Blood and Iron Part 32

-- "There are indeed," says Sir Spencer Walpole, "few things more remarkable in modern history than Bismarck's determined disregard, from 1863 to 1866 of the decisions of Parliament and his readiness to stake his own life and that of his sovereign on the issue of the contest."

-- This Holstein raid was justified as "statecraft," but the gambler's nerve and the gambler's methods were behind it, from end to end; and Bismarck shuffled and cut and stacked, and if now and then some shrewd player caught the sleight of hand and protested, Bismarck coolly banged him over the head with a chair or flung a wine bottle at his head and threw him into the street to make off as best he might, smarting for revenge but not daring to raise a hand; for in his heart the defeated player realized that in a game of this kind the only thing to do is to take one's medicine, "put up, pay up and shut up"--like the lesser known but equally discerning gamblers of old Mississippi steamboat days.

-- What were they fighting about in Holstein? Alas, who knows, except that Bismarck had his great German enterprise well under way. It was said, at the time, that Disraeli was "the only man in Europe who really understood the Holstein question," but Disraeli was a British cynic on all things German, and his explanations must be taken with a grain of salt. However, Disraeli used Bismarck as "Count Ferroll" in "Endymion."

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Bismarck sleeps surrounded by windrows of the dead; it was the moment he had awaited, all these years.

-- One fact should never be overlooked. Whether Bismarck talks to his countrymen of patriotism or of religious duties, through it all and behind it all, while framing const.i.tutions and putting the ballot in every man's hand, Bismarck always had something to draw to--and this something was the invincible Prussian army.

This Prussian army, together with Prussian dog-like discipline, made Bismarck's plans possible.

-- Also, he everlastingly kept the substance of power for himself and his King; for, however much Bismarck from time to time made concessions to the Liberal side, Bismarck always nourished sentiments of royalty, in the end deftly subst.i.tuted the mailed fist for his talks on religious faith.

-- His war-dramas are always rich in strife; but somehow, he makes them conclude in joy.

-- Realizing that the Austrian war could not much longer be put off, Bismarck's great care was that there should be no powerful coalitions against Prussia.

-- We have spoken before of his closeness to Russia, and the means whereby Bismarck secured the Czar's neutrality in the oncoming Austrian war. The King's man next settled with Italy, behind the screen. He knew that she longed to come into possession of Venetian powers, held by Austria; Bismarck got after the Italian minister, Lamarmora; the bargain was this: A secret treaty promising Venetia to Italy; no separate peace to be made with Austria; the treaty not to be binding unless Prussia declared war within three months.

-- Then Bismarck crossed over and proposed to Austria that Frankfort "reform" the Confederation. The lure to the Liberals was the promise of a National Convention elected by the people, to decide on a new Const.i.tution; the solution carried the Holstein question, Bismarck averred, "not as a piece of monarchial greed but as a National affair."

-- Bavaria agreed provided Austria and Prussia would not attack each other.

-- At this, Bismarck promised to give to Italy the Venetian provinces, by peaceful arrangement--war or no war. But Italy wavered; she was afraid of Bismarck's behind-the-screen policies.

Austria decided to increase her Venetian armaments, and Bismarck, quick as a cat, seized on this move of his old enemy as an act of "insincerity" in regard to peace.

-- Austria now replied by urging that the Holstein question be left to the Diet, despite the fact that Prussia had expressly denied the competency of Frankfort to settle questions affecting Prussia.

-- From this point events moved with rapidity toward war. Troops under Manteuffel marched into Holstein, alleging the Gastein treaty broken; Austrians retired, but under protest, alleging that Prussia had violated Section 11 of the Acts of Confederation, which provided that members could not make war against each other; and Austria moved that the Confederation be mobilized, except Prussia. Bismarck thereupon played his trump card. "The Confederation is dissolved!" he thundered, and submitted a new draft of articles, leaving Austria out.

-- Germany was now in two hostile camps; on came the war.

-- Thus stood matters on the fateful June 1st, 1866, when the critical situation in the Danish country offered the match to touch off the powder magazines against Austria; startled Austria immediately called upon her beribboned, bejeweled Frankfort Parliament to declare war on Prussia for insolence; and this is exactly what Bismarck wished to bring to pa.s.s; it was the moment he had awaited all these long years.

-- Hanover and two other states were asked by telegraph to declare their intentions. The replies being unsatisfactory, Bismarck, with supreme daring worthy of Frederick the Great, orders von Roon and Moltke's iron men forward. They poured like fiends into the surprised territories, overran them in a night, compelling the flight or capture of three kings.

-- "With G.o.d for King and Fatherland!" That old cry is again heard throughout the Prussian North country. Austria reckoned stupidly; she had thought Bismarck's internal political dissensions would make it impossible for Prussia to rally her iron men in good order; but Bismarck knew that while Liberal leaders quarreled like dogs and cats over Prussian policies, still when beloved Prussia was in danger, all differences would be forgotten--and Prussia in a night would become an armed camp.

-- Bismarck, that memorable Thursday night, June 14th, 1866, spent the long hours pacing up and down under the oaks in the beautiful garden of the Minister of Foreign Affairs; in deep thought, he awaited the mobilization order from the King.

Von Moltke, old Roon and Bismarck hold whispered consultations in which Bismarck is so sure of himself that his mind at times wanders off war to chatty anecdotes. "This afternoon, in the antechamber of the King," says Bismarck, "I was so weary I fell asleep on the sofa.

Is not this garden fine? Suppose we take a look at the old trees in the park, behind the palace?"

-- Berlin rang with the patriotic "I am a Prussian, know'st thou not my colors?" and in unnumbered thousands the mult.i.tudes pressed around the palace. On the night of the 29th came the news by telegraph--"First blood for Prussia!" Berlin goes fairly insane with patriotic joy.

Bismarck leaves the palace at two in the morning; his stern expression contrasts strangely with the frenzied faces in the crowd; never did the great man's inherent poise show more clearly, by contrast. The crowds are singing Luther's hymn, "Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott"--"A fortress firm in our G.o.d." The King comes out on the balcony and returns thanks. Never-ending cries of triumph force Bismarck to say a few words from the window of his hotel in the Wilhelms-stra.s.se. It is a squally, rain-bespattered night, with the tempest near at hand, but the mobs will not go home. Suddenly, Bismarck raises his hand, shouts congratulations, ends by inviting a salute for the King and Prussia.

That very instant a peal of thunder rumbles over the city, and a trail of forked lightning splits the midnight skies. "The very heavens salute Prussia!" cries Bismarck--and the mobs go wild again.

-- Bismarck and his King are off to the front. At Sichrow they see the corpse-strewn field of glory; 5,000 bodies in all the agonizing att.i.tudes of sudden death are there before the master.

William and Otto pa.s.s to the field hospital. The wounded beg for cigars, and Bismarck writes his wife, "Send cigars by the thousand, by each courier; also forward copies of the 'Kreutzzeitung.'" This is the official Bismarckian political organ. So you see, he spreads his political propaganda, even in the face of death.

-- Otto winds up his letter with this surprising request, under date, July 2, Jitschen, "Send me a French novel to read, but only one at a time."

-- Then came Sadowa, July 3d. The "Red" Prince Charles a.s.signs his troops to battle line at dawn, amidst fog and rain. At 9, the King and Bismarck appear on the b.l.o.o.d.y field. Bismarck rides his tall roan mare "Verada," rechristened "Sadowa."

In thunder and smoke the battle goes burning on. For hours the result is in doubt. All depends on the second battle line, but where is the Crown Prince? Will he arrive in time?

-- The vast artillery duel began early and lasted many hours. At the height of the battle, old King William asked for a cigar, and when the box was brought took a long time to select one, to his fancy. Bismarck regarded it as a good sign! "If he can bother about the best cigar, the battle cannot be lost," was Bismarck's mental comment.

-- At last, the Austrians began giving way.

-- In joy, the King took from his neck his own Iron Cross and hung it on Bismarck's neck.

-- Moltke came up, bright and happy, with these words: "Your Majesty has not only won the battle, but the whole campaign."

-- It was true; the great Austrian war was practically now won, and in three short weeks!

-- Sadowa, or Koeniggraetz as the Germans call it, is one of the great battles of history. There were 445,000 men engaged; Austria lost 30,000 and 1,147 officers.

-- Bismarck, on his tall roan, was eighteen hours in the saddle; neither man nor faithful beast had food or drink, except that the horse, standing now and again among the windrows of corpses, ate corn-tops and nibbled at leaves. That night, Bismarck slept by the roadside, without straw, a carriage cus.h.i.+on under his head. The rain beat down in a drizzle, and for miles the smoke hung like a pall.

Bismarck's rheumatic pains, his weakness from loss of food, wore him down.

-- At last, the course of nature can no farther go; and the master falls into a deep sleep--surrounded by windrows of the dead.

-- At dawn, as he stood up, half-dead from exhaustion, against the lowering skies he saw the vultures ready to pick the bones that Glory had provided in this phase of the terrifying story of German Unity.

-- The hour of victory again proved Bismarck's astuteness. The fire-breathers around the King urged that the Prussians march on Vienna and lay the city in waste; Austria could not prevent; she was prostrate; but Bismarck said no; and as usual, he had an object. Part of his far-seeing plan was to take advantage of this psychological moment to conclude secret treaties with the smaller states, as allies of Prussia, in case of future wars. It was the forerunner of his last great work, many years later, the Triple Alliance.

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