Central, Northern, and Eastern Europe; Rise of Russia and Prussia; the Seven Years' War; Russia and Turkey; the Partition of Pol page 2

Under Anna, empress or tsarina from 1730 to 1740, a German party was in power at court. There was territorial retrogression in the restoration of Caspian provinces to Persia, and disastrous war arose with Turkey. Matters were somewhat restored under Elizabeth (1741-1762), daughter of Peter the Great. The German party was ousted from power; the senate founded by Peter resumed its authority; the army was strengthened by a regular system of recruiting; oppressive tolls were abolished; and the revenue was augmented by import-duties. The gain of a portion of Finland in 1743 has been recorded; the share of Russia in the Seven Years' War will be referred to in connection with Frederick of Prussia. Catharine II. (1762-1796) is a famous Russian ruler. Of her private character the less said the better. In her public capacity she showed great ability and energy, and had much success, aided by her favourite Potemkin, as minister and general, from 1776 to 1791, and by the renowned warrior Suwarof (or Suwarrow). The limits of the empire were largely extended by force of arms. A war with Turkey, waged from 1768 to 1774, ended in the Peace of Kainardji (in Bulgaria), whereby Russia at last attained Peter's aim of access to the Black Sea. The chief ports on the Sea of Azov, and Kinburn, at the mouth of the Dnieper, were acquired. The Tartars and the Circassians had been already deprived of the territory between the Volga, the Don, and the Caucasus, and a new road into Asia was opened by the acquisition of the Pass of Darial in the great Caucasus range. The Treaty of Kainardji, a monument of Russian diplomatic skill, is notable for words having a most important bearing on the "Eastern Question," in giving to Catharine, and, by presumption, to her successors, the right to protect the Greek Church and its adherents in Turkey. A powerful weapon for Russian ambition in coming days was thus forged. A few years later the Tartars of the south were overcome, and the Crimea was annexed. In 1787, when war with Turkey was resumed, the empress made her entry into Kherson, a new fortress of her erection on the Dnieper, beneath an arch bearing the significant words "The way to Byzantium." The "Eastern Question" is here expressed in the briefest possible form, meaning the determined purpose of Russia to rule some day at Constantinople, the cradle of her religious system. Suwarof gave token of his skill and valour in this new contest with Turkey, and in 1790 was victorious at Ismail, on the northernmost arm of the Danube, storming the fortress with bloodshed and other horrors that have become proverbial. In 1792 the Peace of Jassy confirmed previous Russian conquests from Turkey, and the Dniester became the boundary between the two empires.: We now turn to the disappearance of Poland from the European system of independent nations. In the course of the 18th century, under weak kings, and amid evils due to the selfish, unpatriotic conduct of the nobles; to the intolerance of the clergy; to the lack of a middle class; to the wretched state of the serfs, and to the want of strong natural frontiers for protection from powerful neighbours, the condition of the country became deplorable. Poland was a ready prey to ambition, and in 1772 Austria, Russia, and Prussia effected the first partition, by which Russia gained eastern Lithuania; Austria took eastern Gallicia and other territory; and Prussia acquired Polish Prussia, i.e. West Prussia, with the exception of Danzig, Thorn, and some other territory. The share of Russia (42,000 square miles) a little exceeded the combined shares of her two partners in the robbery. Efforts were now made by the Poles to amend their absurd constitutional system. The liberum veto in the Diet was abolished; the burghers were put on a level with the nobles in that body; the condition of the peasantry was improved; religious toleration was introduced. The new constitution was promulgated in 1791. Some of the nobles, indignant at the loss of their precious privileges, then slew their country by inviting invasion from Russia. The Russian troops were supported by Prussians, though the king of Prussia, Frederick William II., had sworn to defend the Poles against their powerful neighbour on the east. A fruitless resistance was made by patriots under the famous Kosciusko and Prince Joseph Poniatowski. Kosciusko, who had become a brigadier-general in America, fighting against British troops for the revolted colonists, held a position at Dubenka for five days with 4,000 men against 18,000 Russians. Poniatowski was afterwards with Napoleon in Russia, in 1812, fighting splendidly at Smolensk and Borodino, and in 1813 he shared, after a noble defence on the right wing, in the disaster of Leipzig, and was on the spot created a marshal of France, only to perish in the waters of the Elster as he covered the French retreat. His body lies at Cracow beside those of Sobieski and Kosciusko. In 1792 he gained some brilliant victories over the Russian invaders, but nothing could prevent the second partition (1793)- Russia now received territory to the amount of 96,000 square miles in the remaining part of Lithuania, with Podolia and Volhynia. Her fellow-robber, Prussia, was content with less than a fourth of that area, in "Great Poland" (now South Prussia), with Danzig and Thorn. A general rising of the Poles then occurred, in 1794, with Kosciusko as dictator and commander-in-chief. He defeated a greatly superior Russian force, and the Poles in Warsaw then joined the movement. Poniatowski joined the army as a volunteer, but was placed by the leader in command of the division whose task it was to defend Warsaw on the north. The patriots were overwhelmed by Austrian, Prussian, and Russian forces, and Kosciusko was defeated, severely wounded, and taken prisoner at the fierce battle of Maciejowice (Matchevitz). Suwarof (Suwarrow) captured Warsaw with dreadful slaughter to the defenders, and the Polish monarchy came to an end. In the third and last partition (1795) Russia again took the lion's share, acquiring 43,000 square miles in all the remaining eastern territory. Austria had 18,000 square miles in west Gallicia; Prussia took 21,000 square miles in Warsaw and surrounding territory, part of Cracow (New Silesia), and the region between the Vistula, Bug, and Niemen, or "New East Prussia."

The middle of the 18th century is distinguished by the advance to a front rank among the nations of the monarchy of Prussia, under Frederick II., justly styled "the Great," the most considerable man who has succeeded to a throne since Charles V. His eminent position in modern history is due to the possession and exercise of most of the qualities that mark the subduer and successful ruler of mankind. His military talents were such as to make him the greatest general of his age, and to compel Napoleon, Prussia's deadly foe at a later day, to place him in the first rank. His zeal for good administration, for the prosperity and happiness of his people, was backed by the utmost energy, vigilance, sound sense, superiority to prejudice and tradition, and sympathy for cultivation and enlightenment, and was marred only by occasional lapses due to a dictatorial temper and a restlessly active mind which urged him to meddle with affairs better left to his chosen and usually able instruments. He was emphatically a strong man, the embodiment of kingly resolution and force, and his achievements made him, in spite of a cold heart, a cynical temper, and a scornful demeanour, not only a favourite with his own people, but an object of pride to all men of German race. They contrasted him with the loathsome voluptuary that sat on the throne of France, and saw a petty Teutonic state, whose older fellows in the empire were decaying under an antiquated system of wasteful misrule, present a model of economy and material progress, and of military, legislative, and judicial reform. The great Frederick is best viewed, as a Prussian king, by contrast with his two unworthy successors who let the monarchy down to temporary degradation and ruin.

The founder of the greatness of the House of Hohenzollern was a man already seen in these pages, Frederick William of Brandenburg, the "Great Elector," a wise and firm ruler, who died in 1688. His son Frederick, a vain man fond of pomp and show, was the first "king of Prussia," as Frederick I., crowned at Konigsberg in 1701. The exaltation of rank from an electorate to a monarchy was of importance in giving Prussian rulers an inducement to strengthen and extend their inheritance. This ruler, whose extravagance of life, imitating the splendour of Versailles, impoverished the nation, promoted civilisation by founding the University of Halle, the Academy of Sciences at Berlin, and other like institutions. His son and successor, Frederick William I. (1713-1740), was a man of entirely opposite character. Coarse in manners, violent of temper, often brutally cruel in conduct, contemptuous of all culture and learning, he did much for the country which he ruled by a rigidly economical system, and by the creation, under the strictest discipline and the best training and equipment, of a regular army of over 80,000 men. As Philip of Macedon for Alexander, he forged the instrument which his son was to wield with so powerful an effect. We must remember that this military force was raised from and maintained by a population not exceeding two and a half millions.

Frederick II. became king of Prussia, on his father's death, in 1740. He was 28 years of age, having passed an unhappy youth and early manhood, owing to his father's harsh treatment, which soured his temper and hardened his heart, and, in his rejection of the Christianity which his strictly orthodox sire had presented in so repulsive a guise, lowered his moral character in other points (A picturesque and interesting account of the youth, character, court, and reign until 1763 of the Prussian king is given in Lord Macaulay's Essays, Frederick the Great.). The year of his accession was that of the death of the emperor Charles VI., and the outbreak of the War of the Austrian Succession was due to disputes arising from the instrument called the "Pragmatic Sanction," whereby Charles, the last emperor, in the male line, of the House of Hapsburg, had made the Austrian dominions heritable in the female line. His daughter Maria Theresa thus succeeded to the hereditary dominions - the archduchy of Austria and other territories, and the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia. This lady is known as the empress-queen, as the wife of Francis Joseph of Lorraine, grand-duke of Tuscany, who was emperor from 1745 to 1765, and as queen of Hungary in her own right. There were various claimants for the Austrian inheritance, the chief being Charles Albert, elector of Bavaria, and Augustus, elector of Saxony and king of Poland. Charles Albert was chosen emperor in 1742, but died in 1745, being succeeded, as above, by Francis of Lorraine. In the dispute concerning the Austrian dominions, the unscrupulous Frederick of Prussia, eager to extend his dominions, promptly seized Silesia, one of Maria Theresa's fairest provinces, on an antiquated and really baseless claim. His first war with Austria, after his victories at Mollwitz and elsewhere, ended in the cession to him, in 1742, of the greater part of Silesia. The age of chivalry was over, and the young queen of Hungary found herself assailed, apart from Frederick, by France, Spain, Bavaria, and Saxony. In this position, the brave and loyal Hungarians rushed to arms in her behalf, and England and Holland took her side in the struggle. The queen's armies quickly cleared Bohemia of its Saxon invaders, and forced the elector to terms. Bavaria was overrun and Munich was captured. French invaders of Bohemia were then driven out, and Maria Theresa's cause was strengthened in 1743 by George II.'s victory over the French at Dettingen, near Frankfort-on-the-Main, when a British sovereign for the last time led his troops to battle, the event being celebrated by Handel in his famous Te Deum. The restless king of Prussia, jealous of the Austrian successes, again took the field, and, gaining three successive victories, made peace with Austria at Dresden in December, 1745, retaining Silesia, and recognising Francis, husband of Maria Theresa, as emperor. Thus ended the "Second Silesian War," and the first period of Frederick's warfare with neighbouring states. His exploits in fields of battle, and the general vigour of his proceedings, had already caused Prussia to be regarded in a new light by the great European nations. The general contest ended in 1748 with the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle, restoring all conquests, and recognising the "Pragmatic Sanction" in Austria.

Frederick was well aware that the Peace of Dresden was only a truce. The jealousy of Austria had been strongly aroused by Prussian success, and Maria Theresa was brooding over the loss of Silesia. His n years of peace, from 1745 to 1756, were busily employed in internal improvements, the development of Silesian resources, and the maintenance of his splendid army in the highest state of efficiency. There were other European powers regarding Prussia with envious hatred, and a strong league was formed for the absolute ruin of the new monarchy and the dismemberment of the Prussian territories. This formidable combination included France, Austria, Saxony, Russia, and the states of the empire except Hanover, Hesse, Brunswick, and Gotha, which remained in alliance with Prussia. Great Britain aided Frederick with money and troops, and this help, especially that of the subsidies, of which Frederick made the best use, was the chief outward agent in the preservation of Prussia. The main elements of safety were the admirable skill, the heroic endurance, the energy, perseverance, and determination of the great warrior and statesman who was to emerge in glory from a sea of troubles, giving an example unsurpassed in history of what capacity and resolution can effect against the greatest superiority of power and the utmost spite of fortune (The best brief account of the Seven Years' War is contained in Macaulay s Essays, as above).

The king of Prussia took prompt measures against his foes. Saxony was flooded with his troops in the summer of 1756. The electoral army was blockaded at Pirna, near Dresden, and ultimately forced to surrender. The capital was occupied, and Augustus fled to his kingdom in Poland. Marshal Brown, advancing from Bohemia with Austrian troops to relieve Saxony, was attacked by the Prussians and defeated at Lowositz. For the rest of the war Saxony was mostly in Frederick's possession, and one of his enemies was thus. disposed of, while 17,000 men of the army at Pirna reinforced the victor's troops. Early in 1757, while the British and Hanoverians in west Germany kept France at bay, and while the Russian army was yet far away, detained by deep snow, Frederick and his men rushed into Bohemia by four passes, and, aided by Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, and by fine old Marshal Schwerin, defeated Brown in the great battle of Prague, with a loss, to the victors, of 18,000 men, and of Schwerin, who died in the thickest of the fray. The Austnans had 24,000 soldiers killed, wounded, or taken. The chief Austrian commander, Marshal Daun, was advancing, and the Prussian monarch, leaving a force to besiege a part- of Brown's broken army in Prague met the enemy on June 18th, at Kolin, midway between Prague and Sadowa, a place of more recent warlike renown. The cautious Daun, in an impregnable position, was attacked by Frederick with 30,000 men, and all assaults were repulsed with a Prussian loss of nearly half the men engaged. The defeated king then raised the siege of Prague, and hurried out of Bohemia. In the west of Germany the duke of Cumberland had been defeated by the French, and, in order to save the electorate of Hanover, the British commander had concluded the humiliating "convention of Kloster-Zeven," withdrawing all his troops from the contest, and leaving the French army free to act against Prussia. In November, 1757, Frederick seemed on the verge of ruin. The Russians were laying waste his eastern territories; the Austrians had overrun Silesia; a French army was coming up from the west; Berlin had been taken and plundered by the wild Croats of the Austrian service. The king dealt first with the French part of the appalling problem. The commander, Marshal Soubise, was a mere incapable, and on November 5th, in the great battle of Rosbach, west of Leipzig, he was utterly beaten. 7,000 French were captured; the guns, colours, and baggage were taken. Frederick, active alike after victory and defeat, marched at once to Silesia, where all seemed lost. Breslau had fallen, and Daun and Charles of Lorraine, with a great army, held all the territory. On December 5th the glorious battle of Leuthen, west of Breslau, fought with 30,000 Prussians against 80,000 Austrians, ended in a complete victory for Frederick. Over one-third of the defeated were killed, wounded, or captured, and the trophies included 50 stand of colours, 100 guns, and. 4,000 waggons of stores. This battle, in which the oblique order of attack, directed against a wing of the hostile line, was used with wonderful effect, is extolled by Napoleon as a masterpiece of tactical skill. The immediate effect of the victory was the retaking of Breslau, and the reconquest of Silesia. Charles of Lorraine abandoned the struggle and retired to Brussels, and the conquering king led his wearied troops into winter quarters, while the fame of his victories filled the world. A new British and Hanoverian army now took the field in the west, under Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick, who soon proved himself to be the second general of the age in ability.