II.FOREIGN WARS.

THE TRUCE BEFORE SANTIAGO.

Fighting more or less severe occurred until the 10th, when negotiations for surrender were inaugurated, resulting in the capitulation of Santiago, July 16, the Spanish fortifications, twenty-four thousand prisoners, and a large amount of arms and ammunition. At noon on Sunday, July 17, 1898, the American flag was hoisted over the headquarters at Santiago.

General Miles started on the invasion of Porto Rico, July 25, and reached Guanica at daylight next morning. He landed with three thousand five hundred men, marched toward Yauco, five miles distant, which he enteredafter a skirmish, and was received enthusiastically by the citizens, as he also was at Ponce, where he was joined by General Wilson, who had come with the war ships, and who was made governor. The army continued on to San Juan along the military road, meeting very little opposition.

July 26, the French ambassador, M. Jules Cambon, acting for Spain, made overtures for peace. The protocol was signed on April 21, by M. Cambon and Secretary of State Day. A cessation of hostilities was proclaimed. At the very moment of the signing of the protocol, the last naval battle took place at Manzanilla, Cuba, and an artillery engagement at Aybonito in Porto Rico.

AGUINALDO, THE TAGAL LEADER.

The one-hundred-days Spanish-American war was concluded by the treaty of Paris.

It will be only in the retrospect that we may tell the results of this conflict. As the future unfolds them to our view, it may be that it will have been more momentous in its consequences than we can now determine. One thing it has proved, that is, that this nation is reallyreunited; for, from all sections and from all grades of life, men flocked together to fight and conquer under the old Stars and Stripes.

Napoleonic Wars.—The long contest between France and Austria began when the Girondist ministry of France declared war, April 20, 1792. By the execution of Louis XVI., January 21, 1793, the Revolution threw down the gauntlet to all ancient Europe. England, whose sympathies had hitherto been more or less with France, began to take measures to bring about more cordial relations with the other powers of Europe. Spain, Portugal, Austria, Prussia, and Russia, for the time seemed to forget their several grievances as they found themselves confronted with a totally new move on the chessboard of European autonomy. The year 1794 saw the French Revolution progressing triumphantly, and all Europe, except England and Austria, appeared acquiescent in apathetic indifference. In 1795 the royalists made a supreme effort to recover power, but were crushed by the “Man of Destiny,” and the Directory, consisting of five members, of whom Carnot was one, came into power. Dominated by the martial genius of Carnot, “the organizer of victory,” the Directory won the confidence of the army. Scherer, the commander, lacked the qualifications to undertake a successful campaign against Austria, and Bonaparte, succeeding him, soon infused his own spirit into the army and bound it to himself with a devotion that never failed.

Early in the year 1800, Napoleon, having been made first consul, took up his abode in the old palace of the kings of France, the Tuileries. The history of Napoleon for the ensuing fifteen years is the history of Europe. It is, therefore, best to begin with the close of the eighteenth century, in order to appreciate the situation at the dawn of the nineteenth.

Austria and England, with several small German principalities, were still in arms against France. The plans and movements of the armies under Napoleon showed him to be verily a master in military skill. Opening this campaign, he left Massena with about eight thousand soldiers to hold the territory from Nice to Genoa, so as to keep the Austrian army in Italy busy. He sent the Rhine army, under Moreau, to threaten Bavaria and to secure the most important position between the Rhine and the Danube. Moreau drove the Austrians to Ulm, and disposed his left flank to support Napoleon. Meantime, he himself was recruiting another army for operations on the Po. Baron de Melas, commanding the Austrian troops in Northern Italy, besieged Massena in Genoa, which, after severe suffering, surrendered, leaving De Melas free to join the army of the Po. Napoleon was between de Melas and Austria. General Ott, with eighteen thousand men, attempted to reach Placentia, but Lannes, with twelve thousand, defeated him at Montebello, forcing him back to Allesandria. Napoleon hastened across the Po to Stradella to intercept De Melas and prevent his breaking through the French lines to Placentia.

NAPOLEON, 1814. (MEISSONIER.)

The night of June 13, 1800, the French army was scattered, watching along the Po and the Tessino for the Austrians, while their army, forty thousand strong, with ten thousand more not far distant, was ready at daybreak of the 14th to cut its way through the armies of France, and reach Placentia. The French force was but eighteen thousand, but Victor with his division held his position firmly, and the great leader, Kellerman, was in command of the cavalry. Backward and forward surged the battle withvarying fortune, and at noon victory seemed perched upon the banners of Austria. De Melas was so certain that the battle was won that he galloped back to Allesandria and sent dispatches to that effect to the governments of Europe. General de Zach was left in command to conduct the pursuit and to drive the French across the Scrivia. Napoleon, dismayed, hoping against hope that Desaix, whom he had sent towards Novi the day before to look out in that quarter for De Melas, might hear the thunders of the battle andreturn, saw him in the distance, hurrying with his troops, who, though worn and tired, were eager for the fight, and Napoleon saw already the tide of battle turned.

Desaix had found no trace of the Austrians, but he had heard the sound of battle at day dawn, and he knew that De Melas was there, and that there he was needed, and not at Novi. He roused his division, and hastened back to Napoleon. A short conference with his chief, to whose questioning he answered, “The battle is lost, but it is only three o’clock, there is yet time to win another,” and the battle of Marengo, glorious in its consequences to Napoleon, stupendous in its carnage, was won; but Desaix, the brave paladin, lay dead upon the field. De Melas returned from Allesandria to meet the victorious army he had left—flying in disorder—thoroughly routed. On December 2, Moreau and Ney won the field of Hohenlinden, and the “peace of Luneville” was concluded, February 9, 1801.

The result of this campaign was the cession of Austria’s strongholds in the Tyrol and Bavaria to France, as also a number of important holdings in Italy. France secured the left bank of the Rhine, the Belgian provinces and Tuscany, and the king of Naples closed his harbors to England. In March, 1802, by the “treaty of Amiens,” peace was concluded with England.

The coalition of Denmark, Sweden, Russia, and Prussia, with France against England, in 1800, fomented by Napoleon, broke down in 1801, after Nelson’s battle of Copenhagen.

England had secured the supremacy of the sea and dominion over India, rescued Portugal, Naples, and the States of the Church from France, and restored the Sublime Porte to Turkey. Finding Napoleon again militating against her interests, and resenting his encroachments, England declared war against France in the spring of 1803. Russia espoused the cause of England, Prussia held off, and Austria was friendly, though not in fighting trim. The third coalition comprised England, Russia, and Austria.

Powerless to hurt England on the seas, Napoleon, who had the year previous been proclaimed emperor, attacked Austria, invaded her territory, captured her army at Ulm, proceeded to Vienna, and occupied a great part of the valley of the Danube. On December 2, 1805, the “Battle of the Three Emperors” (the battle of Austerlitz) was fought. The “Peace of Pressburg,” concluded December 26, left Austria shorn of her ancient prestige, her title of German Empire, and of a great part of her possessions. The “Sun of Austerlitz” melted the third coalition. In the meantime the battle of Trafalgar, won by the immortal Nelson, crushed the naval power of both France and Spain.

In September, 1806, Prussia declared war against France, and, to the amazement of Europe, alone undertook to engage armies flushed from their recent victories and still in Germany. October 14, Napoleon utterly defeated the Prussians at Jena and Auerstadt, and entered Berlin a conquerer, the king having fled to Königsberg. Russia came to the aid of Prussia, but arrived too late to accomplish anything except to check the advance of the French, whose armies wintered on the Vistula. The next summer, however, the Russians met their final defeat in this campaign at Friedland, and Königsberg was taken. The “Treaty of Tilsit” ended the operations of this fourth coalition July 7, 1807.

The fifth coalition against Napoleon comprised England, Austria, Spain, and Portugal. The decisive battle of this campaign was at Wagram, July 5 and 6, 1809, and terrible as were the consequences of his defeat to Austria, so crippled was Napoleon that he willingly granted the armistice of Znaim and concluded the “Peace of Vienna.” When the fifth coalition ended, Napoleon had acquired the Illyrian provinces and part of the Tyrol for France, and eventually the Emperor’s daughter, Maria Louisa, for his wife.

ADMIRAL HORATIO NELSON.

In 1812 came war with Russia, and that most disastrous campaign which cost France more than three hundred thousand soldiers and Napoleon his empire. Russia, England, Prussia, and Sweden formed the coalition now, and Turkey had made peace with Russia. Napoleon crossed the Niemen in June, halted at Wilna to put his new conscripts in better order, addressed words of sympathy to Poland, and took measures to keep Austria conciliated. The Russians retreated before him. He met and fought and defeated them at Smolensk, August 17; they retreated in good order, burning and destroying all in their reach. The terrible battle of Borodino was fought September 7; the defeated Russians again retreated in good order, pursuing the same tactics. Napoleon reached Moscow September 15, but the heroic measure of Russia in destroying that city was equal in its results to several victories. October 15, the French troops commenced their fearful retreat. The Russian armies grew bold, they harassed the French troops, weak from hunger and cold, and from Moscow to Wilna their progress was one continual guerilla warfare. From Wilna, their flight to France, December 5, was even more disastrous. Of the grand army that set out in the spring not one fourth ever returned.

Affairs in Spain had fared badly for France. Wellington defeated the French army in Spain, and finally expelled it. France, though sometimes shaken in her devotion by the conscription that was draining her children’s blood, still had faith in Napoleon, and in 1813, having raised another grand army, he undertook to subjugate Prussia. His first victory was on the plain of Lutzen. The Prussians and Russians retreated in good order through Dresden. Napoleon pursued and drove them from Bauken, on May 20 and 21, and established his headquarters at Dresden. Austria now joined the allies. In their attack upon Dresden, August 26 and 27, they were defeated, but Russian troops and the King of Bavaria coming up made Napoleon’s position untenable. The allies were awaiting him at Leipsic. The battle raged for three days, and Napoleon withdrew on October 19, utterly defeated.

January 23, 1814, Napoleon, having raised another army, left Paris to assume command. The allies—England, Austria, Prussia, and Russia—were more determined than ever to crush him. Many battles were fought, and the fortunes of war varied. Blucher defeated him at La Pothiers on the 1st of February. Napoleon was the victor at Montenau; unsuccessful at Soissons, March 3; victorious at Cravonne, March 7; and defeated by Blucher at Laon, March 9. With more than half his army lost, Napoleon worried the allies in their rear; but Blucher marched on Paris. The prestige of Napoleon and France in Europe was at an end.

The Empress and the regency retired to Blois. On March 31 Paris surrendered, and the Emperor of Russia and the King of Prussia entered the city. A provisional government, with Talleyrand at its head, deposed Napoleon on April 2, and on April 6 he abdicated. May 30, the First Peace of Paris was concluded between France and the allies. France was to have her boundaries as they were in 1792, and also her foreign possessions, except Tobago, St. Lucia, and Mauritius, which, with Malta, were ceded to England. The Bourbons, in the person of Louis XVIII., were restored; but the French people were not content, so that when Napoleon appeared at Cannes on March 1, 1815, he was greeted with joy, even by the troops sent out to oppose him. This astonishing news was communicated to the Congress of the Allies assembled at Vienna. The allied armies at once gathered on the borders of France, Wellington landed in Flanders, and Blucher’s Prussians joined him. Wellington, finding Napoleon in front of him, fell back to Waterloo, lest the approach of the Prussians should be cut off. Napoleon hurled his force on Blucher at Fluores, and victoriously drove him from the field on the 15th. Ney, who had been sent to confront Wellington, fought at Quatre Bras, and the following day joined Napoleon. On the 18th of June, 1815, Napoleon made his supreme and final effort to recuperate his lost fortunes and to reestablish his empire.

The story of the battle of Waterloo, than which none ever fought was more decisive in its consequences, has been told and retold. The battle was at first undecided, victory seeming to incline to Napoleon, though the English and Germans with unflinching heroism still held the field until the afternoon, when Blucher, with his Prussians, at last arrived. Napoleon perceived that the supreme moment was at hand, and that his only hope was to crush Wellington before Blucher’s advancing columns could be thrown into line of battle. He sent forward his magnificent Imperial Guard. They charged with chivalric splendor, fought with heroic desperation, were repulsed,—and the star of Napoleon set to rise no more.

Finding his cause irretrievably lost, leaving the remnant of his army in command of Marshal Soult, Napoleon fled and, failing to find a passage to America, surrendered. This battle, magnificent in its results, ensured to England a long peace, and raised her to the first rank, for military prowess, among the nations of the world.

Napoleon’s skill at Waterloo was up to the highest standard of his most glorious work; but he was overwhelmed by preponderance in numbers. His entire force with which he conducted this campaign was barely 104,000, while the combined armies of Wellington and Blucher numbered 220,000.

NAPOLEON’S RETREAT FROM WATERLOO.

The Congress of Vienna restored theancien régime, replacing dethronedmonarchs upon their hereditary domains, but the parceling out of the smaller territories showed the Powers to be quite as arbitrary as Napoleon himself. The semi-decade of passive submission to the “policies of princes” was broken in 1820 by general revolts in Europe. Spanish-American colonies, indignant at French interference in Spanish matters, began their struggles for independence.

Greek War for Independence.—Since the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, in 1453, Greece had been subject to Turkey. Out of the defeats of several rebellions against the greed, tyranny, and brutality of the Moslem,—particularly from the revolutions of 1770 and 1790,—grew the secret society of the Hetæria, cementing the union of the Greeks for the struggle beginning in 1821. It is claimed that ten thousand Greeks were slaughtered within a few days, and thirty thousand in less than three months.

Mahmoud, having failed in 1825 to crush the rebellion, called Mehemet Ali, the Pasha of Egypt, to his aid. Mehemet sent Ibrahim, his son, with his army and navy, trained in the tactics of European warfare, into the Peloponnesus. Victory and devastation marked his course. Never was grander courage nor loftier bravery displayed than by the Greeks. The siege of Missolonghi lasted from April 27, 1825, until April 22, 1826. Athens was captured, June 2, 1827. The fleets of England, France, and Russia were cruising on the coasts to prevent attacks by the Turks on the islands. Approaching the bay of Navarino, they were attacked by the Turks and Egyptians, whose combined fleets were thereupon annihilated on October 20, 1827. The Sultan was forced by the powers to consent to the establishment of the kingdom of Greece, and his delay to do so was punished by Czar Nicholas, who declared war, crossed the Balkans, and at Adrianople in 1829 compelled the Sultan to recognize her independence, grant Christian governors to Servia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, and to yield Bessarabia to Russia.

Minor European Wars.—The French Revolution of 1830, placing Louis Philippe on the throne of France, brought about Belgium’s independence.

The Polish insurrection of 1831–32 lost Poland her last vestige of liberty, enchaining her irretrievably under the tyranny of Russia.

From 1840 to 1852 England was engaged in quelling periodic wars in her Indian possessions. In 1841, her army, numbering seventeen thousand men, perished in their retreat from Afghanistan. So with France in Algiers and Morocco. And revolts in Spain were more or less successful.

In 1842, England’s war with China, caused by seizure of opium, resulted in the cession by China of Hong Kong, the freedom of five other ports, and $21,000,000 indemnity.

In 1848, the revolutionary spirit broke out fiercely, and the people made strong leaps for liberty and constitutional government. In France, it overthrew Louis Philippe, establishing a republic, with Louis Napoleon President. In all Europe its echo resounded. Riots in Vienna forced Metternich to flee to England; Ferdinand, to take refuge in the Tyrol and to abdicate in favor of his son, Francis Joseph. Frederick William was compelled by the conditions in Berlin to promise a constitution. The Frankfort Assembly, in 1849, offered Frederick William the title and prerogative of Emperor of Germany,and though, because of his respect for the Hapsburgs, he declined the honor, he still took advantage of the sentiment that prompted the offer to so strengthen the dynasty that later it might be held.

Hungary rose against Austria in 1848, and almost won independence. Kossuth proclaimed Hungary a republic, and Nicholas immediately sent aid to Austria. The Russian army, 130,000 strong, joined the Austrians. The Hungarians retreated to Temesvar, where they were defeated with great slaughter, and Georgy surrendered, August 9, 1849. The name of Haynau, the Austrian commander, is held in execration for his awful cruelty to the conquered.

In the meantime Italy rose. Lombardy drove out the Austrians. Charles Albert, king of Sardinia, had declared war on Austria and crossed the Mincio, April 8, 1848. Radetsky, commanding the Austrians, lost Gorto and yielded Peschiera in May, but in June he forced the Papal troops, who were assisting Charles Albert, to surrender, and completely routed the Italians at Custozza, July 25, and entered Milan. Charles Albert was again defeated by Radetsky at Novari, March 23, 1849, and Venice was captured August 23. Charles Albert resigned his crown to his son, Victor Emmanuel, and died shortly after.

Pope Pius IX. was forced to flee from Rome. Mazzini established the Roman republic in November. Austria, by the close of the summer of 1849, had regained control of her disputed possessions. Louis Napoleon, taking part against Italy, occupied Rome with his troops, July 2, 1849, and drove out Mazzini and Garibaldi.

The Crimean War.—In 1853, Louis Napoleon wanted war. He fomented trouble between the Porte and Nicholas, which ended by a declaration of war by Russia. The Czar claimed and demanded the protectorate of Christians in Turkey. Austria, France, and England opposed the demand. Nicholas had intimated to the British minister at St. Petersburg that England and Russia should share the partition of Turkey,—showing that he was ready to carry out the will and aims of Peter the Great and Catherine. The Russian army was thrown across the Pruth into Moldavia, and was at first worsted by the Turks. In deference to the wishes of Austria and Prussia, Nicholas withdrew his army from the Danubian provinces, and so secured their neutrality. He dislodged the Turkish fleet at Sinope, November 4, 1853.

England and France allied with Turkey and declared war against Russia, March 28, 1854. The allied fleets and troops proceeded to the Black Sea. Sebastopol was the great arsenal of Russia. Twenty-seven thousand English, thirty thousand French, and seven thousand Turks were landed in the Bay of Eupatoria, thirty miles above Sebastopol, September 14, 1854, towards which, five days later, the southerly march began. The allies waded the river Alma under terrific fire from the large Russian army, and won a brilliant victory. The attack was remarkable in that it won victory over superior numbers in seemingly impregnable positions, and in spite of official blunders. Mentschikoff, the Russian general, withdrew the crews from the ships in the harbor and put them, eighteen thousand strong, in command of the batteries. With his own army he marched out of Sebastopol, leaving twenty-five thousand defenders to the city. Admiral Korniloff and his able assistant, Colonel Von Todleben, undertook to strengthen the defenses and to inspire the troops.On October 17, the siege guns of the allies were in position. The English stormed the suburbs of the city, the Malakoff and the Redan; the French stormed the city. Both were unsuccessful. Russian troops poured into Sebastopol, and invited battle outside of the fortifications. At the harbor of Balaklava, Turkish troops recoiled from the Russian advance, and Sir Colin Campbell, with the Highland Brigade, saved the shipping and stores by timely check to the Russians. The battle of Balaklava, October 25, gave the town to the British after stubborn fighting, more than two thirds of the Light Brigade having been sacrificed to Lord Lucan’s misconstruction of orders.

At Inkerman, on November 5, sixty thousand Russians, in fog and rain, surprised the British Household Guards, and for six hours vainly strove to crush them. General Bosquet, with the genius of the soldier, guessed the point of severest attack, and sent reinforcements to the Guards. The Russians were finally driven back. Little good resulted from these two stubborn battles. Winter put an end to active operations. Rain, hurricanes, insufficient shelter, lack of supplies, and extreme cold produced fearful misery among the soldiers. Russia suffered as severely as did the allies, besides having had her fleet on the Black Sea destroyed and her army beaten.

In April, 1855, the bombardment began again. In May the allies captured Kertch and Yenikale, thus cutting off Russian supplies from the Caucasian provinces. In June, Marshal Pelissier succeeded Canrobert and successfully stormed Manelon; and, after the abortive attacks, June 18, of the French on the Malakoff and the English on the Redan, General Simpson succeeded Lord Raglan. August 16, the Russians crossed Tchernaya, but were repulsed by the French. On September 8 the French carried the Malakoff; the British failed to carry the Redan. The Russians set fire to the city and ships and retired to the northern part of the harbor, where they held strongly intrenched positions opposite the allied armies and beyond the reach of the allied fleets. Russia was driven from the Black Sea, had lost her prestige in the Baltic Sea, Bomarsund, on the Aland islands, and the arsenal of Sweaborg, in the Gulf of Finland. She had saved Cronstadt, and, at terrible sacrifice, had captured Kars from the English General Williams with his army of Turks. Her vast territory was comparatively intact. The nations were not satisfied. The Peace of Paris increased the prestige of Louis Napoleon; it postponed the Eastern Question by putting the Christian subjects under the nominal protection of the Powers, but virtually under that of the Sultan. The treaty of peace was signed March 30, 1856.

Wars in the East.—In 1857, the Indian Mutiny was caused by the introduction of Enfield rifles. Delhi was taken after desperate fighting, September 20. Cawnpore and Lucknow were the theatre of horrible scenes. The rebellion was finally crushed in 1859.

In the meantime war with Persia was begun and ended by the recapture of Herat, in Afghanistan. In December, 1857, England and France made war on China and captured Canton. They secured many concessions by the Treaty of Tien Tsin, and $2,000,000 indemnity.

War between Austria, France, and Sardinia.—In 1859, Louis Napoleon made a secret alliance with Italy. General disarmament was proposed. Sardinia agreed to it; Austria stood aloof. On April 25, 1859, Austria orderedthe disarmament of Piedmont. On the 27th, King Victor Emmanuel proclaimed war. On the 30th, French troops were in Turin. On May 13, Louis Napoleon himself disembarked at Genoa, where he was met by Victor Emmanuel. The Austrian forces crossed the Ticino,en routefor Milan, but hesitated, because of the French advance. The opening battles at Montebello and Balestro, May 20, 30, and 31, were favorable to the allies.

CAPTURE OF THE MALAKOFF.

At Magenta, June 4, the Austrians met with terrible defeat. The forces of the allies numbered 55,000, and their loss was 4000; the Austrian army of 75,000 lost 10,000 killed and wounded and 7000 prisoners. The conquerors entered Milan on June 8. Francis Joseph fell back to the line of the Mincio, and at Solferino the decisive battle of the campaign was fought on June 24. Napoleon commanded the allied armies, which numbered about 150,000; they fought for sixteen hours against the Austrian force of 170,000, gaining a fearful victory. This battle cost Austria 20,000 men; the French lost in killed and wounded 12,000 and the Sardinians 5000 men.

The allies crossed the Mincio and laid siege to Peschiera, but while all Europe expected another fight, an armistice of five weeks was agreed to, and Napoleon, unknown to his ally, met Francis at Villafranca and made a peace, upon which was based the Treaty of Zurich, signed November 10. Austria gave Lombardy to Napoleon for the king of Sardinia, as also the fortresses of Mantua and Peschiera. Italy was to become a confederation, with the Pope as president, of which Austria was to be a member, because of her holdings in Venetia. Tuscany and Modena were to be restored to their princes. Garibaldi’s brilliant conquest of Sicily and Naples, in 1860, and Sardinia’s growing power, startled Europe, but the nations dared not interfere. The general parliament of Italy met in 1861, at Turin, and made Victor Emmanuel king of Italy. Rome, under the Pope, and Venetia, under Austria, were as yet dismembered from “Young Italy.”

War with Denmark.—Christian IX. succeeded to the throne of Denmark November 15, 1863. He endeavored to incorporate Schleswig with Denmark; the German population repudiated him and appealed to the Confederacy. The Diet sent troops into Holstein. Bismarck induced Austria to join Prussia in setting aside the London treaty of 1853, and the allied troops forced the Danes back to the intrenchments of Duppel. The capture of Duppel by the Prussians, April 18, proved the efficiency of needle guns and rifled cannon. June 22, the allies crossed the channel to the Island of Alsen and, on the 28th, captured the Danish stronghold Dennewerke, hitherto considered impregnable. The Treaty of Vienna, October 30, 1864, closed the war. Prussia and Austria together were to control the duchies.

The Seven Weeks’ War.—The arrangement between Prussia and Austria respecting the Danish duchies caused the “Seven Weeks’ War” of 1866. Bismarck induced Victor Emmanuel to form an alliance against Austria, March 27. The Prussians, on June 7, without a blow forced the Austrians to retire from Holstein, ignoring the protest of the Federal Diet. Austria was not prepared for war. Her army, together with that of Saxony, amounted to two hundred and seventy-one thousand. With Prussia, fully equipped and on a war footing with three armies, besides the reserves, the grand total estimated at three hundred thousand, the result was a foregone conclusion. Prussia declared war, June 15, 1866, against Hanover, Hesse, and Saxony,and next day threw her armies into the hostile states. On the 17th Francis Joseph published his war manifesto. Italy declared war, on the 20th, against Austria and Bavaria. In fourteen days Prussia’s immense army was mobilized. In five days the northern states to the Main were disarmed, and the Saxon army was forced to retreat toward Bohemia.

BATTLE OF MAGENTA.

General Benedek was commander of the Austrians. Upon news of Prussian victories, he advised Francis Joseph to make terms of peace with William. Prussia fought for German unification; Austria to protect her pride. It was supposed the Austrians would first enter Saxony and dispute the Prussian advance, but Bismarck had determined the war should be brief, for Prussia was now master of the situation. On June 23, the Prussian army marched from three points towards Josephstadt, where Benedek was preparing to fight. On the 27th the Austrians were driven back at Soor, next day at Skalitz, and on the 29th at Gitschen. Archduke Leopold, on the 28th, and Count Clam Gallas, at Gitschen, both attacked the enemy in disobedience of orders, and thus forced Benedek to fall back from his strongest position towards Königgratz. The Austrians were also defeated, on the 28th, at Königinhof and Schweinschadel, and their loss by this time numbered over thirty-five thousand. Benedek asked permission to retreat into Moravia and await reinforcements, but news of the Austrian victory over the Italians at Custozza reached Vienna, and immediately battle was enjoined upon Benedek. Benedek placed five hundred guns in position, spanning a league between the Elbe and Bistritz.

On July 2, the king of Prussia assumed command of the Prussian hosts and ordered attack for the next day. The Crown Prince, several miles away with his army, received orders at four o’clock in the morning of the 3d to advance his Silesian army from Königinhof. At eight o’clock, Prince Frederick Charles, with a hundred thousand, attacked the Austrian centre lying against Sadowa. General Herwarth, with four hundred thousand men, attacked the Austrian right. The whole Austrian army was hurled against these two commands for five hours. Prince Frederick Charles forced passage through the Bistritz and took Sadowa, but could not take the heights. At one o’clock retreat was being considered, but the Crown Prince coming up with his troops the heights were taken at four o’clock. The fighting on both sides in this battle was determined and heroic. The Prussian loss was over ten thousand, and the Austrians lost twenty-seven thousand killed and wounded, nineteen thousand prisoners, with 174 cannon and 11 colors. At Lissa, on July 20, the Austrian navy destroyed the Italian fleet. July 22, an armistice of four weeks was granted. The Peace of Prague was concluded August 23. Her defeat cost Austria Venetia and the quadrilateral, namely, the fortresses of Peschiera, Mantua, Verona, and Legnano, deprived her of any part in Germany or German affairs, and Holstein and Schleswig, and obliged her to pay 40,000,000 thalers, one half of which she was to retain in lieu of the duchies.

Austria emerged from the “Seven Weeks’ War” with her ideas somewhat liberalized, and though her territory was diminished her progress and prosperity increased. The dual-Austro-Hungarian empire was formed by Francis Joseph, he ruling at Vienna as Emperor of Austria and at Buda Pesth as king of Hungary. This war also ended the Germanic confederation of 1815, and the North German Confederation under Prussia arose.

At the peace of Vienna, October 3, Austria recognized the kingdom of Italy, and with the acquisition of Venetia and the quadrilateral fortresses the “Seven Weeks’ War” had greatly helped on the cause of “United Italy.”

In April, 1864, Louis Napoleon sent an army of twenty-five thousand to sustain the Austrian Archduke Maximilian on the throne of Mexico. At that time the United States was occupied with the Civil War. This ended, Napoleon was summarily required to withdraw his forces from the American continent, which he did. Maximilian was thus left to his fate, and, after being condemned by court martial, was shot at Querétaro, June 19, 1867.

The Franco-Prussian War.—Prince Leopold, of Hohenzollern, was offered the throne of Spain after Isabella had fled from Madrid. Leopold declined, but Napoleon demanded that the Emperor William should guarantee never to permit Leopold to accept. William refused to accede to the demand, and Napoleon, urged by the war party, declared war July 19, 1870. On the same day the Confederation placed its forces in the hands of William, as did the South Germans. This spontaneous uprising of all Germany was unlooked for. Napoleon’s army numbered three hundred and ten thousand men. In ten days William had nearly half a million soldiers ready to march against the enemy. August 2, the first fight took place at Saarbrücken, a little town over the German frontier. Napoleon and the young Prince Imperial were present, and the force of Uhlans was driven back. August 4, the Crown Prince of Prussia drove the right wing of MacMahon’s army back at Weissenburg, and on the 6th, again was MacMahon defeated at Wörth. The Germans, having separated MacMahon’s army, advanced into Alsace. In the meantime General Steinmetz carried Spicheren by storm, and the whole German army went forward. Together with the Crown Prince, Steinmetz, on the 14th of August, defeated Marshal Bazaine, at Courcelles, who retreated to Metz, and then endeavored to push on with his hundred thousand men to Chalons. Von Moltke hurried on the Crown Prince to intercept Bazaine, and at Mars la Tour was fought the fiercest battle, so far, of the war. On either side the losses amounted to seventeen thousand. Gravelotte was fought, on August 18, between the armies of Steinmetz and the Crown Prince, King William commanding in person. The battle lasted all day between two hundred thousand Germans and one hundred and eighty thousand French. The Germans lost twenty thousand men, and succeeded in forcing Bazaine into Metz. Although, in one sort, an undecisive battle, Gravelotte perhaps settled the fate of the Empire. MacMahon’s plan was, with his one hundred and twenty-five thousand men reorganized at Chalons, to prevent the German advance on Paris. He was overruled and sent to the relief of Bazaine. Defeated in several small fights, MacMahon was obliged to fall back on Sedan. The heights and ridges above Sedan once occupied by hostile troops, surrender or annihilation was the outcome. MacMahon was wounded, then Ducrot, and the command fell to Wimpffen. Sedan was forced to surrender, September 1, and Napoleon himself gave his sword to King William. Paris was maddened. The Empress escaped to England. Napoleon was taken to the castle of Wilhelmshöhe.

A month had hardly passed since the outbreak of the war, and one of the two great French armies with the Emperor had been captured; the otherwas besieged in Metz. Gambetta and other prominent men in Paris set up the government of the national defense. A republic was proclaimed. The defense of Paris was zealously undertaken. Large supplies of provisions were gathered. Fortifications were strengthened. The siege began September 19, 1870, and ended January 28, 1871. The direst famine attended it. Gambetta left Paris in a balloon, and at Tours succeeded in forming the army of the Loire and the army of the North. Both were defeated. Strasbourg was captured, and Metz surrendered with a hundred and seventy-three thousand men, among them three marshals of France. The entire German loss in this war was 129,700 men.

January 17, 1871, Thiers was elected President of the Third Republic. Knowing the impossibility of further resistance, with half a million German soldiers, flushed and inspired by constant success, on the soil of France, and Paris in their anaconda coils, he counseled that peace be asked. Thiers, Favre, and Picard negotiated with William and Bismarck. An armistice of twenty days was permitted, that the National Convention then at Bordeaux might ratify terms. In the meantime the house of Hohenzollern reached the summit of its gratified ambition, when, on March 18, William was crowned at Versailles, Emperor of Germany. The cession of Alsace and Lorraine, and $1,000,000,000 indemnity, was the price of peace.

No patriot name in all history deserves more reverence than that of Louis Adolphe Thiers. Upon him devolved the task of making peace with the German foe, of quelling the civil war, and of so managing the finances of France, that her people within two years were enabled, to the astonishment of the world, to pay the enormous indemnity extorted by the Germans, and, by September, 1873, the last franc was paid and the last German sentinel removed from the soil of France.

The civil war between the Republic and the Commune settled the question once for all, thatParis, accountable for all the errors and vicissitudes of the country, is notFrance, and there is every reason to hope that out of the unequaled horrors of those awful days of carnage the republican government of France arose to remain in perpetuity.

Garibaldi, taking advantage of the fall of Louis Napoleon, and caring not for the king’s promises, took possession with his troops of the city of Rome, September 20, 1870, and on July 2 of the next year Victor Emmanuel erected his throne in the Quirinal.

Turco-Russian War.—In 1875, the Bosnians, Turkish subjects, revolted. They maintained their struggle, and the enraged Turks sent Mohammedan troops among the defenseless Bulgarians, destroying unnumbered thousands of men, women, and children. Czar Alexander declared war April 1, 1877. His army crossed the Balkans and occupied Shipka Pass. Osman Pasha developed unexpected military genius and skill. For five months he checked the onward march of the Russians and won world-wide admiration by his defense of Plevna. By the first of December Plevna was invested completely by the Russians. Driven back whenever attempting to make a sortie, starvation compelled Osman to surrender with forty-four thousand troops. Adrianople was occupied. The Treaty of San Stefano was wrested in sight of Constantinople. It greatly reduced Turkish power in Europe, and constituted Russia heir to Turkey in Europe. Bulgaria was to be protected by fifty thousand Russian troops for two years and to have a Christian governor.

Three months later, England formed a secret treaty with Turkey, securing Cyprus and agreeing to protect Turkey in Asia. Austria, too, was dissatisfied, and the treaty of Berlin was made in 1878, to rectify the balances of the nations. Russia was by this treaty damaged in prestige and, shorn of triumphs, was given only Asiatic provinces. Turkey was stripped of all real power in Europe.

LOUIS ADOLPHE THIERS.

Chino-Japanese War.—In Japan’s declaration of war against China, August 1, 1894, she set forth succinctly the provocation forcing her to this action. She said that Korea had been brought into the notice of the nations of the world by her efforts; that China constantly had interfered with Korea’s government, insistently posing as her suzerain; that when an insurrection in Korea broke out China sent troops into Korea, and that when Japan, under the treaty of 1885, also sent troops to assist Korea to quell the rebels, asking China’s coöperation in the effort, China refused her rightful demand; that China’s course tended to keep up the trouble indefinitely, so that the only course left for Japan was to declare war.

As with Germany a score of years previously, when the time came Japan was ready, not only with munitions of war, but with better topographical knowledge of the enemy’s country than they themselves possessed. The Emperor, whose dynasty antedates the Christian era, gave his people a constitution, and stretching his hand towards Korea he helped her in the same direction. He had Japan’s army and her navy drilled by expert European officers. Arsenals and extensive manufactories for the implements of war were started, with European superintendents. The latest and best of ships were both bought at foreign marts and made at home. Her students were to be found in the universities of the world. Her agents were sent to study in their capitals the economy of every government and the machinery of their executive departments. To find the best and assimilate it seemed the principle of her progression, so that both in military skill and the knowledge of diplomacy she acquired the ability to hold her place among the nations of the civilized world. A war alone was needed to prove that this was a fact.

Japan’s navy consisted of four armored cruisers and eight vessels of 3000 tons each. This was a much lighter fleet than that of China, but swifter. China’s navy had been trained by an able English naval chief, Captain Lang. Her outfit of ships was, perhaps, superior to that of Japan,consisting of five armored vessels, nine protected cruisers, and torpedo boats besides. The principal battle of this Chino-Japanese war was fought on September 15 at Ping Yang, an old capital of Korea, situated at the meeting of several roads. The Japanese landed troops at Gensan, on the northeast, and at Hwang-jo, on the northwest, coast of Korea. These formed the right and left wings of the army whose centre, under General Nodju, advanced from Seoul, about one hundred miles to the south, of which the Japanese were already in possession. Only one wing of the army met opposition in its march, a small battle having been fought. The forces, so far as we can learn, were between twenty and thirty thousand of Chinese and between thirty and forty thousand of Japanese. Japan’s twenty-four years of scientific preparation, her study of the art of war, the practicability of her strategic movements,—admired by the soldiers of the world,—left China, with her old semi-barbarian methods, no chance for victory.

The battle was a bloody one; the defeated Chinese fled until they were on the other side of the Yalu River, in Manchooria. Seven hundred (some accounts say fourteen thousand) Chinese were captured, two thousand killed and wounded. The army continued fighting and conquering until practically the province of Manchooria was in Japan’s possession, as well as the peninsula of Liaotung, terminating with Port Arthur.

The battle of Yalu, or Hai Yun Tao, afforded the first practical test of modern vessels, guns, and projectiles in Asiatic waters. Ping Yang has been called China’s Sedan, and Yalu, Japan’s Trafalgar. Japan had nine cruisers and two converted cruisers wherewith to fight twelve Chinese warships and four torpedo boats. It is said that Japan used melanite shells. The fleet of Chinese warships, convoying transports with ten thousand troops, entered the Yalu River. The next day, September 17, the Japanese fleet, under Admiral Ito, went out to meet them. A European officer on a Chinese vessel says: “Passing along the Chinese line, the Japanese poured as heavy a fire as they could bring to bear upon each ship in succession, and, while they had sea-room, circled round their opponents. The Japanese state that no Japanese war-ship was lost and only three seriously injured.” A Chinese officer says: “As soon as the Chinese on the port side had brought their guns to bear and had obtained range accurately, the Japanese would work around and attack the starboard side.” Four ships were destroyed and two badly injured. One of the Chinese ships was said to have been hit two hundred times. The Chinese ironclads that escaped were later sunk off Wei Hai Wei. Port Arthur, captured October 21, was filled to overflowing with ammunition, grain, and other supplies.

China made three informal overtures for peace. Finally, Li Hung Chang went from Tientsin to Shimonoseki, to make terms, on the 19th of March, 1895. By the treaty there made, May 17, China recognized the independence and autonomy of Korea, ceded certain territory in Manchooria, all the islands in the eastern part of the bay of Liaotung and the northern part of the Yellow Sea, Formosa, and all islands belonging to it, and the Pescadores group. Two hundred million Kuping taels were exacted as indemnity, to be paid in eight installments, one every six months. The inhabitants were to sell out and leave, or in two years to be Japanese subjects. Russia, Germany, and France recommended that Japan should not permanently possess the peninsula of Feng Tan, and Japan agreed to their suggestions.

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