d he felt that
to hold his place he must justify his reputation. Frenchmen resented
exceedingly the Czar's haughty assumption that only England was able to
oppose Russia; and Napoleon III promptly asserted himself in the _role_
of the former Napoleon as "dictator of Europe." The title so pleased the
insulted pride of his people that they followed him eagerly, and
remained blind to many failings through more wars than one. The
self-constituted dictator insisted that his whole desire was for peace
and the artistic beautifying of his country; yet if Russia persisted in
extending her power and ignoring France--. In 1854 he joined England in
the war of the Crimea against Russia.

It cannot be said that the allies achieved any great success against
their huge antagonist. Their fleets bombarded the Baltic fortresses with
small result. Their armies, hastening to protect Turkey, attacked the
Russians in the Crimea, gained the Battle of the Alma, and then for an
entire year besieged the fortifications of Sebastopol. [Footnote: See
_The Capture of Sebastopol_.] But distance and changeful climate proved
Russia's aids as they had in 1812. The allies' commissary and sanitary
departments could hardly be managed at all; their troops died by
thousands, and, though they finally stormed and captured Sebastopol, it
was a barren victory. Russia, not so much overcome as convinced of the
practical lack of profit in persistency, made terms of peace by which
she once more drew back from her feeble prey. English statesmen were
satisfied with the check administered to their great rival; and the
French were delighted at the successful interference of their "dictator
of Europe." He had rehabilitated the nation in its own eyes.

UNION OF ITALY

Ambition grows by what it feeds on. Napoleon determined to assert
himself again. The bitterness of Italy against its Austrian masters
offered an excellent opportunity, and in 1859 he encouraged the King of
Sardinia to try once more the contest which had proved so disastrous
eleven years before. The King, Victor Emmanuel II, prepared for war
against Austria. The French joined him, so did the little North Italian
States, and their combined forces were victorious at Magenta and
Solferino. [Footnote: See _Battles of Magenta and Solferino_.]

Napoleon had declared that the combat should not cease until the
Austrians were driven entirely out of Italy. As the price of his
alliance he secured Nice and Savoy fro