Page:General History of Europe 1921.djvu/676

 518 General History oj Europe The Germans exacted a heavy war indemnity from France a billion dollars and proclaimed that German troops would remain in France until the sum was paid. The French people made pathetic sacrifices to hasten the payment of the indemnity in order to free their country from the presence of the detested "Prussians." The bitter feeling between France and Germany dates from this war. The natural longing of the French for their "lost provinces/' and the suspicions of the Germans, not only prevented the nations from becoming friends but had much to do with the sudden and inexcusable attack which Germany, made on France in August, 1914. The fate of Alsace-Lorraine was from the first one of the crucial issues of the World War. 925. Proclamation of the German Empire, January 18, 1871. The war between France and Prussia in 1870, instead of hinder- ing the development of Germany, as Napoleon III had hoped it would, only served to consummate the work of 1866. The South German states, Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Baden, and South Hesse, having sent their troops to fight side by side with the Prussian forces, consented after their common victory over France to join the North German Federation. Surrounded by the German princes, William, King of Prussia and President of the North Ger- man Federation, was proclaimed German Emperor in the palace of Versailles, January, 1871. In this way the German Empire came into existence. With its victorious army and its wily chan- cellor, Bismarck, it immediately took an important place among the western powers of Europe and sought to increase its power. IV. THE FINAL UNIFICATION OF ITALY 926. Rome added to the Kingdom of Italy (mo). The unifi- cation of Italy was completed, like that of Germany, by the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. After the war of 1866 Austria had ceded Venetia to Italy. Moreover, in August, 1870, the reverses of the war compelled Napoleon to recall the French garrison from Rome, and the Pope made little effort to defend his capital against the Italian army, which occupied it in September. The