We have now reached a period with which readers of to-day have more or
less personal familiarity. This hour of deep depression in Germany was
the one which comes before the dawn.
The Schleswig-Holstein episode was a complicated, tiresome tangle, even
while it was enacting, and now is to most people only another name for
a rusty German key with which Pandora's box was opened for Europe just
twenty-five years ago. But it was a pivotal incident, and must be
understood in order to make clear the rapid succession of events
following, of which it was the first link in the chain.
The two adjacent dukedoms of Schleswig and Holstein, which constitute a
sort of natural bridge about one hundred and fifty miles long and fifty
miles wide, between Denmark and Prussia, are, by the way, the land of
nativity for the Anglo-Saxon race, the Angles having inhabited
Schleswig, and the Saxons Holstein, at the time they so kindly
protected the Britons from the Picts and Scots!
So it is probable that every member of this Anglo-Saxon family has
ancestral roots running back to that fertile strip of pasture land,
which was geographically and, at a later day, historically so important.
At the time we are now considering, it had for many years been under
the Danish protectorate, the King of Denmark being, by virtue of his
position, also Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, just as the German Emperor
is now King of Prussia by virtue of his imperial office.
But this little people were by no means merged with the Danish by this
arrangement; on the contrary, they preserved very jealously their own
traits and ancestral traditions. Among these, was the exclusion of
women from the royal succession--the Salic law, framed by their Frank
ancestors centuries before on the banks of the river Saale, being part
of their constitution. Hence, when King Frederick VII. of Denmark died
in 1862 without male heir, and King Christian IX. became king, the
people of the two dukedoms hotly refused to recognize him as their
lawful ruler, but claimed their right of reversion to Duke Frederick
VIII., who was in the direct male line of succession.
Had the Salic law prevailed in Denmark, this Duke Frederick (father of
the present young Empress of Germany) would now (1890) be King of
Denmark instead of Christian IX. But it did not exist, so Christian,
father of the Empress of Russia--of the Princess of Wales--and of King
George of Greece--became, in 1862, lawful King of Denmark, with rights
unimpaired by female descent.
This was the beginning of changes destined to alter the face of Europe.
Schleswig-Holstein revolted against being held by a ruler who,
according to her constitution, was not the terminal of the royal line,
and insisted upon bestowing herself upon the German Duke Frederick
VIII. Denmark naturally resisted this _anti-Christian_ revolt. Salic
law or no Salic law, the dukedoms were hers, and should stay. And,
indeed, they were a charming pastoral possession, a morsel which must
have sorely tempted the German appetite to be invited to take. But in
those days Prussia's big brother, Austria, had not alone to be
consulted, but placated. This was the more bitter because of having
once tasted the sweets of national greatness under Frederick; and now
even little Denmark dare defy and insult her! And was not this crown,
which King William had received from his dead brother in 1857, but a
badge of brilliant servitude, after all, to Francis Joseph, who was his
chief?
However, in this instance the big brother, for reasons of his own,
thought well of the cession of the twin dukedoms to Prussia, and they
would have been quickly absorbed into the German "_Diet_" had not the
Great Powers (who since the Napoleonic episode had been very alert in
such matters) grimly said, "Hands off!"
It was just at this crisis, in 1862, that Bismarck, having been
appointed to the office of Prime Minister of Prussia, came from the
courts of St. Petersburg and Paris, where he had been ambassador, and
commenced his series of brilliant games upon the European chess-board.
King Christian of Denmark, pleased with his success in retaining the
refractory states, determined to go still farther; that is, to adopt a
new constitution separating these Siamese twins, which should, in fact,
detach Schleswig from Holstein, incorporating it permanently with
Denmark.
This was in direct violation of the treaty with the Great Powers made
in London, 1852, and afforded the needed pretext for war.
The moment and the man had arrived. Bismarck, with the intuition of a
good player, saw his opportunity, pushed up the pawn,
Schleswig-Holstein, and said, "Check to your king."
The Prussian and Austrian troops poured into Denmark, and in a few
short weeks the blooming isthmus had ceased to be Danish, and had
become German.
Austria generously said, "We will divide the prize. Schleswig shall be
Prussian, and Holstein Austrian."
Could anything be more odious to the Prussian? The long arm of
Austrian tyranny stretching way over their land, up to their northern
seaboard! It might almost better have become Danish. But "all things
come to him who waits," and--Bismarck waited.
In the diplomatic adjustments which followed it was an easy matter to
quarrel over the prize, and once more the needed pretext was at hand.
Bismarck again pushed up his useful little pawn, and said "check," but
this time to the Emperor of Austria. Ah! here was a game worth
watching. Europe and America, too, were willing to let their morning
coffee get cold in studying the moves. Francis Joseph did not see as
far into the game as his astute adversary, whose keen eye was focused
at long range upon a renewed and consolidated Germany.
The conflict was short (only seven weeks), but the preparation had been
long and thorough. The 3d of July will long be remembered by Germany.
King William was there; the Crown Prince was there, now become "Unser
Fritz" by his superb military achievements, the ideal prince and
soldier of modern Europe; and Koeniggraetz, like Waterloo, decided the
game. Francis Joseph was checkmated. Germany was the head of its own
nation. Its servitude to Austria existed no more. What wonder that
the people were glad, or that Unser Fritz became their idol, and
Bismarck their demigod!
The dismembered parts were soon, under a new constitution, consolidated
into a national union, which was Protestant and Prussian, and forever
separated from all that was Catholic and Austrian. In five short years
what a change! Truly, blood and iron had proved a wonderful tonic!
And what of poor little Schleswig-Holstein, that land of our race
nativity? If she had indulged in any innocent expectation of benefit
from such brilliant espousal of her cause, such hope must have been
rudely dispelled when she found herself between these upper and nether
millstones, and she must have realized that she had been only the
humble hinge upon which the door of opportunity had swung open for
Germany.