that it desired war with Germany.

PREPARATIONS FOR THE WAR

The wars carried on by France on the other side of the ocean, simply
for financial ends, had consumed immense sums and had undermined the
discipline of the army. The French were by no means _archiprets_ for a
great war, but the Spanish succession to the throne, nevertheless, had
to serve as a pretext to declare it. The French Reserves were called
to arms July 15th, and only four days later the French declaration of
war was handed in at Berlin, as though this were an opportunity not to
be lost.

[Illustration: KING WILLIAM AT THE MAUSOLEUM OF HIS PARENTS ON THE DAY
OF THE FRENCH DECLARATION OF WAR ANTON VON WERNER]

One Division was ordered to the Spanish frontier as a corps of
observation; only such troops as were absolutely necessary were left
in Algiers and in Civita Vecchia; Paris and Lyons were sufficiently
garrisoned. The entire remainder of the army: 332 battalions, 220
squadrons, 924 cannon, in all about 300,000 men, formed the army of
the Rhine. This was divided into eight Corps, which, at any rate in
the first instance, were to be directed by one central head, without
any kind of intervention. The _Imperator_ himself was the only person
to assume this difficult task; Marshal Bazaine was to command the army
as it assembled, until the Emperor's arrival.

It is very probable that the French were counting on the old
dissensions of the German races. True, they dared not look upon the
South Germans as allies, but they hoped to reduce them to inactivity
by an early victory, or even to win them over to their side. Prussia
was a powerful antagonist even when isolated, and her army more
numerous than that of the French, but this advantage might be
counterbalanced by rapidity of action.

The French plan of campaign was indeed based on the delivery of
unforeseen attacks. The strong fleets of war and transport ships were
to be utilized to land a considerable force in Northern Prussia, and
there engage a part of the Prussian troops, while the main body of the
army, it was supposed, would await the French attack behind the
fortresses on the Rhine. The French intended to cross the Rhine at
once, at and below Strassburg, thus avoiding the great fortresses; and
also, at the start, preventing the South-German army, which was
destined to defend the Black Forest, from uniting with the
North-Germans. To execute this plan it would have been imperative to
assemble