The Age of Bismarck

THE period which elapsed between the close of the Crimean war and the establishment of the German Empire at the beginning of 1871, may be said to contain events of more importance as regards the European system than even its reconstruction by the Congress of Vienna. These events are, besides the new Empire just mentioned, and a few minor occurrences, the establishment of the Kingdom of Italy, the absorption of the Pope’s temporal power, the realization of Prussian supremacy, the decline of Austria, and the Franco-German war. In the same period occurred two events of vast moment in the history of the world: the Indian revolt and the civil war in America, which threatened at one time to break up and divide the great Republic of the Western Hemisphere; but these have no direct bearing on our peculiar subject, the European concert. The affairs of Italy first claim our attention, from their priority in order of time...