Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/670

 512 General History of Europe the first step toward German unification was made by Napoleon when, under his auspices, many of the little states were swal- lowed up by the larger ones in 1803 and the following years ( 797 f -)- The old Holy Roman Empire of the German na- tion came to an end in 1806, and Germany was completely under French influence for several years. After Napoleon's downfall a loose union of the surviving states into which Ger- many had been consolidated was formed at the Congress of Vienna. The attempt of the constitutional assembly of Frank- fort in 1848-1849 to form a strong democratic empire under Prussia failed, because the king of Prussia refused to accept the crown, on the ground that the assembly had no right to offer it to him and that should he accept it he would, as he timidly feared, become involved in a war with Austria, which was excluded from the proposed union. 913. William I of Prussia (isei-isss). With the accession of William I in I&5& 1 a new era dawned for Prussia. An ambitious king came into power, whose great aim was to expel Austria from the German Confederation and out of the remaining states to construct a firm union, under the domination of Prussia, which should take its place among the more important states of Europe. He saw that war would come sooner or later, and his first busi- ness was to strengthen his army. 914. The Prussian Army. The war of independence fought against Napoleon in 1813 had led the Prussian king to summon the whole nation to arms, and a law was passed in Prussia making service in the army obligatory upon every able-bodied male subject. The first thing that William I did was to increase the annual levy from forty to sixty thousand men and to see that all the soldiers remained in active service three years. They then passed into the reserve, according to the existing law, where for two years more they remained ready at any time to take up arms should it be necessary. William wished to increase the term of service in the reserve to four years. In this way the l He ruled until 1861 as regent for his brother, Frederick William IV, who was in- capacitated by disease.