The origin of the name of Europe has been dealt with above, and the
difficulty of any exact definition of the geographical limits covered by
this term has been pointed out. A similar difficulty meets us when we
come to deal with European history. We know what we mean when we speak of
European civilization, though in its origins, as in its modern
developments, this was not confined to Europe. In one sense the history
of Europe is the history of this civilization and of the forces by which
it was produced, preserved and developed; for a separate history of
Europe could never have been written but for the alien powers by which
this civilization was for centuries confined within the geographical
limits of the European continent. Moreover, within these geographical
limits the tradition of the Roman empire, and above all the organization
of the Catholic Church, gave to the European nations, and the states
based upon them, a homogeneity which without them could not have
survived. The name of Europe, indeed, remained until modern times no more
than "a geographical expression"; its diplomatic use, in the sense of a
group of states having common interests and duties, is, indeed, no older
than the 19th century; in the middle ages its place was taken by the
conceptions of the Church and the Empire, which, though theoretically
universal, were practically European. Yet the history of the states
system of Europe, though enormously influenced by outside forces,
possesses from the first a character of its own, which enables it to be
treated as a separate unit. This historical Europe, however, has never
been exactly commensurate with Europe considered as a geographical
division. Russia, though part of Europe geographically--even if we set
the limits of Asia at the Don with certain old geographers--had but
slight influence on European history until the time of Peter the Great.
The Ottoman empire, though its influence on the affairs of Europe was
from the first profound, was essentially an Asiatic power, and was not
formally introduced into the European system until the treaty of Paris of
1856. It still remains outside European civilization.
Europe, then, as we now conceive the term in its application to the
political system and the type of culture established in this part of the
world, may, broadly speaking, be traced to four principal origins: (1)
The Aegean civilization (Hellenic and pre-Hellenic); (2) the Roman
empire; (3) Christianity; (4) the break-up of the Roman empire by the
Teutonic invasions. All these forces helped in the development of Europe
as we now know it. To the Aegean civilization, whether transformed by
contact with Rome, and again transformed by the influence of
Christianity and the religious genius of the middle ages--or
rediscovered during the classical Renaissance--Europe owes the
characteristic qualities of its thought and of its expression in
literature and art. From republican Rome it largely draws its
conceptions of law and of administrative order. From the Roman empire it
inherited a tradition of political unity which survived, in visible
form, though but as a shadowy symbol, until the last Holy Roman emperor
abdicated in 1806; survived also, more fruitfully, in the rules of the
Roman lawyers which developed into modern international law. Yet more
does Europe owe to Christianity, an Asiatic religion, but modified by
contact with Greek thought and powerfully organized on the lines of the
Roman administrative system. The Roman Church remained a reality when
the Roman empire had become little more than a name, and was throughout
the period of chaos and transformation that followed the collapse of the
Roman empire the most powerful instrument for giving to the
heterogeneous races of Europe a common culture and a certain sense of
common interests.
The history of Europe, then, might well begin with the origins of Greece
and Rome, and trace the rise of the Roman empire and the successive
influence upon it of Hellenism and Christianity. These subjects are,
however, very fully dealt with elsewhere (see AEGEAN CIVILIZATION;
GREECE; ROME; CHURCH HISTORY); and it will, therefore, be more
convenient to begin this account with the Teutonic invasions and the
break-up of the Roman empire, events which mark the definite beginning
of the modern European states system.
In a sense the Roman empire had been already "barbarized" before the
invasions of the barbarians _en masse_. Land left vacant by the
dwindling of the population was colonized by immigrants, Teutonic and
other, from beyond the frontiers; the Roman legions were largely
recruited from Germans and other non-Romans, some of whom even rose to
the imperial purple. Thus, in the end, the Roman emperor, with his guard
and his household, ruling over an empire mercilessly exploited to fill
his treasury, was essentially indistinguishable from those barbarian
chiefs, with their _antrustions_ and their primitive fiscal methods, who
entered into portions of his inheritance and carried on the traditions
of his rule.
The history of the Teutonic peoples prior to their organized invasions
of the empire is dealt with elsewhere (see TEUTONIC PEOPLES). It was in
the 4th century that the pressure of their advance was first felt on the
frontiers, and this led to a change in the government of the empire
which was to have notable consequences. In A.D. 330 Constantine had
transferred the capital from Rome to Byzantium (Constantinople), but the
empire, from the Forth to the Tigris, continued to be administered
successfully from a single centre. Not, however, for long: the
increasing perils from without made a closer supervision essential, and
after the death of Theodosius I. (395) the empire was divided between
emperors of the East and West. It was the beginning not only of the
break-up of the empire, but of that increasing divergence between the
eastern and western types of European religion and culture which has
continued to this day.
[Illustration: Europe in the VI century.]
The pressure of the Teutonic invasions became increasingly strong during
the reigns of the emperor Valens and his successors. These invasions
were of two types, (1) migrations of whole peoples with their old German
patriarchal organization complete, (2) bands, larger or smaller, of
emigrants in search of land to settle on, without tribal cohesion, but
organized under the leadership of military chiefs. The earlier invaders,
Goths and Vandals, and later the Burgundians and Lombards were of the
first type; to the second belonged the Franks, "free" men from the Saxon
plain, and the Saxon invaders of Britain. The distinction was a vital
one; for the Goths, Vandals, Burgundians and Lombards never took root in
the soil, and succumbed in turn, while the Frankish and Saxon
immigrants, each man lord in his own estate, not only maintained
themselves, but set up at the cost of the Roman organization and of the
power of their own kings a wholly new polity, based on the independence
of the territorial unit, which later on was to develop into feudalism.
The Teutonic Invasions.
It was owing to the pressure of Turanian invaders from the East that the
Teutonic peoples were first forced to take refuge within the empire. In
378 the Goths defeated and slew the emperor Valens in a battle near
Adrianople; in 410 Alaric, king of the West Goths, sacked Rome; and
shortly after his death the Goths passed into Gaul and Spain. In 429
Gaiseric, king of the Vandals, at the invitation, it is said, of the
governor Bonifacius, passed over from Spain to Roman Africa, which
became the centre of another Teutonic kingdom, soon established as a
great naval power which for a while commanded the Mediterranean and
devastated the coasts of Italy and Sicily with its piracies.
Meanwhile the Franks and Burgundians were pressing into Germany and
Gaul, while from 449 onwards the Saxons, the Angles and the Jutes
invaded and occupied Britain. For a moment it was doubtful if the Aryan
or Turanian races would be supreme, but in 451 Attila, king of the Huns,
was decisively beaten in the battle of Chalons by a combination of
Franks, Goths and Romans, under the Roman general Aetius and Theodosius,
king of the Goths. This battle decided that Europe was to be Christian
and independent of Asia and Africa. In 476 the succession of Western
emperors came to an end with Odoacer's occupation of Rome, and with the
decision of the Roman senate that one emperor was enough, and that the
Eastern emperor, Zeno, should rule the whole empire. For a time
Theodoric, king of the East Goths, ruled Italy, Gaul and Spain; but
after his death in 526 the empire of the East Goths was shattered, and
changes took place which led to the rise of independent Teutonic
kingdoms in Gaul and Spain. In Gaul Clovis (d. 511), the king of the
Franks, had already established his power, and in Spain, the West Gothic
kingdom, with its capital at Toledo, now asserted its Teutonic
independence. Under the emperor Justinian (527-565), indeed, the Roman
empire seemed in a fair way to recover its supremacy; the Vandal kingdom
in Africa was destroyed; in 555 the Byzantine general Narses finally
shattered the power of the East Goths in Italy, and the exarchate of
Ravenna was established in dependence on the Eastern emperor; the West
Goths were forced to give up the south of Spain; and the Persians were
checked. But with the death of Justinian troubles began. In 568 the
Lombards, under Alboin, appeared in Italy, which they overran as far
south as the Tiber, establishing their kingdom on the ruins of the
exarchate. Though in Asia the emperor Heraclius, in a series of
victorious campaigns, broke the Persian power and succeeded even in
extending the Roman dominion, Italy, save for a while Ravenna itself and
a few scattered sea-coast towns, was thenceforth lost to the empire of
which in theory it still formed a part.
This catastrophe produced one result the importance of which it is
impossible to exaggerate; the development of the political power of the
papacy. At the beginning of the 6th century Rome, under Theodoric the
Goth, was still the city of the Caesars; the tradition of its ancient
life was yet unbroken; at the end of the century Rome, under Pope
Gregory the Great (590-604), had become the city of the popes. And with
the city the popes entered into some of the inheritance of the Caesars;
in the world-wide activity of Gregory we already have a foreshadowing of
universal claims, often effectively asserted, which made the great
medieval popes, in a truer sense than the medieval emperors, the
representatives of the idea of Roman imperial unity (see ROME, sec. ii.
_Middle Ages_; PAPACY).
The Hegira, A.D. 622. Rise of Mahommedanism.
The next event that profoundly affected the history of Europe was the
rise of Mahommedanism. In A.D. 622, sixteen years after Gregory's death,
occurred the flight (_Hijra_) of Mahomet from Mecca to Medina, which
fixed the memorable era of the Hegira. The full force of the militant
religion founded by the Arab prophet was not felt till after his death
(632). The emperor Heraclius, the vigour of his manhood passed, was
unable to meet this new peril; the Arabs, strong in their hardy
simplicity, and new-born religious fanaticism, and aided by the treason
and cowardice of the decadent Roman governing classes, overran Asia
Minor, conquered Egypt and the whole of northern Africa, overwhelmed the
Gothic kingdom in Spain, and even penetrated beyond the Pyrenees to the
conquest of the province of Narbonne. One of the chief effects of these
Arab conquests was that Christian civilization became gradually confined
to Europe, another was that the trade routes to the East were closed to
the Western nations. The conquest of Narbonne marked the limit of the
advance of Islam in western Europe, for in 732 the Arabs were overthrown
by Charles Martel in the battle of Tours, and a few years later were
driven out of Gaul. In Spain, however, they succeeded in maintaining
themselves throughout the middle ages; developing a high type of
civilization which had a considerable influence on the intellectual life
of medieval Europe; and it was not till 1494 that Granada, their last
possession in the peninsula, was conquered by the Christian monarchs,
Ferdinand and Isabella.
The Carolingians.
The battle of Tours emphasized and increased the power and reputation of
Charles Martel. As a mayor of the palace to the decadent Merovingian
successors of Clovis, he was virtually ruler of the Franks, and, after
his death, the last of the _rois faineants_ of the house of Merovech was
deposed, and Pippin, Charles's son, was elected king of the Franks. The
prestige of the Carolingian house (to give it the name it was later
known by) was increased when, at the urgent entreaty of Pope Stephen
III., Pippin marched into Italy and saved Rome from the Lombards, who
were endeavouring to extend their power southwards. Pippin's son Charles
(Charlemagne) finally conquered the Lombards in 774 and thus added part
of northern Italy to his dominions.
[Illustration: Charlemagne's Empire at its greatest extent.]
The coronation of Charles the Great as emperor. 800.
In 797 an event of the highest importance to the European world took
place. The emperor Constantine VI. was deposed by his mother Irene, who
seized the throne. Thereupon Pope Leo and the Roman people definitely
threw off the authority of the emperors of Constantinople, on the ground
that a woman could not hold the position of Caesar. In 800 Leo crowned
Charlemagne emperor at Rome, and henceforth till 1453, when
Constantinople was conquered by the Turks, there was an Eastern and a
Western empire. Till his death in 814 Charlemagne was king of the
Franks as well as emperor. His kingdom embraced not only all German and
modern France, but included a large part of Italy and Spain as far as
the Ebro. Under his rule western Europe was united in a powerful empire,
in the organization of which the principles of Roman and Teutonic
administration were blended; and, after his death, he left to his
successors, the Frankish and German kings, the tradition of a
centralized government which survived the chaos of the period that
followed, and the prescriptive right to the title and prestige of Roman
emperors--a tradition and a claim that were to exercise a notable effect
on the development of European history for centuries to come. (See
FRANCE: _History_ and CHARLEMAGNE.)
Europe after the death of Charlemagne.
The period from the death of Charlemagne (814) to the 12th century is
characterized in western Europe by the general weakening of the idea of
central government and by the rise of feudalism. During the same period
the East Roman or Byzantine empire escaped disruption and, preserving
the traditions of Roman civil and military administration, formed an
effective barrier for Europe and Christendom against the advancing tide
of Islam. At the same time, however, the growing divergence between the
Eastern and Western Churches, which had been accentuated by the
iconoclastic controversy (see ICONOCLASTS), and was destined in 1053 to
culminate in a definite schism, was gradually widening the breach
between the two types of European civilization, which came into violent
conflict at the beginning of the 13th century, when crusaders from
western Europe captured Constantinople and set up a Latin empire in the
East (see ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER; CHURCH HISTORY; CRUSADES). In western
Europe, meanwhile, the unity of the empire did not long survive
Charlemagne. Its definite break-up dates from the treaty of Verdun
(843), by which Charles the Bald received Neustria, Aquitaine and
western Burgundy, Louis the German Bavaria, Swabia, Saxony and
Thuringia, and the emperor Lothair the middle kingdom known by his name,
the _regnum Lotharii_ or Lotharingia (see LORRAINE). By the partition of
Mersen (870) Lotharingia itself was divided between the West and East
Frankish realms--France and Germany, terms which from this time begin to
represent true national divisions. With the treaties of Verdun and
Mersen the history of the European state system may be said to begin.
[Illustration: The Western Empire after the Partition of Mersen 870.]
[Illustration: Europe in 1810.]
[Illustration: Europe in 1815.]
Rise of feudalism.
At first, indeed, it seemed as though the nascent states were about to
be dissolved by disruption from within and attacks from without. All
alike were subject to the attacks of the Norse sea-rovers, hardy pirates
who not only scourged all the coasts of Europe but penetrated, burning
and harrying, far inland up the great waterways. Meanwhile, the
weakening of central government due to dynastic struggles had led to
the growth of independent or semi-independent powers within the states
themselves. The Frank landowners had successfully asserted their
independence of the jurisdiction of the king (or emperor) and his
officials; the imperial officials themselves, dukes or counts, had
received grants of lands with similar immunities (_beneficia_), and
these had become hereditary. Thus sprang up a class of great territorial
nobles to whom, amid the growing anarchy, men looked for protection
rather than to the weak and remote central power; and so, out of the
chaos that followed the break-up of the empire of Charlemagne, was born
the feudal system of the middle ages (see FEUDALISM). This organization
was admirable for defence; and with its aid, before the close of the
first decade of the 10th century, the frontiers of France and Germany
had been made safe against the northern barbarians, who had either been
driven off and barriers erected against their return--e.g. the marks
established by Henry the Fowler along the middle Elbe--or, as in the
case of the Normans, absorbed into a system well adapted for such a
process. By the treaty of St Claire-sur-Epte (911) between Charles the
Simple and Rollo, chief of the Norsemen, the Normans were established in
the country since known as Normandy (q.v.), as feudatories of the French
crown. In England, by the treaty of Wedmore (878) between Alfred and the
Danish king Guthrum, the Danes had already been established in a large
part of England.
Royalty and feudalism.
Feudalism, by the time the Northmen had been subdued by its aid, was
quite firmly established in the western part of Europe. During the 11th
century it was carried by the Normans into England, into Sicily and
southern Italy, and by the nobles of the first crusade into the newly
established kingdom of Jerusalem (1099). By the kings of France, England
and Germany, however, who saw themselves in danger of being stripped of
all but the semblance of power by its delegation to their more or less
nominal vassals, the feudal organization was early recognized as
impossible as a form of state government, if the state was to be
preserved; and the history of the three great European powers during the
succeeding centuries is mainly that of the struggle of the sovereigns
against the disruptive ambitions of the great feudal nobles. In England
the problem was, from the outset, simplified; for though William the
Conqueror introduced the system of feudal land tenure into England in
1066 he refused to set it up as his system of government, retaining
alongside of it the old English national policy. In France, on the other
hand, feudalism as a system of government had become firmly established;
and it was not till the days of Philip Augustus (1180-1223) and Louis
IX. (1226-1270) that the monarchy began to get the upper hand. From this
time until the 17th century the power of the French monarchy, in spite
of occasional lapses, grew steadily stronger. The reverse was the case
with the German kingship. Its association with the undefined claims
involved in the title of Roman emperor, traditionally attached to it,
and notably those to authority in Italy, necessitated concession after
concession to the feudal nobles, in order to purchase their support for
their assertion. The kingship, moreover, became elective; the imperial
title was obtainable only at Rome at the hands of the pope; and the
German kings thus became entangled in contests, not only with their own
vassals, but with the tremendous spiritual force of the medieval papacy
by which, for its own ends, the spirit of feudal insubordination was
from time to time fomented. Thus in Germany the feudal nobles gradually
acquired a sovereign status which, in some cases, has survived the
territorial rearrangements of the 19th century and left its mark on the
federal constitution of modern Germany; while the kingship and the
imperial title grew more and more shadowy till in 1806 it vanished
altogether. (See ENGLISH HISTORY; FRANCE: _History_, GERMANY:
_History_.)
The rise of the house of Capet.
In France the process by which a strong hereditary monarchy was
established was a slow one. During the greater part of the 10th century
the Carolingians, stripped of the vast domains which had been the basis
of the power of Pippin, owed their continued existence to the
forbearance of Hugh the Great, count of Paris. In 987, however, the last
Carolingian king died, and Hugh Capet, son of Hugh the Great, the most
powerful of the territorial magnates, was chosen king of France. With
his election dates the real beginning of the French monarchy, and under
him and his successors Paris became the capital of France. Hugh's
election, however, was the work of the great feudatories, and France
remained divided among a number of great fiefs, of which the chief were
Brittany, Anjou, Flanders, Vermandois, Champagne, Burgundy, Aquitaine,
Poitou, Gascony, Toulouse and Normandy.
The royal power in Germany.
While the central power in France advanced slowly but steadily, the
development of the royal authority in Germany was in the 10th and 11th
centuries more rapid. In 911 the German magnates had elected Conrad the
Franconian to reign over them, and in 919 Henry "the Fowler" of Saxony,
"whose reign forms one of the great turning-points in the history of the
German nation." He defeated the Hungarians, the Slavs and the Danes, and
by encouraging the growth and development of towns he contributed
greatly to the formation of the German kingdom. His immediate
successors, Otto the Great and Otto II., continued his work, which was
only interrupted for a short time during the reign of the idealist Otto
III., whose "cosmopolitan imperialism" brought him into collision with
the German Church and to some extent with the German nobles. Henry II.
(1002-1025) asserted with success his authority over Germany, and his
successor Conrad II., who belonged to the Salian or Franconian line, did
much to secure unity and prosperity to the Empire. His son and successor
Henry III. (1039-1056) governed Germany wisely, and his reign witnessed
the culminating point of the Holy Roman Empire. At the time of his death
it seemed probable that Germany, like England and France, would
gradually escape from the thraldom of the great feudatories. The future
of the German monarchy depended upon the ability of future kings to
suppress the forces of feudal disintegration in Germany, and to
withstand the temptation of struggling to establish their influence over
Italy. Unfortunately for German kingship Henry IV. (1056-1106) was only
six years old on his accession, and when he became a man he found that
the papacy under Hildebrand's influence was practically independent of
the emperor. Had Henry confined his efforts to coercing the German
barons he might, like the Normans and Angevins in England, and like the
Capetians in France, have proved successful. Unfortunately for Germany
Henry entered upon the famous contest with the papacy under Gregory VII.
(1073-1080), which ended in the 13th century in the defeat of the Empire
in the person of Frederick II. The struggle began in 1073 over the
question of investiture (q.v.), and widened into a duel between the
spiritual and temporal powers. During the early years of the contest the
influence of the papacy reached a high pitch and made itself felt in the
crusading movement, which received its first impetus from Pope Urban
II., who appealed to Europe at the council of Clermont in 1095 to
recover the Holy Places from the Turks.
The eastern Empire and the Crusades.
During the 11th century the Eastern Empire was attacked by the Russians,
the Normans and the Seljuks. The emperor Alexius Comnenus found himself
on his accession in 1081 threatened by the Seljuks (the victors in the
decisive battle of Manzikert in 1071) and by the Sicilian Normans who in
1081 besieged Durazzo. In 1083 he defeated the Normans in the battle of
Durazzo, and with the death of Robert Guiscard in 1085 all danger from a
fresh Norman invasion passed away. But the first crusade brought new
anxieties to Alexius, for he feared that the crusaders might attack
Constantinople. That fear removed, he took advantage of the increased
connexion between eastern and western Europe by bestowing commercial
privileges upon the Italian trading republics, who thus gained access to
the ports of the Empire on easy terms.
The Crusades and the Hildebrandine reformation.
With the era of the Crusades, which lasted till the middle of the 13th
century, Europe entered upon a period of change, the importance of which
is realized by contrasting the condition of western Christendom in the
11th with its condition in the 13th century. Between the opening and
close of the crusading movement Europe underwent a complete revolution.
While the Crusades tended to enhance the prestige and authority of the
papacy and the power of European monarchs, they also led to increased
knowledge of the East, to the rapid development of commerce, to the
introduction of new industries, to the rapid decline of the influence of
the feudal nobility, and to the rapid development of town life (see
COMMUNE). At the same time the Hildebrandine reformation was having an
immense influence upon the intellectual condition of Europe. The 12th
century saw the establishment of many new monastic orders (see
MONASTICISM), and at the same time a remarkable speculative and literary
revival (see SCHOLASTICISM). This movement owed not a little of its
success to the influence of the Crusades, which stirred up intellectual
as well as commercial activity. This intellectual activity, as well as
the fruits of commercial expansion, were--since learning was still a
monopoly of the clerical order--weapons in the hands of the papacy,
which in the 12th century attained the height of its power, if not of
its pretensions. It is, indeed, impossible to exaggerate the influence
of the Roman Church upon the development of Europe at this period. The
popes, in fact, represented Europe in a sense that could not be
predicated of the emperors; the terror of their spiritual power, their
vast wealth derived from the tribute of all the West, their unique
experience of international affairs, and--in the case of the great popes
of this epoch--the superiority of their minds and characters, made them
not only the spiritual rulers of Europe, but the effective centres of
whatever political unity it possessed. As a Byzantine observer was to
observe of Innocent III., they had become the successors of the Caesars
rather than of Peter (see PAPACY).
Growth of the royal power in France.
Nowhere were the beneficial effects of the Crusades seen more clearly
than in France. The smaller fiefs were steadily absorbed by the greater
lordships, which in their turn fell victims to the royal power. It might
almost be said that "modern France is a creation of the Crusades." The
effects of the crusading movement were felt in France as early as the
reign of Louis VI. (1108-1137). Aided by his able minister Suger, Louis
managed before his death to add to the possessions of his house the Ile
de France and a prospective claim to Poitou and Aquitaine. Under his
successor Louis VII. (1137-1180) the consolidation movement was checked
owing to the marriage of Eleanor of Aquitaine (after her divorce from
Louis VII.) to Henry II of England. By the addition of his wife's lands
(Gascony and Guienne) to those which he had already inherited from his
father and mother (Normandy, Anjou, Touraine and Maine) Henry was
enabled to form the powerful though short-lived Angevin empire. But the
lost ground was rapidly recovered by Philip Augustus (1180-1223), who
took advantage of the weakness and folly of John of England, and before
1215 had united firmly to France Normandy, Maine, Anjou and Touraine.
Louis VIII. and Louis IX. adhered firmly to the policy of Philip IV.,
and in 1258, by the treaty of Paris, Henry III. of England recognized
the loss of Poitou. There thus remained to England out of the vast
continental domains of Henry II. only Gascony and Guienne.
General results of the Crusades.
The rest of Europe was also in various degrees affected by the Crusades.
While Spain was occupied in a crusade of her own against the Moors and
gradually driving them into Granada, Germany, Italy, and to some extent
England, were interested in, and influenced by, the Crusades against the
Turks. During the absence of many of the nobles in the East the growth
of towns and the development of the mercantile class proceeded without
interruption. The trading classes demanded strong governments and equal
justice, and vigorously supported the monarchs in their suppression of
feudalism.
During the 12th and 13th centuries the Crusades thus proved a large
factor in the commercial prosperity of the Italian maritime states, an
"open door" between East and West was secured, and reinforcements from
Europe were poured into Syria as long as the peoples of the West
regarded the stability of the Latin kingdom of Syria as a matter of
prime importance. During the crusading period a check was placed to the
tide of Mahommedan conquest, while to the caliphate the Crusades proved
a perpetual drain upon its material resources. To the Mahommedans the
possession of the Holy Places by the Christians was as great a
humiliation as their desecration by the Mahommedans was to the
crusaders. Unfortunately the Crusades led to a disastrous schism between
the Byzantine empire and western Christendom, which had calamitous
results. The decay of the crusading spirit was a necessary result of the
growth of the consolidation of the European nations, but the price paid
was the fall of Constantinople and the establishment of the Turks in
eastern Europe. The Crusades thus not only postponed the conquest of
Constantinople by the Turks for some two hundred years, but led, as had
already been said, to a vast expansion of commerce, as seen in the rapid
growth and development of the Italian cities, and to a striking
development of town life.
The struggle between the Empire and the papacy.
The Crusades had enormously strengthened the power and prestige of the
papacy, and indirectly contributed to its victory over the Empire in the
person of Frederick II. From the reign of the emperor Henry IV. to the
death of Frederick II. in 1250 the struggle between the Empire and the
papacy continued, and is coincident in point of time with the Crusades.
The reign of Frederick Barbarossa (1152-1190) saw that struggle at its
height, and during that reign it became apparent that the emperor's
efforts to unite Italy and Germany under one crown were doomed to
failure. The rise and success of the alliance of Italian republics known
as the Lombard League no doubt contributed to the success of the papacy,
but in their contest with the popes the emperors never had any chance of
gaining a permanent victory. Frederick II continued with great energy to
attempt the hopeless task of dominating the papacy, but his possession
of Sicily only made the popes more determined than ever to establish
their predominance in Italy. Frederick's death in 1250 marked not only
the triumph of the papacy in Italy, but also that of feudalism in
Germany. He has been called the "most dazzling of the long line of
imperial failures," and with him ends the Empire as it was originally
conceived. Henceforward the Holy Roman Empire, which implied the unity
of Italy and Germany, and the close alliance of pope and emperor, no
longer exists save in name, and its place is taken by a glorified German
kingship presiding over a confederation of turbulent German nobles.
Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries.
Thus with the later years of the 13th century Europe had arrived at the
definite close of one epoch and the beginning of another. The period of
the Crusades was over, the theory of the Holy Roman Empire had broken
down. The period from the beginning of the 14th to the close of the 15th
century might well be styled the latter days of medieval Europe.
During the 14th and 15th centuries the idea of regarding Europe as one
state in which emperor and pope presided over a number of subordinate
kings gave way before the spirit of nationalism and particularism.
England, France and Spain were rapidly becoming strong centralized
monarchies which stood in striking contrast to the weakened Empire.
Partly no doubt owing to the failure of the Empire and papacy to work
together, a great impetus had been given to the formation of national
monarchies. While Frederick II. had failed, Louis IX. and Philip IV. of
France, Ferdinand III. of Castile (1217-1252), James the Conqueror, king
of Aragon (1213-1276) and Edward I. of England (1239-1307) succeeded in
laying the foundations of strong monarchies which after two centuries of
struggles with the dying efforts of feudalism were established on a firm
basis. In spite of the intellectual activity and political developments
which characterized the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries it remains true
that the later middle ages were marked by the decay of those remarkable
social and political forces which had been such striking characteristics
of the earlier period (see MIDDLE AGES).
Summary of the characteristics of the 14th and 15th centuries.
Thus the 14th and 15th centuries have characteristics which
differentiate them from all preceding and succeeding centuries, The
triumph of the papacy over the Empire had been short-lived. Owing to the
disturbed state of Italy, Clement V. was in 1305 compelled to take
refuge at Avignon, and till 1377--a period known as the Babylonish
captivity--the popes remained in France. While the Empire and papacy
steadily decline, while the Byzantine empire falls before the Turks,
strong monarchies are gradually formed in England, France, Spain, and
Portugal, and in Italy the Renaissance movement covers the later years
of the 15th century with glory (see RENAISSANCE). During these centuries
there is common to Europe no one principle which is to be found in all
kingdoms. But while the old system, founded on belief in the unity of
Europe under the Empire and papacy, declines amid chaos and turbulence,
there is much intellectual and political activity which portends the
appearance of an entirely new state of things. The 14th and 15th
centuries may truly be styled a period of transition.
The decline of the Empire, 1254-1519.
From the death of Conrad IV., the son of Frederick II., in 1254 to 1273,
when Rudolph of Habsburg became king, chaos reigned in Germany, and the
period is known as the Great Interregnum. The forces of decentralization
strengthened themselves, and the emperors found that the formation of a
strong and united German kingdom was an impossibility. Rudolph of
Habsburg (1273-1291), realizing what were the limits of his power in
Germany and the futility of attempting to establish his hold upon Italy,
began that policy of family aggrandizement which was continued so
notably by successive members of his house. His reign witnessed the firm
establishment of the house of Anjou in Naples, and, after the Sicilian
Vespers in 1282, the supremacy of the house of Aragon in Sicily.
Refusing to follow the example of Frederick II. and to take part in
distant expeditions, Rudolph conquered Austria, Styria, Carinthia and
Carniola, Vienna became the capital of the Habsburg dominions in
Germany, and his son Albert of Austria, who was king from 1298 to 1308,
was careful to continue the policy of his father. Though no Habsburg was
again elected to the imperial throne till 1438, when the long succession
of emperors began which continued unbroken till 1742, the establishment
of the Habsburgs in Austria by Rudolph proved an event of European
importance. From that time the leading members of the Habsburg family
never lost an opportunity of aggrandizement. In 1335 they received
Carinthia, in 1363 the Tirol. While, however, the Habsburgs, the
Wittelsbachs and later the house of Brandenburg were strengthening
themselves, the Empire was steadily declining in power and influence.
The 14th century saw Switzerland shake itself free from the Austrian
house and establish its independence, which was, however, not formally
acknowledged till the treaty of Westphalia in 1648.
During the 14th century the weakness of the Empire became more and more
accentuated under the weak rule of Louis IV. On his death in 1346 his
successor Charles of Luxemburg, known as the emperor Charles IV., made a
celebrated attempt to form a strong centralized German monarchy. With
that object he issued in 1356 the Golden Bull, by which it was hoped
that all matters connected with the imperial election would be settled.
The number of imperial electors was settled, and henceforth they were to
consist of the archbishops of Cologne, Mainz and Trier, and of the king
of Bohemia, the duke of Saxony, the margrave of Brandenburg and the
count palatine of the Rhine. Charles hoped to concentrate gradually in
his house all the chief German provinces, and having by the Golden Bull
endeavoured to check the growth of the towns, he expected to establish
firmly the imperial influence in Germany. But the towns were too strong
to be coerced, and during his reign the Swabian cities formed a union;
and though the marriage of his son Sigismund to the heiress of the king
of Hungary and Poland, and the possession of Brandenburg, which fell to
him in 1373, seemed steps towards the realization of his hopes, his
death in 1378 left his work unfinished. Moreover, his son and successor
Wenceslaus (1378-1400) proved, like Richard II. of England and Charles
VI. of France, unequal to the task of checking the growing independence
of the nobles and the cities. The Hanseatic League (q.v.) was at the
height of its power, and in 1381 the Rhenish towns formed a
confederation. Wenceslaus, like Richard II., had fallen upon evil times.
The advance westwards by the Turks occupied the attention of his brother
Sigismund, now king of Hungary; he was himself unpopular in Bohemia, and
at the same time was exposed to the intrigues of his cousin Jobst of
Moravia, who had secured Brandenburg. In 1400 Wenceslaus was formally
deposed by the electors, and spent the rest of his life in Bohemia,
where he died in 1419. His successor Rupert of the palatinate reigned
from 1400 to 1410, and during his reign the council of Pisa endeavoured
to bring to an end the great schism which had followed upon the return
of Pope Urban VI. from Avignon to Rome in 1377. Two popes had been
elected, one living at Rome, the other at Avignon, and Christian Europe
was scandalized at the sight of two rival pontiffs. On Rupert's death
the electors chose Sigismund the brother of Wenceslaus, and he ruled as
emperor from 1411 to 1437.
Decline of the papacy.
Sigismund, emperor, 1411-1437.
The taking of Constantinople by the Turks.
Thus at the beginning of the 15th century the papacy was seen to have
fallen from the high position which it occupied at the time of the death
of Frederick II. The Avignon captivity followed by the great schism
weakened its temporal as well as its spiritual power and prestige, while
national developments and dynastic ambitions, such as led to the Hundred
Years' War, diverted men's minds from religious to purely temporal
concerns. The work of Wycliffe and Hus illustrated not only the decline
of papal prestige but also the general opinion that reform in the papacy
was necessary. Sigismund's reign as emperor was rendered noteworthy by
the part which he took in the council of Constance (q.v.), and by his
successful efforts to suppress the Hussite movement in Bohemia (see
HUSSITES). That country on the death of Wenceslaus in 1419 fell to
Sigismund, but it was not till 1431, after a long and sanguinary war,
that the opposition to the union of Bohemia with the Empire was
suppressed. Led by Zizka and other able chiefs, the Bohemians who were
Slavs utilized the Hussite movement in a vigorous attempt to secure
their independence. In 1436 Sigismund was formally acknowledged king of
Bohemia. In 1431, the year of the final overthrow of the Bohemians and
the Hussites, he opened the council of Basel (q.v.), being resolved to
establish a religious peace in Europe and to prevent the Hussite
doctrines from spreading into Germany. In 1438 Sigismund died, leaving
Germany involved in a quarrel with the papacy, but having successfully
withstood the efforts of the Bohemians to acquire independence.
Sigismund's death marks an epoch in the history of the Empire, for his
successor Albert of Austria proved to be the first of a long line of
Habsburg emperors. Albert himself reigned only from 1438 to 1440, but on
his death the imperial dignity was conferred upon another member of the
Habsburg house, Frederick, duke of Styria and Carinthia, known as the
emperor Frederick III. With his accession the imperial throne became
practically hereditary in the Habsburg family. Frederick's long reign,
which lasted from 1440 to 1493, was of little benefit to Germany; for he
showed no administrative skill and proved a weak and incapable ruler.
Undoubtedly his lot fell upon evil days, for not only were the Turks at
the height of their power, but both Bohemia and Hungary gave him much
anxiety. The imminent fall of Constantinople, the last barrier of
Christendom against Islam in the East, was a threat not only to the
Empire, but to all Christian Europe. But western Europe was too much
occupied with internecine feuds to unite effectively against the common
enemy. In vain the emperor John VI. had gone in person to solicit aid at
the various courts of the West; in vain he had humbled himself to pay
the price asked, by subscribing to the abnegation of the distinctive
tenets of the Orthodox Church, which secured the ephemeral reunion of
Christendom at the council of Florence (1438). The crusading spirit was
dead; the European powers stirred no finger to save the imperial city;
and in 1453 Sultan Mahommed II. rode through the breach over the body of
the last of the Eastern Caesars, and planted the crescent on the dome
of the metropolitan church, of Eastern Christendom (see TURKEY, and
ROMAN EMPIRE, LATER).
The fall of Constantinople marked the definite establishment on European
soil of a power alien and hostile to all that was characteristic of
European civilization. It was a power, moreover, which could live only
by expanding; and for over two hundred years to come the dread of
Ottoman aggression was a dominant factor in the politics of eastern
Europe. The tide of Turkish advance could have been arrested by a union
of Europe; but the appeals of Pope Nicholas V. fell unheeded upon a
sceptical age, intent only on its dynastic and particularist ambitions.
To the emperor the ousting of the Ottomans from the Balkan peninsula
seemed of less importance than the consolidation of the Habsburg power
in Germany, and its extension over the neighbouring kingdoms of Hungary
and Bohemia. France was exhausted by the long agony of the Hundred
Years' War, which came to an end the very year of the fall of
Constantinople, and the French kings--especially Louis XI.
(1461-1483)--were busy for the rest of the century crushing out the
remnants of feudalism and consolidating the power of the monarchy. As
for Italy, with its petty tyrants and its _condottieri_, there was no
hope of uniting it for any purpose whatever, least of all a religious
purpose, and Spain was busy with her own crusades against the Moors. The
exploits of John Hunyadi, king of Hungary, against the Turks, therefore,
remained isolated and unsupported. In 1456 he checked their advance
northwards by a brilliant victory which led to the relief of Belgrade;
but he died the same year, and his death was followed by a struggle for
the succession between Hungarians and Bohemians. The racial and
religious quarrels of the Balkan peoples had made it possible for the
Turks to obtain a foothold in Europe; the jealousies and internecine
struggles of the Christian states made possible the vast expansion of
the Ottoman power, which in the 17th century was to advance the
frontiers of Islam to those of Germany and to reduce the emperors, in
their relations with the Porte, to the status of tributary princes.
The victory of Ladislaus, son of Casimir, king of Poland, who succeeded
in uniting in his own person the crowns of Bohemia, Hungary and Poland,
threatened to result in the permanent independence of those countries of
the house of Habsburg. But in 1490 Ladislaus was compelled by
Maximilian, son of Frederick III., to sign the treaty of Pressburg,
providing for the eventual succession of the Habsburgs to Hungary and
Bohemia.
Consolidation of the Habsburg power.
In other ways the reign of Frederick III. laid the foundations of the
greatness of his family. In 1477 Maximilian married Mary, duchess of
Burgundy and heiress of Charles the Bold, and through her the Habsburgs
obtained Franche Comte and the Netherlands. The line, _Bella gerant
alii, tu felix Austria nube_, well described the method by which the
house of Habsburg increased its possessions and established its
fortunes. A.E.I.O.U. (_Austriae est imperare orbi universo_), was the
device invented for his house at that time by Frederick III. and it
proved no idle boast. Maximilian I, the son of Frederick III., reigned
from 1493 to 1519, and during his reign Europe passed from medieval to
modern times. Some reforms in the Empire were carried out, but the
events of his reign made it apparent that it was impossible to set up a
centralized monarchy in Germany (see MAXIMILIAN I.; GERMANY and AUSTRIA:
_History_).
France in the 13th and 14th centuries.
Far different developments were taking place during the 14th and 15th
centuries in France, Spain, the Scandinavian north and in England.
During the greater part of the 14th century France was engaged in
foreign wars and in internal complications, and it seemed doubtful if a
strong centralized monarchy would be firmly established. The failure of
Philip VI. (1328-1350) and John (1350-1364) in their contest with
England weakened the central power in France, and, though Charles V.
(1364-1389), owing to his own sagacity and the weakness of the English
government, managed to regain for France many of her lost provinces, the
French power both at home and abroad again declined under the rule of
the incapable Charles VII. (1380-1422). In fact the year 1422 may be
said to mark the lowest stage in the history of the French monarchy.
From that year an improvement gradually set in. A national sentiment, as
exemplified in the career of Joan of Arc (q.v.), was developed; an
alliance, essential for the successful expulsion of the English from
France, was made in 1435 between the king of France and the duke of
Burgundy; and in 1439 the famous ordinance empowering the king to
maintain a standing army and to raise money for its maintenance was
passed at Orleans by the states-general. These measures proved
successful; in 1453 the Hundred Years' War came to an end, and Louis XI.
managed between 1461 and 1483 to establish an absolutism in France on
sure foundations. Under his successor Charles VIII. (1483-1498),
Brittany was annexed, and France, secure from all danger of a feudal
reaction, entered with the invasion of Italy in 1494 by Charles VIII.
upon modern times. A similar process is observable in England and Spain.
In England the Wars of the Roses were followed by the establishment of a
strong monarchy under Henry VII., while in Spain Ferdinand and Isabella
established in place of anarchy the royal authority, and during their
reign suppressed all attempts at provincial independence. In 1491 the
consolidation of Spain was completed by the conquest of Granada. In
1397, by the union of Calmar, the three kingdoms of Norway, Sweden and
Denmark were united under Eric XIII. This union was, however,
short-lived, and in the early years of the 16th century came definitely
to an end (see NORWAY; SWEDEN; DENMARK).
The close of the middle ages.
The close of the middle ages and the beginning of modern times was
marked by several noteworthy events. The invention of printing, the
discovery of America and the invasion of Italy by Charles VIII. all
occurred before the end of the 15th century, while in the early years of
the 16th century the ideal of civil and ecclesiastical unity was finally
shattered by the Reformation and by the development of the modern states
system, accompanied by the prominence henceforward attached to the
question of the balance of power.
The Renaissance.
During the whole of the 15th century Europe had been affected by what is
known as the Renaissance movement, which marked the transition from the
medieval to the modern order. This movement, caused by the growth of
learning, had its first home in Italy, which had witnessed a marvellous
revival of interest in classical antiquity, in painting and in
sculpture, accompanied by a keen intellectual activity in religious and
political, no less than in literary matters. Criticism of existing
beliefs was developed, knowledge became widely diffused, and, while the
way was prepared for the substitution of individualism for the old
ecclesiastical system, the development of commerce coincident with the
discovery of America and the establishment of monarchical systems
destroyed feudalism (see RENAISSANCE). The later years of the 15th, and
the early years of the 16th, centuries may be described as the
transition from medievalism to modern times, from feudalism to
individualism, from the idea of a world church and a world empire to one
in which national consolidation was the chief feature and monarchical
government a necessity.
Summary of European history from 1500.
From the beginning of the 16th century Europe entered upon modern times.
Many events marked the close of the middle ages. The discovery of
America, the decay of Venice, the development of the European states
system, the rise of diplomacy as a permanent international system (see
DIPLOMACY), the wars of religion--all these are the general
characteristics of the new period upon which Europe now enters. With the
growth of monarchies arises the belief in the divine right of kings, the
development of territorial sovereignty, and wars of ambition like those
waged by Louis XIV.
With the 18th century democratic ideas first begin to appear side by
side with the rule of the enlightened despots such as Frederick the
Great, Catherine II. and Joseph II. The outbreak of the French
Revolution brings to an end the old European system, upsets the ideas on
which it was founded, and leads to important territorial changes.
[Illustration: Map of Europe 1815-1910.]
The balance of power and the beginning of modern times.
The advent of the Reformation, as has already been pointed out, finally
shattered that ideal of civil and religious unity which had been the
main characteristic of the middle ages. Thus from the beginning of the
16th century Europe sees the development of the modern states system and
becomes the scene of national wars in which the idea of the balance of
power was the leading principle (see BALANCE OF POWER). That principle
did not allow of the recognition of the rights of nationalities, and
till the wars of the French Revolution the interests of the various
European states were usually subordinated to the dynastic aims of their
rulers. During the ensuing centuries the balance of power in Europe was
seriously threatened; during the first half of the 16th century by
Charles V., during the latter half of the same century by Philip II., in
the first half of the 17th century by the house of Habsburg, and in the
latter half by Louis XIV.
The close of the Seven Years' War seemed to prelude a period of British
ascendancy on the continent, but that danger passed away with the
outbreak of the war between Great Britain and her American colonies. For
a time the balance of power in Europe was completely shattered by
Napoleon's brilliant conquests, but his fall, while to a great extent
restoring the political equilibrium, gave an opportunity to Alexander of
Russia to dominate Europe. Thus the 16th century definitely marked the
beginning of modern times both from a political as well as from a
religious point of view.
The Reformation and the rivalry of Charles V. and Francis I.
With the accession of Francis I. to the French and Charles V. to the
imperial throne began the long rivalry between France and the house of
Habsburg, which continued with few interruptions till 1756. In the
struggle between Charles V. and Francis I., which began in 1521, the
former had the advantage, and the battle of Pavia (1525) seemed likely
to lead to the permanent pre-eminence of the imperial cause. But
unexpected allies were found by Francis in the German reformers and in
the Turks. The nailing by Luther of his ninety-five theses to the door
of the Wittenberg church, followed by the decisions of the diet of Worms
in 1521, led to a rapid development of Lutheran opinions among the
princes of the north of Germany. Charles V.'s victory over France in
1525 and his reconciliation with the papacy in 1529 seemed, however, to
prelude the suppression of the Protestant opinions. But Francis I. again
took up arms, while the invasions of Suleiman the Magnificent, during
whose reign the Turkish influence was not only felt in Hungary and
Germany but extended to the west basin of the Mediterranean, forced
Charles to temporize. When in 1544 the conclusion of the peace of Crepy
with Francis I. enabled Charles to turn his attention to the rapid
growth of Protestantism, it was too late to adopt with any chance of
success a policy of suppression. In 1552 he found himself compelled to
agree to the treaty of Passau which implied the adoption of a policy of
compromise, and which in 1555 was followed by a definite arrangement at
Augsburg, which admitted the principle of _cujus regio, ejus religio_.
Till the outbreak of the Thirty Years' War in 1618, the settlement of
Augsburg tended to keep peace between the Catholics and the Protestants.
Equally unsuccessful were Charles's later efforts against France; in
1553 he lost Metz, Toul and Verdun, and in 1556 he retired to Spain,
leaving the Empire to his brother Ferdinand, and Spain, the Netherlands
and his Italian possessions to his son Philip. The latter, after winning
the battle of St Quentin in 1557, made peace with Henry II. of France by
the treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559.
The Counter-Reformation.
By this peace a term was put to the struggle between France on the one
hand and the Empire and Spain on the other, and the kings of France and
Spain were enabled to turn their attention to the issues raised by the
immense growth of Protestantism since 1521. While Charles V. had been
engaged in his struggles with the Turks and the French, Protestantism
had rapidly developed. In Sweden, in Denmark, in England, in various
parts of Germany, and in France Protestant principles had been largely
adopted (see REFORMATION).
Though the forces of Roman Catholicism had for a time been vanquished
they had still to be counted with. From the middle of the 16th century
the growth of Protestantism began to be checked, and a period of
reaction against the Reformation set in. For a time it seemed that the
efforts of Roman Catholicism would be successful and that the cause of
Protestantism would be permanently weakened. The papacy since the
beginning of the 16th century had reformed itself, the council of Trent
(q.v.), which closed its sittings in 1564, had given Roman Catholicism a
"clearly and sharply defined body of doctrine," and the Catholic Church
had become "more united, less worldly; and more dependent on herself."
In this work of reorganization the Jesuits had played a great part, and
the success of the Counter-Reformation was largely due to their efforts
(see JESUITS). Paul III., Pius IV. and V., Gregory XIII. and Sixtus V.
are all good examples of the reforming popes of the 16th century. Under
them the Jesuits worked; they restored Catholicism in Poland, Bohemia
and south Germany; and supported by them the Inquisition crushed
Protestantism out of Spain and Italy.
The aims of Philip II.
The interest of the Counter-Reformation movement from 1559 to 1618
centres round Philip II. of Spain. While Pius V. (1566-1572) is the best
example of the Counter-Reformation popes, Philip II. took the lead among
European Catholic monarchs in working for the extinction of
Protestantism. His recovery of the southern Netherlands for the Catholic
cause, his attempt to conquer England, his intention of subjugating
France, were all parts of a scheme to advance simultaneously his own
power and that of the Counter-Reformation.
Circumstances combined to aid Philip, and while he was endeavouring to
carry out his political aims, the Jesuits were busily occupied in
winning back large portions of Europe to allegiance to the papacy. But
failure attended most of Philip's projects. Though he succeeded in
recovering the southern or Walloon provinces of the Netherlands, he was
unable to conquer the northern provinces, which under William of Orange
formed themselves into the Dutch republic (see HOLLAND: _History_). His
scheme for the conquest of England failed, and the Spanish Armada was
totally defeated in 1588. Nor was his plan for the subjection of France
more successful. After a tedious civil war between the Catholics and
Huguenots, Henry of Navarre appeared as a national leader, who, having
overcome the armies of the League with which Philip was allied,
concluded the peace of Vervins in 1598. In consenting to this treaty
Philip acknowledged that his schemes for the establishment of his
influence over France had failed. Thus, when the 16th century closed,
England's independence was assured, the Dutch republic was established,
the French monarchy was rapidly recovering from the effects of the
religious wars and the decadence of the Spanish monarchy had set in. But
the religious question was still unsettled, religious passions ran high,
and no satisfactory agreement between Catholicism and Protestantism had
been, or seemed likely to be arrived at. The successes of the
Counter-Reformation under the Jesuits and such men as Ferdinand of
Styria (afterwards the emperor Ferdinand II.) and Maximilian of Bavaria
only roused strenuous opposition on the part of Calvinist princes such
as Frederick IV., the elector palatine.
The approach of the Thirty Years' War.
Various events had indicated the approach of a final struggle between
Protestantism and Catholicism during the early years of the 17th
century. The seizure of Donauwoerth, a town with Protestant sympathies,
by Maximilian of Bavaria in 1607, the formation of the Protestant Union
in 1608 and of the Catholic League in 1609, the questions raised in 1609
by the Cleves-Juelich affair, the preparations of Henry IV. of France for
an anti-Habsburg campaign--all these showed that the political
atmosphere was charged with electricity. Till 1618, however, an open
conflict between Protestantism and Catholicism in Germany was averted;
in that year the acceptance, by the Calvinist Frederick, the elector
palatine, of the crown of Bohemia, proved the starting-point of the
Thirty Years' War.
The Thirty Years' War.
Till the death of Gustavus Adolphus in 1632 that war preserved a
religious or semi-religious character. The emperor Ferdinand II., Philip
III. of Spain and Maximilian of Bavaria undoubtedly hoped to suppress
Protestantism in Germany, while Wallenstein, the great imperial general,
was prepared to conquer Denmark, Sweden and Norway, and to convert the
Baltic into an Austrian lake. Though the resistance of Christian IV. of
Denmark was vain, the jealousy felt by the Catholic princes of
Wallenstein and the skill of Gustavus Adolphus caused the total failure
of these ambitious schemes. All hope of seeing the imperial flag waving
over the Baltic was dispelled by the victory of Breitenfeld, and that of
Luetzen in 1632, and though Gustavus Adolphus fell in the last-named
battle, he had saved north Germany from falling into the hands of the
Jesuits.
Entry of France into the war.
With his death the Thirty Years' War became in the main a political
struggle between France and the Habsburgs--a continuation of the wars of
Francis I. and Henry II. against Charles V., and of the war between
Henry IV. and Philip II. Ferdinand II. had attempted to carry back the
religious history of the Empire more than seventy years, and had failed.
He had endeavoured to make the Empire a reality and to revive and carry
out the designs of Charles V. His failure was now complete. The edict of
Restitution issued in 1629 remained a dead letter, and from 1632 to 1648
he and his successor Ferdinand III. had to employ all their energies in
defending their possessions from the attacks of the French and Swedes.
The death of Gustavus Adolphus followed in 1634 by the assassination of
Wallenstein proved an admirable opportunity for the entry of France into
the Thirty Years' War. And till 1648, in spite of occasional reverses,
the French and their allies gradually wore down their adversaries. After
the death of Henry IV. in 1610 France had temporarily retired from a
foremost place in the politics of Europe, and for some thirty years her
ministers were busy in coercing the Huguenots and establishing the
supremacy of the crown which was threatened by the nobles. Once united
at home France was ready and eager to seize the opportunity for
inflicting a severe blow upon the Habsburgs in Spain and Austria. The
time for such action was well chosen. Austria was weakened by the war
which had been waged since 1618, while Spain, exhausted by her efforts
in the preceding century, had entered upon a long period of decay, and
was about to see Portugal regain its independence. The Protestant
princes in the north of Germany were ready to ally with France and
Sweden against the emperor, even the Catholic Bavarian duke was to prove
a doubtful ally of the Habsburg house. In 1642 Richelieu and in 1643
Louis XIII. died, but though Louis XIV. was an infant, and the French
nobles by their cabals hindered the work of the regency, Mazarin
successfully carried out the anti-Habsburg policy of his predecessors
and brought the war against Austria to a successful conclusion. (See
further THIRTY YEARS' WAR.)
The peace of Westphalia, 1648.
The peace of Westphalia in 1648 marked the virtual close of religious
conflicts in Europe. It also marked the end of the attempts of the
Habsburgs to establish a monarchical system throughout all Germany. By
that peace the practical independence of the German princes was assured.
Henceforward each prince could decide what form of religion was to be
observed in his dominions. Thus Lutheranism, Calvinism and Catholicism
were alike tolerated, and this recognition of the principle of
compromise prepared the way for a wider toleration. Moreover, the petty
principalities of the Empire, which numbered over 300, were allowed the
right of concluding alliances with any foreign power, of making their
own laws, and of carrying on war. Thus, in consequence of this most
important concession of the emperor, the Empire lost all cohesion and
became little more than a confederation. The states had firmly
established their "liberties," the princes were now emancipated from
imperial control, and it was evident that, unless by some means the
house of Austria could re-establish its ascendancy, the eventual
dissolution of the Empire must sooner or later follow. The peace of
Westphalia thus marks for Europe, and in a special sense for Germany,
the end of an important epoch. For Germany the changes introduced into
its political life amounted to nothing less than a revolution, for there
"the mainspring of the national life was broken." For Europe the Thirty
Years' War brought to a close "the mighty impulses which the great
movements of the Renaissance and Reformation had imparted to the
aspirations" of men in all parts of the western world.
The treaties of the Pyrenees and Oliva.
It was not, however, till the treaties of the Pyrenees (1659) and Oliva
(1660) were signed that the echoes of the Thirty Years' War died away,
and Europe entered upon a period in which the political ambitions of
Louis XIV. threatened the interests of Europe and absorbed the attention
of all European statesmen. During the intervening years from 1648 to
1659 Spain and France continued the struggle, while Charles X. of Sweden
in 1654 entered upon a career of aggression and conquest in the north of
Europe, which was only ended with his death on the 23rd of February
1660. Upon the balance of power in the north of Europe the wars of
Charles X. had little permanent effect, and the peace of Oliva to a
great extent merely marked the restoration of the _status quo_. But the
peace of the Pyrenees was far more important. During its struggle with
France, Spain found itself also involved in hostilities with England,
and the real rottenness of the Spanish monarchy became rapidly apparent.
Any assistance which might have been hoped for from the emperor was
prevented by the formation of leagues of German princes--lay and
ecclesiastical--in 1657 and 1658, which had the full support of France.
The effect of the formation of the second league was at once apparent:
all hope of assistance to Spain from the emperor was seen to have
disappeared, and the conclusion of a pacific settlement between France
and Spain was at once arrived at. The peace of the Pyrenees was a
triumph for the _Rheinbund_, no less than for France.
The age of Louis XIV.
With the beginning of the personal rule of Louis XIV. in 1661, and the
return of Charles II. to England in 1660, a new period in the history of
personal monarchy in Europe began. At the time of the peace of
Westphalia the monarchy in Europe was under a cloud. In England the
cause of Charles I. was lost; in France the Fronde was holding its own
against Mazarin; in Germany the princes had triumphed over the emperor;
even in Russia the nobles were aiming at the curtailment of the power of
the crown. But from 1660 it became evident that these attempts to secure
the curtailment of the monarchical power were, with few exceptions, not
destined to be successful. Though all chance of the establishment of a
strong central authority in Germany had disappeared, the various states
composing the Empire now entered upon a new period in their history and
speedily formed miniature despotisms. Of these Brandenburg, Saxony and
Bavaria were the most important. In Denmark Frederick III. made his
crown hereditary, and his establishment of an absolutism was imitated by
Charles XI. of Sweden a few years later.
Thus when Louis XIV. took into his own hands the government of France,
the absolutist principle was triumphant all over Europe. The period of
his personal rule lasted from 1661 to his death in 1715, and is known as
"the age of Louis XIV." During that period France was the leading
monarchy in Europe, and the most conspicuous not only in arms but also
in all the arts of civilization. While Turenne, Luxemburg, Villars and
many others exemplified, till the rise of Marlborough, the pre-eminence
of French generals, Pascal, Racine, Corneille, Moliere and Fenelon
testified to the commanding position taken by France in the world of
literature. The building of Versailles and the establishment of the
French court there was an event of importance not only in the history of
France, but also in the history of Europe. The history of Europe may
without exaggeration be said during the reign of Louis XIV. to centre
round Versailles.
The political condition of Europe, 1661-1688.
During his reign France took the lead in European politics, and
established her supremacy all the more easily, owing partly to the
weakness of most of the European countries, partly to the aggressions of
the Turks, whose invasions of eastern Europe occupied from 1683 to 1699
the attention of the Poles and of the Austrians. The weakness or
neutrality of the various European states was due to various causes.
England was prevented till 1689 from taking a part in opposing the
ambitious schemes of Louis XIV. owing to the personal aims of Charles
II. and James II. Philip IV. and Charles II. of Spain could do nothing
to resist the growing ascendancy of France, owing to the increasing
weakness and rapid decadence of Spain, whose disappearance from the rank
of great powers was one of the most striking features in the history of
Europe during the second half of the 17th century. The weakness of
Germany from the peace of Westphalia to the end of the century, due
partly to the establishment of the independence of the princes of the
Empire, partly to the unrest in Hungary, partly to the aggressions of
the Turks, was obviously an immense gain to Louis XIV.
Louis' aggressions.
Realizing the strength of his own position and the weakness of that of
most of the European states, he entered in 1667 into the Devolution war
and secured several fortresses in the Spanish Netherlands. From 1672 to
1678 he was again at war with Holland, and from 1673 with the emperor,
Spain and Brandenburg as well. At the same time the Turks invaded
Poland, but were successfully resisted by John Sobieski. In 1676,
however, they made the favourable treaty of Zurawna, securing Kamenets
and portions of Podolia and the Ukraine. Thus, while the Turks were
threatening the independence of eastern Europe, Louis XIV. was attacking
the independence of western Europe. In 1678 he made the treaty of
Nijmwegen, securing great advantages for France. Till the end of the
century Europe was faced with two serious problems: Could she
successfully cope with the Turks on her eastern frontier? And could she
resist the continued aggressions of France on her western frontier?
Consequently the years from 1678 to the end of the century were of vital
importance to the European world. For during that period the French and
Turks made unceasing efforts to extend their frontiers at the expense of
Germany. Encouraged by the weakness of the chief European states, Louis
set up the Chambers of Reunion, seized Strassburg in time of peace and
attempted to annex Luxemburg. At the same time it seemed that an
independent Gallican Church would be set up, and that Louis, like Henry
VIII., would sever all connexion with Rome. The persecution of the
Jansenists and the revocation of the edict of Nantes in 1685 established
something akin to religious uniformity in France. Buoyed up by his
successes abroad and at home, and conscious that he had nothing to fear
from England or from Spain, Louis prepared to carry out his schemes,
with regard to the extension of his territory eastwards, at the expense
of Germany. Simultaneously with Louis' aggressions in western Europe,
the Turks had made an attempt to capture Vienna in 1683. Fortunately the
efforts of the emperor Leopold, aided by John Sobieski, king of Poland,
were successful, and the Turkish tide of conquest was gradually but
successfully checked. It was not, however, till the accession of William
III. to the English throne that the tide of French conquest in western
Europe was in like manner successfully resisted, and it was not till the
treaty of Ryswick in 1697 that Louis realized that Europe had set a
limit to his conquests. That treaty inflicted a blow on the prestige of
France, just as the treaty of Karlowitz, concluded in 1699, was an
important step in the decline of the Ottoman power. By that treaty,
which marks a definite beginning in the history of the Austro-Hungarian
monarchy, the hands of the emperor were freed, and he was able to devote
his attention to the Spanish succession question, which already
engrossed the attention of all Europe.
The Spanish Succession War.
The decadence of Spain had been obvious to all Europe since the middle
of the century, and in anticipation of the death of the Spanish king
Charles II., Louis XIV. and William III. had made a partition treaty in
October 1698, which was superseded in March 1700 by a second partition
treaty. However, on the death of King Charles on the 1st of November
1700 Louis repudiated the partition treaties and accepted the crown of
Spain for his grandson Philip, who became Philip V. of Spain. Not
content with this success Louis committed a number of aggressive acts
which led to the War of the Spanish Succession in 1702. That war
continued till 1713, when the treaty of Utrecht, followed in 1714 by the
treaties of Rastadt and Baden, ended a struggle which had many results
of vital importance to Europe. Great Britain, strengthened by the
possession of Gibraltar and Minorca, by her establishment in Canada, and
by trading rights in South America, henceforward stood forth as a rising
colonial power to whom the command of the sea was essential. Austria
obtained not only Belgium, which she held till the French Revolution,
but also a firm foothold in Italy, which she maintained till 1859. To
Spain the war indirectly brought unexpected benefits. Freed from her
expensive possessions in Belgium and Italy, and now ruled by a new
dynasty, Spain, so far from meeting with the fate which later attended
Poland, entered upon a new period in her career, and throughout the 18th
century showed considerable power of resistance to the colonial policy
of Great Britain.
The 18th century.
With all its defects the treaty of Utrecht proved in many ways an
excellent settlement. Till 1740, although a few short wars took place,
Europe as a whole enjoyed peace. But with the settlement of Utrecht
Europe seemed to have lost all touch with the high ideals which
occasionally, as in the career of Gustavus Adolphus, or in the English
great rebellion, or in the defence of Vienna by John Sobieski, were met
with. The 18th century was marked by the dominance of a perverted system
of the balance of power, which regarded such acts as the Prussian
seizure of Silesia and the partition of Poland as justifiable on the
ground that might is right.
European politics--1715-1740.
Before many years had passed after the treaty of Utrecht it became
evident that two new nations were forcing themselves into the front rank
of European powers. These were Russia and Prussia. The treaty of Nystaed
in 1721 was to the north of Europe what the treaty of Utrecht was to the
western and southern nations. It marked the decline of Sweden and the
rise of Russia, which henceforth played an important part in European
politics. Nevertheless till 1740 with the exception of the short Polish
Succession War 1733-35 and the equally short war of 1737-39, in which
Russia and Austria fought against Turkey, no general European struggle
took place. That this was so was due in great measure to the alliance of
1717 between Great Britain and France, to the subsequent peace policy
upheld by Walpole, Fleury, Patino and Horn (the English, French, Spanish
and Swedish ministers), to the hostility between the courts of Vienna
and Madrid--only momentarily healed by the treaty of Vienna in 1725--and
to the uncertain character of Russian politics.
During those years from 1713 to 1740 the great powers were slowly
forming themselves into groups, bound together by motives of interest.
Thus Spain and France after 1729 began to realize that both countries
were interested in checking Great Britain's colonial developments, while
Spain was also ready to seize every opportunity of increasing her
possessions in Italy at the expense of Austria.
1740 a new epoch.
With the year 1740 Europe entered upon a new epoch. The rivalry of
Austria and Prussia for the leadership of Germany definitely began, and
the struggle between Great Britain and France for supremacy in India,
Canada and the West Indies entered upon an acute phase. The War of the
Austrian Succession (1740-48) holds therefore an important place in the
history of Europe, and proved with the Seven Years' War, which was
practically a continuation of it, of very real interest to Europe.
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, 1748.
In April 1748 Great Britain, France and Holland signed preliminaries of
peace, which on the 18th of October became the definitive treaty of
Aix-la-Chapelle. The other powers concerned agreed to the treaty with
reluctance, Spain on the 20th of October, Austria on the 8th of
November, and Sardinia on the 20th of November. By the terms of the
peace France and Great Britain restored the conquests in America, India
and Europe which each had made from the other. As regards the other
powers, the peace left serious heart-burnings. Sardinia, though gaining
territory in the Milanese, was compelled to relinquish her hold on
Piacenza and its territory, and to restore Finale to Genoa; Austria had
to yield Parma and Piacenza to Don Philip, and to recognize the loss of
Silesia to Prussia; Spain was compelled to forgo all hope of regaining
Gibraltar. The importance of the terms of this treaty lies in the fact
that they indicate not only the lines followed by later European
settlements, but also the tendency of later European developments. To
Great Britain the treaty was only a pause in her expansion in Canada and
in her advance to the establishment of her influence over all India. To
France the treaty was equally a presage of future disasters in India and
Canada. The retention of Silesia by Prussia was a pronouncement to all
Europe that a new power had arisen which was destined in 1866 to oust
Austria from her dominant position in Germany. The gains won by
Sardinia, too, indicated that the real danger to Austria's position in
Italy would come from the house of Savoy.
The Seven Years' War.
The Seven Years' War (1756-63) opened with a diplomatic revolution as
important as that of 1717, when France and Great Britain made an
alliance. In May 1756, as a reply to the treaty of Westminster the
Second, made in January between Great Britain and Prussia, France and
Austria, united in the treaty of Versailles. This unexpected union,
which lasted till the French Revolution, between two powers which had
been hostile to each other from the beginning of the 16th century,
amazed all Europe. However, it had not the results expected, for
although Russia, which was allied with Austria, sent large armies headed
by capable generals to the war, Frederick the Great remained
unconquered. This result was partly due to the English alliance, partly
to the incapable French generals, and partly to the state of internal
politics in Russia. The treaties of Paris (February 10, 1763) and
Hubertsburg (February 15) marked an important stage in the history of
Europe. By the first Great Britain emerged from the war an imperial
power with possessions all over the world, by the second Prussia was
recognized as the equal of Austria in Europe.
Close of the Seven Years' War to the French Revolution.
The period from the close of the Seven Years' War to the French
Revolution saw all the special characteristics and tendencies of the
18th century in an accentuated form. Benevolent despotism found
representatives not only in Frederick the Great and Maria Theresa, but
also in Joseph II., Catherine II., Charles III. of Spain, and Leopold of
Tuscany. Reforming ministers, too, flourished in the persons of Tanucci,
Turgot, Squillaci, Florida Blanca, D'Aranda and many others. Instances,
too, of the low state of political morality are to be found. The
indefensible seizure of Silesia by Frederick the Great was followed in
1772 by the equally immoral partition of Poland, and it was clearly
apparent that monarchs, though ostensibly actuated by a desire for the
welfare of their subjects, were resolved that reforms should come from
above and not from below. The chief European events during these years
were (1) the partition of Poland; (2) the war of the Bavarian
Succession; (3) the alliance of Russia with Prussia in 1764 and with
Austria in 1781; (4) the entry of France and Spain into war between
Great Britain and her American colonies; (5) the combined attack of
Russia and Austria against Turkey (1787-92); (6) the Triple Alliance of
1788.
No sooner was the Seven Years' War ended than France and Spain, having
made the third family compact in 1761 (the other two were signed in 1733
and 1743), prepared to take revenge upon Great Britain at the first
favourable opportunity. The result of this determination, and of Great
Britain's absorption in internal politics, was that Russia, Prussia and
Austria were enabled to carry out the first partition of Poland in 1772.
The entry of France into the American war of independence rendered it
impossible for Joseph II., single-handed, to carry out his project of
exchanging the Austrian Netherlands for Bavaria, and he was compelled,
after a short war, to give up for the time his project and to agree to
the treaty of Teschen (1779). The continuance of the American War proved
of great value to Russia and enhanced her position in Europe. Not only
had she, together with France, brought about the treaty of Teschen, but
in 1780 she headed the league of armed neutrality, and between 1780 and
1784 annexed the Crimea. The conclusion of the war of American
Independence enabled Great Britain to regain her influence in Europe,
and when Russia and Austria combined to attack Turkey, and when France
threatened to re-establish her influence in Holland, Pitt formed with
the Prussian king and the stadtholder the famous Triple Alliance of
1788. During the ensuing four years the influence of that alliance made
itself felt in an unmistakable way. All hope of the establishment of
French influence in Holland was destroyed; Denmark was forced to
relinquish an attack on Sweden, then at war with Russia; and after
Leopold of Tuscany had succeeded Joseph II. as emperor in 1790, the
revolution in the Netherlands was brought to an end. Moreover, through
the influence of Leopold the hostility of Prussia to Austria was
removed, and the two powers in July 1790 made the treaty of Reichenbach.
Great Britain, the chief member of the Triple Alliance, had supported
the pacific solution of all these questions so menacing to European
peace, and Pitt was aided in his policy by the emperor Leopold, who in
1791 made the treaty of Sistova with the Turks. Danger to the peace of
Europe was, however, caused by the attempt of the Spaniards to annex
Nootka Sound, and by the continuance of the war between Russia and
Turkey. The former difficulty was, however, removed in November 1790 by
an agreement between Great Britain and Spain, and in January 1792 Russia
made the treaty of Jassy with Turkey.
French Revolution, 1789.
Opening of the war between France and Great Britain, 1793.
The treaties of Luneville and Amiens.
Instead of Europe remaining at peace the year 1792 saw the beginning of
a series of wars which did not come to a final conclusion till the
battle of Waterloo. While the east of Europe was engaged in war, and
while the Triple Alliance was busy attempting to restore peace to
Europe, the French Revolution had broken out in 1789. The assistance
given by France to the American colonists had brought the country to
bankruptcy, and no course was left to Louis XVI. except to summon the
states-general in May 1789. In that year a revolution against the
reforms of Joseph II. had taken place in the Netherlands, and a
revolution was being prepared in Poland for the overthrow of the
aristocratic constitution and for the establishment of an hereditary
monarchy. At first the revolution in France was entirely occupied with
internal reforms, but after the dissolution of the Constituent Assembly
in September 1791 the Girondists, whose influence became paramount,
determined by the advice of Brissot to insist upon a policy of menace
towards the Empire which would inevitably lead to war. War would, they
hoped, result in the downfall of monarchy in France. On the other hand,
Lafayette and his party advocated war on the ground that it would
strengthen the cause of monarchy. In April 1792 war was accordingly
declared upon Austria, then in alliance with Prussia. After a short
period of failure the French in September won the battle of Valmy, and
in November the battle of Jemappes. French armies advanced to the Rhine,
Belgium was occupied, the Scheldt was declared open, and Holland was
threatened. In consequence of the danger to Holland, Pitt adopted a
warlike tone, and in February 1793 France declared war upon Great
Britain. In that war Spain, Sardinia and Tuscany joined, so that France
was practically fighting all Europe. Nevertheless, owing to the want of
union among the allies, to the Polish questions which distracted Prussia
and Austria, and to the determination and patriotism of all classes in
France, the allies were discomfited and the league of powers broken up
in 1795, when the treaties of Basel were made. Only Great Britain,
Austria and Sardinia remained in arms against France, which was till
1799 ruled by the Directory. The next few years witnessed a series of
most startling events. The successes of Napoleon Bonaparte in the
Italian campaigns of 1797 and 1798 led to the peace of Cherasco with
Sardinia, and the peace of Campo Formio with Austria. Only Great
Britain remained at war with France. In 1799, taking advantage of the
absence of Napoleon in Egypt, the Second Coalition was formed by Russia,
Great Britain and Austria. Though the French were driven from Italy,
Massena defeated the Russians in Switzerland, and the English were
forced to retire from Holland. The return of Napoleon from Egypt was
followed by the establishment of the Consulate in November 1799, by the
overthrow of the Austrians at Marengo and Hohenlinden, by the treaty of
Luneville with the emperor, and by the treaty of Amiens in 1802 with the
English government. (See FRENCH REVOLUTIONARY WARS.)
The German Revolution.
Up to this point the Revolution may be said to have benefited Europe and
to have shaken to its base the 18th-century ideas of government. During
the years succeeding the peace of Campo Formio a revolution was effected
in Germany. The Holy Roman Empire had become an anachronism, and as soon
as France became possessed of the left bank of the Rhine it was obvious
that the imperial constitution required revision. The jealousies
existing among the German princes and the overthrow of Austria at
Austerlitz enabled Napoleon to carry out a revolution in Germany
according to his own ideas. At first, in 1804, new arrangements were
made with regard to the character and formation of the diet. The
constitution of that assembly was so altered that a Protestant majority
free from Austrian influence was now assured. The middle states, such as
Prussia, Baden, Bavaria, Wuerttemberg and Hanover, received additions of
territory, taken either from the ecclesiastical states or from the lands
belonging to the imperial knights. After Austerlitz Napoleon in 1806
established the Confederation of the Rhine, and the Holy Roman Empire
came finally to an end. A great European revolution had now been
effected, but much remained to be done before a feeling of nationality
could be aroused among the people of central Europe.
The causes of Napoleon's success.
Napoleon aims at the destruction of Great Britain.
Already before the peace of Amiens Pitt had tried to stir up national
feeling in Austria and Prussia, the means which he suggested for
opposing Napoleon being in great measure those which were adopted in
1813 and 1814. But during Pitt's lifetime central Europe was not moved
by any feeling of nationality or of patriotism. During the war of the
Second Coalition in 1799 Austria had acted without any regard for her
allies, while Prussia, from motives of jealousy of and from want of
confidence in Austria, had refused to move. It was not till the small
states which hitherto had formed independent units had been destroyed
and Austria and Prussia trampled under foot by Napoleon that a strong
national spirit in Germany was evoked. Until the treaty of Tilsit had
been signed in 1807 there was no visible growth of a national uprising
in any part of Europe. During the intervening years Prussia had been
crushed at Jena and her kingdom cut short (1806), while Alexander I. of
Russia, after a fierce campaign against Napoleon, had agreed in 1807 to
the treaty of Tilsit, which apparently placed Europe at the feet of
France and Russia. Napoleon was, as he thought, now in a position to
bring about the humiliation of Great Britain. Already in November 1806,
realizing that he could not ruin England by direct invasion, he had
issued the first Berlin Decree, which ordered the exclusion of British
goods from the continent. The Continental System necessitated by the
victory of Trafalgar was thus definitely set up. After Tilsit he
proposed to become supreme in the Baltic, and, by securing the
dependence of Spain and Portugal, to dominate the Mediterranean, and to
resume his plans for conquests in the East, and for the destruction of
the British power in India. Thus the effects of the British naval
victories of the Nile and Trafalgar would be completely nullified, the
Mediterranean would be closed to British ships, Great Britain's Indian
possessions would be lost, and Great Britain herself would be forced by
starvation into surrender. Fortunately for Europe various circumstances
hindered the realization of these ambitious schemes. Alexander, who
feared that the French emperor, desired Constantinople, never proved a
very helpful ally, the measures taken by Great Britain seriously
interfered with Napoleon's schemes, and, before he had subjugated Spain,
first Austria in 1809 and then Russia in 1812 offered an active
resistance to his projects. The first note of opposition to Napoleon's
plans was struck by Canning, when in 1807 he carried off the Danish
fleet to England. Then the British fleet conveyed to Brazil in safety
the Portuguese royal family when Portugal was invaded by Junot, while
the surrender of 30,000 French troops at Baylen in July 1808, which was
followed in August by the convention of Cintra, indicated that Spanish
patriotism was, when roused, as effective as in the days of the Spanish
Succession War. Austria was the first country to follow the example of
Spain, and though she was defeated at Wagram and forced to accept
Napoleon's hard terms, the national feeling aroused in Germany in 1809
rapidly developed. But Napoleon was apparently unconscious of the growth
and importance of a national sentiment in any of the subject countries.
In 1810 he had married Marie Louise of Austria, on the 20th of March
1811 a son was born to him, and he now seems to have resolved upon the
establishment of a strictly hereditary empire with Paris its capital and
Rome its second city. In extent, his empire would be vaster than that of
Charlemagne, and the pope was to be completely subordinate to the
emperor. This conception of the establishment of a reformed Holy Roman
Empire with its centre at Paris did not appear unrealizable in 1811 when
everything seemed to favour the new Charlemagne. Napoleon's power was
apparently securely established, and during the years 1810 and 1811 he
was again returning to his vast oriental designs. A sudden check,
however, was about to be placed upon his ambitious schemes.