ngly, Bismarck compelled the king to let
Austria off without any loss of territory except Venetia, which was
given to the Italians. Austria was even allowed to retain Trentino and
Istria, and was not required to pay a large indemnity to Prussia. (A
custom which had come down from the middle ages, when cities which
were captured had been obliged to pay great sums of money, in order to
get rid of the conquering armies, was the payment of a war indemnity
by the defeated nation. This was a sum of money as large as the
conquerors thought they could safely force their victims to pay.) The
Austrians, although they were angry over the manner in which Bismarck
had provoked the war, nevertheless appreciated the fact that he was
generous in not forcing harsh terms upon them, as he could have done
had he wanted to.

The eyes of all Europe now turned toward the coming struggle between
Prussia and France. It was plain that it was impossible for two men
like Bismarck and Emperor Napoleon to continue in power very long
without coming to blows. It was Bismarck's ambition, as was previously
said, to make Prussia the leading military nation of Europe, and he
knew that this meant a struggle with Napoleon. You will remember also
that he planned a united Germany, led by Prussia, and he felt that the
French war would bring this about. On the other hand, the French
emperor was extremely jealous of the easy victory that Prussia and
Italy had won over Austria. He had been proud of the French army, and
wanted it to remain the greatest fighting force in Europe. He was just
as anxious for an excuse to attack Prussia as Bismarck was for a
pretext to attack him.

It should be kept in mind that all this time there was no ill-feeling
between the French people and the Germans. In fact, the Germans of the
Rhine country were very friendly to France, and during Napoleon's time
had been given more liberties and had been governed better than under
the rule of their former feudal lords. All the hostility and jealousy
was between the military chiefs. Even Bismarck did not dislike the
French. He had no feeling toward them at all. It was part of his
program that their military power should be crushed and his program
must be carried through. Europe, to his mind, was too small to contain
more than one master military power.

The four years between 1866 and 1870 were used by Bismarck to gain
friends for Prussia among other countries of Europe, and to make
enemi