Der Fuehrer - Hitler's Rise to Power (1944) - Heiden

226 DER FUEHRERpolitical leadership in Germany — the Treaty of Olmutz, 1850; inaddition there was the fear of the newly growing military power ofFrance under Napoleon III and of the French desire to annex the westernprovinces of Germany. At that time, as soon as a strong foreign powercrossed Germany's borders, it might hope to win over to its side a partof the sovereign German states, as in the time of Richelieu. To makeimpossible such a coalition between a foreign power and a section ofGermany against Prussia, Bismarck made German unity his goal. In1866, Prussia, strengthened by the economy of the industrial Rhineprovince, waged a victorious war against the other half of Germany, andthus forced a new unity on a part of the old German Empire. Austriawith her German provinces was thrust aside. The dreams of 1848 werenot fulfilled, but the Prussian success was, after all, a success. Asalways, economy obeyed political power. Bismarck cleverly managed torepresent the disruption of Germany as unification. The rest of Germanyaccepted Prussian domination because it seemed to be the only means toprotect the country against being attacked and torn apart by two strongneighbors: France and Russia.For the imperial ruler of France, Napoleon III once more demandedpurely German parts of the left bank of the Rhine; he demanded them ofBismarck (1865) and of Austria, too (1866); both were unscrupulousenough to put Napoleon off with promises and appeasement, even toconcede him a role of arbiter in Germany's internal affairs. Later, bymaking Napoleon's demands public (he had demanded Belgium, too),Bismarck aroused anti-French feelings, not only in Germany, but also inEngland; the final outcome was a declaration of war by Napoleon in1870.The Emperor, haunted by the specter of a unified Germany, hadattempted to lead a coalition of all Europe against Prussia and to attractto his side even the South German states and Austria. This latter planmisfired completely, and Bismarck's skillful diplomacy was able toprevent the European coalition — a diplomacy much more successfuland farsighted than that of his successors forty and sixty years later.Napoleonic France was shattered by the war. Prussian Germany won aBlitzkrieg against the usurper, who had been the living model for theWise Men of Zion and was