Page:The Science of History and the Hope of Mankind.djvu/56



of Europe into foes, friends, and neutrals, as led inevitably to the freedom of Greece and revolutions in France, Germany, and Italy.

The gradual acquisition of privileges by the Hungarians from the German Emperors, and their ultimate achievement of national autonomy and self-rule, cannot be explained solely by the patriotism and martyrdom of heroes like Tokoli and his successors. Hungarian independence was, in later times, the result of the same forces and processes that had previously led to the formation and recognition of Prussian monarchy as an independent power in German history and general European politics. The eternal conflict of the German Empire with Turkey, and subsequently with Russia, as well as the secession of Prussia