Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/770

754 Toul, Metz, and Verdun had been wrested from the German empire by France. Disgusted with the successes of his adversaries, Charles resigned the crown. He was succeeded by his brother Ferdinand I. (1556-'64). The imperial authority was rapidly sinking to utter insignificance. France in the west and Turkey in the east were hovering on the borders of Germany, ready on every occasion to foster the internal dissensions of the empire and to conquer from it valuable possessions. The feeble Maximilian II. (1564-76), the visionary Rudolph II. (1576-1612), and his brother Matthias (1612-'19), were unable to arrest the political decay. The thirty years' war (1618-'48), which devastated and impoverished Germany, destroying all industry and commerce, left the imperial authority completely shattered, and Germany cut up into a multitude of petty states, whose rulers were absolute monarchs in fact, if not in name. The persecutions perpetrated by Ferdinand II. (1619-'37) on his Protestant subjects almost equalled those of Philip II. of Spain. The peace of Westphalia (1648), concluded by Ferdinand III. (1637-'57), tore Alsace from the German empire. Under the pedantic and feeble-minded Leopold I. (1658-1705) Germany took part in the coalition against the rising power of France, but, although successful in war, did not obtain any signal advantages by the peace. From that time the title of German emperor appeared only as an empty surname of the rulers of Austria (Joseph I., Charles VI., Francis I., the husband of Maria Theresa, whose enemy, Charles Albert of Bavaria, was also crowned as Charles VII., &c.). In fact, Germany was merely a maze of little despotisms, among which a few larger states were endeavoring to obtain a voice in the councils of Europe. Prussia (a kingdom since 1701), through the genius of Frederick the Great, established a great Protestant power, able to cope with Austria, but at the same time anxious to prevent the reconstruction of a great united empire. Thus the attempts of the emperor Joseph II. (1765-'90, or rather 1780-'90, when he reigned himself) to reëstablish the imperial authority in southern Germany were baffled by Prussia. At last the tempest of the French revolution prostrated the tottering fabric of the German empire. Vanquished by the armies of France, the emperor Francis II., son and successor (1792) of Leopold II., ceded by the treaties of Campo Formio (1797) and Luneville (1801) the country on the left bank of the Rhine. The petty rulers who lost their possessions in this way were indemnified with the territories of ecclesiastical princes. In 1805 several states seceded from the empire and became allies of France; and when at last, in 1806, a number of German states formed the Rhenish confederation under the protectorate of Napoleon, the emperor Francis resigned the German crown, and the empire was formally dissolved. A number of the smaller territories

were annexed to the larger states, and most of the free cities, which while under the nominal authority of the emperors had enjoyed a sort of republican government, lost their independence. The efforts of Prussia to oppose to this confederation a North German league having been frustrated, nearly the whole of Germany, with the exception of Austria and Prussia, was reduced to a state of French vassalage. The minions of the emperor Napoleon ruled the country with an iron rod, and if they removed many of the most glaring remnants of feudal despotism, they introduced in their stead all the abuses of an irresponsible military régime, and carried their extortions to a frightful extent. The sums drawn from Germany by Napoleon under the designation of contributions or subsidies must be counted by hundreds of millions. The independence of the country was reëstablished by the coalition of Austria, Russia, Prussia, Sweden, and Great Britain (1813-'15). A reconstruction of the old empire having been rendered impossible by the position which Prussia had assumed, a confederation was formed by all those states which had contrived to maintain their sovereignty during the Napoleonic troubles (June 8, 1815). Their number, which had exceeded 300 at the time of the dissolution of the empire, had then been reduced to less than 40, and a further reduction was made afterward by the extinction of several petty dynasties. The enthusiastic hope of the German people that Germany would once more appear as a powerful united nation was sorely disappointed. The diet, being only a permanent convention of the representatives of princes, all jealous of their individual sovereignty and unwilling to recognize the claims of the nation, became an abject tool of political oppression, and a harmonious coöperation of the states existed only in regard to repressive measures against all progressive movements. Wherever the people of a single state endeavored to obtain free institutions, the diet found occasion to interfere in favor of absolute monarchical power. None of the promises contained in the act of confederation in regard to a general tariff legislation, a common currency and postal system, &c., were fulfilled. Whatever was attained in this respect was due to the efforts of single states. Thus the Prussian Zollverein united a large portion of the German states on the basis of common material interests, and, by the great advantages it secured to its members, kept alive the longings for a still more complete national union. The French revolution of 1830 found an echo in some of the smaller German states, whose rulers were compelled to grant written constitutions to their subjects. A vigorous political life began to be developed in the southwestern states, and after the accession to the Prussian throne of Frederick William IV. (1840), in northern Germany also the demands of the people became more distinctly defined, while in Austria all popular aspirations were suppressed by the despotic rule of Prince