Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/566

* PRUSSIA. 496 PRUSSIA. life. The attempt of the King to play the old Brandenburg part of a neutral when no power iu Europe could be neutral only made the misfor- tunes of the country greater. In 1800, after the campaign of Jena, Prussia found herself prostrate at the feet of Xapuleon. The Treaty of Tilsit (.July. 1807) tore away about lialf of the kingdom — the territories west of the Elbe and the Polish territories acquired in 1793 and 1795. In this crisis the government, organ- ized in a form fast becoming antiquated, had lost its efficiency and degenerated into a helpless bureaucracy under a vacillating king. Then came a great national awakening. Stein, Hardenberg, and 8charnhorst (qq.v. ) came in- to the government as ministers and com- pletely reorganized the administration, civil and military, changing Prussia from a mere military monarchy to an armed and organized nation under a monarcliical government. In 1809 the last remnants of serfdom, which had been in process of abolition since 1717, were done away with. Fichte began liis patriotic propa- ganda. In 1813. allied with Russia and Austria, Prussia entered upon the War of Liberation, and she was able to take an active and efiective part in the campaigns that brought about Xapoleon's downfall. In 1815 the Congress of Vienna al- lowed Prussia ( reinstated in most of her old Ger- man possessions I only the Province of Posen and the city of Danzig of her share of the second and third partitions of Poland, but in recompense awarded what was of much more value to her as a German State — large territories on the Rhine, half of Saxony, and what was left of Swed- ish Pomerania. From this time the history of Prussia and that of Germany are insepa- rable. It became tlie aim of Prussian statesman- ship to unite Germany under Prussian leader- ship and oust Austria from her presidency of the new confederation. The Zollverein (q.v. ), including all Germany except Austria, was a step in this direction ; but the inherent jeal- ousies of the German States prevented any further advance. The years from 1840 to 1861, covering the reign of Frederick William IV. (q.v.), formed a critical period for Prussia. All Europe was stirring with the liberal and constitutional agitation which culminated in the revolutions of 1848. The King of Prussia possessed cul- tivated tastes, but he proved to be a bigoted adherent of the old order of caste and privilege. He granted a legislative assembly in 1847, but the basis of representation was provincial, not popular. The revolutionary movement was se- verely felt in Prussia, especially in the great student centres. In Berlin serious rioting cul- minated in a pitched battle between the populace and the troops on March 18-19. 1848, in the course of which more than 200 men fell in the defense of the barricades. The King yielded, consented to the formation of a national guard, and sunmioned a Liberal Ministry. On May '22d a constituent convention assembled in Berlin, but its character was so radicval that the King, tnking advantage of the reaction which had al- ready set in at Vienna, transferred the conven- tion from Berlin to Brandenburg, and on Decem- ber 5th pronounced its dissolution, publishing at the same time a constitution, based on demo- cratic principles. The old system of different estates was abandoned and a united bicameral legislature established. In April, 1849, the King refused the Imperial crown offered him by the Frankfort Parliament, on the ground that it did not proceed from tlie action of the German princes. (See Germany.) Frederick ^^'illiam IV. thus destroyed the opportunity of bringing Prussia to the forefront in (ierman affairs, in 1850 he showed, by convoking the Erfurt Parlia- ment to consider anew plans for German unity, that his refusal was but half-hearted. At this time, however, Austria was in a better condition for action, and Scliwarzenberg promptly brought about the dissolution of the Erfurt gathering. Prussia was on the verge of war with Austria over the situation in Hesse, when the timidity and vacillation of the Prussian Government again led to a drawing back, and at Olmiitz (November 28-29, 1850) Count Manteufl'el met Prince Schwarzenberg, acceded to all of Austria's demands, and for the time being destroyed the prestige which Prussia had enjoyed since the days of Frederick the Great. This vacillation ceased when the Crown Prince William became Regent in 1858. Upon the hitter's accession to the throne in 1861 Bismarck was called into his councils and speedily became the dominant per- sonality in the German world. He rejected alto- gether the temporizing and timid policy of his predecessors and made it evident that the regen- eration of Germany nnist be accomplished through Prussian agency and by a policy of force. In 1804 Prussia and Austria engaged in a joint war with Denmark, which resulted in the liberation of Schleswig-Holstein from Danish rule. The dif- ferences between the rival powers relative to the disposition to be made of the duchies gave Bis- marck his -opportunity to force a war with Aus- tria. (See Germany; Schle-swig-Holstein ; Aus- TRIA-Hr.-GARY. ) The Seven Weeks" War ( q.v. ) fol- lowed, in which Prussia had an ally in Italy. By it Austria was forced out of the Gernumic body, and Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and Frank- fort were annexed to Prussia, with which .Schles- wig and Holstein were at the same time incor- porated. The North German Confederation was formed under Prussian leadership. It now remained to bring the States of South Germany into the union. This result was brought about with the same certainty of action that had produced the struggle with Austria. The Franco-German War and the establishment of the German Empire followed. For this series of events, and the history of Prussia to the pres- ent time, see Germany: Blsmarck; William I. ; Frederick III. : Willi.^m II. : Kulturkampf; Socialism; Political Parties (section on Ger- luany) ; etc. Bibliography'. Toppen, Historisch-Jcompnrative Geographic von Prcussen (Gotha, 1858) ; Engel, Land tinri I.ciite des preussischen Staates (Berlin, 1863) ; Hillebrand. La Priisse cmitemporaine et ses insiitutions (Paris, 1867) ; Miiller-Kopen, Die Bohenbestinimtinfien der koniglich preus- sischen Landesaufnahme (Berlin, 1875-85); Weber, Preti.isen i-or 500 Jahren in kultiirhis- torischer. statistischcr i(nd mHitfirischer Bczich- vng nebst Special-Geogrnphic (Danzig. 1878); Von Ronne, Das Stantsrecht dcr pretissixchen Monnrchie (4th ed., Leipzig, 1881-84) ; Schulze- G.Hvernitz, Das preussische SItnntsrecht aiif Onnidlnge des devf.ichen StnalKrechtu (Leipzig, 1888-00) : Whitman, Imperial Germany (London, 1889) ; Grotefend, Lehrbuch des pretissischen