Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/334

* EUROPE. 290 EUROPE. lost all of its possessions on the southern shore of the Baltic with the exception of a small part of Pomerania ; Prussia and Russia entering into its inheritance. The treaties of Utrecht (1713). Rastadt (1714), and Nystadt ( 17:21 ) signalize momentous changes in the political balance of Europe, and things begin to assume an aspect that is familiar. The power of France is checked by the aggrandizement of Austria, which now obtains possession of the Spanish Nether- lands and becomes the dominant power in Italy. France loses the control of the sea to England, which enters upon a successful career of commerce and colonization. Prussia is raised to the rank of a kingdom, and stands forward as the leading State of northern Ger- many. Russia under Peter the Great has gained a foothold on the Baltic. Savoy is made a king- dom, and, by the acquisition of Sardinia, becomes a prominent factor in Italian affairs. The period that follows to the French Revolution is in gen- eral one of development on these lines. France, exhausted by the wars of Louis XIV. and the excesses of his profligate successor, declines in power steadily in spite of a temporary success over Austria in the War of the Polish Succes- sion. Prussia, under the able and unscrupulous Frederick the Great (q.v.), assumes the leader- ship in Germany and holds it in the great Seven Years' War (q.v.) against the united forces of Austria, France, and Russia. In this struggle Prussia receives some aid from England; but England is more actively interested in world politics than in the Continental politics, and to England fall the immense possessions of France in the New World and the ultimate control of India. Russia increases its territory at the ex- pense of the Turks, who, since their great defeat at Vienna (1683), have rapidly been swept back, Carlowitz (1699), Passarowitz' (1718), Kutschuk Kainardji (1774), marking the steady decline of their power. The greed for territory, since 1648 the moving spirit of European politics, reaches it- climax in the despoliation of Poland by Rus- sia. Prussia, and Austria, acting under the in- spiration of Catharine II. Reform and Revolution (1763-1815). In the three decades of peace which followed the Seven Years' War. the attention of European sovereigns was directed chiefly toward the internal prob- lems of State. This was the age of benevolent despotism, when monarchs sought to reconcile the theory of absolute government with the new- ideas concerning the rights of man emanating from France. Joseph II. of Austria, Catharine II. of Russia, Frederick the Great, Leopold of Tuscany, and Pombal in Portugal rallied out far- reaching reforms in Church and State without conceding any increased share in the government to the people. The States of Europe were thus mere governing machines, rather than (rue na- tion-, and they showed little stability when the outbreak of the French Revolution assailed the old form of things. In France (q.v.) the Revo- lution -wept away all hereditary privileges and di abilities, destroyed monarchy, and for a time transformed the Stale into a confederacy of in- di i" ii'leni communes. The zeal of liberated France to extend to its neighbors the blessings of freedom, and the apprehensive hostility of the rulers of the monarchic States, brought on a scries of European wars. The' reaction in France again-t anarchy, and the -Ire-- of foreign conflict, made Napoleon (q.v.) absolute ruler of France, with governmental power more com- pletely centralized than under the Bourbons. Napoleon's ambition converted the Revolutionary wars into Napoleonic wars, and his military and political genius made him master of half of Europe. He took the title of Emperor of the French, and regarded himself as the successor of the Frankish emperors. ( See Map : Europe at the Time of Napoleon's Greatest Power.) The Emperor in Vienna, who claimed the same posi- tion, surrendered his title in 1806, henceforth calling himself Emperor of Austria only; and thus ended the Holy Roman Empire, the most venerable and the emptiest of surviving mediaeval institutions. To at least one of the principles of the Revolution Napoleon remained faithful. As far as his authority or influence reached, class distinctions were swept away and all men became equal before the law. By independent legislation Prussia and other States took long steps in the same direction. (See Stein.) This was the one great direct result of the Revolutionary propa- ganda. For political liberty and popular govern- ment in Europe, Napoleon of his own will did nothing; nor was it his purpose to contribute in any way to the establishment of national States in central Europe. These things were not com- patible with his European empire. The seeds of democracy, how : ever, had been sown in the early years of the Revolution: and national feeling was fostered among the peoples of Europe by the struggle against foreign rule which Napoleon forced upon them. To make head against him, the inonarchs were forced to make common cause with their subjects. The Constitution of 1812 in Spain, the organization of local self-govern- ment and of a popular army in Prussia, wen- results of French aggression ; and it was the national forces of Spain that prepared Napo- leon's downfall, as it was the national levies of Prussia that helped to consummate it. By estab- lishing legal equality and by awakening the desire for national self-government the Revolu- tion gave a unity to subsequent developments in Europe, which had not been seen since the Refor- mation broke up the uniformity of the mediaeval civilization. Yet Europe, after the fall of Napo- leon, entered on a period of sharp recoil from the ideals of the Revolution. At the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) the Powers, under the leader- ship of Austria, made a deliberate attempt to return to the conditions that had prevailed before 17S9. The map of Europe, with which Napoleon had played havoc, was reconstructed in the in- terest of 'legitimacy.' and of the balance of power, that great ideal of eighteenth-century statecraft. France was restricted to her ancient boundaries. Belgium and Holland were united into a kingdom to keep watch on the northern boundary of France. Norway was taken from Denmark and given to Sweden, to make up for tin- annexation of Finland by Russia. Russia received also the Grand Duchy of Warsaw, which was organized as a separate Kingdom of Poland. For (In- unity of Germany ami of Italy nothing was done. Prussia and Austria were both strengthened. Prussia gained territory chiefly in northern ami western Germany, Austria in llnly. The smaller German Stales and free cities, greatly reduced in number, were united with Prussia and Vustria in a German confed- eracy, in which Austria held the presidency. In