Omaha daily bee., 1910-08-13

Of tho territory by Pruss!an and Austrian
troops made inevitable the quarrel whct
Bismarck was deliberately fostering auc
which was necessary for the working cut
Of his schemes. Early in 1866 the Prussieni
politely but firmly forced the Austrian
garrison out of Holsteln.
Austria appealed to the ghostly Diet OF
the confederation. sitting NJ Frankfort
to use the confederated army against Prus.
STA. on June II the Austrian motion wa,
carried by the Diet. an action which provCe
to be its last for the next day Prussia
wrecked the conft deration by declaring wal
against three of It's states-Hanover Hesse
and Saxony. There was no formal declara.
ton Of war against Austria. the Prussians
simply notifying the Austrian commanders
to get ready for a tight
Bismarck already had concluded secret
treaty with Italy. on June II, the Austrian
emperor published a manifesto OF war. the
next day the Prussian king issued an adj
dress to his people, and two days later
Italy declared war against Bavaria and
Austria. Thus was begun the seven weeks
war which was decided at Sadowa when
the Prussan army utterly defeated the
Austrians. Prussia was prepared. Austria
not. Prussia was organized Austria
was not.
Austria renowned its claims In Holstein,
acknowledged the final dissolution OF the
German confederation and bound itself TO a
modification of the meaning OF the word
Germany, by which Austria was excluded.
1t also recognized the creation of the
North German confederation Prussia,
thereupon, announced that II had annexed
Schleswig- Holstein, the free city OF Frank
fort, the kingdom OF Hanover, the cleo
torate Of Hesse, and the duchy of Nassaue
to the dominions of the Prussian kingdom.
Saxony, the Mecklenbergs the three Hanse-
towns, Gutenberg Brunswick and the
Thurningian states joined with Prussia in
the North German confederation. Added
to all this the southern states Of Bavaria,
Baden and Wurttemberg although not in
the northern confederation, agreed to place
their whole military force at the dispazHi
of Prussia in case of war, Prussia, in turn,
guaranteeing their sovereignty.
The success of the Prussian program
greatly alarmed Napoleon III, then dream
ing dreams of a greater French empire.
Napoleon attempted to get control OF the
grand duchy Of Luxembourg and thereby
incurred the enmity of the Germans. In
this act Napoleon did more to cause the
south Germans to consent to the Prusslan
leadership than Bismarck ever could have
done In 1870 the Spanish cortes invited an
obscure prince of the house of Hohen-
zollern TO take the Spanish throne This
was construed by the French as blow to
their dignity, and as in derogation OF their
interests.
Napoleon sent his ambassador to Ems to
see King william. The king granted him
a courteous interview, but Bismarck edited
the newspaper account of the meeting so
that it appeared that the Prussian king had
insulted the French ambassador. The tee-
gram with its Bismarckian elisions and
examinations went out to the world, and IN
a day all France was on fire with furious
hatred for the Prussians. Bismarck was
ready for a war with France He had
been practically ready for decade, every
detail of the war plan had been finally
determined for more than two years.
France was not ready, but France declared
war.
The terrible efficiency of the Prussian
military machine again was demonstrated 4
and within few months France lay pros
trate under the heel Of the Prussian in
vader. The absolute supremacy OF Prussia
In German affairs was not questioned in
any quarter after the Victory over France,
and 1t was but a mere matter Of formallty
to unite the several states into an empire.
The king of Bavaria proposed to the other
German princes that the German states
form with PRUSSIA a new German empire.
under a constitution. the presidentship of
the confederation to be hereditary right
of the king of Prussia. On January Is,
1871, King William OF Prussia, In the mir
rored gallery of the palace of Versailles,
formally assumed the imperial dignity with
the title "Deutscher Kaiser" Bismarck
had cemented the German states into
German nation and had founded a new Ger I
man empire based upon the solid foundaS4.
ton OF the German nationality, and not
upon the ghostly inheritance OF the Roman
Caesars
ny FREDHRIc J. HAsKIN.
Tomorrow--fh0 German Advance. Il
rtH..