dow of its former self.

A great blow came in 1814, when it was forced to yield Norway to Sweden.
All its possessions on the Baltic had vanished and its dominion was
compressed into the Danish peninsula and its neighboring islands, with
the exception of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg lying south of the
peninsula. The time was near at hand when it was to lose these and more
and be reduced to a mere fragment of its once great realm.

The new trouble began in 1848, when the French revolution of that date
stirred up all the peoples of Europe to fresh demands. North of Holstein
lay the duchy of Sleswick, occupying the southern half of the peninsula,
its inhabitants, like those of Holstein, being nearly all Germans. These
duchies had long chafed under Danish rule, though for centuries they had
formed part of Denmark, and now they made an eager demand for union with
what they termed their true "Fatherland."

A new king, Frederick VII., ascended the Danish throne in January, 1848.
In February the French revolution broke out. Almost instantly the duchies
were in a blaze of revolt, and on the 23d of April a Danish army of
eleven thousand men met one of nearly three times its strength, composed
of the insurgents and German allies, and was defeated after a hard fight
and forced to take refuge on the little island Als, where it was
protected by Danish ships of war.

This was the beginning of a struggle that continued at intervals for
nearly three years, the great powers occasionally intervening and
bringing about a truce. In 1849, the Danes gained some important
successes, followed by a second truce. The most severe battle was that of
July 24, 1850, when a Danish army nearly forty thousand strong attacked
the insurgents and battle went on amid mist and rain for two days, ending
in the triumph of the Danes.

New successes were gained in September, Sleswick being fully occupied and
Holstein invaded, when a strong Austrian army marched into the latter
province and again the war was brought to an end. Sleswick was left under
the Danish king, but a joint commission of Danes, Austrians, and
Prussians was formed to govern Holstein until its relations to Denmark
could be determined.

For the thirteen years following all remained at rest. But in that year
King Frederick VII. of Denmark died and immediately the eldest son of the
Duke of Augustenburg, who claimed the duchies, hastened into them and
proclaimed himself as ruler, und