A History of Germany Part 36

Austria, always energetic at the wrong time and weak when energy was necessary, prepared for war, relying on the help of Prussia and possibly of Russia. Napoleon had been called to Spain, where a part of the people, supported by Wellington, with an English force, in Portugal, was making a gallant resistance to the French rule. A few patriotic and courageous men, all over Germany, began to consult together concerning the best means for the liberation of the country. The Prussian Ex-minister, Baron Stein, the philosopher Fichte, the statesman and poet Arndt, the Generals Gneisenau and Scharnhorst, the historian Niebuhr, and also the Austrian minister, Count Stadion, used every effort to increase and extend this movement; but there was no German prince, except the young Duke of Brunswick, ready or willing to act.

The Tyrolese, who are still the most Austrian of Austrians, and the most Catholic of Catholics, organized a revolt against the French-Bavarian rule, early in 1809. This was the first purely popular movement in Germany, which had occurred since the revolt of the Austrian peasants against Ferdinand II. nearly two hundred years before. The Tyrolese leaders were Andreas Hofer, a hunter named Speckbacher and a monk named Haspinger; their troops were peasants and mountaineers. The plot was so well organized that the Alps were speedily cleared of the enemy, and on the 13th of April, Hofer captured Innsbruck, which he held for Austria.

When the French and Bavarian troops entered the mountain-pa.s.ses, they were picked off by skilful riflemen or crushed by rocks and trees rolled down upon them. The daring of the Tyrolese produced a stirring effect throughout Austria; for the first time, the people came forward as volunteers, to be enrolled in the army, and the Archduke Karl, in a short time, had a force of 300,000 men at his disposal.

Napoleon returned from Spain at the first news of the impending war. As the Rhine-Bund did not dream of disobedience, as Prussia was crippled, and the sentimental friendship of Alexander I. had not yet grown cold, he raised an army of 180,000 men and entered Bavaria by the 9th of April. The Archduke was not prepared: his large force had been divided and stationed according to a plan which might have been very successful, if Napoleon had been willing to respect it. He lost three battles in succession, the last, at Eckmuhl on the 22d of April, obliging him to give up Ratisbon, and retreat into Bohemia. The second Austrian army, which had been victorious over the Viceroy Eugene, in Italy, was instantly recalled, but it was too late: there were only 30,000 men on the southern bank of the Danube, between the French and Vienna.

[Sidenote: 1809.]

The movement in Tyrol was imitated in Prussia by Major Schill, one of the defenders of Colberg in 1807. His heroism had given him great popularity, and he was untiring in his efforts to incite the people to revolt. The secret a.s.sociation of patriotic men, already referred to, which was called the _Tugendbund_, or "League of Virtue," encouraged him so far as it was able; and when he entered Berlin at the head of four squadrons of hussars, immediately after the news of Hofer's success, he was received with such enthusiasm that he imagined the moment had come for arousing Prussia. Marching out of the city, as if for the usual cavalry exercise, he addressed his troops in a fiery speech, revealed to them his plans and inspired them with equal confidence. With his little band he took Halle, besieged Bernburg, was victorious in a number of small battles against the increasing forces of the French, but at the end of a month was compelled to retreat to Stralsund. The city was stormed, and he fell in resisting the a.s.sault; the French captured and shot twelve of his officers. The fame of his exploits helped to fire the German heart; the courage of the people returned, and they began to grow restless and indignant under their shame.

By the 13th of May, Napoleon had entered Vienna and taken up his quarters in the palace of Schonbrunn. The Archduke Karl was at the same time rapidly approaching with an army of 75,000 men, and Napoleon, who had 90,000, hastened to throw a bridge across the Danube, below the city, in order to meet him before he could be reinforced. On the 21st, however, the Archduke began the attack before the whole French army had crossed, and the desperate battle of Aspern followed. After two days of b.l.o.o.d.y fighting, the French fell back upon the island of Lobau, and their bridge was destroyed. This was Napoleon's first defeat in Germany, but it was dearly purchased: the loss on each side was about 24,000.

Napoleon issued flaming bulletins of victory which deceived the German people for a time, meanwhile ordering new troops to be forwarded with all possible haste. He deceived the Archduke by a heavy cannonade, rapidly constructed six bridges further down the river, crossed with his whole army, and on the 6th of July fought the battle of Wagram, which ended with the defeat and retreat of the Austrians.

[Sidenote: 1809. THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK'S ATTEMPT.]

An armistice followed, and the war was concluded on the 14th of October by the Peace of Vienna. Francis II. was compelled to give up Salzburg and some adjoining territory to Bavaria; Galicia to Russia and the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw; and Carniola, Croatia and Dalmatia with Trieste to the kingdom of Italy,--a total loss of 3,500,000 of population. He further agreed to pay a contribution of eighty-five millions of francs to France, and was persuaded, shortly afterwards, to give the hand of his daughter, Maria Louisa, to Napoleon, who had meanwhile divorced himself from the Empress Josephine. The Tyrolese, who had been encouraged by promises of help from Vienna, refused to believe that they were betrayed and given up. Hofer continued his struggle with success after the conclusion of peace, until near the close of the year, when the French and Bavarians returned in force, and the movement was crushed. He hid for two months among the mountains, then was betrayed by a monk, captured, and carried in chains to Mantua. Here he was tried by a French court-martial and shot on the 20th of February, 1810. Francis II. might have saved his life, but he made no attempt to do it. Thus, in North and South, Schill and Hofer perished, unsustained by their kings; yet their deeds remained, as an inspiration to the whole German people.

During the summer of 1809, the Duke of Brunswick, whose land Napoleon had added to Jerome's kingdom of Westphalia, made a daring attempt to drive the French from Northern Germany. He had joined a small Austrian army, sent to operate in Saxony, and when it was recalled after the battle of Eckmuhl, he made a desperate effort to reconquer Brunswick with a force of only 2,000 volunteers. The latter dressed in black, and wore a skull and cross-bones on their caps. The Duke took Halberstadt, reached Brunswick, then cut his way through the German-French forces closing in upon him, and came to the sh.o.r.e of the North Sea, where, it was expected, an English army would land. He and his troops escaped in small vessels: the English, 40,000 strong, landed on the island of Walcheren (on the coast of Belgium), where they lay idle until driven home by sickness.

[Sidenote: 1810.]

For three years after the peace of Vienna, Napoleon was all-powerful in Germany. He was married to Maria Louisa on the 2d of April, 1810; his son, the King of Rome, was born the following March, and Austria, where Metternich was now Minister instead of Count Stadion, followed the policy of France. All Germany accepted the "Continental Blockade," which cut off its commerce with England: the standing armies of Austria and Prussia were reduced to one-fourth of their ordinary strength; the king of Prussia, who had lived for two years in Konigsberg, was ordered to return to Berlin, and the French ministers at all the smaller Courts became the practical rulers of the States. In 1810, the kingdom of Holland was taken from Louis Bonaparte and annexed to the French Empire; then Northern Germany, with Bremen, Hamburg and Lubeck, was annexed in like manner, and the same fate was evidently intended for the States of the Rhine-Bund, if the despotic selfishness of Napoleon had not put an end to his marvellous success. The king of Prussia was next compelled to suppress the "League of Virtue": Germany was filled with French spies (many of them native Germans), and every expression of patriotic sentiment was reported as treason to France.

In the territory of the Rhine-Bund, there was, however, very little real patriotism among the people: in Austria the latter were still kept down by the Jesuitic rule of the Hapsburgs: only in the smaller Saxon Duchies, and in Prussia, the idea of resistance was fostered, though in spite of Frederick William III. Indeed, the temporary removal of the king was for awhile secretly advocated. Hardenberg and Scharnhorst did their utmost to prepare the people for the struggle which they knew would come: the former introduced new laws, based on the principle of the equality of all citizens before the law, their equal right to development, protection and official service. Scharnhorst, the son of a peasant, trained the people for military duty, in defiance of France: he kept the number of soldiers at 42,000, in accordance with the treaty, but as fast as they were well-drilled, he sent them home and put fresh recruits in their place. In this manner he gradually prepared 150,000 men for the army.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GERMANY under NAPOLEON, 1812.]

[Sidenote: 1811.]

Alexander I. of Russia had by this time lost his sentimental friendship for Napoleon. The seizure by the latter of the territory of the Duke of Oldenburg, who was his near relation, greatly offended him: he grew tired of submitting to the Continental Blockade, and in 1811 adopted commercial laws which amounted to its abandonment. Then Napoleon showed his own overwhelming arrogance; and his course once more ill.u.s.trated the abject condition of Germany. Every ruler saw that a great war was coming, and had nearly a year's time for decision; but all submitted!

Early in 1812 the colossal plan was put into action: Prussia agreed to furnish 20,000 soldiers, Austria 30,000, and the Rhine-Bund, which comprised the rest of Germany, was called upon for 150,000. France furnished more than 300,000, and this enormous military force was set in motion against Russia, which was at the time unable to raise half that number of troops. In May Napoleon and Maria Louisa held a grand Court in Dresden, which a crowd of reigning princes attended, and where even Francis I. and Frederick William III. were treated rather as va.s.sals than as equals. This was the climax of Napoleon's success. Regardless of distance, climate, lack of supplies and all the other impediments to his will, he pushed forward with an army greater than Europe had seen since the days of Attila, but from which only one man, horse and cannon out of every ten returned.

After holding a grand review on the battle-field of Friedland, he crossed the Niemen and entered Russia on the 24th of June, met the Russians in battle at Smolensk on the 16th and 17th of August, and after great losses continued his march towards Moscow through a country which had been purposely laid waste, and where great numbers of his soldiers perished from hunger and fatigue. On the 7th of September, the Russian army of 120,000 men met him on the field of Borodino, where occurred the most desperate battle of all his wars. At the close of the fight 80,000 dead and wounded (about an equal number on each side) lay upon the plain. The Russians retreated, repulsed but not conquered, and on the 14th of September Napoleon entered Moscow. The city was deserted by its inhabitants: all goods and treasures which could be speedily removed had been taken away, and the next evening flames broke out in a number of places. The conflagration spread so that within a week four-fifths of the city were destroyed: Napoleon was forced to leave the Kremlin and escape through burning streets; and thus the French army was left without winter-quarters and provisions.

[Sidenote: 1812. THE RETREAT FROM RUSSIA.]

After offering terms of peace in vain, and losing a month of precious time in waiting, nothing was left for Napoleon but to commence his disastrous retreat. Cut off from the warmer southern route by the Russians on the 24th of October, his army, diminishing day by day, endured all the horrors of the Northern winter, and lost so many in the fearful pa.s.sage of the Beresina and from the constant attacks of the Cossacks, that not more than 30,000 men, famished, frozen and mostly without arms, crossed the Prussian frontier about the middle of December. After reaching Wilna, Napoleon had hurried on alone, in advance: his pa.s.sage through Germany was like a flight, and he was safe in Paris before the terrible failure of his campaign was generally known throughout Europe.

When Frederick William III. agreed to furnish 20,000 troops to France, his best generals--Blucher, Scharnhorst, Gneisenau--and three hundred officers resigned. The command of the Prussian contingent was given to General York, who was sent to Riga during the march to Moscow, and escaped the horrors of the retreat. When the fate of the campaign was decided, he left the French with his remaining 17,000 Prussian soldiers, concluded a treaty of neutrality with the Russian general Diebitsch, called an a.s.sembly of the people together in Konigsberg, and boldly ordered that all men capable of bearing arms should be mustered into the army. Frederick William, in Berlin, disavowed this act, but the Prussian people were ready for it. The excitement became so great, that the men who had influence with the king succeeded in having his Court removed to Breslau, where an alliance was entered into with Alexander I., and on the 17th of March, 1813, an address was issued in the king's name, calling upon the people to choose between victory and ruin. The measures which York had adopted were proclaimed for all Prussia, and the patriotic schemes of Stein and Hardenberg, so long thwarted by the king's weakness, were thus suddenly carried into action.

[Sidenote: 1813.]

The effect was astonishing, when we consider how little real liberty the people had enjoyed. But they had been educated in patriotic sentiments by another power than the Government. For years, the works of the great German authors had become familiar to them: Klopstock taught them to be proud of their race and name; Schiller taught them resistance to oppression; Arndt and Korner gave them songs which stirred them more than the sound of drum and trumpet, and thousands of high-hearted young men mingled with them and inspired them with new courage and new hopes.

Within five months Prussia had 270,000 soldiers under arms, part of whom were organized to repel the coming armies of Napoleon, while the remainder undertook the siege of the many Prussian fortresses which were still garrisoned by the French. All cla.s.ses of the people took part in this uprising: the professors followed the students, the educated men stood side by side with the peasants, mothers gave their only sons, and the women sent all their gold and jewels to the treasury and wore ornaments of iron. The young poet, Theodor Korner, not only aroused the people with his fiery songs, but fought in the "free corps" of Lutzow, and finally gave his life for his country: the _Turner_, or gymnasts, inspired by their teacher Jahn, went as a body into the ranks, and even many women disguised themselves and enlisted as soldiers.

With the exception of Mecklenburg and Dessau, the States of the Rhine-Bund still held to France: Saxony and Bavaria especially distinguished themselves by their abject fidelity to Napoleon. Austria remained neutral, and whatever influence she exercised was against Prussia. But Sweden, under the Crown Prince Bernadotte (Napoleon's former Marshal) joined the movement, with the condition of obtaining Norway in case of success. The operations were delayed by the slowness of the Russians, and the disagreement, or perhaps jealousy, of the various generals; and Napoleon made good use of the time to prepare himself for the coming struggle. Although France was already exhausted, he enforced a merciless conscription, taking young boys and old men, until, with the German soldiers still at his disposal, he had a force of nearly 500,000 men.

The campaign opened well for Prussia. Hamburg and Lubeck were delivered from the French, and on the 5th of April the Viceroy Eugene was defeated at Mockern (near Leipzig) with heavy losses. The first great battle was fought at Lutzen, on the 2d of May, on the same field where Gustavus Adolphus fell in 1632. The Russians and Prussians, with 95,000 men, held Napoleon, with 120,000, at bay for a whole day, and then fell back in good order, after a defeat which encouraged instead of dispiriting the people. The greatest loss was the death of Scharnhorst. Shortly afterwards Napoleon occupied Dresden, and it became evident that Saxony would be the princ.i.p.al theatre of war. A second battle of two days took place on the 20th and 21st of May, in which, although the French outnumbered the Germans and Russians two to one, they barely achieved a victory. The courage and patriotism of the people were now beginning to tell, especially as Napoleon's troops were mostly young, physically weak, and inexperienced. In order to give them rest he offered an armistice on the 4th of June, an act which he afterwards declared to have been the greatest mistake of his life. It was prolonged until the 10th of August, and gave the Germans time both to rest and recruit, and to strengthen themselves by an alliance with Austria.

[Sidenote: 1813. ALLIANCE OF AUSTRIA.]

Francis II. judged that the time had come to recover what he had lost, especially as England formally joined Prussia and Russia on the 14th of June. A fortnight afterwards an agreement was entered into between the two latter powers and Austria, that peace should be offered to Napoleon provided he would give up Northern Germany, the Dalmatian provinces and the Grand-Duchy of Warsaw. He rejected the offer, and so insulted Metternich during an interview in Dresden, that the latter became his bitter enemy thenceforth. The end of all the negotiations was that Austria declared war on the 12th of August, and both sides prepared at once for a final and desperate struggle. The Allies now had 800,000 men, divided into three armies, one under Schwarzenberg confronting the French centre in Saxony, one under Blucher in Silesia, and a third in the North under Bernadotte. The last of these generals seemed reluctant to act against his former leader, and his partic.i.p.ation was of little real service. Napoleon had 550,000 men, less scattered than the Germans, and all under the government of his single will. He was still, therefore, a formidable foe.

[Sidenote: 1813.]

Just sixteen days after the armistice came to an end, the old Blucher won a victory as splendid as many of Napoleon's. He met Marshal Macdonald on the banks of a stream called the Katzbach, in Silesia, and defeated him with the loss of 12,000 killed and wounded, 18,000 prisoners and 103 cannon. From the circ.u.mstance of his having cried out to his men: "Forwards! forwards!" in the crisis of the battle, Blucher was thenceforth called "Marshal Forwards" by the soldiers. Five days before this the Prussian general Bulow was victorious over Oudinot at Grossbeeren, within ten miles of Berlin; and four days afterwards the French general Vandamme, with 40,000 men, was cut to pieces by the Austrians and Prussians, at Kulm on the southern frontier of Saxony.

Thus, within a month, Napoleon lost one-fourth of his whole force, while the fresh hope and enthusiasm of the German people immediately supplied the losses on their side. It is true that Schwarzenberg had been severely repulsed in an attack on Dresden, on the 27th of August, but this had been so speedily followed by Vandamme's defeat, that it produced no discouragement.

The month of September opened with another Prussian victory. On the 6th, Bulow defeated Ney at Dennewitz, taking 15,000 prisoners and 80 cannon.

This change of fortune seems to have bewildered Napoleon: instead of his former promptness and rapidity, he spent a month in Dresden, alternately trying to entice Blucher or Schwarzenberg to give battle. The latter two, meanwhile, were gradually drawing nearer to each other and to Bernadotte, and their final junction was effected without any serious movement to prevent it on Napoleon's part. Blucher's pa.s.sage of the Elbe on the 3d of October compelled him to leave Dresden with his army and take up a new position in Leipzig, where he arrived on the 13th. The Allies instantly closed in upon him: there was a fierce but indecisive cavalry fight on the 14th, the 15th was spent in preparations on both sides, and on the 16th the great battle began.

Napoleon had about 190,000 men, the Allies 300,000: both were posted along lines many miles in extent, stretching over the open plain, from the north and east around to the south of Leipzig. The first day's fight really comprised three distinct battles, two of which were won by the French and one by Blucher. During the afternoon a terrific charge of cavalry under Murat broke the centre of the Allies, and Frederick William and Alexander I. narrowly escaped capture: Schwarzenberg, at the head of a body of Cossacks and Austrian hussars, repulsed the charge, and night came without any positive result. Napoleon sent offers of peace, but they were not answered, and the Allies thereby gained a day for reinforcements. On the morning of the 18th the battle was resumed: all day long the earth trembled under the discharge of more than a thousand cannon, the flames of nine or ten burning villages heated the air, and from dawn until sunset the immense hosts carried on a number of separate and desperate battles at different points along the line.

Napoleon had his station on a mound near a windmill: his centre held its position, in spite of terrible losses, but both his wings were driven back. Bernadotte did not appear on the field until four in the afternoon, but about 4,000 Saxons and other Germans went over from the French to the Allies during the day, and the demoralizing effect of this desertion probably influenced Napoleon quite as much as his material losses. He gave orders for an instant retreat, which was commenced on the night of the 18th. His army was reduced to 100,000 men: the Allies had lost, in killed and wounded, about 50,000.

[Sidenote: 1813. THE BATTLE OF LEIPZIG.]

All Germany was electrified by this victory; from the Baltic to the Alps, the land rang with rejoicings. The people considered, and justly so, that they had won this great battle: the reigning princes, as later events proved, held a different opinion. But, from that day to this, it is called in Germany "the Battle of the Peoples": it was as crushing a blow for France as Jena had been to Prussia or Austerlitz to Austria. On the morning of the 19th of October the Allies began a storm upon Leipzig, which was still held by Marshal Macdonald and Prince Poniatowsky to cover Napoleon's retreat. By noon the city was entered at several gates; the French, in their haste, blew up the bridge over the Elster river before a great part of their own troops had crossed, and Poniatowsky, with hundreds of others, was drowned in attempting to escape. Among the prisoners was the king of Saxony, who had stood by Napoleon until the last moment. In the afternoon Alexander I. and Frederick William entered Leipzig, and were received as deliverers by the people.

The two monarchs, nevertheless, owed their success entirely to the devotion of the German people, and not at all to their own energy and military talent. In spite of the great forces still at their disposal, they interfered with the plans of Blucher and other generals who insisted on a rapid and vigorous pursuit, and were at any time ready to accept peace on terms which would have ruined Germany, if Napoleon had not been insane enough to reject them. The latter continued his march towards France, by way of Naumburg, Erfurt and Fulda, losing thousands by desertion and disease, but without any serious interference until he reached Hanau, near Frankfort. At almost the last moment (October 14), Maximilian I. of Bavaria had deserted France and joined the Allies: one of his generals, Wrede, with about 55,000 Bavarians and Austrians, marched northward, and at Hanau intercepted the French. Napoleon, not caring to engage in a battle, contented himself with cutting his way through Wrede's army, on the 25th of October. He crossed the Rhine and reached France with less than 70,000 men, without encountering further resistance.

[Sidenote: 1814.]

Jerome Bonaparte fled from his kingdom of Westphalia immediately after the battle of Leipzig: Wurtemberg joined the Allies, the Rhine-Bund dissolved, and the artificial structure which Napoleon had created fell to pieces. Even then, Prussia, Russia and Austria wished to discontinue the war: the popular enthusiasm in Germany was taking a _national_ character, the people were beginning to feel their own power, and this was very disagreeable to Alexander I. and Metternich. The Rhine was offered as a boundary to Napoleon: yet, although Wellington was by this time victorious in Spain and was about to cross the Pyrenees, the French Emperor refused and the Allies were reluctantly obliged to resume hostilities. They had already wasted much valuable time: they now adopted a plan which was sure to fail, if the energies of France had not been so utterly exhausted.

Three armies were formed: one, under Bulow, was sent into Holland to overthrow the French rule there; another, under Schwarzenberg, marched through Switzerland into Burgundy, about the end of December, hoping to meet with Wellington somewhere in Central France; and the third under Blucher, which had been delayed longest by the doubt and hesitation of the sovereigns, crossed the Rhine at three points, from Coblentz to Mannheim, on the night of New-Year, 1814. The subjection of Germany to France was over: only the garrisons of a number of fortresses remained, but these were already besieged, and they surrendered one by one, in the course of the next few months.

CHAPTER x.x.xVII.

FROM THE LIBERATION OF GERMANY TO THE YEAR 1848.

(1814--1848.)

Napoleon's Retreat. --Halting Course of the Allies. --The Treaty of Paris. --The Congress of Vienna. --Napoleon's Return to France.

--New Alliance. --Napoleon, Wellington and Blucher. --Battles of Ligney and Quatrebras. --Battle of Waterloo. --New Treaty with France. --European Changes. --Reconstruction of Germany.

--Metternich arranges a Confederation. --Its Character. --The Holy Alliance. --Reaction among the Princes. --Movement of the Students.

--Conference at Carlsbad. --Returning Despotism. --Condition of Germany. --Changes in 1830. --The Zollverein. --Death of Francis II. and Frederick William III. --Frederick William IV. as King.

--The German-Catholic Movement in 1844. --General Dissatisfaction.

[Sidenote: 1814. NAPOLEON'S DEFENSE.]

Napoleon's genius was never more brilliantly manifested than during the slow advance of the Allies from the Rhine to Paris, in the first three months of the year 1814. He had not expected an invasion before the spring, and was taken by surprise; but with all the courage and intrepidity of his younger years, he collected an army of 100,000 men, and marched against Blucher, who had already reached Brienne. In a battle on the 29th of January he was victorious, but a second on the 1st of February compelled him to retreat. Instead of following up this advantage, the three monarchs began to consult: they rejected Blucher's demand for a union of the armies and an immediate march on Paris, and ordered him to follow the river Marne in four divisions, while Schwarzenberg advanced by a more southerly route. This was just what Napoleon wanted. He hurled himself upon the divided Prussian forces, and in five successive battles, from the 10th to the 14th of February, defeated and drove them back. Then, rapidly turning southward, he defeated a part of Schwarzenberg's army at Montereau on the 18th, and compelled the latter to retreat.

[Sidenote: 1814.]