to the peace establishment, and to concur with Prussia respecting the Germanic Confederation; and that if they did not send their consent within twelve hours, war would be declared. The states did not reply, Prussia declared war, and on the 16th invaded their territories. The occupation and disarmament of Hanover and Hesse were necessary to Prussia for a free communication with her Rhenish provinces, and she effected her purpose by means of well-planned combinations, so that in the course of a few days these states were overrun by Prussian troops, and their sovereigns expelled.

The rapid progress of events, and the Prussian declaration of war, had taken Hanover by surprise. Her army was not yet mobilized; Austria had evacuated Holstein, or she could have looked to her for support. To attempt to defend the capital was hopeless; so King George, suffering from blindness, moved with his army to Gottingen, with a view of joining the Bavarians. Prussia entered by the north, and, assisted by her navy on the Elbe, was by the 22d in possession of the whole of Hanover. Closed round on all sides by the Prussians, unassisted by Prince Charles of Bavaria, Gotha having declared for Prussia, the king of Hanover, with his little army, crossed the frontier of his kingdom, and at Langensalza, fifteen miles north of Gotha, encountered the Prussians, and remained master of the battlefield.

But victory was of

little avail; surrounded by 40,000 Prussians, the king was forced to capitulate. The arms and military stores were handed over to the enemy, and the king and his soldiers allowed to depart. Thus, through the supineness of Prince Charles of Bavaria, a whole army was made captive, and Hanover erased from the roll of independent states.

More fortunate than his neighbor, the elector of Hesse-Cassel saved his army, though not his territory, from the invader. His troops retired toward the Main, where they secured a communication with the Federal army at Frankfort. The elector remained in Hesse, and was sent a state prisoner to the Prussian fortress of Stettin, on the Oder. The Prussians overran his territory, declaring they were not at war against "peoples, but against governments."

Two bodies of Prussian troops entered Saxony-the "First Army" and the "Army of the Elbe"-and the Saxon army retired into Bohemia to effect a junction with the Austrians. On the 20th, Leipsic was seized, and the whole of Saxony was in undisturbed possession of the Prussians; Prince Frederick Charles issuing a most stringent order that private property should be respected, and every regard shown to the comfort of the inhabitants. His order was strictly observed, and every measure taken to prevent the miseries attendant on the occupation of a country by a foreign army.

The invasion of Saxony brought immediately open war between Prussia and Austria, and on the 23d the Prussian army crossed the Bohemian frontier-only a week since it had entered Saxony. It is needless here to detail the battles which immediately followed; suffice it to say, the Prussians were victorious in all-at Podoll, where the needle-gun did such terrible work; Munchengratz, which gave them the whole line of the Iser; Trautenan, Gitschen, and others. On the 1st of July, the king of Prussia arrived from Berlin and took the supreme command of the army. The following day brought news from the crown prince that he was hastening from Silesia with the "Second Army," whereby the whole of the Prussian forces would be concentrated. On the 3d of July was fought the decisive battle of Koniggratz, or Sadowa, as it is sometimes called, from the village of that name, a cluster of pine-wood cottages, inclosed by orchards, with a wood-crowned hill at the back, which was fiercely disputed by the contending parties.

On that day, General von Benedek had taken his position with the Austrian army in front of the frontier fortress of Koniggratz, on the right bank of the Elbe, about fifty-five miles east of Prague, to oppose the passage of the crown prince from Silesia. In his front lay the marshy stream of Bistritz, upon which Sadowa and a few other villages are situate. At half-past seven in the morning the battle began, and continued with great slaughter without any marked advantage on either side till the arrival of the crown prince decided, like the advance of Blucher at Waterloo, the fortune of the day. The Austrians were completely routed, and fled across the Elbe to save the capital. They lost 40,000 men in this san

guinary conflict, the Prussians 10,000. The forces in the field were 200,000 Austrians and Saxons, and 260,000 Prussians.

Immediately after her crushing defeat, Austria surrendered Venetia to France, and the Emperor Napoleon at once accepted the gift and gave it over to Victor Emmanuel. Italy had shown to little advantage in her part of the war. Austria, though unsuccessful against the Prussians, had completely beaten the Italians; on land at Custozza, June 24, and by sea at Lissa, as already described.

On July 26, preliminaries of peace were signed at Nikolsburg, and peace was finally concluded at Prague, August 23, between Prussia and Austria, and about the same time with the South German states. The Prussian House of Deputies voted the annexation of the conquered states, and in October peace was concluded with Saxony. By these arrangements, Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, and Frankfort became provinces of Prussia, as well as the longdisputed duchies of Denmark. All the German states north of the Main concluded a treaty, offensive and defensive, for the maintenance of the security of their states. Prussia increased her territory by 32,000 square miles and her population 4,000,000; and in October, 1866, the whole of northern Germany was united into a confederation which lasted until the establishment of the present empire in 1871; which empire, in some respects, may be said to have been founded at Sadowa.

J

F

THE BATTLE OF GRAVELOTTE AND THE

FALL OF SEDAN

THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR-PARISIAN ENTHUSIASM-THE OPPOSING FORCES - THE ENGAGEMENT AT SAARBRUCK - THE STORMING OF GEISBERG-THE BATTLE OF TROSCHWELLERGRAVELOTTE-THE INVESTMENT OF STRASBURG-BAZEILLES AND BALAN-SEDAN AND AFTER

Ο

A.D. 1870-1871

N July 4, 1870, the throne of Spain was offered to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern. The fact created great excitement in France. Threatening speeches were made. On July 12th Prince Leopold declined the offer. On the morrow France demanded a guarantee that any future offer of the kind would be refused. The king of Prussia would not listen to the proposition. The French minister, through whom the demand had been transmitted, then asked for his passports. War was imminent.

At the prospect Paris grew mad with enthusiasm. Crowds assembled in the streets, shouting "Down with Prussia!" "Long live France!" "To the Rhine!" "To Berlin!" The papers abounded with inflammatory appeals, and, after the impulsive French fashion, glorified beforehand the easy triumphs that were to be won over the Prussians. Men told one another that they would be across the Rhine in a week, and at Berlin in a fortnight. The excitement in Prussia was not less than that in France. The people, with scarcely an exception, declared their readiness for war, and seemed to find a pleasure in the opportunity now presented for settling old quarrels. Like the people of Paris, the Prussians shouted "To the Rhine!" The French cry of "To Berlin!" had its counterpart in the German ejaculation of "To Paris!"

and Leipsic was as much talked about by the Prussians as Jena by the French.

Even before the declaration of war, Prussia began to mobilize her troops, and to make other preparations for the conflict. Meanwhile the French government was silently pushing forward its preparations, and at length the opening of the campaign drew near. The emperor, accompanied by the Prince Imperial and Prince Napoleon, left St. Cloud, on July 28, for Metz, the base of the French operations.

The forces which the Prussian government was enabled to bring to the frontier not many days after the formal declaration of war were divided into three armies: the first consisting of 50,000 infantry, 6,600 cavalry, and 192 guns; the second comprising 190,000 infantry, 24,200 cavalry, and 672 guns; the third amounting to 172,000 infantry, 17,000 cavalry, and 576 guns. The three armies, taken together, formed a grand total of 412,000 infantry, 47,800 cavalry, and 1,440 guns. Of these armies the first was commanded by General Steinmetz, with Major-general von Sperling as chief of the staff; the second by Prince Frederick Charles, with Colonel von Stiehie as chief of the staff; and the third by the crown prince, with Lieut.-general von Blumenthal as chief of the staff: the entire forces being under the general command of the king of Prussia, assisted by General von Moltke, as chief of his staff. Stong reserves were formed at Coblentz, Maintz, Frankfort, and Hainau; and the north was defended by an army under General von Falckenstein. Taken altogether, and including the Landwehr and other resources, Prussia had at her disposal, for the purposes of war, a million and a quarter of well-armed and well-drilled soldiers. Of the forces actively employed, the first army reached the frontier some time before July 28, and proceeded to occupy the line of the Saar, resting its right on Saarburg, with advanced posts at that place and at Merzig, Saarlouis, Saarbruck, and Bliescastel, and massing the main body behind at Ottweiler, Neunkirchen, Homburg, and Landstuhl. The second army, with the royal headquarters, crossed the Rhine at Maintz and Mannheim, and, on August 1, took up its station to the left of General Steinmetz, occupying Zweibrucken