PRUSSIA
530
PRUSSIA
email mechanical industries that were threatened with
a crisis. From 1854 the influence of the churches over
the primary schools was strengthened by the regula-
tions issued by Raumer, Minister of Worship and
Education. A defection from the Conservative party,
led by von Bethniann-Hollweg (grandfather of the
present Chancellor of Germany), was of little parha-
mentarv' importance, but apparently influenced the
heir to the throne. In the same way the "Catholic
Fraction" (18.52), formed to oppose the re-establish-
ment of the Protestant character of the State, proved
to be only temporary.
In 1857 the king fell ill, and on 23 Oct., 1857, he appointed his brother WilUam to act for him; on 26 Oct., 1858, William was made regent. All extremes of policy and religion were distasteful to William, and he began his reign with many misconceptions of the position of domestic politics. He therefore dismissed Manteuffel and formed his first ministry, the ministry of the "new era", of men of the Bethmann-HoUweg party and of moderate Liberals, the premier being Prince Karl of Hohenzollern. He desired by this selec- tion to assure the public of an evenly balanced non- partizan administration. The Liberals, however, re- garded it as a sign that the moment had come to repair the failure m 1848 to obtain a parliament and a Liberal form of government for Prussia. The war between Austria and France in 1859 obUged William to give his entire attention to the reorganization of the Prussian army, which was still dependent on the law of 1814, and had sho^NTi many deficiencies when mob- ilized on account of the war. In Dec, 1859, the regent appointed von Roon minister of war. A bill laid before the Diet in 1860 called for the reconstruction of the militarj' forces, which since the War of Libera- tion had been disorganized; the army was once more to be a centralized professional force, and at the same time be enlarged without a great increase of expense. The Diet avoided taking any positive stand on the question. William, however, went on -n-ith the reor- ganization. In Jan., 1861, he became king (1861-88). In June, 1861, most of the Liberals united in the Rad- ical "German party of progress". The elections at the end of the year placed this party in the majority. Bills upon questions of internal pohtics that were in- tended to meet Liberal wishes were laid before the Diet in vain, nor did the resumption of the policy of the "union" by Count Bernstorff, Minister of Foreign Affairs, nor the commercial treaty with France in 1862 pacify the Liberals. A conflict between the Crown and the Diet began. The money demanded for the army was refused in 1862.
In Sept., 1862, the king called Bismarck to the head of affairs. He was ready to carry on the administra- tion without the approval of the budget. In 1863 Bismarck dissolved the lower house of the Diet, took arbitrary measures against the Press, and sought to bring the Liberals in disfavour with the people by a daring and successful foreign policy. His first oppor- tunity for this came when strained relations developed between the German Confederation and Denmark in regard to the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The upper house of the Diet now refused to grant the money for the expenses of the war against Denmark. Bi.s- marck nevertheless carried on the war jointly with Austria; among its events were the successful storm- ing of the Dvippeler entrenchments on 18 April, and the crossing to the Island of Alsen in the niglit of 28-29 June, 1864. Even these events caused public opinion to change. At the next election the Conserva- tives were in the majority, and signs of disruption in the "German party of progress" were evident. The disputes which arose between Austria and Prussia as a result of the war with Denmark caused Bismarck to go to war with Austria in the early summer of 1866. The "party of progress" was now completely divided. At a fresh election for the House of Deputies on 3 July,
accidentally the day of the victory of Koniggratz
(Sadowa), the Conservatives gained one-half of the
seats. The enthusiasm over the defeat of Austria and
over the definite settlement thereby of Prussia's lead-
ing position in non-Austrian Germany was so great
that the difficulties besetting the internal pohcies
could be regarded as removed. Bismarck made re-
treat easy for his opponents by asking indemnity for
the period in which he had carried on the administra-
tion without a budget. The greater part of the "party
of progress " now became supporters of Bismarck under
the name of the "National Liberal" party; the lead-
ers of the National Liberals were Twesten, Lasker,
and Forckenbeck. Only a small section of the former
"party of progress", under the leadership of Waldeck,
and Schultz-Delitzsch, remained in the opposition.
As time went on Bismarck found it more convenient
to manage parliamentary business through the Na-
tional Liberals, and consequently made more con-
cessions to Liberalism both in Prussia proper and
throughout the kingdom than were in harmony with
Prussian Conservative traditions.
In return the Liberals gradually abandoned their opposition to the military form of government in Prussia, and avoided disputes concerning constitu- tional law. Prussia received a large increase of terri- tory by the war with Austria. After it had gained in 1865 Lauenburg, it also obtained Schleswig and Holstein, and with them a good maritime position, with Kiel as a naval station on the Baltic. Before this, early in 1863, it had obtained Wilhelmshafen from Oldenburg as a naval station on the North At- lantic. The war also gave to Prussia the Kingdom of Hanover, Electoral Hesse, the Duchy of Nassau, and the city of Frankfort-on-the-Main. Its area was increa.sed to 132,000 square miles, its population to 20,000,000; at present the population numbers about 40,000,000. A still more important gain was that its western and eastern provinces were now united, and that it had complete military control of northern Ger- many. The additions of territorj- gave Protestantism once more the preponderance, as the Protestants now numbered two-thirds of the population. The Cath- olics of the new districts belonged ecclesiastically partly to the church province of the Upper Rhine, partly to the exempt Bishoprics of Osnabriick and Hildesheim; no change was made in these relations. An Apostolic prefecture was connected with Osna- briick, to which the CathoUcs of Schleswig-Holstein belonged.
VI. Prussia had now reached the goal which for three hundred years it had steadily sought to attain. Its ambitions were now satisfied, it ceased to pursue an independent foreign policy and directed that of the new German Confederation that was established un- der its headship in 1867-71. At first, both in southern Germany and in the small countries adjacent to Germany, it was feared that Prussia would con- tinue its policy of conquest in order to create a "Greater Pru.ssia". This, however, was a mistaken opinion, as is also the belief that the German Empire is simply the heir to the position of Prussia as a great power. It is true that Bismarck after 1871 seems to have held this view, and to have regarded it as the sole task of his foreign policy to secure what had been at- tained by large military forces, by a peaceful policy of treaties, and by directing the attention of the other great powers to questions outside of central Europe. Soon, however, the empire was confronted by new and far-extending problems and combinations with which Prussia had never had to reckon. So after 1866 only the domestic policy of Prussia comes under consider- ation. After the war with Austria its first task was to combine the new provinces with the old in its state organization. This was much more easily accom- plished than the similar task in 1815, both because the populations were more easily adapted to each other,
