers.
Brought up amidst feudal ideas of loyalty, he decided that
the house of Hohenzollern, of which he was the most faithful
servant, should rule the new state, rather than the incompetent
Habsburgs. For this purpose he must first get rid of the
Austrian influence, and he began to make the necessary
preparations for this painful operation.
Italy in the meantime had solved her own problem, and had
rid herself of her hated Austrian master. The unity of Italy
was the work of three men, Cavour, Mazzini and Garibaldi.
Of these three, Cavour, the civil-engineer with the short-sighted
eyes and the steel-rimmed glasses, played the part of the careful
political pilot. Mazzini, who had spent most of his days
in different European garrets, hiding from the Austrian police,
was the public agitator, while Garibaldi, with his band of red-
shirted rough-riders, appealed to the popular imagination.
Mazzini and Garibaldi were both believers in the Republican
form of government.