The History of Europe And the Church   The Relationship that Shaped the Western World The historic relationship between Europe and the Church is a relationship that has shaped the history of the Western World. Europe stands at a momentous crossroads. Events taking shape there will radically change the face of the continent and world. To properly understand today's news and the events that lie ahead, a grasp of the sweep of European history is essential. Only within an historical context can the events of our time be fully appreciated - which is why this narrative series is written in the historic present to give the reader a sense of being on the scene as momentous events unfold on the stage of history.

THE HABSBURG dream of a unified Empire embracing the entire Christian world has been thwarted by the forces of nationalism and religious enmity.

The Schmalkaldic Wars between the Lutheran princes of the Holy Roman Empire and Catholic princes led by Emperor Charles V. have ended in 1555 with the Peace of Augsburg. Now, both Roman Catholics and Lutherans are officially recognized within the Empire.

But this compromise peace has many shortcomings and satisfies no one completely. And it does not recognize Calvanism, a faith that spreads rapidly in the latter half of the 16^th century.

Political rivalries among the numerous petty princes are sharpened by religious differences among them. In 1618 the uncertain peace collapses and the most terrible of all religious conflicts breaks out — the Thirty Years' War.

Europe in 1648, Peace of Westphalia. (click to enlarge)

Europe in 1648, after the Thirty Years' War. (click to enlarge)

The term Peace of Westphalia denotes a series of peace treaties signed in 1648. These treaties ended the Thirty Years' War (1618–1648) in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War (1568–1648) between Spain and the Dutch Republic. The treaties did not restore the peace throughout Europe, however. France and Spain remained at war for the next eleven years, making peace only in the Treaty of the Pyrenees of 1659.

It begins as a conflagration between Catholic and Protestant, but quickly grows into a life-and-death national struggle between the French Bourbons and Austrian-Spanish Habsburgs for the mastery of Europe!

Not since Attila the Hun has the continent of Europe seen such butchery and destruction. In this war, all are losers.

In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia ends the war and restores a precarious peace to the Continent. But the German countryside is ruined. It will take a century to recover.

The war has dealt a heavy blow to the Holy Roman Empire. From now on, the Empire has no history of its own. It has become a loose collection of separate rival states.

By the year 1700, Germany is a patchwork of more than 1,700 independent and semi-independent princes and nobles. They are vassals of the Habsburg Emperor in name only.

Without a united and subservient Empire, the Emperor's position in Europe is very weak. Prospects for realizing the ideal of a single European Empire — a unified Christendom — appear exceedingly dim.

The "Holy Roman Empire" has become but a hollow name. The French philosopher Voltaire will shortly describe it as "neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire." Yet the outward forms and titles of the Empire are continued.

Central Europe About 1648.
(click to enlarge)

Further threatening the existence of the Holy Roman Empire is the rising power of France.

In 1661 young King Louis XIV. assumes active personal control of the state affairs of France. Louis has a strong sense of royal mission. He wants to become the foremost prince of Europe. He envisions himself as the heir of Charlemagne and seeks to resurrect the Frankish Empire under his leadership.

Ruling from his grand palace at Versailles, Louis' royal control is absolute. "L'état c'est moi," he declares — "I am the state!" He is popularly known as "The Grand Monarch," and as le Roi Soleil — "the Sun King."

Under Louis, France's influence in Europe expands. The French army becomes the strongest in Europe. The French monarchy reaches its zenith.

Louis embarks on a long series of wars aimed at maintaining France's domination of the Continent. This policy ultimately leads to disaster. The greatest of these conflicts is the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714), in which Louis fights to secure the crown of Spain for his grandson. It is the culmination of the rivalry between Bourbon and Habsburg. French armies sustain a series of costly defeats. An impoverished France is reduced to a second-rate European power — for a time.

Europe in 1702. (click to enlarge)

Western Europe after the Treaties of Utrecht and Rastadt in 1713. (click to enlarge)

The 1713 Treaty of Utrecht registered the defeat of French ambitions expressed in the wars of Louis XIV. and preserved the European system based on the balance of power. The Treaty of Rastatt in 1714 ended hostilities between France and Austria at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession. It complemented the Treaty of Utrecht, which had, the previous year, ended hostilities with Britain and the Dutch Republic. A third treaty, the Treaty of Baden, was required to end the hostilities between France and the Holy Roman Empire.

Meanwhile, another European power is on the rise — the Protestant state of Brandenburg, soon to be known as Brandenburg-Prussia, or simply Prussia.

Prussia is ruled by the Hohenzollerns, a family of German counts. In May 1740 Frederick II. comes to the throne as king in Prussia. History will know him as Frederick the Great.

Frederick believes that a third strong political power must be established in Europe to offset the strength of France and Austria. That power, he declares, must be Prussia.

Under Frederick, Prussia becomes a rival to Austria for control of the German states. A non-Catholic, Frederick holds the Catholic Habsburgs in low esteem and subjects them to public ridicule.

Frederick builds a strong government and an efficient army. In short order, Prussia's military reputation becomes unsurpassed in Europe.

The great war of his reign comes in 1756 . It is the Seven Years' War, pitting Frederick against the combined armies of Austria, France, Russia, Sweden and Saxony. Frederick is vigorously attacked, and his forces face annihilation. The very existence of Prussia is at stake !

In the end, the death of Elizabeth of Russia and the exhaustion of France saves him. Alone, Austria and her allies are unable to overcome Frederick. Austria has to accept the fact that Prussia is a strong rival for leadership in Germany.

After another century passes, the Prussian king will actually become emperor of a united Germany !

Europe in 1721. (click to enlarge)

Europe in 1740. (click to enlarge)

Back in France, the situation is dire. Louis XIV. is dead. His weak great-grandson, Louis XV., devotes himself to the pursuit of women. "Après moi le deluge," he declares — "After me, the flood." And it is so.

The reign of his grandson, Louis XVI., begins in 1774. It is the prelude to revolution.  The profligacy of the French monarchy has nearly ruined the country. The lavish spending of the court — epitomized by Louis XVI's unpopular and extravagant queen, Marie Antoinette — earns it the contempt of the French people. The outmoded feudal privileges of the nobility are widely resented.

Discontent is widespread. Taxation is heavy. The misery of the common man reaches the breaking point.

Events now move swiftly.

On July 14, 1789, the population of Paris takes matters into its own hands. A mob storms the Bastille prison, the hated symbol of absolute monarchy and despotism. This event triggers the mighty explosion that history will call the French Revolution. The insurrection spreads rapidly throughout France. The crown and nobility come under siege. Peasants burn chateaus and terrorize their noble landlords. A revolutionary government seizes control of the state.

Louis XVI. and his queen are imprisoned. They are later tried and guillotined. A bloody Reign of Terror grips the country, as nobles and persons with real or suspected counterrevolutionary sympathies are condemned to the blade.

Europe in 1763 after the Treaty of Hubertsburg. (click to enlarge)

Central Europe about 1786. (click to enlarge)

The Treaty of Hubertusburg was signed in 1763 at Hubertusburg by Prussia, Austria, and Saxony. Together with the Treaty of Paris (1763), it marked the end of the Seven Years' War and the French and Indian War. The latter is the common U.S. name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. The name refers to the two main enemies of the British colonists: the royal French forces and the various Native American forces allied with them.

Religion also comes under attack. The Church in France is put under state control. Church lands and wealth are confiscated, religious orders suppressed, and the clergy required to take oaths of fidelity to the constitution.

The picture is little better elsewhere in Europe.

For decades, the Papacy has been virtually excluded from the political affairs of Europe. Under Pius VI., Pope from 1775 to 1799, the Papacy reaches its nadir. It is all but stripped of power and influence. In the Habsburg dominions, the Catholic Church is still influential, but even there it is subordinate to the state.

French armies march on Rome and occupy the city early in 1798. A republic is declared. Pius refuses to renounce his temporal sovereignty, and is taken prisoner by the French in March 1799. He is taken to France, where he dies at Valence in August.

It is a "Canossa in reverse." Church influence has deteriorated considerably since the time when Pope Gregory VII., "master of Emperors," forced the capitulation of Henry IV. at Canossa, Italy, in 1077.

Europe in 1789. (click to enlarge)

Europe in 1792. (click to enlarge)

In Paris, radical political leaders vie with one another for power. Corruption, incompetence, bloodshed and hysteria are the order of the day.

Amid this domestic turmoil, a new star is on the rise in the French firmament: Napoleon Bonaparte. In desperation, the country turns to him for relief.

A new era is about to begin in France.

Napoleon's ascent to power has been meteoric. By age 26 the Corsican-born military genius of Byzantine stock had become commander of the French army in Italy.

In 1799 the young hero returns from an expedition against the English in Egypt. He seizes power in a bold move, setting up a new government of three members. Borrowing a title from ancient Rome, he calls them consuls. He himself is First Consul — a virtual dictator at age 30 !

Like a Roman imperator, Napoleon concentrates all powers of state in his own hands. He dreams of being another Caesar. Classical imagery fills his mind. A bust of Julius Caesar adorns his study.

"I am of the race of the Caesars, and of the best, of those who laid the foundations," Napoleon will observe.

The Corsican patriot Pasquale di Paoli had been the first to recognize the Roman in Napoleon.

"There is nothing modern about you, Napoleon," he had once observed. "You come from the age of (the classical biographer) Plutarch !"

Napoleon dreams of a resurrected Roman-European civilization dominated by France. He had grown up amid dreams of the classical world. Now he means to make them reality !

One of Napoleon's first concerns is the Papacy.

"The influence of Rome is incalculable," he declares. "It was a serious error to break with this power."

Napoleon realizes that the Papacy cannot be conquered by the sword. He must come to terms with it in order to make use of it.

In 1801 a concordat (an agreement for the regulation of ecclesiastical matters) is concluded between France and the Papacy. The Catholic Church again becomes the official church of France. The breach is healed.

The next year, Napoleon is appointed "First Consul for Life." France puts herself fully in his hands. He is moving relentlessly toward his ultimate goal. No hand can stay him.

In 1804 all veils are cast aside. It is the year of destiny.

In May the French Tribunate votes in favor of declaring Napoleon Emperor. The Senate passes the measure soon thereafter. A plebiscite is held throughout France. The vote is 3,572,329 in favor, 2,569 against. Napoleon has become Emperor of the French, his realm an Empire.

The very Frenchmen who did away with monarchy 12 years earlier now reestablish it !

Napoleon summons Pope Pius VII. (1800-1823) to Paris

"to give the highest religious connotation to the anointing and crowning of the first Emperor of the French."

The spectacular coronation ceremony is held at the Cathedral of Notre Dame on December 2, 1804, a millennium after Charlemagne was crowned by Leo III. in Rome.

Napoleon walks to the high altar leading his wife, Josephine, by the hand. She is a beautiful Creole, born in Martinique in the West Indies.

The Pope is waiting, surrounded by cardinals. Napoleon approaches. All expect him to kneel before the Pontiff. But, to the amazement of the congregation, Napoleon seizes the crown from the Pope's hands, turns his back on the Pope and the altar and crowns himself'! He then crowns his kneeling wife as Empress.

Napoleon is officially Emperor of the French at age 34! He has made it clear that religion must be in the hands of the state.

The Pope had been informed of Napoleon's intentions shortly before the ceremony, but had chosen to proceed anyway. He now anoints and blesses the imperial couple.

Europe in Napoleon's Time 1810
(click to enlarge)

For years, Napoleon has seen himself as a new Alexander the Great and a modern Roman Caesar. Now he begins to consider himself more as the heir of the great Charlemagne. He goes to Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle) for a ceremonial visit to the tomb of the great Frankish Emperor.

"There will be no peace in Europe," he says to his companions as he stands before the tomb, "until the whole Continent is under one suzerain, an Emperor whose chief officers are kings, whose generals have become monarchs."

Napoleon has visions of conquest on a grand scale. It will be he who will carry out the projects of Charlemagne, Otto the Great and Charles V. in the modern world. "I did not succeed Louis XVI., but Charlemagne," Napoleon declares.

In 1805 Napoleon makes himself king of Italy.

"When I see an empty throne," he confides, "I feel the urge to sit on it."

On December 2, 1805, Napoleon engages the combined armies of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz. Dawn begins with thick fog and mist. The Russians and Austrians could wish for nothing better. Under its cover, they hope, the Austro-Russian armies will be able to complete their maneuvers without the French seeing what they are doing.

"But suddenly," as one historian will describe it, "the sun with uncommon brightness came through the mist, the sun of Austerlitz. It was in this blazing sun that Napoleon at once sent a huge cavalry force under Marshal Soult into the gap left between the center and the left of the Austro-Russian battlefield."

This is the break Napoleon needs. His victory is sealed. Many see it as the result of divine intervention.

France is now indisputably the leading power on the Continent.

Austerlitz gives Napoleon increased confidence.

"Tell the Pope," he writes to Rome, "I am Charlemagne, the Sword of the Church, his Emperor, and as such I expect to be treated !"

With renewed vigor, Napoleon pushes ahead with his plans for a United States of Europe — a league of European states under French hegemony. "I shall fuse all the nations into one," he declares.

In July 1806 Napoleon organizes the Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund). It is a union of all the states of Germany (except, of course, Austria and Prussia) under his protection.

With the advent of this French-controlled federation, it becomes clear to all that the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire is dead. Napoleon has rearranged the map of Europe. He is supreme in Western Europe, and is virtual dictator in the German states. He has usurped the Holy Roman Emperor's primacy among Europe's monarchs.

In view of these facts, it is preposterous for an Austrian archduke to bear the grandiose title of "Holy Roman Emperor," pretending to be supreme over all Christendom.

On August 6, 1806, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II. formally resigns his titles and divests himself of the imperial crown. He is now simply "Emperor of Austria." Technically, Napoleon has swept away the moribund Holy Roman Empire, the sacrum Romanum imperium. But he perpetuates it, under a different name, for another eight years.

In October 1806 Napoleon defeats Prussia in the battles of Jena and Auerstädt. No power can stand before him. He is the unchallenged Emperor of the West !

In 1806 Napoleon crowns himself again, this time with the celebrated "iron crown" of Lombardy. One of the great historic symbols of Europe, this crown had previously been worn by Charlemagne, Otto the Great and other European sovereigns.

Germany and Italy in 1803. (click to enlarge)

Germany and Italy in 1806 - Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. (click to enlarge)

Meanwhile, relations between Napoleon and the Papacy deteriorate rapidly.

Pius VII. refuses to join Napoleon's Continental System, the emperor's plan for shutting Great Britain out from all connection with the continent of Europe. On February 2, 1808, French forces occupy Rome. The Pope is arrested and detained. "The present Pope has too much power," Napoleon writes his brother. "Priests are not made to rule."

In 1809 Napoleon decrees the Papal States annexed as a part of the French Empire. Pius replies with a bull of excommunication on June 10. Napoleon's reply ?

"In these enlightened days none but children and nursemaids are afraid of curses," he laughs.

The Pope becomes Napoleon's prisoner, and is eventually transferred to Fontainebleau, near the city of Paris. He does not return to the Vatican until May 1814.

Europe in 1811. (click to enlarge)

Europe in 1812. (click to enlarge)

In April 1810 Napoleon marries Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, having dissolved his childless marriage with the empress Josephine. Marie-Louise is a Habsburg princess, the eldest daughter of the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. In March 1811 she bears Napoleon a long-desired son, who is given the title "King of Rome."

Though elated at the birth of an heir, Napoleon is growing restless. Western Europe is already beginning to seem too small for him. He now plans what is to be the capstone of his career — the incorporation of Russia into his Empire.

In June 1812 Napoleon and his 600,000-man Grand Army cross the Niemen River and invade Russia. Following the Battle of Borodino on September 7, the Russians retreat. The French reach Moscow on September 14 only to find it burned by the Russians at the encouragement of the British.

But Napoleon has overreached himself. In trying to grasp too much, he loses all. The freezing Russian winter devours his men by the multiple thousands. A disastrous retreat from Russia begins.

 It is the beginning of the end. Napoleon returns to France having lost more than 400,000 men! The handwriting is on the wall.

In October 1813 Napoleon meets the allied armies of Prussia, Russia and Austria at Leipzig in the "Battle of the Nations." His army is torn to shreds.

The Allies close in on Paris. In March 1814 the Treaty of Chaumont is signed by Russia, Prussia, Austria and Great Britain. It restores the Bourbon dynasty.

With everything crashing around him, Napoleon finally abdicates in favor of his young son on April 6, 1814. The Allies reject this solution. The Senate, too, does not recognize the child's title, and calls the Bourbon Louis XVIII. to the throne instead. Napoleon then abdicates unconditionally and is sent into exile on the island of Elba.

With the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the time-honored system of Roman-inspired government first resurrected by Justinian in AD. 554 comes to an end after 1,260 years.

A year later, Napoleon escapes from his island home. Recruiting an army, he marches on Paris. His brief return to power is to last but 100 days.

On June 18, 1815, Napoleon meets a combined British-Prussian army near the Belgian town of Waterloo. After a bitter battle he is delivered a crushing defeat. As the French author Victor Hugo will write: "It was time for this vast man to fall."

On July 15 Napoleon surrenders and, as a prisoner, is sent to Saint Helena, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The little Corsican who had conquered Europe becomes a caged eagle.

"What can I do on a little rock at the world's end?" he laments.

From the abyss of Saint Helena, Napoleon reminisces:

"I wanted to found a European system, a European code of laws, a European judiciary. There would have been but one people throughout Europe."

Napoleon dies on May 5, 1821, on Saint Helena, having been slowly poisoned by one of his disenchanted countrymen. His dream of a unified Europe will have to be left to others. Even as Napoleon's body is being interred in the island's rocky soill (later to be entombed in Paris), the Continent is beginning to reform and reshape itself. The nations of Europe are moving toward a new configuration — and an unexpected destiny.

Central Europe 1814-1815 - Treaty Adjustments. (click to enlarge)

Europe in 1815. (click to enlarge)

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THE NAPOLEONIC attempt to restore the Roman Empire in the West is but a short-lived success.

Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 sends the one-time master of Europe into lonely exile on the rocky island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic. And his dream of a unified Europe follows him into the abyss.

Defeated France is reduced to her 1790 boundaries, assessed a large indemnity payment and forced to submit to an allied army of occupation. The unpopular Bourbons are restored to the French throne under Louis XVIII., brother of Louis XVI. He will reign as French king until his death in 1824.

But the affairs of the rest of Europe also have to be reordered.

To guard against the recurrence of war, the Congress of Vienna convenes to redraw the map of Europe and bring stability to the war-exhausted Continent.

Among the chief negotiators are Austria's chancellor Prince Metternich, Britain's foreign minister Lord Castlereagh, Czar Alexander I. of Russia, Prussia's King Frederick William III., France's representative Talleyrand, and the Papal delegate Cardinal Consalvi.

The international assembly reorganizes the political boundaries of Europe. One of the results of the Congress is the establishment of the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) under the presidency of Austria. The defunct Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation is no more.

Napoleon's reorganization of Germany consolidated scores of smaller German states into larger entities. The new German Confederation is an association of 39 sovereign German states. But it is a feeble organization. Unity is still severely hampered by rivalries among states. The loosely knit league will limp along until 1866.

Prince Metternich (1773-1859), the Austrian chancellor, seeks to make Austria a leading European power and the undisputed head of the German-speaking peoples. But his designs are opposed by a formidable antagonist — Prussia.

Under Frederick the Great (king in Prussia from 1740 to 1786), Prussia had become a rival to Austria for control of the German states. This rivalry persists. Prussia still seeks to gain the upper hand in German affairs.

In 1834, Prussia organizes a German customs union, known as the Zollverein, under Prussian leadership. It creates a free-trade area throughout much of Germany, removing unnecessary restrictions from commerce. And, significantly, it undermines Austria's dominant position in the region.

The Zollverein shows the Germans the value of cooperation. It encourages the desire for unity. Historians will look back on the customs union as a key first step on the road toward German reunification.

Back in France, a revolution in July 1830 drives the Bourbons from the throne. The Bourbon monarch, Charles X. (1824-1830), flees to England in exile.

The new king of the French is Louis-Philippe, duke of Orleans. Though a relative of the exiled king, Louis-Philippe has a reputation as a progressive. He reigns for nearly 18 years as constitutional monarch.

In 1848, a revolutionary tide sweeps across Europe. The colorless and increasingly unpopular Louis-Philippe is one of its victims. Abdicating in February, he too flees to England.

On December 10, 1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873), a nephew of the late Emperor Napoleon I., is elected president of France's Second Republic. The republic, however, is short-lived.

In the last month of 1851, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte stages a widely popular coup d'etat, establishing an authoritarian government under his leadership. A vote is taken in favor of the restoration of the Empire.

The Second Empire is formally inaugurated on December 2, 1852, the day of Louis Napoleon's coronation. He styles himself Napoleon III., Emperor of the French. (Napoleon II., the young son of Napoleon I., had died in 1832)

A major concern of his reign will be the threatened emergence of a unified German nation. The stage is being set for a titanic clash of ambitions that will rock Europe to its very foundations !

Meanwhile, in Italy, a crucial series of events is taking place.

The Congress of Vienna had again divided Italy into numerous states. Most of the peninsula is now dominated by Austria. Only the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont is free of Austrian influence.

In 1849, Victor Emmanuel II. comes to the Sardinian throne. He is head of the House of Savoy. During the 18th century, this dynasty had acquired the rulership of the island of Sardinia and territories in northern Italy, centered on the region of Piedmont. The capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont is the city of Turin.

A growing movement is now under way for Italian freedom and unification. It is called the Risorgimento ("resurgence"). Victor Emmanuel is an ardent supporter of the cause of Italian independence.

In 1852, Count di Cavour (1810-1861) becomes prime minister of Sardinia-Piedmont. He is a descendant of one of the ancient noble families of Piedmont. Like his king, Cavour is devoted to the cause of ejecting Austria from Italian affairs and bringing about the unification of Italy under the House of Savoy.

In July 1858, Cavour meets with Napoleon III., Emperor of the French. They agree to provoke Austria into war.

The war comes in 1859. The Franco-Italian coalition succeeds in breaking the power of Austria in the Italian peninsula. But at the last moment, Napoleon III. deserts the Italians and concludes a treaty with the Austrians. He wants Italy liberated from Austria, but does not want the peninsula united under Savoy.

Despite this setback, the movement for Italian unification continues. Another figure now enters the picture: Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882).

Years earlier, Garibaldi had joined Young Italy, a movement for Italian liberty and unification organized by the revolutionist Giuseppe Mazzini. Now Garibaldi decides that the best road to unity lies in his working with Victor Emmanuel and Cavour.

In May 1860, with the support of Cavour, Garibaldi leads a 1,000-man volunteer guerrilla army from Genoa in a spectacular invasion of Sicily, then ruled by the king of Naples. This is the famous Expedition of the Thousand. Garibaldi's men are clad in scarlet shirts, and are popularly dubbed the Red Shirts.

Sicily is taken after threemonths of fighting. Garibaldi then moves against Naples. That city falls on September 7, 1860. Sicily and Naples have been conquered! Garibaldi is a national hero. Garibaldi hands his conquests over to Victor Emmanuel. Other Italian states declare by plebiscite for union with Sardinia-Piedmont. On March 17, 1861, Victor Emmanuel II. is proclaimed the first king of Italy. Most of Italy is united under the House of Savoy! But the unification of the peninsula is by no means complete.

Europe in the Time of Garibaldi and Bismarck 1870's
(click to enlarge)

Not included in the new kingdom is the Papal possession of Rome.

Emperor Napoleon I. had taken the Papal States — territory in central Italy ruled by the Papacy — from the Pope in 1809. They were restored to the Pontiff by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.

Now, the Papal States (or States of the Church) are seized by the armies of Victor Emmanuel and annexed to Italy. The Church's temporal power is shattered! Only Rome — garrisoned by French troops — remains under Papal sovereignty. France considers herself the protector of the Papacy. Garibaldi still dreams of Rome as the capital of the new united Italy. In 1862, he raises a force to capture Rome and annex it to the Italian kingdom. But Victor Emmanuel, desirous of avoiding a conflict with France, orders his own forces to stop Garibaldi. Four years later Garibaldi tries again, but is defeated by Papal and French forces.

The time is not yet ripe for the conquest of Rome.

Now the focus shifts to Germany

In Prussia, Otto von Bismarck becomes prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in the autumn of 1862. He serves under King William I. (Wilhelm), who acceded to the Prussian throne in 1861.

Bismarck was born in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo. He is a political genius, ultraconservative in viewpoint. From 1859 to 1862, he served as Prussian ambassador to Russia.

Bismarck's chief ambition is to unify Germany under Prussian leadership and exclude Austria from German politics. During a short stay in London in the summer of 1862, he astonishes British statesmen by bluntly declaring that when he becomes Prussian prime minister, his first move

"will be to reorganize the army with or without the help of the Diet. As soon as the army shall have been brought into such a condition as to inspire respect, I shall seize the first pretext to declare war on Austria, dissolve the German Diet, subdue the minor states, and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership."

Within nine years he will fulfill this program.

At the very outset of his premiership, Bismarck stuns the world by declaring to the Ways and Means Committee of the Prussian Diet:

"The great questions of our day cannot be solved by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron."

He is thereafter popularly known as the Iron Chancellor.

Bismarck expands the Prussian military as the long-standing hostility between Prussia and Austria nears the breaking point.

In 1866, the question of the leadership of Germany is finally fought out. In June, Bismarck picks a quarrel with Austria over the possession of Schleswig-Holstein, a territory at the base of the Jutland peninsula bordering Denmark. Thus begins the Seven Weeks' War, occupying the summer of 1866.

The Seven Weeks' War is a conflict between opposing groups of German states, one led by Austria and the other by Prussia. It culminates at the battle of Sadowa (Koniggrütz) an overwhelming Prussian victory.

Austria is now excluded from participation in German affairs. Bismarck declares null and void the Constitution of the German Confederation of 1815.

Europe in 1866 with the Peace of Prague.
(click to enlarge)

The Peace of Prague is a peace treaty signed in 1866 which ended the Austro-Prussian War. The Habsburgs were permanently excluded from German affairs (Kleindeutschland). The Kingdom of Prussia thus established itself as the only major power among the German states. The North German Confederation was formed, with the north German states joining together, and the Southern German states having to pay large indemnities to Prussia.

In the wake of the Prussian victory over Austria, the North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund) is formed under Prussian hegemony in 1867. It is a union of the German states north of the Main River.

Berlin becomes the capital of this new Confederation. Bismarck writes a constitution making the Prussian king the hereditary ruler and the Prussian prime minister its chancellor.

The four large southern German states of Baden, Bavaria, Saxony and Wurttemberg remain independent and are permitted to form a separate confederation. They enter into a military alliance with Prussia.

Austria's defeat in the Seven Weeks' War leads Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and his government to establish a dual monarchy embracing the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. It is officially known as the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (Oesterreich isch — Ungarische Monarchie). The two halves of the monarchy are independent of each other . The bond of union is the common dynasty and a close political alliance. The crown is hereditary in the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.

Bismarck's ultimate goal — that of uniting all Germany under Prussian leadership — has still not been achieved. His next move will be to bring the south German states into final union with the Prussian-led North German Confederation. He will accomplish this by provoking a war with France. After making sure that Russia will remain neutral in any Franco-German conflict, Bismarck uses the candidacy of a Hohenzollern prince to the throne of Spain to goad France into war.

Napoleon III. of France declares war on Prussia on July 19, 1870 — just as the Iron Chancellor had hoped. The ambitions of the two men have come to a clash. Thus begins the Franco-Prussian War.

As Bismarck had anticipated, the south German states side with Prussia against France. Fighting side by side against the armies of Napoleon III., Germans of the north and south develop a sense of camaraderie and oneness — another step toward the unification of all Germany.

The German offensive is planned brilliantly by General Helmuth von Moltke. On September 1, 1870 Prussia defeats France at the battle of Sedan. Napoleon III. surrenders himself to the Prussians. Paris itself is captured on January 28, 1871.

The German victory marks the end of French hegemony in continental Europe. The war is concluded by the peace of Frankfurt on May 10, 1871.

The Franco-Prussian War brings about a strong feeling among German states for a closer union. The south German states decide to unite with the North German Confederation.

On January 18, 1871, King William I. of Prussia is proclaimed German Emperor (Deutscher Kaiser) in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles near Paris. North and South Germany are united into a single Reich, or Empire. Bismarck has succeeded in consolidating Germany under the Prussian Hohenzollerns !

Bismarck assumes the office of Reich Chancellor and is made a prince.

This new German Empire is called the Second Reich. (The First Reich had been inaugurated in AD. 962 with the crowning of Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII.) This Second Reich, born in 1871, will live 47 years (until 1918). Germany has become the dominant force in European affairs !

Europe in 1871
(click to enlarge)

With the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon III.'s troops in Rome return home. For years they had maintained the temporal power of the Papacy over that city. Now Rome is virtually defenseless.

On September 20, 1870, the forces of Victor Emmanuel II. enter Rome. The "Eternal City" is taken by Italian troops in the name of the Kingdom of Italy. In October, Romans vote overwhelmingly to be a come part of the Italian kingdom. Rome officially becomes the capital of a united Italy on July 2, 1871.

After 1500 years, Rome is again the capital of Italy !

But what of the Papacy ?

The Pope, Pius IX. (1846-1878), has been stripped of temporal power by troops of the Kingdom of Italy. He excommunicates the invaders, declares himself a prisoner in the Vatican and refuses to recognize the new kingdom. His successors, too, will become voluntary prisoners in their own palace. It will be six decades before a reconciliation is effected.

Though weak in the temporal sphere, the Papacy is asserting its strength in the spiritual realm.

Pope Pius had convoked the first Vatican Council in 1869. The next year it declared Papal infallibility as a formal article of Catholic belief. This dogma holds that when a Pope speaks officially (ex cathedra) to the universal Church on a doctrine of faith or morals, he cannot err.

This dogma had long been held in some form, but in view of objections being made against it, the bishops in the Vatican Council thought it expedient to make clear the stand of the Church.

Not all, however, are willing to submit to this newly defined and reasserted Papal authority.

The German Reich is ruled by a Protestant dynasty, the Hohenzollerns. Bismarck seeks to strengthen the unity of the Reich by limiting thepower of the Catholic Church within Germany. He accuses Catholic elements within the Reich of political separatism, and labels them a threat to the unified German state.

Thus begins the so-called Kulturkampf (1871-1887), the conflict between Prussia and the Church of Rome. It is a struggle between two rival cultures and powers — the Catholic Church and the secular state. Bismarck's objective is to wipe out the Vatican's political influence within the Reich.

"We are not going to Canossa, either bodily or spiritually!" Bismarck declares, in an allusion to the capitulation of Emperor Henry IV. to the Pope at Canossa in 1077.

A series of drastic laws are passed to intimidate the Catholic clergy.

"What is here at stake is a struggle for power, a struggle as old as the human race, the struggle for power between monarchy and priesthood. That is a struggle for power which has filled the whole of German history," Bismarck declares.

Pope Pius dies in 1878 after a pontificate of 32 years — the longest in the history of the Popes. But the Kulturkampf continues, though on a lesser scale, for an other nine ears.

A major reason for the Kulturkampf had been Bismarck's desire to create some focus for national resentment. But with the rise of socialism, Bismarck now sees the socialists filling that role even better. He gradually begins to rescind his anti-Catholic measures.

Bismarck is also active in the international political arena. On October 7, 1879, he concludes a military pact with Austria-Hungary, allying the Habsburgs with Prussian-dominated Germany. The alliance is designed to render France powerless against the Reich.

In 1882, Italy joins, forming the Triple Alliance. It will remain in force until Italy's defection in 1915.

The ancient ties of Italy and Germany, extending back to the days of Charlemagne and Otto the Great, are reforged. It is the prelude to an era that will arise more than a half century later under Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Emperor William I. dies March 9, 1888. His son and successor, Frederick III., lives only a few months.

In June 1888, William II. becomes Emperor of Germany. The new Kaiser is anxious to direct the government personally. He demands the Iron Chancellor's resignation.

After 38 years of service, Bismarck steps down in March 1890. He retires to his castle, Friedrichsruh, near Hamburg. The Kaiser then sets an aggressively independent course in foreign affairs — a course that leads eventually to war.

On June 28, 1914, Archduke Françis Ferdinand — heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary — is assassinated by a Serbian in the Balkan town of Sarajevo. The great powers are caught in the webs of their alliances. The bloody event triggers World War I.

When the guns finally fall silent on November 11, 1918, a staggering 10 million lie dead. And the German Empire lies vanquished.

The abdication of the Kaiser is announced November 9. Defeated Germany is demilitarized and becomes a republic. A new German constitution is adopted at the city of Weimar (Weimar Republic).

Many German war veterans are embittered by defeat and the humiliations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. Among them is a young Gefreiter (lance corporal) by the name of Adolf Hitler.

Europe in 1910. (click to enlarge)

Europe in 1911. (click to enlarge)

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