of Austria summoned a meeting of the
German princes at Frankfort to discuss a reform of the confederation,
Bismarck insisted that the king of Prussia must not attend. He remained
away, and his absence in itself made the congress unavailing. There can
be no doubt that from the time he entered on office Bismarck was
determined to bring to an issue the long struggle for supremacy in
Germany between the house of Habsburg and the house of Hohenzollern.
Before he was able to complete his preparations for this, two unforeseen
occurrences completely altered the European situation, and caused the
conflict to be postponed for three years. The first was the outbreak of
rebellion in Poland. Bismarck, an inheritor of the older Prussian
traditions, and recollecting how much of the greatness of Prussia had
been gained at the expense of the Poles, offered his help to the tsar.
By this he placed himself in opposition to the universal feeling of
western Europe; no act of his life added so much to the repulsion with
which at this time he was regarded as an enemy of liberty and right. He
won, however, the gratitude of the tsar and the support of Russia, which
in the next years was to be of vital service to him. Even more serious
were the difficulties arising in Denmark. On the death of King Frederick
VII. in 1863, Prince Frederick of Augustenburg came forward as claimant
to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, which had hitherto been joined
to the crown of Denmark. He was strongly supported by the whole German
nation and by many of its princes. Bismarck, however, once more was
obliged to oppose the current of national feeling, which imperiously
demanded that the German duchies should be rescued from a foreign yoke.
Prussia was bound by the treaty of London of 1852, which guaranteed the
integrity of the Danish monarchy; to have disregarded this would have
been to bring about a coalition against Germany similar to that of 1851.
Moreover, he held that it would be of no advantage to Prussia to create
a new German state; if Denmark were to lose the duchies, he desired that
Prussia should acquire them, and to recognize the Augustenburg claims
would make this impossible. His resistance to the national desire made
him appear a traitor to his country. To check the agitation he turned
for help to Austria; and an alliance of the two powers, so lately at
variance, was formed. He then falsified all the predictions of the
opposition by going to war with