remaining to the emperor, and now transferred to the Diet, of passing
laws, concluding treaties, and making war and peace. One completely good
result of the war was that amid the prevailing anarchy were laid, by
Grotius, the foundations of a system of International Law.

=Rise of Prussia to Power.=--The Thirty Years’ war was followed by the
rise of Prussia. Brandenburg had in 1611 become united to the Duchy of
Prussia, part of the possessions of the Teutonic Order, which was in
1657 declared independent of Poland, of which it had been a fief, and
received further accessions under the Great Elector, Frederick William.
It grew steadily in power during the long struggle against the
unscrupulous aggressions of Louis XIV., and in 1701 the son of the Great
Elector, Frederick I., obtained from the Emperor the recognition of the
Prussian Duchy as a kingdom. In 1713 a “Pragmatic Sanction” was drawn up
by the Emperor Charles VI. (1711-1740), providing for the inheritance of
the Austrian dominions by his daughter, Maria Theresa, and this was
ultimately guaranteed by the leading powers.

=Frederick the Great and the Seven Years’ War.=--But his death in 1740
was the opportunity of Prussia, where Frederick II., better known as
Frederick the Great, had just ascended the throne. He immediately
occupied Silesia. Maria Theresa met with enthusiastic support in
Hungary, and in 1745 her husband was elected emperor as Francis I.
(1745-1765). An interval of peace was followed by the Seven Years’ war,
at the conclusion of which, in 1763, Prussia was confirmed in the
possession of Silesia, took rank as a great Power, and became definitely
the rival of Austria in German politics.

In 1765 Joseph II. succeeded to the imperial crown, becoming at the same
time co-regent with his mother of the Austrian hereditary dominions. He
joined with Russia and Prussia in the first partition of Poland (1772).
He was succeeded by his brother Leopold, who, having died in 1792, was
succeeded by his son, Francis II., who joined in 1793 in the second
partition of Poland. He took the command of his army against the French
in 1794, concluded the peace of Campo Formio with Bonaparte (1797);
joined the second coalition against France in 1799, and concluded the
treaty of Lunéville (1801).

In 1804 Francis took the title of hereditary emperor of Austria,
renouncing two years later that of head of the German Empire, which,
indeed, had ceased to exist, owing to the conquests of Napoleon. The
latter’s secularization of the ecclesiastical states, overthrow of
Austria at Austerlitz (1805) and of Prussia at Jena and Auerstädt
(1806), and formation of the Confederation of the Rhine, completed the
extinction of the Holy Roman Empire.

=The German Confederation.=--The states of Germany were again united by
the treaty of Vienna (1815), in a confederation called the German
Confederation (_der Deutsche Bund_). In 1818 a general commercial
league, called the Zollverein was projected by Prussia, and was
gradually joined by most of the German states, exclusive of Austria.
Revolutionary outbreaks caused great disturbances in various German
states in 1830 and 1848, particularly the latter. The German Diet was
restored in 1851 by the efforts of Prussia and Austria, who were
latterly rivals for the supremacy in the confederation.

=Beginning of Bismarck’s Power.=--In 1861 William I. succeeded to the
throne of Prussia, and the conflicts between the liberals and his
ultra-reactionary government led in 1863 to the entrance into the
ministry of Otto von Bismarck, who soon after became its president and
the minister of foreign affairs. On the death of Frederick VII. of
Denmark, Prussia and Austria disputed the claims of Christian IX., his
successor, to the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, and the war which
followed (1864) resulted in the cession of Schleswig-Holstein, and
Lauenburg to those powers jointly.

By the treaty of Gastein, Austria and Prussia agreed to a joint
occupation of the Elbe duchies; but to prevent collision it was judged
prudent that Austria should occupy Holstein, and Prussia Sleswick.

=Contest Between Prussia and Austria.=--Already a difference of policy
had begun to show itself. Prussia was believed to have the intention of
annexing the duchies; while Austria began to favor the claims of Prince
Frederick of Augustemburg. In the meantime, both nations were making
ready for the struggle; and Italy, looking upon the quarrel as a
precious opportunity to strike a blow for the liberation of Venetia, had
secretly entered into an alliance with Prussia.

On July 3, 1866, was fought the decisive battle of Sadowa, in which the
Austrians were routed. Not till the victorious Prussians had pushed
forward towards Vienna was a truce obtained through the agency of the
Emperor of the French, the Peace of Prague (August 20). Italy, though
more than half-inclined to stand out for the cession by Austria of the
Trentino, as well as Venetia, reluctantly agreed to the armistice
(August 12).

A brief campaign sufficed for the defeat of the minor states of Germany
that had joined Austria, viz.: Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and
Hesse-Darmstadt; and, after peace had at last been arranged, some of
them were forced to submit to a certain loss of territory.

=Independence of Austria and Union of Germany.=--The war completed the
dissolution of the Confederation, and secured the reconstruction of
Germany on an entirely new basis. Austria was excluded from Germany, and
a new confederation, the North German, was formed of the states north of
the Main, under the headship of the king of Prussia. Schleswig-Holstein,
Hanover, Hesse-Cassel, Nassau, and Frankfort were incorporated with that
kingdom. Efforts to secure a further consolidation were opposed by the
South German states, but the final solution of the question was at
length brought about by France, whose demands resulted in the War of
1870. (See under France.)

In this war Germany acquired Alsace and a part of Lorraine, and south
Germany now waived any further opposition to a consolidation of all the
German states under the leadership of Prussia.

=Restoration of the German Empire.=--On December 3 the king of Bavaria
invited the king of Prussia to restore the dignity of German emperor.
Most of the other states gave their assent and the North German
Reichstag on December 10 adopted a motion for the establishment of the
German empire under the king of Prussia. On January 18, 1871, the
restoration of the imperial dignity was solemnly proclaimed by William
I. at Versailles.

Subsequently the empire was largely organized under the vigorous
administration of Prince Bismarck. The parliament of the new empire soon
met at Berlin, and adopted the new constitution. The main result of his
foreign policy was a cordial alliance with Austro-Hungary; an alliance,
in 1872, between the emperors of Germany, Austria and Russia, in which,
subsequently, Italy took the place of Russia, forming what is known in
European politics as the Triple Alliance.

In domestic affairs many difficulties were encountered. With the birth
of the new Empire commenced the long struggle of Prince Bismarck with
the Papacy. The Jesuits were expelled in 1872, and in 1873 the famous
“Falk Laws” imposed secular restrictions on all ecclesiastical
appointments. The strict enforcement of these laws led to intense
discontent and ill-feeling among Catholics. The contest ended with the
grant of many concessions and the confession by Prince Bismarck in 1887
that his policy was practically changed. The democratic movement known
as Socialism, aiming at the regulation and organization by the State of
labor and production, grew rapidly in strength and importance, and
inaugurated an era of “labor policy” by legislation compelling employers
to institute a system of insurance in favor of their work-people, since
followed by the adoption of an important state-aided scheme of insurance
against death and old age.

In 1888 Emperor William I. died, and the premature death, after a reign
of three months, of the beloved Crown Prince, who succeeded him as
Frederick III., disappointed the hopes of those who had anticipated a
Liberal policy on the part of the Crown.

=Accession of William II.=--His son and successor, William II., took a
strong view of his functions as emperor and king. His reign was
immediately characterized by the further development of the labor policy
inaugurated by Prince Bismarck. The emperor was not, however, generally
in accord with the views of the great Chancellor, whose resignation was
accepted in 1891.

Caprivi now became chancellor, and managed to negotiate a series of
commercial treaties, in 1892-1894, with the countries of Central Europe
(Austria, Belgium, Switzerland, Italy), and later with Servia and
Roumania, the purpose of which was to lower the import-duty on corn on
condition that the foreign states favored German manufactures. These
treaties at once induced the peasants to combine and in 1893 a great
agricultural union was formed, called the _Bund der Landwirte_, with
which an older association, the _Deutsche Bauernbund_, almost
immediately coalesced.

=Commercial and Colonial Expansion.=--But the great features of recent
German history have been the growth of German trade and commerce, the
great colonial expansion in Africa and Polynesia, and the rapid increase
of her navy.

[Illustration: =MONUMENT OF VICTORY, BERLIN=

Erected in the Königs Platz at the conclusion of the Franco-Prussian war
of 1871. It consists of a circular temple surrounded with a colonnade of
sixteen pillars, standing upon a square base or pedestal, and surmounted
by a cylindrical shaft bearing a colossal gilt bronze Victory, winged
and holding a wreath. The total height is one hundred and ninety-four
feet. It may be ascended by an interior staircase. Upon the base are
elaborate reliefs of the various campaigns commemorated.]

In 1905 Germany intervened to disturb the French policy in Morocco,
resulting in a conference of the powers interested at Algeciras. In 1911
Germany again intervened by sending a warship to Agadir for the
protection of German property and German subjects. The action occasioned
a complication of the European situation, and all but resulted in war.
Germany’s claim for territorial compensation was not entertained by
France, and Great Britain, as ally of France, claimed the right to be
consulted if territory were to be conceded. The net result, after months
of diplomatic intercommunication, was a readjustment of frontiers. (See
German Colonial Possessions.)

The history of the German Empire since 1914 is chiefly that of the
leading Teutonic power in the great European war of 1914-1917.

[Illustration: =ST. PETER’S, ROME=

St. Peter’s is the largest church in the world, covering two hundred and
forty thousand square feet. It cost over sixty million dollars, took one
hundred and seventy-six years to build; contains many vast and beautiful
chapels, tombs of the popes, many paintings by great masters, and
sculptures by Bernini, Michaelangelo, Canova and Thorwaldsen.]

KINGDOM OF ITALY

  Modern Italy occupies the central of the three great peninsulas of
  southern Europe, together with Sicily, Sardinia, and some smaller
  islands. The peninsula, which at the Strait of Otranto approaches
  within less than fifty miles of Albania, is bounded west and south
  by that portion of the Mediterranean known as the Tyrrhenian Sea,
  east by the Adriatic, and north by the Alps, separating it from
  France, Switzerland and Austro-Hungary. The frontier with France is
  estimated at three hundred and seven miles; with Switzerland at four
  hundred and seven miles; and with Austria at four hundred and
  sixty-six miles. Its greatest length is seven hundred and ten miles;
  the breadth ranges from three hundred and fifty-one miles in the
  north to about twenty between the Gulfs of St. Eufemia and
  Squillace, but in most places is about ninety or one hundred miles.
  The seaboard of the peninsula extends to two thousand two hundred
  and seventy-two miles.

=Mountains and General Configuration.=--On the northern frontier the
Alps sweep round in a mighty arc from Nice to Trieste, running out in
places into Piedmont, Lombardy, and Venice. For the most part they rise
steep and abrupt, except where their wall is pierced by long, deep
valleys; and some of the loftiest peaks in the system, including Mont
Blanc and Monte Rosa, belong to this mountain-girdle.

The highest mountain entirely within the kingdom is Gran Paradiso, the
culminating point of the Graian Alps, in Piedmont. Between the Alps and
the Apennines spreads the broad fertile Lombardo-Venetian plain, a
nearly level country, which differs altogether in character from the
peninsula to the south, and for a long period was politically distinct
from it. Most of this great alluvial tract, which fills nearly the whole
of northern Italy, belongs to the basin of the Po; it is irrigated by
numerous streams and canals, and is one of the most fruitful and
flourishing districts of Italy.

This great northern plain--generally but a few feet above
sea-level--round which the Alps rise like a wall, is believed to have
been at one period an extension of the Adriatic Gulf, which has been
gradually filled up with rich alluvial soil worn down from the steep
sides of the mountains by the snow-fed torrents.

=The Apennines.=--The form of all the more strictly peninsular part of
Italy is given by the central range of the Apennines, which extends
continuously through its length from the maritime Alps of France, round
the head of the Gulf of Genoa, down to Cape Spartivento in the extreme
south. The Apennines have their highest part, called the Gran Sasso
d’Italia, “the great rock of Italy,” near the center of the long range.
The slopes of these heights to the sea, northeast and southwest, are so
short as to allow of only small rivers.

Nearly parallel with the southern part of the Apennine range, and
westward of it, there appears a more recent chain of isolated volcanic
heights. Chief of these, on the peninsula, is the cone of Vesuvius,
which rises abruptly from the Campagna of Naples, above the old cities
of Herculaneum and Pompeii, buried by its lava streams and ashes. North
of Rome, in this volcanic region, the round lakes of Bolsena and
Bracciano occupy the craters of old volcanoes. Carrying the line
southward, across the Tyrrhenian Sea, we come to the volcanic group of
the Lipari Islands, with the ever-active volcano of Stromboli; and
farther on to Mount Etna, in Sicily, the highest of European volcanoes.
Almost all the rest of Sicily, not volcanic, is covered with mountains
of moderate elevation, the main line of which extends along the northern
side of the island from east to west as if in continuation of the course
of the Apennines across the narrow Straight of Messina.

=Islands and their Surface.=--The island of Sardinia, separated from
Corsica by the Strait of Bonifacio, one hundred and fifty miles long
from north to south, is for the most part mountainous, especially along
the eastern side, in the middle of which rises the granitic Mount
Gennargentu.

The island of Elba, famous as the place of Napoleon’s exile, between
Corsica and the peninsula, eighteen miles long, is high, its western
part being formed by Mount Capanne, which rises to three thousand three
hundred and twenty-three feet. Capri, south of the Bay of Naples, where
the Emperor Tiberius passed the last ten years of his life, and Caprera,
Garibaldi’s home, on the north coast of Sardinia, are other noteworthy
islands.

=Rivers and Coast Waters.=--The principal rivers are fed from the Alpine
lakes. The Po, which descends from Monte Viso, on the western frontier,
and, as it sweeps across the plain, receives the contributions of
numerous important streams, ranks for its volume of water among the
notable rivers of Europe. It is navigable for three hundred and twenty
out of its four hundred and twenty miles, and several of its tributaries
are also navigable. Many of the Po’s tributaries spread out at the foot
of the Alps.

The province of Venice, to the north and east of the Po, is traversed by
the Adige, Brenta, Piave and Tagliamento.

Along the coast of the Adriatic, north and south of the Po delta, there
exist large tracts of salt water, known as lagoons, in a flat and marshy
district. They are separated from the sea by narrow banks of sand in
which are inlets, so that the lagoons serve as harbors. The chief of
these is that in which Venice is situated. It extends over nearly forty
miles from Torcello in the north to Chioggia and Brondolo in the south.
The other coast-line of northern Italy is formed by a narrow strip of
land, closed in by the steep, abrupt rocks of the Apennines, and known
as the Italian Riviera.

The Arno, next to the Tiber the most considerable river of central
Italy, rises on Mount Falterona, an offset of the Apennines, at four
thousand four hundred and forty-four feet above sea-level, and
twenty-five miles north of Arezzo. It flows one hundred and forty miles
westward to the sea, eleven miles below Pisa. At Florence it is four
hundred feet wide, but is fordable in summer.

The Tiber, the chief river of central Italy, and the most famous in the
peninsula, rises in a dell of the Tuscan Apennines, eleven miles north
of the village of Santo Stefano, whence it winds two hundred and sixty
miles, and enters the Mediterranean by two branches, which enclose the
Isola Sacra. Towns on or near its banks are Perugia, Orvieto, Rome and
Ostia. It is navigable for boats of fifty tons to the confluence of the
Nera, one hundred miles from its mouth. The Tiber is supplied mainly by
turbid mountain-torrents, whence its liability to sudden overflowings.
Its waters, too, are still discolored with yellow mud, as when the poet
Horace described it.

=Lakes.=--To the south of the Alps, in the north of Lombardy and Venice,
lie the beautiful Italian lakes, Lago di Garda, Maggiore, Como, Lugano,
and Orto.

LAKE OF COMO, the Lacus Larius of the Romans, is generally considered
the most beautiful of the group. It is about thirty-six miles long, and
its greatest width is three miles. Its shores are studded with
picturesque villages and charming villas, with a background of forest
and mountains, some of which are seven thousand feet high. The loveliest
point is Bellagio, where the lake divides into two arms. Cadenabbia, on
the western shore opposite Bellagio, is also a pleasant place.

Como, at the other extremity, is a thriving town of twenty-five thousand
inhabitants, the birthplace of Pliny the Younger and of Volta. The
cathedral is one of the best in Northern Italy.

LAKE OF LUGANO, between Como and Maggiore, though much smaller than
either, is scarcely their inferior in the loveliness of its scenery. It
lies at the southern foot of the Alps, eight hundred and eighty-nine
feet above sea-level. Its length is fourteen and one-half miles; average
breadth one and one-quarter miles; area nineteen and one-half square
miles; maximum depth nine hundred and fifteen feet, and average depth
two hundred and forty-six feet.

LAKE MAGGIORE (_Madjō´ray_), the largest of the Italian lakes, is about
forty-five miles in length, averages three miles in breadth, lies six
hundred and forty-six feet above sea-level, and has a maximum depth of
one thousand two hundred and fifty feet. The river Ticino flows through
it. In a southwestern expansion of the lake are the Borromean Isles. On
the Isola Bella is the large palace built by Count Vitaleo Borromeo
about a century ago, with terraced gardens, fountains, grottoes, etc.,
all very elaborate and artificial.

LAKE GARDA, a beautiful, clear lake, lies between Lombardy and Venetia,
its northern end extending into the Austrian Tyrol. Situated two hundred
and twenty-six feet above sea-level, it has an area of one hundred and
fifteen square miles, a greatest length of thirty-five miles, a breadth
of two to eleven miles, and a maximum depth of nine hundred and
sixty-seven feet. The surface is studded with many islands. It is
drained by the Mincio, a tributary of the Po. The mild climate and the
beauty of the vicinity have caused its shores to be lined with villas.

=Climatic and Landscape Features.=--The north of Italy has the excessive
climate of the temperate region of continental Europe; in the central
parts of the peninsula the climate becomes more genial and sunny, and to
the south almost tropical. The plain of Lombardy, with an average
temperature of fifty-five degrees Fahrenheit, has winters which are as
cold as those of the Scottish lowlands, and the lagoons of Venice have
been frozen over; but its summers are as hot as those of Rome or Nice.
The changes are few; rain lasts for weeks together in autumn, but in
summer the blue sky is never clouded except when a violent thunder and
hailstorm occurs.

About Florence the winters are much milder, with the same summer heat,
and this difference between the seasons decreases still more to
southward.

The summer of the Campagna of Rome, when a heat mist rises over the
plain, is almost unbearable; in January the sky is blue, the mornings
may be frosty, and fresh spring air blows over the land; in March the
trees are already leafy, and in June the harvest begins; in July
everything withers under the excessive heat, till the autumn rains
revive the land.

In Naples and South Italy the sky is cloudless for months together, and
the air is so pure that distant plains appear to be close at hand.

The chief faults of the Italian climate are the cold mountain winds
called the Tramontana, like the mistral of south France, and the Bora of
the north Adriatic, and, in contrast, the hot Sirocco, which
occasionally blows from the African deserts, besides the malaria of the
western coast marshes and of the Venetian lagoons.

Round the lakes at the base of the steep southern slope of the Alps,
Mediterranean forms of vegetation appear; the chestnut reaches up to two
thousand five hundred feet; above that comes the belt of beeches and
oaks, still higher the pine woods, then the pretty alpine plants and
high pastures. Scarcely any part of the world is so covered with
irrigating canals as the highly cultivated plain of Lombardy, so that
the whole of it appears like a great garden. At the northern base of the
Apennines the Mediterranean flora of laurels and myrtles, cork oak and
cypress, covers the first slopes; above that groups of oaks appear, then
beech woods and the extensive summer pastures which reach all over the
Apennine range. The Apennines have no permanent snows, but their highest
summits are frequently snow-clad between October and May, and send down
cold breezes into the warm valleys.

In Sicily the vegetation takes an African character, and many tropical
forms flourish; it is not a well-wooded island, but forests occur here
and there.

=Riviera= (_Ree-vee-ay´ra_ “seashore”), is a term applied to the narrow
strip of coast-land bordering the Gulf of Genoa, strictly from Nice to
Spezzia, but generally understood to include the whole coast of the Alps
Maritimes, and the Italian coast as far as Leghorn.

West of Genoa, and extending into France, it is called the Riviera di
Ponente, or western coast, and beyond Genoa the Riviera di Levante, or
eastern coast. From Hyères to Genoa is two hundred and three miles; from
Genoa to Leghorn one hundred and twelve miles. Sheltered on the north by
mountains, the district enjoys an exceptionally favored climate, no
other region north of Palermo and Valencia being so mild in winter.

The western section is the mildest and most frequented. It abounds in
the most striking and beautiful scenery, and is planted with numerous
health and fashion resorts--Nice, Monaco, Mentone, Ventimiglia, San
Remo, Bordighera, etc.; and west of Nice are Hyères, Fréjus, Cannes,
Gresse, Antibes.

The famous Corniche (Ital. _Cornice_) road, widened by Napoleon I.,
leads along the Mediterranean coast from Nice to Genoa, and commands
magnificent views.

=Products and Industries.=--Of the whole surface of Italy it is
estimated that eighty-three per cent is suitable for cultivation. The
greatest proportion of agricultural land, however, lies in the great
plain of Lombardy and the Campagna Felice of Naples. Notwithstanding
this, the supply of corn grown in Italy is not sufficient for its wants,
and more is imported from Russia, Egypt and North America. Maize and
wheat afford the staple food of the lower classes, as polenta and
macaroni.

=Agriculture and Stock-Raising.=--A sixth of the area of the kingdom is
covered with wood or bush, the island of Sardinia having the largest
forests of all the kingdom--the districts of Lake Como, of southern
Tuscany, and Genoa, being the best wooded parts of the mainland. The
olive grows all over peninsular Italy, and enormous quantities of oil
are produced, much being exported.

All parts of the country are suited to vine-growing. Most wine, however,
is made in south Italy and Sicily. Most horses are bred in Lombardy,
where cattle are also numerous on the dairy farms, which supply enormous
quantities of cheese. Tuscany has most sheep; Sicily the finest mules
and asses; Umbria the greatest number of swine. Coral fishers go out
from Naples, Leghorn (Livorno), and Genoa to the coasts of the Balearic
Isles and of Algeria and Tunis in large numbers.

=Minerals.=--The most important mineral product of Italy is the sulphur
of Sicily; iron is widely distributed, but is obtained in most
considerable quantity in Lombardy and Liguria; lead is an important
product of Tuscany; sea salt of the vicinity of Cagliari, the chief town
of the island of Sardinia. Famous pure white marble is quarried at
Carrara and Massa, on the northwest coast-land of Tuscany.

=Manufactures.=--The zenith period of Italian manufactures, when Milan
was famous for its wool-workers, Venice for its dyes, Florence for its
cloth, has long since passed away, and in this respect Italy now
occupies a low position.

Silk-growing, spinning, and weaving it, is now the most important
branch, and in this the towns of Lombardy--Bergamo, Como, Milan,
Turin--take the lead, followed by those in the plain round Naples, and
by Catania and Palermo in Sicily. Glass-making has also fallen from its
old position; the works at Intra, on Lake Maggiore, and the manufacture
of beads and mosaics at Venice, are, however, still very important.
Porcelain is made chiefly at Milan and Florence; straw hats at Vicenza,
in Venetia, and in Tuscany, whence they come to us as Leghorn hats, from
the port at which they are shipped.

=People and Language.=--The present Italian people have arisen from a
perfect chaos of races. The ancient Ligurians of Iberian race and the
Umbrians of the north were joined, from an unknown quarter, by the
strange people called Etruscans or Tuscans by the Romans, who exercised
such an immense influence on European civilization. The Greeks peopled
the south, and held Sicily along with the Phœnicians; the Romans spread
out from the center of the peninsula to extend their conquests far
beyond its limits; then the Goths and Franks poured in from the north,
and after them the Longobards, who gave their name to Lombardy. The
Savoyards and Waldenses of the valleys of Piedmont along the French
border appear to be of Gallic descent. Insular Sardinia was free from
the irruptions of the northern people, but came under the influence of
the Greeks, the Arabs, and then of the Spaniards.

Here, as in France and Spain, the Roman language endured and prevailed
over all others, and now the people of Italy have one language and
literature, the Italian, descended from the Latin. Its dialects show
traces of the mixture of nationalities, but the Tuscan has now become
classic, for the great writers, like Dante and Boccassio were Tuscans.

=Religion.=--The Roman Catholic Church is reorganized as the state
church, but toleration is granted to all creeds. Over ninety-seven per
cent of the population is Roman Catholic. By the Act of 1871 the rank of
the Pope as a sovereign prince is recognized, the Vatican and Lateran
palaces and the papal villa at Castel Gandolfo having the privilege of
exterritoriality. Protestants number about sixty-six thousand, which
include some twenty-two thousand Waldensians; and there are about
thirty-eight thousand Jews, and about two thousand five hundred members
of the Greek Orthodox Church.

=Education= is controlled by the state under a minister of public
instruction, assisted by a council. Primary education is free and
compulsory, and the state also maintains, partly or wholly, secondary,
technical schools, and the universities. There are thirteen
universities. Private schools may not be opened without state
authorization.

=Cities.=--The largest city is Naples. Rome is the capital. Milan,
Turin, Palermo, Genoa, Florence, rank next. There are four others with
about one hundred and fifty thousand, and twenty-three towns over fifty
thousand.

=ROME=, the “city of the seven hills,” contains more objects of interest
than any other city in the world. It is situated mainly on the left or
east bank of the Tiber, about fifteen miles from its mouth. The river,
which has here an average breadth of two hundred feet, is spanned by
eleven bridges in its course from north to south through the city.

=The Seven Hills.=--On the left bank rise the famous seven hills of
ancient Rome, which, from north to south, are the Aventine, Cœlian,
Palatine, Capitoline, Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal. These hills rise
from eighty to one hundred and twenty feet above the river and the
intervening valleys.

[Illustration: =VIEW OF ROME FROM ST. PETER’S=]

The Royal Palace and chief public offices are upon, or adjoin, the
Quirinal Hill. The Aventine and the Cœlian are, in large part, not built
upon. The Esquiline and Viminal are modern industrial quarters. The
Palatine, with the Forum below it on the east, are covered with
important ancient ruins. The Capitoline, crowned by the Capitol, the
most imposing of the hills, the center of ancient life and worships,
has, apart from the new monument of Victor Emmanuel, suffered little
change since the sixteenth century.

=Mediæval and Rome= occupies chiefly the plain, known as the Campus
Martius of ancient times, nearer the river, and on the slopes of the
Pincian Hill, to the north, extending thence eastward to the Quirinal
and Viminal. The smaller part of Rome, on the right or west bank,
comprises the Borgo, or district, containing St. Peter’s, the Vatican,
the Castle of St. Angelo, and the Janiculum Hill, to the north, with the
Trastevere quarter, to the south.

The entire city is surrounded by a wall fourteen miles in circuit, with
thirteen gates, the wall on the left bank being substantially identical
with Aurelian’s Wall, built in the third century; while the Leonine Wall
round the Borgo was extended in the early sixteenth century.

=Modern Features and Districts.=--The business part of the city occupies
the plain on the bank between the hills and river, traversed by the Via
del Corso, the principal thoroughfare in Rome, about a mile in length,
leading from the Porto del Popolo to the foot of the Capitoline Hill,
where is situated the great National Monument to Victor Emmanuel. From
the Piazza del Popolo two great streets diverge on either side of the
Corso, the Via di Ripetta to the right, skirting the Tiber, and to the
left the Via del Babuino, leading to the Piazza di Spagna, whence the
Scala di Spagna, the resort of artists’ models, ascends to the Pincian
Gardens, on the site of the gardens of Lucullus, which command a
splendid view of the city, and form the fashionable drive and promenade.

Of the new streets the most important are the Via Venti Settembre, the
Via Cavour, and the Via Nazionale. The older foreign quarter lay at the
foot of the Pincian, around the Piazza di Spagna, but the healthier
sites on the slopes and summits of the Quirinal and Esquiline are now
more frequented.

Rome abounds in open Squares (_Piazzas_) adorned with fountains,
obelisks, or statues. Eleven Egyptian obelisks still ornament the
gardens and piazzas of Rome, brought by Augustus and others. That in the
Piazza of St. John Lateran, one hundred and four feet in height, is the
largest in existence. It was erected at Thebes by Thothmes III., and
removed by Constantine to the Circus Maximus. The triumphal arches of
Septimius Severus, of Titus, and of Constantine are still conspicuous.
Of the bridges over the Tiber, three are ancient.

The antiquities are legion, some of the most interesting are clustered
within the area from the Colosseum to the crest of the Capitoline Hill.

[Illustration: =SITE OF THE FORUM OF TRAJAN=

The Forum consisted of three parts: the forum proper, the huge Basilica
Ulpie, and the temple of Trajan, with it colonnaded inclosure. It was
once the grandest building in Rome. Trajan’s Column, still standing, is
a Roman Doric column of marble, on a square basement, the total height,
exclusive of the present statue of St. Peter, being one hundred and
twenty-seven and one-half feet. The entire shaft is occupied by vigorous
and lifelike reliefs ascending in a spiral, representing Trajan’s
campaigns. The reliefs contain about two thousand five hundred human
figures, besides those of animals and inanimate objects.]

=Famous Architectural Edifices, Ancient and Modern.=--The remains of
ancient Rome have suffered severely from the vandalism and the neglect
of past centuries, but they are now carefully preserved. The Forum, in
some places nearly forty feet below the present street level, has been
in great part excavated, and near it are many vestiges of by-gone Roman
splendor, including columns, arches and ruins of temples.

ROMAN FORUM.--In remote times, the marshy ground which later became the
site of this famous Forum served as _neutral territory_ whereon both the
Romans (who occupied the Palatine Hill), and the Sabines (who occupied
the Capitoline Hill) could meet. Gradually it became a market-place and
an exchange, till, at length, all the important business of Rome and of
the Empire came to be concentrated in and about the Forum.

A portico was built around the Forum, the first story being devoted to
shops and the second to offices for the collection of taxes. After some
centuries, these were destroyed by fire, when various basilicas and
temples were erected in their places. The Forum existed as such till the
eleventh century, A. D., when it was totally destroyed by Robert
Guiscard. Becoming then a waste, the rubbish of the city was thrown
there until the entire space was filled to the depth of twenty-four feet
and the location and names of the ancient buildings lost. In the revival
of learning, in the sixteenth century, interest began to be awakened in
the ruins of ancient Rome, and, in 1547, excavations of the Forum were
commenced, under Paul III., which, with much irregularity have continued
to the present day.

[Illustration: =ARCH OF SEPTIMIUS SEVERUS=

An arch in the Roman Forum, dedicated 203 A. D., in commemoration of
victories over the Parthians. It is of Pentelic marble, with a central
arch and two side arches, flanked by four Corinthian columns on each
face. There are panels over the side arches and a frieze above all with
reliefs of Roman triumphs.]

[Illustration: =ARCH OF CONSTANTINE=

Built in 312 A. D. in honor of Constantine’s triumph over Maxentius.
Much of its abundant sculpture was taken from the destroyed church of
Trajan.]

The most conspicuous remains of the Forum are the columns of the Temple
of Saturn, the temples of Castor and Pollux and of Vesta, and on its
northern side the arch of Septimius Severus, the Curia, the Basilica
Æmilia, and the temples of Antoninus and Faustina and of Romulus. In the
middle of the eastern part rose the temple and forum of Julius Cæsar.
The more ancient and famous forum from which Cicero spoke was at the
western end.

The latest excavations in the Roman Forum, including the stele and black
stone of Romulus, the Basilica Æmilia, the Chapel of Santa Maria
Antiqua, and the House of the Vestal Virgins, are of extraordinary
interest.

It was traversed by the _Via Sacra_, a winding road which led from the
southern gate of Rome to the Capitol, and was the route by which
triumphal processions passed to the Temple of Jupiter. The Arch of Titus
was at its summit. The great blocks of lava with which this road was
paved still, for the most part, remain.

Beyond it stands the great Column of Trajan, one hundred and twenty-four
feet in height, with spiral bas-reliefs representing scenes from
Trajan’s campaigns against the Dacians, forming the most instructive
historical monument in Rome.

=Palaces and Art Collections.=--THE VATICAN PALACE, the residence of the
pope, adjoining St. Peter’s, enjoys along with the Lateran the privilege
of “exterritoriality.” The massive building, said to include eleven
thousand apartments, contains the finest extant collection of ancient
sculpture, with many celebrated statues, a rich gallery of paintings, a
famous library, and other collections, besides the Sistine Chapel,
adorned with frescoes by Michaelangelo and other masters, and the Stanze
and Loggie, with paintings by Raphael and his contemporaries.

[Illustration: =VATICAN PALACE AND GARDENS=]

[Illustration: =THRONE ROOM OF THE POPE, VATICAN PALACE=]

THE QUIRINAL PALACE, another huge pile on the hill of that name, is
occupied by the king. In the Piazza del Quirinale are two famous marble
groups of Horse-Tamers.

THE VILLA UMBERTO PRIMO, formerly Borghese, outside the Porta del
Popolo, is noted for its beautiful grounds, which are a favorite
promenade connecting with that on the Pincian Hill by an embankment and
bridge opened in 1908. The Casino contains the picture-gallery formerly
in the Palazzo Borghese. It is now an important National Museum, and is
arranged according to schools. Among the masterpieces are Titian’s
Sacred and Profane Love, Raphael’s Entombment, Correggio’s Danaë, etc.

THE PALAZZO BARBERINI, built by Urban VIII., is a large and magnificent
structure, but chiefly notable for a small picture-gallery, the gems of
which are Raphael’s Fornarina, and Guido’s Beatrice Cenci. The library
contains seven thousand manuscripts, many of which are rare.

VILLA MEDICI (_ma´de-che_), was built in 1540, south of the Pincio, for
Cardinal Ricci. About 1600 it came into the possession of the Medici
family, and afterward into that of the grand dukes of Tuscany. Galileo
was confined there 1630-1633. The French Academy of Art, founded by
Louis XIV., was transferred to it in 1801, and it has a fine collection
of casts.

PALACES OF THE EMPERORS.--On the western side of the Forum Romanum rises
the Palatine Hill, its summit covered with the substructures of the
Palaces of the Emperors, the Houses of Augustus, of Tiberius, of Livia,
of Caligula, of Domitian, and of Hadrian. Most magnificent of all is the
Palace of Septimius Severus, rising in seven stages of massive masonry,
which form a southern extension of the Palatine Hill.

Besides these imperial palaces, the Palatine included a magnificent
Stadium, the most perfect in existence, imperial reception halls,
several temples, with gardens, baths, barracks for soldiers, and a
basilica or hall of justice, in which St. Paul must have pleaded before
the emperor.

The Golden House of Nero, built on the opposite side of the Forum, and
occupying the greater portion of the Oppian Hill, was demolished to make
room for the Colosseum and the Baths of Titus.

THE COLISEUM (or Colosseum), originally called the Flavian Amphitheatre,
was begun by Vespasian in A. D. 72, and dedicated by Titus eight years
later. It was built for gladiatorial exhibitions and for the combats of
wild beasts. It is the largest structure of the kind ever built, being
capable of seating from forty to fifty thousand spectators. Though
scarcely a third of the original edifice remains, it is by far the most
imposing monument of antiquity that the Imperial City has to show.

THE PANTHEON is the most perfect of the ancient buildings in Rome. It
was built B. C. 27 by M. Agrippa, and restored by Septimius Severus and
Caracalla about A. D. 202, and has suffered much since. The vast round
walls of brick, twenty feet thick, were once covered with marble. The
portico (now below, but once above, the square) has sixteen huge
monolithic columns of Oriental granite, thirty-nine feet high, with
Corinthian capitals of famed beauty. Statues of Augustus and Agrippa
once stood here. The circular interior is very impressive, and is
lighted from a place twenty-eight feet across in the center of the dome,
open to the sky.

This unrivalled dome is one hundred and forty feet high and one hundred
and forty feet across. The gilded bronze roof-tiles were carried to
Constantinople in 655; and all the other bronzes were used in making
cannon for the citadel and the canopy in St. Peter’s. The seven niches
in which statues of the gods stood are now occupied by altars. Raphael
is buried here, near his betrothed, Cardinal Bibiena’s niece; and here
is the tomb of King Victor Emmanuel of Italy.

THE CAPITOL, which is one hundred and sixty feet above the sea level and
is best approached by the grand staircase known as La Cordonnata. At its
foot are two lions of Egyptian porphyry; at its head the ancient
colossal statues of Castor and Pollux. Beyond these on either side are
the sculptures misnamed “the Trophies of Marius” and the statues of
Constantine and his son from the Baths of Constantine on the Quirinal.
The open space here is the Piazza del Campidoglio, the ancient
Intermontium, where Brutus harangued the people after the murder of
Cæsar. In the center is the celebrated statue of Marcus Aurelius, “the
only perfect ancient equestrian statue in existence.” It owes its
preservation to the fact that it was long supposed to be a statue of
Constantine. On the right is the Palace of the Conservatori, on the left
the Museum of the Capitol, both designed by Michaelangelo; between the
two, occupying the third side of the square, is the Palace of the
Senator, on the site of the ancient Tabularium. The fountain at the foot
of the stairs is adorned with statues of river-gods, the Tiber and the
Nile. The tower contains the great bell which is rung only to announce
the opening of the carnival or the death of a pope.

THE CAPITOLINE MUSEUM contains some of the most famous sculptures
extant, as the Dying Gladiator, the Venus of the Capitol, the Faun of
Praxiteles, the Antinous, etc. There is also the rich collection of
busts and statues of Roman emperors and empresses, statesmen,
philosophers, etc., “perhaps the most interesting portrait gallery in
the world.”

[Illustration: =VILLA UMBERTO PRIMO (FORMERLY VILLA BORGHESE), ROME=

Has art collections considered only second in importance to that of the
Vatican, and, despite the removal of many works, the number of really
great paintings retains for the collection its old pre-eminence.]

[Illustration: =THE MAGNIFICENT VILLA MEDICI, ROME=]

=Famous Churches.=--Ancient Rome contained about three hundred temples,
and modern Rome has about as many churches, eighty of which are
dedicated to the Virgin. St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, S. Maria
Maggiore on the top of the Esquiline, S. Paolo fuori le Mura (“outside
the walls”), perhaps the most gorgeously decorated church in Rome, and
S. Lorenzo fuori le Mura are the five Patriarchal churches, to one or
other of which all believers throughout the world are supposed to
belong. With Santa Croce in Gerusalemme and S. Sebastiano, they make up
the famous “Seven Churches of Rome” frequented by pilgrims. They are
also unsurpassed in their rich architectural and art interests.

ST. PETER’S, adjoining the Vatican, perhaps the most famous and
certainly the largest church in the world, has an area nearly twice that
of St. Paul’s in London, while its dome rises to the height of four
hundred and three feet.

Many architects were concerned in the building of the Cathedral of St.
Peter, but the principal credit is assigned to Bramante, the creator of
the design, and to Michaelangelo, whose chief work is the dome. To the
spectator, approaching from the Piazza di San Pietro, the majesty of the
dome is lost behind the façade, erected at the instance of Pope Paul V.
at the end of the nave lengthened by him in order to work out the idea
of a Latin cross; the design of Bramante was a Greek cross.

[Illustration: =CHURCH OF ST. JOHN LATERAN, ROME, THE MOTHER CHURCH OF
CHRISTENDOM=]

The building was commenced in 1506, but was not completed until 1626;
the total cost of erection was about fifty million dollars, and its
maintenance absorbs annually about forty thousand dollars.

It covers about eighteen thousand square yards; the length is two
hundred and thirty-two yards, of the transept one hundred and fifty
yards; height of the nave one hundred and fifty-one feet; height of the
dome from the pavement to the summit of the lantern four hundred and
four feet; to the summit of the cross four hundred and thirty-four feet.

Besides the high altar there are twenty-nine other altars; the high
altar being immediately over the Tomb of St. Peter. Round the Confessio
are ninety-five lamps, always lighted. The bronze statue of St. Peter,
on white marble, under a canopy, is by a pillar; the right foot of which
is worn smooth by the kisses of worshipers.

ST. JOHN LATERAN. (It. _San Giovanni in Laterano_), adjoining the papal
palace of the Lateran, claims to be the mother-church of all
Christendom. It was originally named from the Roman family Lateranus.
Beside it are its ancient Baptistery and a building enclosing the Scala
Santa, brought from Pilate’s palace in Jerusalem in 326.

Many other of the Roman churches contain treasures of art or are
interesting for their structure or history. S. Maria Sopra Minerva is
the only ancient Gothic church in the city. S. Pietro in Vincoli
contains Michaelangelo’s famous statue of Moses; and S. Maria delle Pace
Raphael’s beautiful frescoes of the Sibyls. The Gesù is the chief church
of the Jesuits. San Carlo al Corso is the fashionable church.

=Roads.=--The roads leading out of Rome beyond the Servian Walls were
bordered by tombs, many of which, on the erection of the Aurelian Wall,
were included within the city. The most famous of these celebrated roads
was the:

APPIAN WAY (called Regina Viarum) was begun B. C. 312 by Appius
Claudius, and ran to Capua, and afterwards to Brindisi, forming main
route to southern Italy, Greece and Egypt. There are beautiful views all
along, of Campagna, aqueducts, and Alban Mountains.

[Illustration: =APPIAN WAY=

A famous Roman military road, the skill with which it is taken through
difficult country, over hills, ravines, and marshes, is remarkable.
Horace, in his first satire, describes a journey along it, and St. Paul
came this way into Rome (Acts xxviii. 15).]

On Via Appia are Catacombs of S. Calixtus, with tombs of St. Cecilia and
many second and third century popes and martyrs, and seventh-century
Byzantine paintings. A quarter of a mile beyond is very ancient S.
Sebastiano Church under which are extensive catacombs. On a hill still
beyond stands the famous Tomb of Cæcilia Metella, round, sixty-five feet
in diameter, and in thirteenth century a tower of now vanished castle of
the Gaetani. Beyond, the Way is bordered by ancient tombs on either
side, and the old Latin pavement is the road-bed.

At Trivoli is Hadrian’s Villa (Villa Adriana) an extensive ruin, with
the gardens covering about 170 acres.

[Illustration: =POPE PIUS X. IN THE BED IN WHICH HE DIED=

(_Picture by Cav. G. Felici_)]

[Illustration: =PROCLAMATION OF POPE BENEDICT XV.= (Cardinal della
Chiesa) =IN FRONT OF ST. PETER’S, ROME= (_From a Painting_)]

=Florence= (Lat. _Florentia_ Ital. _Firenze_), one of the most famous of
Italian cities, is situated fifty miles from the sea, in the valley of
the Arno, and is built on both sides of the river, but chiefly on the
north. The outlying suburbs are singularly beautiful, and are surrounded
by finely wooded hills, bright with gay villas and charming gardens. The
old city itself is characterized by a somber grandness, and is full of
fine buildings of historic and artistic interest.

The chief building in the city is the Duomo, or Cathedral, the
foundations of which were laid with great solemnity in 1298; but not
until 1887 was the completed façade uncovered. The church contains
sculptures by Ghiberti, Luca della Robbia, Michælangelo, Sansovino,
Bandinelli, and other famous artists.

At the side of the cathedral springs up the light and elegant Campanile,
detached, according to the custom of the times. In front is the
Baptistery in the form of an octagon, supporting a cupola and lantern.
Three bronze gates in basso rilievo are a great additional adornment of
the Baptistery; the two by Ghiberti have been immortalized by
Michælangelo, with the name of Gates of Paradise.

The church of the Santa Croce, the Pantheon of Florence (built in 1294),
contains monuments to Galileo, Dante, Macchiavelli, Michælangelo,
Alfieri and others.

Among the numerous palaces Il Bargello, long a prison, but now restored
and opened as a national museum, is one of the most ancient.

The Palazzo Vecchio, the seat of the republican government from its
establishment till its abolition in 1530, is an imposing mass of
building. Adjoining the palace is the Piazza della Signoria, a square
containing a fine collection of statues, and a noble arcade, the Loggia
dei Lanzi.

The Uffizi Palace is a handsome building adjoining the Palazzo Vecchio,
founded by Cosmo I. On the second floor is contained the famous
Florentine gallery of art. A splendid apartment, known as the Tribuna,
contains the rarest treasures of the collection.

The Pitti Palace, formerly the grand-ducal residence, boasts of a superb
gallery of paintings. Behind it are the beautiful Boboli Gardens royal.
The Strozzi Palace is a fine type of Tuscan architecture.

Florence is the city of Dante, Petrarch, Michaelangelo, Leonardo da
Vinci, Boccaccio, Machiavelli, Galileo and many more of Italy’s great
men, and has a history of exceptional interest. It is an educational
center, and carries on a trade in straw-plaiting and silk, sculptures,
jewelry, and exquisite mosaics in rare stones.

=Genoa= (Ital. _Genova_), is situated on the Mediterranean gulf of the
same name, at the foot of the Apennines, and is an important seaport. By
rail it is eight hundred and one miles southeast of Paris, one hundred
and seventy-one miles northeast of Marseilles, and ninety-three miles
southwest of Milan. The slopes of the hills behind the city down to the
shore are covered with buildings, terraced gardens, and orange and
pomegranate groves; while the bleak summits of the loftier ranges,
rising still farther back, are capped with strong forts, batteries, and
outworks.

While strikingly grand as viewed from the sea, and so far worthy of
being entitled “Genoa the Superb,” is in reality built awkwardly on
irregular rising ground, and consists of a labyrinth of narrow and
intricate lanes. Of the palaces the most famous are the former palace of
the doges, now the meeting-place of the senate; and the Doria, presented
in 1529 to the great Genoese citizen Andrea Doria. Foremost among the
churches stands the Cathedral, a grand twelfth-century pile in the
Italian Gothic style. The marble Municipal Palace and the palace of the
Dogana must also be mentioned.

To Columbus and Mazzini, Genoa’s most famous sons, there are fine
monuments.

It is the commercial outlet for a wide extent of country, of which the
chief exports are rice, wine, olive-oil, silk goods, coral, paper,
macaroni and marble. The principal industrial establishments of the city
embrace ironworks, cotton and cloth mills, macaroni-works, tanneries,
sugar-refineries, and vesta-match, filigree, and paper factories. Genoa
benefited greatly by the opening of the St. Gothard Railway.

=Milan= (_me-lan´_, _mil´an_. Ital. _Milano_, _mee-lah´no_), the capital
of Lombardy, is one of the largest and wealthiest cities of Italy. It
was an important town under the Romans, was sacked by Attila in 452,
totally destroyed by Frederic Barbarossa in 1162, and has figured
prominently in more recent history.

The city, nearly circular in shape, is surrounded on three sides by
walls, has a circuit of nearly eight miles, and is entered by fourteen
gates.

Of the numerous churches the magnificent Gothic Cathedral is the most
famous. It is second only to St. Peter’s and Seville Cathedrals in size
and was built principally during the period 1386-1500. After many delays
and interruptions, work was resumed under Napoleon I. in 1805, but is
not yet fully completed. The façade has recently been restored. It is
cruciform, with double aisles and transept-aisles, separated by
fifty-two pillars, each twelve feet in diameter, with niches crowded
with statues. Interior four hundred and seventy-seven feet long, one
hundred and eighty-three feet wide and one hundred and fifty-five feet
high. It contains six thousand statues, a pavement of marble mosaic,
vast granite monoliths, superb stained windows, many tombs of magnates,
St. Carlo Borromeo’s wooden crucifix and gorgeous tomb, and life-size
silver statues of saints. The wonderful marble roof is studded with
ninety-eight Gothic turrets, hundreds of pinnacles, and over two
thousand life-size marble statues.

Of the other churches S. Maria delle Grazie (fifteenth century), partly
the work of Bremante, was originally an abbey church, and the refectory
in the rear contains Leonardo da Vinci’s celebrated fresco of the Last
Supper, which, in 1909, was successfully restored.

The Brera Palace (twelfth century), formerly a Jesuit college, has now a
great gallery of paintings by Raphael, Da Vinci, Luini, Mantegna, the
Bellinis, Titian, Vandyck, and others, an academy of art, a collection
of casts, the magnificent monument of Gaston de Foix, the National
Library, an archaeological museum, and an observatory.

The colonnade of Victor Emmanuel Gallery is the finest arcade in the
world, and was built in 1865-1867 at a cost of one million six hundred
thousand dollars. It is nine hundred and sixty feet long, forty-eight
feet wide, ninety-four feet high, surrounded by handsome shops, richly
frescoed, and adorned with statues of Raphael, Galileo, Dante, Cavour,
and twenty other famous Italians. The octagon under the dome (one
hundred and eighty feet high) is brilliantly lighted at night, when it
forms a favorite promenade.

On the adjacent Piazza della Scala is Leonardo da Vinci’s monument, and
the massive Municipal Palace. The Arch of Peace, built of white marble,
commemorates the exploits of Napoleon. The Della Scala Opera House is
the second in size (after San Carlo at Naples) in Italy; and the Milan
conservatoire is the most famous school of music in Europe.

Beccaria, Manzoni, the popes Pius IV. and Gregory XIV. were natives of
Milan. The city now carries on a vast trade, much increased since the
opening of the Gothard railroad, in raw silk, cotton, grain, rice, and
cheese, and manufactures silks, velvets, gold, silver, and iron wares,
railroad carriages, tobacco, porcelain, electrical apparatus, and is an
active center of the printing trade.

=Naples= (Ital. Napoli _nä´pō-lē´_).--The capital of the province of
Naples has a lovely situation within the bend of Naples Bay, spreading
from the foreshore back upon wooded hills and rising terraces, behind
which lie the snow-clad Apennines. To the east lies the old town with
its historic Via di Roma and narrow crowded thoroughfares; the newer
portion to the west is more spaciously laid out, and much has been done
in recent years over the whole city to improve the sanitation and water
supply. The National Museum, rich in Pompeii relics, the University,
the National Library, the Cathedral and the four mediæval gateways are
the chief architectural features.

Large quantities of wine, olive-oil, chemicals, perfumery, etc., are
exported, while woolen, silk, linen, glove and other factories carry on
a good home trade.

Naples became incorporated in the kingdom of Italy in 1861 after the
Bourbon dynasty had been swept away by Garibaldi.

[Illustration: =RUINS OF POMPEII, ITALY=]

POMPEII (pron. _Pom-pay’yee_), once a Greek seaport at the mouth of the
Sarnus, is fifteen miles south of Naples; it fell into the possession of
Rome about 80 B. C., and was converted into a watering-place, “the
pleasure haunt of paganism.” The Romans erected many handsome public
buildings, and their villas and theaters and baths were models of
classic architecture and the scenes of unbounded luxury. The streets
were narrow, provided with sidewalks, the walls often decorated with
paintings, and the number of shops witnesses to the fashion and gaiety
of the town. A terrible earthquake ruined it and drove out the
inhabitants in A. D. 63; they returned and rebuilt it, however, in a
tawdry and decadent style, and luxury and pleasure reigned as before
till in A. D. 79 an eruption of Vesuvius buried everything in lava and
ashes. The ruins were forgotten till accidentally discovered in 1748;
since 1860 the city has been disinterred under the auspices of the
Italian Government, and is now a favorite resort of tourists and
archæologists.

[Illustration: =BEAUTIFUL SORRENTO, ITALY=]

HERCULANEUM, so called from the local worship of Hercules, was situated
at the northwestern base of Mount Vesuvius, five miles east of Naples.
In 63 A. D. it was seriously injured by a violent earthquake, and, in 79
A. D., buried, along with Pompeii and Stabiæ, by the memorable eruption
of Vesuvius. In 1738 systematic excavations were commenced, the chief
building explored being the theater, which has eighteen rows of stone
seats, and could accommodate eight thousand persons; part of the Forum
with a colonnade, two small temples, and a villa have also been
discovered, and from these buildings many beautiful statues and
remarkable paintings have been obtained.

In 1880 ruins of extensive baths were brought to light. Among the
art-relics of Herculaneum, which far exceed in value and interest those
found at Pompeii, are the statues of Eschines, Agrippina, the Sleeping
Faun, the Six Actresses, Mercury, the group of the Satyr and the Goat,
the busts of Plato, Scipio Africanus, Augustus, Seneca and
Demosthenes--mostly now in the National Museum at Naples.

[Illustration: =VIEW OF THE CAMPANILE AND PALACE, VENICE, FROM THE GRAND
CANAL=]

=Palermo= (_pä-ler’mō_), capital of the province of Palermo, Sicily, a
seaport on the Bay of Palermo, at the foot of Monte Pellegrino, is
picturesquely situated in the midst of a beautiful and fertile valley
called the Golden Shell. It is a handsome town, with many public
buildings and nearly three hundred churches in Moorish and Byzantine
architecture, a university, art school, museum, and libraries.

The industries are unimportant, but a busy trade is done with Britain,
France and the United States, exporting fruits, wine, sulphur, etc., and
importing textiles, coal, machinery and grain.

[Illustration: =VISTA ON THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE=]

=Sorrento= (_sōr-ren’tō_), a town in the province of Naples, beautifully
situated on the Bay of Naples, sixteen miles south-southeast of Naples,
is a favorite watering-place; was noted in antiquity for its wines; and
was the birthplace of Tasso.

=Turin= (Ital. Torino _tō-re’nō_).--Capital of the province of Turin,
Italy, is situated on the Po, near its junction with the Dora Riparia.
It is regularly built, with many squares and broad streets; is the seat
of important trade for northern Italy; has varied manufactures; and is
rapidly growing. It contains a university, cathedral, castle (Palazzo
Madama), royal palace (with the royal armory and library), Palazzo
Carignano (former seat of Parliament, now containing collections in
natural history), palace of the Academy of Sciences (with a museum of
antiquities and picture-gallery), monument of Cavour, etc. Victor
Emmanuel and Cavour were born there.

[Illustration: =ST. MARK’S CATHEDRAL AND CAMPANILE FROM THE PLAZA=]

Turin was the ancient capital of the Taurini (whence the name); was
captured by Hannibal in 218 B. C.; and has played an important part in
the history of Europe. It figured prominently in the national movements
of the nineteenth century, and was the capital of the kingdom of Italy
1859-1865.

=Venice= (_ven’is_ Ital. _Venezia_), capital of the province of Venice,
is situated in the Laguns (lagoons) in a bay of the Adriatic. Now Venice
covers more than seventy-two islets, or rather mud-banks, its
foundations being piles (“time-petrified”) and stone. Through its two
unequal portions winds for over two miles the Grand Canal, spanned by
the Rialto Bridge (of stone) and two others (of iron), and into it flow
one hundred and forty-six lesser canals, all bridged at frequent
intervals. This vast network of waterway is patrolled by countless
gondolas, while the pedestrian has his choice of innumerable lanes
(calli). A railway viaduct, two and one-eighth miles long, connects
Venice with the mainland.

The Piazza di San Marco, a square five hundred and seventy-six feet long
and one hundred and eighty-five to two hundred and seventy feet wide,
paved with gray trachyte and white Istrian marble, surrounded by
time-stained marble palaces and St. Mark’s Church is the picturesque
center of Venetian life, especially at evening, when the bands play, and
the cafés are crowded by thousands. Flocks of fat pigeons have been fed
here by the city daily for seven hundred years. Palaces enclose three
sides and the palace arcades are occupied by cafés and bric-à-brac
shops.

Of its public buildings the following are the principal: the Ducal
Palace, standing on the site of a former official residence of the
Doges, which was burned in 976. Besides its painted ceilings and walls
there are many pictures by the Italian masters; the Academy of Fine Arts
whose twenty rooms are filled with some of the finest works of the Old
Masters. Its principal churches are St. Marco, St. Giorgio Maggiore, and
Sta. Maria della Salute, are all most highly decorated with frescoes,
mosaics, and carvings, besides containing many world-famed pictures. The
Campanile of St. Marco has been rebuilt since its fall, on July 14,
1902, after standing a thousand years. The palaces of the nobility on
the Grand Canal and other canals contain priceless collections of
pictures. The Arsenal contains many models of the old Venetian ships,
armor, collections of weapons, and spoils of war.

Venice was noted for its textile manufactures as early as the fifteenth
century; the principal manufactures at the present time are tapestry,
brocades, Venetian laces, wood carving, artistic wrought-iron work,
jewelry, bronzes, machinery, and clocks, and at Murano glass and glass
beads.

=Italian Seaports.=--The chief seaports of Italy after Genoa, “the
Superb,” which is the busiest of all, are in order round the
coast--Livorno, or Leghorn, the port of Tuscany and Florence; Civita
Vecchia, the port of Latium; Naples, with Castellamare on the south side
of its bay; Messina, on the Sicilian side of the Strait named after it,
with one of the finest harbors in Europe, beside the eddy which was
feared as the whirlpool of Charybdis in ancient times; Palermo, “la
Felice,” in the vale of the Golden Shell, on the north coast of Sicily;
Catania, on the east coast of the island. Coming round to the Adriatic
coasts we reach the port of Brindisi, a notable point in the most direct
route from western Europe to Egypt and the East. The most important line
of railway in Italy, that leads from the plain of Lombardy all down the
east side of the peninsula, has the port of Brindisi as its objective
point. Farther north in the middle of this coast is Ancona, the port of
the Marches. Lastly we come to Chioggia and Venice, the city of canals
and bridges, described above.

HISTORY OF ITALY

  The ancient history of Italy will be found under Rome. The modern
  history begins with 476 A. D., when Odoacer, chief of the Herulians,
  a German tribe who had invaded the country, was proclaimed king of
  Italy. After a reign of twelve years he and his followers were
  overpowered by the Ostrogoths under Theodoric the Great. The
  Ostrogoths were in turn subdued by Byzantine troops, and Italy came
  under the dominion of the Eastern emperors, who ruled through an
  exarch residing at Ravenna.

THE LOMBARDS.--In 568 the Lombards (Langobardi), a German people
originally from the Elbe, led by their king, Alboin, conquered the Po
basin, and founded a kingdom which had its capital at Pavia. The kingdom
of the Lombards included Upper Italy, Tuscany and Umbria, with some
outlying districts. But on the northeast coast, the inhabitants of the
lagoons still retained their independence, and in 697 elected their
first doge, and founded the republic of Venice.

Ravenna, the seat of the exarch, with Romagna, Rimini, Ancona, and other
maritime cities on the Adriatic, and almost all the coasts of Lower
Italy, remained unconquered, together with Sicily and Rome. The slight
dependence of this part of Italy on the court of Byzantium disappeared
almost entirely in the beginning of the eighth century.

RISE OF PAPAL POWER.--The power of the pope, though at first recognized
only as a kind of paternal authority of the bishop, grew steadily in
these troubled times, especially in the struggle against the Lombard
kings. In consideration of the aid expected against King Astolphus, Pope
Stephen III. (754) not only anointed the king of the Franks, Pepin, but
appointed him patrician or governor of Rome. In return Pepin presented
the exarchate of Ravenna, with the five maritime cities, to the pope,
thus laying the foundation of the temporal power of the Holy See. At the
invitation of Pope Hadrian I. Charlemagne made war upon Desiderius, the
king of the Lombards, took him prisoner in his capital, Pavia (774), and
united his empire with the Frankish monarchy. Italy, with the exception
of the duchy of Benevento and the republics of Lower Italy, thus became
a constituent part of the Frankish monarchy, and the imperial crown of
the West was bestowed on Charlemagne (800).

PORT OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE.--On the breaking up of the Carlovingian
empire, Italy became a separate kingdom, and the scene of strife between
Teutonic invaders. At length Otto the Great was crowned emperor at Rome
(961), and the year after became emperor of what was henceforth known as
the Holy Roman Empire.

During the following centuries the towns and districts of North and
Middle Italy gradually made themselves independent of the empire, and
either formed themselves into separate republics or fell under the power
of princes bearing various titles. A large part of Middle Italy at the
same time was under the dominion of the popes, including the territory
granted by Pepin, which was afterwards enlarged on several occasions.

VICISSITUDES OF SOUTHERN ITALY.--In southern Italy there were in the
time of Charlemagne several independent states. In the ninth century
this part of the peninsula, as well as Sicily, was overrun by Saracens,
and in the eleventh century by Normans, who ultimately founded a kingdom
which embraced both Lower Italy and Sicily, and which though it more
than once changed masters, continued to exist as an undivided kingdom
till 1282. In that year Sicily freed herself from the oppression of the
then rulers, the French, by the aid of Pedro of Aragon, and remained
separate till 1435. It was again separate from 1458 to 1504, when both
divisions were united with the crown of Spain. With Spain the kingdom
remained till 1713, when Naples and Sicily were divided by the Treaty of
Utrecht, the former being given to Austria, the latter to the Duke of
Savoy. In 1720 they were again united under Austria, but in 1734 were
conquered from Austria and passed under the dominion of a separate
dynasty belonging to the Spanish house of Bourbon.

MEDIÆVAL ITALY.--The history of mediæval Italy is much taken up with the
party quarrels of the Guelfs and Ghibellines, and the quarrels and
rivalries of the free republics of Middle and Upper Italy. In Tuscany
the party of the Guelfs formed themselves into a league for the
maintenance of the national freedom under the leadership of Florence;
only Pisa and Arezzo remained attached to the Ghibelline cause. In
Lombardy it was different, Milan, Novara, Lodi, Vercelli, Asti, and
Cremona formed a Guelf confederacy, while the Ghibelline league
comprised Verona, Mantua, Treviso, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio, Modena, and
Brescia. Commercial rivalry impelled the maritime republics to mutual
wars. At Meloria the Genoese annihilated (1284) the navy of the Pisans,
and completed their dominion of the sea by a victory over the Venetians
at Curzola (1298.)

INFLUENCES OF NAPOLEON.--Up till the time of the Napoleonic wars Italy
remained subject to foreign domination, or split up into separate
republics and principalities. The different states were bandied to and
fro by the changes and intrigues of war and diplomacy between Austria,
Spain and the House of Savoy. During the career of Napoleon numerous
changes took place in the map of Italy, and according to an act of the
Congress of Vienna in 1815 the country was parcelled out among the
following states:--(1) The Kingdom of Sardinia, consisting of the island
of Sardinia, Savoy, and Piedmont, to which the Genoese territory was now
added. (2) Austria, which received the provinces of Lombardy and
Venetia, these having already been acquired by her either before or
during the time of Napoleon. (3) The Duchy of Modena. (4) The Duchy of
Parma. (5) The Grandduchy of Tuscany. (6) The Duchy of Lucca. (7) The
States of the Church. (8) The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. (9) The
Republic of San Marino. (10) The Principality of Monaco.

STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENT NATIONALITY.--The desire for union and
independence had long existed in the hearts of the Italian people, and
the governments at Naples, Rome, Lombardy, and other centers of tyranny
were in continual conflict with secret political societies. The leading
spirit in these agitations in the second quarter was Giuseppe Mazzini.

The year of revolutions, 1848, opened with a street massacre by the
Austrians in Milan, on January 2. In February, 1849, the French Republic
was declared, and then in Italy the party of Mazzini was for a moment
supreme, when Charles Albert abdicated in favor of his son Victor
Emmanuel. Meanwhile the pope had been driven from Rome, and a Roman
republic had been established under Mazzini and Garibaldi, the leader of
the volunteer bands of Italian patriots. Rome was, however, captured by
the French, who came to the aid of the pope (July, 1849), who resumed
his power in April, 1850, under the protection of the French, and the
old absolutism was restored. Similar attempts at revolution in Sicily
and Naples were also crushed, but the secret societies of the patriots
continued their operations.

ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRESENT KINGDOM.--In 1859, after the war of the
French and Sardinians against Austria, the latter power was compelled to
cede Lombardy to Sardinia, and in the same year Romagna, Modena, Parma,
and Piacenza were annexed to that kingdom, which was, however, obliged
to cede the provinces of Savoy and Nice to France. In the south the
Sicilians revolted, and supported by a thousand volunteers, with whom
Garibaldi sailed from Genoa to their aid, overthrew the Bourbon
government in Sicily. Garibaldi was proclaimed dictator in the name of
Victor Emmanuel. In August Garibaldi crossed to Naples, defeated the
royal army there, drove Francis II. to Gaeta, and entered the capital on
the 7th September. Sardinia intervened and completed the revolution,
when Garibaldi, handing over his conquests to the royal troops, retired
to Caprera. A plebiscite confirmed the union with Piedmont, and Victor
Emmanuel was proclaimed king of Italy, thus suddenly united almost in
Mazzini’s phrase, “from the Alps to the sea.”

Only Venice and the Papal State now remained to be joined to the new
kingdom. To obtain Venice, Italy joined Prussia in her war against
Austria in 1866; and though the Italians were beaten on land at Custozza
and on sea at Lissa, the triumph of Prussia was so complete that, by the
peace of Prague, Venice was surrendered to Italy.

CONQUEST OF THE PAPAL STATES.--Rome was less easy to secure, because of
the opposition of Roman Catholic opinion throughout Europe. French
soldiers had protected the pope ever since 1849. In 1862 Garibaldi
prepared to make a dash on the Papal States, but the government felt
obliged to stop him. He was surrounded on Mount Aspromonte and taken
prisoner. The withdrawal of the French troops from Rome (1864) was only
procured by a promise to respect the Papal States, and by the
transference of the capital from Turin to Florence.

In spite of the prohibition of the government, Garibaldi made another
attempt on Rome in 1867; but Napoleon sent more French troops, and
Garibaldi was defeated at Mentana, and had to withdraw. It was not till
the fall of the French Empire in 1871 that the Italian government could
act freely. As Pius IX. refused to give up the temporal power, the
Italian government took the capital by force, and Pius withdrew to the
Vatican, where he remained in voluntary confinement, a course followed
by his successor, Leo XIII. (1878-1903), and by the present Pope, Pius
X.

DIFFICULTIES OF CONSOLIDATION.--The consolidation of Italy, since the
formation of the kingdom, has been slow and difficult owing to the great
social differences between northern and southern Italy. The nation, too,
has been ambitious to be recognized as one of the great powers of
Europe, which involves a vast outlay in expenditure.

[Illustration: =MONUMENT TO VICTOR EMMANUEL II., AT ROME. THIS MEMORIAL
IS EMBLEMATIC OF ITALIAN UNITY AND WAS ERECTED AT AN EXPENDITURE OF
$10,000,000.--THE COSTLIEST MEMORIAL IN THE WORLD, AND POSSIBLY THE MOST
MAGNIFICENT=]

In 1878 Victor Emmanuel died, and was succeeded by Humbert I.; Pius IX.
being succeeded by Leo XIII. in the same year. Humbert’s reign was
marked by electoral reform and foreign colonization. Somaliland, along
the northeast coast of Africa, was acquired between 1880 and 1890, and
the dependency of Eritrea was founded in 1882. Italy’s claims to a
protectorate over Abyssinia led to war, which ended in an Italian defeat
at Adowa, 1896, and the restoration of all land to Abyssinia by the
treaty of Adis Abeba.

In 1883 Italy entered the Triple Alliance with Germany and Austria,
largely owing to her distrust of France. In 1900 King Humbert was
assassinated by an anarchist, and was succeeded by his only son, Victor
Emmanuel III. At the beginning of the new century more friendly
relations were secured with France, the Triple Alliance being still
maintained.

In the recent dissensions in Morocco (1906-1911) the government gave its
support to France against Germany, while France acquiesced in Italian
ambitions in Tripoli.

In September, 1911, war broke out between Italy and Turkey in connection
with the rights and privileges of Italian subjects in Tripoli. In
November of the same year the Italian government formally proclaimed the
annexation of Tripoli and Cyrenaica, which was ratified by Turkey in the
treaty of Ouchy in October, 1912. In the Balkan war (1912-1913) Italy’s
sympathies were naturally with the allies against her recent enemies;
the royal family, moreover, is connected with that of Montenegro, Queen
Elena of Italy being the daughter of King Nicholas of Montenegro.

In May, 1915, Italy renounced the Triple Alliance and entered the
European war on the side of Great Britain and France. War was declared
upon Austria-Hungary, and Italian forces dispatched to the Trentino. No
formal declaration of war was made against Germany until Aug. 27, 1916,
subsequently, Italy requisitioned the German steamers interned in
Italian ports.

Early in 1917, an important war conference was held in Rome by
representatives of the Entente allies.

  =Books of Reference.=--Gregorovius’s _History of the City of Rome in
  the Middle Ages_; Sismondi’s _History of the Italian Republics_;
  Symonds’ _Age of the Despots_; Burckhardt’s _Civilization of the
  Renaissance in Italy_; Creighton’s _History of the Papacy During the
  Reformation_; Ranke’s _History of the Popes_ and his _Latin and
  Teutonic Nations_; King’s _A History of Italian Unity_; Stillman’s
  _The Union of Italy_; Orsi’s _Modern Italy_.

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

  Austria-Hungary belongs to the Germanic group of European states,
  because the dominant race is German. The Germans, however, do not
  form so much as a third of its varied population.

  The usual name given to this great empire is Austria, a Latinized
  form of the German _Oesterreich_, meaning “Eastern Kingdom.”

  Since 1867 the empire is composed of a union of two states under one
  emperor, but administratively distinct. The one is Austria, or
  Cisleithania (“on this side the Leitha,” a tributary of the Danube);
  the other, Hungary and the lands of the Hungarian crown, or
  Transleithania. The present article deals with the empire as a
  whole.

=Location and Extent.=--The Austrian dominions form geographically a
compact territory with a circumference of about five thousand three
hundred and fifty miles. The total area is greater than that of any
other European state save Russia, and is nearly twice the area of Great
Britain. The body of the empire lies in the interior of Europe, though
it has about one thousand miles of sea-coast on the Adriatic. Austria
borders on Italy, Switzerland, Bavaria, Saxony, Prussia, Russia,
Roumania, Servia and Montenegro. With the sanction of the Berlin
Congress of 1878, the small territory of Spizza, on the Montenegrin
frontier and formerly Turkish, was incorporated with Dalmatia. The
Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, thenceforward occupied and
administered by Austria, were annexed by proclamation in 1908, and are
now a part of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy.

=Surface Features.=--Austria-Hungary has been termed the “Empire of the
Danube,” since it lies for the most part within the basin of that river,
and embraces the whole of its upper plain, which lies at an elevation of
about three hundred feet above the sea. But it is also, next to
Switzerland, by far the most mountainous land in Europe, no less than
four-fifths of its area being more than six thousand feet above the
sea-level.

On the west, Austria embraces nearly half of the great mass of the Alps
between the plateau of Bavaria and the plain of Lombardy, the mountain
and valley scenery of Tyrol and Salzburg resembling that of Switzerland
on a lesser scale. The highest point of all here is the Ortler Spitze.
An eastern spur of these heights, the Bakony Wäld, runs into Hungary,
compelling the Danube to form a sharp east-to-south bend or knee in its
course. In the northwest the Bohmer Wäld, the Erz, and Riesen Gebirge,
the Sudetic Mountains, and the Moravian heights, enclose the high basin
of the Upper Elbe in Bohemia. Farther east the wooded Carpathians, with
the high outlying granite mass of the Tatra rise round the north of the
Hungarian plain. These are continued by the Transylvanian Alps, which
form the southeastern frontier, next Roumania, and which, with their
northern branch, the Biharia Mountains, enclose the highland of
Transylvania or Siebenbürgen on the east of the Hungarian plain.

=Rivers and Lakes.=--The Danube, entering Austria from Bavaria as a
considerable river, and flowing southeastward over the plain of Hungary,
grows to more than half a mile in width before it leaves the Hungarian
border to descend by the gorge of the Iron Gates into its lower plains.
It is the great highway of the kingdom, and the great outlet to the
Black Sea on the east. (See further under Danube.)

The Save, the southern boundary river of Hungary, and the Drave join the
Danube in the south from the Eastern Alps, up to the base of which both
are navigable.

The Theiss, winding south through the plain of Hungary from its source
in the Carpathians, is its great northern tributary, also navigable, and
so full of fish as to be popularly described as “two-thirds water and
one-third fish.”

The March, from the Sudetic Mountains, corresponds to the Leitha from
the south, forming part of the boundary between Austria and Hungary. The
high basin of Bohemia, as before said, forms the upper basin of the
Elbe, which escapes thence into Saxony.

The head stream of the Oder passes through Austrian Silesia; and the
Vistula, draining like these to the Baltic, has its head streams in the
northern slopes of the Carpathians in Galicia, the eastern portion of
which province, however, drains to the Black Sea by the Dniester.

=Lakes.=--The two large lake basins of the country, which seem to be
remnants of much more extensive inland waters, lie in Hungary between
the Danube and the Drave. The larger, the Platten See or Balaton Lake,
fifty miles long, shallow and stagnant, overflows into the surrounding
marshes only in spring. The Lake of Constance, on the northern margin of
the Alps, and Lake Garda, on the southern, touch upon Austrian
territory.

=Climate and Landscape.=--Though from the variations of elevation the
climates of different parts of Austria-Hungary are very diverse, three
broad divisions may be recognized--(1) the climate of the countries
which lie north of the Carpathian heights, in which the winters are long
and cold, and in which the vine does not flourish; (2) that of the
central plains and slopes of Hungary, favorable to wheat and vines; and
(3) the Mediterranean climate of the Adriatic shores, which yield oil
and silk.

Generally speaking, all the mountainous borders of Austria-Hungary are
forest-covered, the woods occupying a third of the whole surface of
those regions; the great plain of Hungary, on the other hand, is an
open, treeless steppe.

=Peoples and Races.=--Austria-Hungary extends over the area in which
many different races of Europe meet and interlace. Its population
includes Germanic, Slavonic, Magyar, and Romanic elements, with their
various tongues and dialects. The Germanic prevails in the Alpine
regions and in the valley of the Danube in the west, and is widely
mingled with the Slavonic and Magyar in the northern and central parts
of the country.

The Slavs, the most numerous branch, forming about forty-five per cent
of the whole population, appear in two divisions, a northern and
southern; to the northern Slavs belong the Czechs of Bohemia, the
Moravians and Slovaks, Poles and Ruthenians, or Russniaks of Galicia and
Bukowina; to the southern Slavs belong the Slovenes, Croats and
Servians, who occupy the southern border lands of Hungary, between the
Drave and Save, westward to the peninsula of Istria and the Dalmatian
coasts of the Adriatic. The Romanic element appears in the southeast on
the Danube frontier, in southern Transylvania and eastern Bukowina
(Wallachians), and in the southwest, where the Italians prevail in
numbers on the borders of Venetia. The Magyars occupy the central plains
of Hungary. The Szeklers of eastern Transylvania are a branch of the
same family, by some believed to be the descendants of the once
formidable Huns. Among minor elements of population, Jews are numerous
in the northern provinces, Gypsies in Hungary, and Armenians in
Transylvania and Galicia.

=Religion and Education.=--The state religion is the Roman Catholic, and
this is professed by two-thirds of the population; a large proportion on
the eastern borders next to Russia adhere to the Greek Church;
Protestants are most numerous in Hungary and Transylvania, but form only
a tenth part. General education, excepting in German Austria, where the
compulsory system is enforced, is in a very backward state. There are,
however, eleven universities in Austria-Hungary: Vienna, Prague (two),
Budapest, Graz, Innsbruck, Cracow, Lemberg, Czernowitz, Klausenburg, and
Agram.

=Industries and National Resources.=--The occupations of the country
naturally divide themselves between the mining and pastoral industries
of the mountains, and the agricultural and pastoral of the plains.

AGRICULTURE employs by far the largest share of the population; and the
lower lands of Austria-Hungary are among the most fertile portions of
Europe. Oats, rye, barley, wheat, and maize, are the commonest grains;
flax and hemp are widely grown; wines and tobacco chiefly in Hungary;
hops in Bohemia.

HORTICULTURE is carried to great perfection; and the orchards of
Bohemia, Austria proper, Tyrol, and many parts of Hungary produce a
profusion of fruit. Great quantities of cider are made in Upper Austria
and Carinthia, and of plum-brandy in Slavonia. In Dalmatia, oranges,
lemons and a few olives are produced.

In the production of wine, Austria is second only to France. With the
exception of Galicia, Silesia, and Upper Austria, the vine is cultivated
in all the provinces; but Hungary stands first, yielding not only the
finest quality of wine, but four-fifths the total amount produced in the
empire.

ANIMAL PRODUCTS.--The central Hungarian steppes are full of cattle, and
those of the Alpine regions are an exceedingly fine breed. Merino sheep
are carefully reared, especially in Moravia, Bohemia and Hungary. The
river fisheries are important all over the land. The coast fisheries are
of the utmost importance in rocky Dalmatia, where there is little
cultivable land.

MINERALS.--Its mineral wealth is not surpassed in any European country;
it is only lately that Russia has exceeded it in the production of gold
and silver. Mining has been an important pursuit in Austria for
centuries, and has been encouraged and promoted by the government. Gold
is found chiefly in Hungary and Transylvania, and in smaller quantity in
Salzburg and Tyrol. The same countries, along with Bohemia, yield
silver. Quicksilver is found in Hungary, Transylvania, Styria, and
Carinthia. Copper is found in many districts, tin in Bohemia alone.
Zinc is mined chiefly in Cracow and Carinthia. The most productive lead
mines are in Carinthia. Iron is found in almost every province of the
monarchy, though Styria, Carinthia, and Carniola are chief seats.
Antimony is confined to Hungary; arsenic, cobalt, sulphur, and graphite
are produced in various parts of the empire.

The useful earths and building-stones are to be had in great profusion;
likewise marble, gypsum, chalk, etc. Rock-salt exists in immense beds on
both sides of the Carpathians, chiefly at Wieliczka and Bochnia in
Galicia, and in the county of Marmaros in Hungary, and in Transylvania.
Salt is also made at state salt-works by evaporating the water of
salt-springs. There are inexhaustible deposits of coal. Austria has
abundance of valuable mineral springs; about sixteen hundred are
enumerated, some of them of European reputation, as the sulphur baths of
Baden in Lower Austria, the saline waters of Carlsbad, Marienbad,
Franzensbad, Teplitz, etc., all in Bohemia.

MANUFACTURES are most developed in the German portion of Bohemia, in the
districts round Vienna, in Moravia and Austrian Silesia, and in Styria.
The Magyar countries are far behind in this respect and Dalmatia and
Bukowina have scarcely any manufactures at all. Weaving employs the
largest number of hands; next in number come the metal, stone, glass and
wood workers, then the workers in leather. Iron and steel goods are made
in the Alps of Styria. Bohemia has a world-wide reputation for the
manufacture of various kinds of glass, and the Tyrol has long been noted
for the production of carved woodwork. Paper is made chiefly in Bohemia
and in or near Vienna.

=Cities and Towns.=--The most important cities are the capital, Vienna,
and eight other towns above one hundred thousand (Budapest, Trieste,
Prague, Lemberg, Gratz, Cracow, Brün, Szegedin), and twenty-two others
above fifty thousand.

=Vienna= (Ger. _Wien_, pron. _Veen_), the capital of the Austrian
Empire, and (jointly with Budapest) of the dual monarchy, is situated in
Lower Austria, on the Danube Canal, a south branch of the Danube, here
joined by the small river Wien.

CHIEF DIVISIONS.--Vienna proper consists of the Inner City and ten
suburban districts surrounding it, formerly encircled by fortifications
known as the Lines, which in 1892 were replaced by a boulevard, known as
the Ringstrasse. The central point of the city is the Graben, a short
street in the center of the inner city, a pleasant, well-built avenue,
of greater width than usual for streets within the Ring. The Stadt is
the fashionable quarter, where are the imperial palace, the residences
of many of the nobility, the leading churches, museums, galleries, etc.,
and the most elegant shops.

[Illustration: =PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS, VIENNA=]

THE RINGSTRASSE is perhaps not surpassed in its architectural
magnificence by any other street in Europe. Among the most conspicuous
of the public buildings upon it are the Bourse; the University, founded
in 1365 and renowned throughout the world as a medical school, has a
teaching staff of five hundred and some ten thousand students; the new
Rathhaus in the Gothic style, with a tower three hundred and
twenty-eight feet high; the new Court Theater, the extensive and
splendid Houses of Parliament; the Palace of Justice; the twin Imperial
Museums of natural history and of art; the Imperial Opera House,
sumptuous without and within; the Commercial Academy; the Palace of
Archduke William; the Austrian Museum of Art and Industry, and the
School for Art Industry.

Other institutions and buildings of interest are the Polytechnic
Institute (with a Technological Museum); the Deaf and Dumb Asylum,
founded by Maria Theresa; the splendid Public Hospital, the largest in
Europe, and the Josephinum, a medical college founded in 1784,
containing a large collection of anatomical models, etc.

MONUMENTS AND PARKS.--Of the public monuments the most noteworthy are
the equestrian statues of Joseph II., in the Josephsplatz, those of
Archduke Charles and Prince Eugene, and that of Francis I. in the
Hofgarten; the monument of Francis II., in the inner court of the
Hofburg; the grand Maria Theresa monument; the Beethoven and the
Schiller monuments; the Grill-parzer monument, etc. Of the many
beautiful fountains the finest is that by Schwanthaler representing
Austria, with the four rivers, Danube, Elbe, Vistula, and Po.

In the Volksgarten (bordering on the Ringstrasse) is the Temple of
Theseus, modeled after that at Athens, and formerly containing Canova’s
marble Theseus and the Minotaur, which is now in the Imperial Museum of
Art.

[Illustration: =IMPERIAL ART MUSEUM, VIENNA=]

The great park of Vienna is the Prater (four thousand two hundred and
seventy acres), extending for nearly four miles between the Donau Canal
(a narrow arm of the Danube) and the main stream of the river. It was
the site of the Great Exhibition of 1873, some of the buildings of which
are now used for exhibitions, concerts, etc.

[Illustration: =GRAND OPERA HOUSE, VIENNA=]

CHURCHES AND MUSEUMS.--The ecclesiastical center and the historic church
of the city, is St. Stephen’s Cathedral, adjacent to the Graben.

St. Stephen’s is one of the noblest Gothic edifices in Europe. It was
founded in 1147, but was burned in 1258. The present edifice was begun
soon after, but the tower was not finished until 1433. It has recently
undergone extensive restorations, both without and within. The tower is
four hundred and forty-nine feet high. The interior is rich in sculpture
and in monuments; and the carved stalls in the choir and the stone
pulpit are specially to be noted.

The Capuchin Church contains the burial-vault of the imperial family.
The Duke of Reichstadt, son of Napoleon I., lies here among his maternal
ancestors.

In the Minorite Church there is a fine mosaic copy of Leonardo da
Vinci’s Last Supper; also the monument of the poet Metastasio.

[Illustration: =THE IMPERIAL UNIVERSITY, VIENNA=]

The Augustine Church contains Canova’s monument of the Archduchess Maria
Christina, one of his noblest works; and in the Loretto Chapel are the
silver urns that hold the hearts of many members of the imperial family.

The Church of Maria-Stiegen is a Gothic structure of the fourteenth
century restored in 1820, and second in beauty only to St. Stephen’s.

The elegant Karlskirche, or Church of St. Charles Borromeo, was erected
in 1737 in fulfilment of a vow of Charles VI., when the plague raged in
Vienna; it is in Italian style, with two slender spires, one hundred and
forty-five feet high, near the porch.

The Imperial Museums now contain the Picture Gallery, arranged in
schools. It is second only to the Dresden collection, is specially
famous for its unrivaled examples of the Venetian school, Rubens, and
Dürer, the Antiquities, comprising statuary, mosaics, inscriptions,
etc., mostly Austrian; and the Ambras Collection, remarkable for its
ancient armor, ivories and other carvings, etc.

INDUSTRIES.--Vienna is the chief industrial city in the empire.
Machinery, scientific and musical instruments, artistic goods in bronze,
leather, terracotta, porcelain, furniture, meerschaum pipes, etc., are
among the noted manufactures. As a center of trade and finance Vienna is
no less important.

SCHÖNBRUNN, two miles from Vienna, is the seat of the magnificent Summer
Palace of the Emperor, with extensive gardens and pleasure-grounds. From
the marble colonnade of the Gloriette there is a fine view of the city
and its suburbs. In the churchyard is Canova’s monument of Baroness
Pillersdorf.

=Prague= (Ger. _Prag_; Czech _Praha_), the capital of Bohemia, is
situated at the base and on the slope of the hills which skirt both
sides of the isleted Moldau, two hundred and seventeen miles from Vienna
and one hundred and eighteen miles from Dresden. It offers a highly
picturesque appearance from the beauty of its site, and the numerous
lofty towers (more than seventy in number) which rise above the palaces,
public buildings, and bridges of the city.

[Illustration: =STATUE OF THE POET GRILLPARZER IN VIENNA=]

The royal Burg, on the Hradschin (two hundred and forty feet), the
ancient residence of the Dukes of Bohemia, dates mainly now from the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and has four hundred and forty
rooms. The neighboring Cathedral of St. Vitus is still unfinished,
though building was resumed in 1867. Here are the splendid royal
mausoleum and the shrine of St. John of Nepomuk, containing one and
one-half tons of silver. Of forty-seven other Catholic Churches the
chief are the domed Jesuit Church of St. Nicolas, and the Teyn Church
(1407; the old Hussite Church), with Tycho Brahé’s grave, and its marble
statue of the Slavonic martyrs, Cyril and Methodius.

[Illustration: =ROYAL PALACE, SCHÖNBRUNN, NEAR VIENNA=]

Of five bridges and two railway viaducts the most striking is the
Karlsbrücke, five hundred and forty-three yards long, with gate-towers
at either end, and statues of John of Nepomuk and other saints. Other
noteworthy objects are the town hall, the Pulverturm, the new Czech
Theatre, the old Jewish graveyard, the vast Czerni Palace and the
Picture Gallery.

Prague has numerous public gardens and walks, with several noble parks
close by. The manufactures include machinery, chemicals, leather,
cotton, linen, gloves, beer and spirits.

[Illustration: =SALZBURG, AUSTRIA, ONE OF THE MOST CHARMING TOWNS IN
EUROPE, AND BIRTHPLACE OF MOZART AND HAYDN=]

=Salzburg= (_sälts’börg_), is in Upper Austria, twenty-eight miles from
Linz, near the Bavarian frontier, one thousand three hundred and fifty
feet above sea, under some fine hills on the Salzach. It is considered
one of the most beautifully situated towns of Europe. At this point the
river passes between two extensive but isolated masses of rock, one of
which, the Mönchsberg (Monk’s Hill), is crowned by the old citadel,
dating originally from Roman times, but frequently rebuilt. This portion
of the city contains the fine cathedral, with a white marble façade, and
built in imitation of St. Peter’s at Rome.

Its industries are confined chiefly to the manufacture of musical
instruments, marble ornaments.

=Budapest= (_boo´da-pest_; Hung. pron. _boo´do-pesht´_) is the capital
of Hungary, and the second city of the Austrian Empire, consisting of
Buda on the west bank of the Danube, and Pest on the opposite bank.

[Illustration: =ROYAL PALACE AND SUSPENSION BRIDGE, BUDAPEST=]

These twin cities are joined by five bridges: a chain bridge between the
two commercial quarters; the Queen Elizabeth Bridge; the Franz Josef
Bridge; the Margaret Bridge; and a railway bridge.

Buda, the older and formerly the more important of the two parts, stands
on and around two hills. On one stands the royal castle, erected by
Maria Theresa, and a fortress, rebuilt after being destroyed by the
Hungarians in 1849. The palace chapel of St. Sigismund contains the
Hungarian regalia and the hand of St. Stephen. On the Blocksberg, to the
south of this hill, stands the old citadel, while on a lower mound to
the north is the Turkish mosque, built over the tomb of the saint Sheik
Gül-Babas.

Other prominent buildings are the palace of Archduke Joseph, the
residence of the Premier, and of the Minister of National Defense, all
standing in the Georgsplatz, where is also a monument to General Hentzi,
and the thirteenth-century parish church of St. John.

Pest, the more modern city, stands upon a sandy plain with fine quays
along the Danube. The main streets radiate from the Belvaros, which is
enclosed by boulevards replacing the old city walls.

The most notable buildings are the Houses of Parliament and Palaces of
Justice, the Academy of Sciences, containing valuable art collections,
and a fine library, the Bourse, and the Redoute buildings, all on the
Franz Josef Quay; the National Museum Theatre and University on Museum
Street; the Industrial Art Museum, on Ulloi Street; the Royal Military
Academy, in the Orczy Gardens; and the Leopold Basilica on Andrassy
Street, one of the most handsome thoroughfares in Europe. There are a
parish Church, a Greek Church, and a Jewish synagogue, and numerous
parks, including one on Margaret Island in the Danube.

Both towns have valuable baths and sulphur springs, and the united
cities form a large manufacturing center for machinery, spirits, and
tobacco, cutlery and metal-work, glass, etc. The most important industry
is milling, the trade in grain and flour being enormous, and there is
considerable commerce in cattle and swine, honey, wax, bacon and hides,
timber, and coal.

=Salzkammergut= (_Sahltzkammergoot´_), called the Austrian Switzerland,
one of the most picturesque regions of Europe, lies in a district famous
for its salt mines and brine springs, and hence known as the
_Salzkammergut_ (“Estate of the Salt Office”). The scenery combines in
rare beauty the features of valley, mountain and lake. The highest peak
is the Dachstein (nine thousand eight hundred and thirty feet); of its
lakes the most famous are Hallstatt, Traun or Gmünden, Atter, St.
Wolfgang, Aber, Mond, and Zell. The chief seats of the salt-works are
Ischl, Hallstatt, and Ebensee.

[Illustration: =THE GOTHIC POWDER TOWER, PRAGUE=]

=Other Important Places.=--Trieste, the only great seaport of the
Empire, is at the head of its gulf, on the North Adriatic. Pola, near
the southern extremity of the peninsula of Istria, is the chief naval
station of Austria.

Linz, on the Danube, is the seat of a considerable trade. Steyr, on the
river Enns, is noted for its steel and iron industry.

Northern Styria is the center of the Austrian steel and iron industry,
carried on more especially around Leoben. The capital, Graz, is a staple
place for the manufacture of machinery, and one of the most agreeable of
Austrian capitals, and a favorite place of residence.

_Semmering_, an Austrian Alpine pass (three thousand two hundred and
nineteen feet) connecting Vienna with Graz, though the lowest of the
Alpine passes, is traversed by the first railway (1854) to be carried
across the Alps. The viaducts of the Semmering railway, some of them
with several tiers of arches, are among the grandest works of
engineering. The Semmering road begins at Gloggnitz, at an elevation of
one thousand four hundred and twenty-six feet, and is carried along the
face of abrupt precipices over bridges and through tunnels, affording
views of the grandest and wildest scenery en route. This part of the
road is twenty-five miles long, and cost more than seven millions of
dollars.

Innsbruck, on the Inn, is the capital of the Tyrol, the most alpine part
of the monarchy. Its principal rivers are the Inn, in the north, and the
Etsch or Adige, in the south, the mountain range separating them being
crossed by the Pass of the Brenner (five thousand eight hundred and
sixty feet). On the Adige are Botzen, Trent, and Roveredo, the two last
inhabited by Italians.

Reichenberg, in the north, is the center of the textile trades; Teplitz
and Karlsbad, at the foot of the Erzgebirge, are famous watering-places;
Pilsen, in the west, is noted for its beer. Königgrätz and Sadowa, where
the battle was fought which decided the Seven Weeks’ war in 1866, are in
the east.

Brünn is the great center of the Austrian woolen trade; near it is the
old state prison, Spielberg. Olmütz is a strong fortress on the March.

Lemberg and Cracow (the ancient capital of Poland) are the centers of
trade, and the marts for the agricultural produce.

Bukowina is a small duchy at the head of the Sereth and other rivers
falling into the Black Sea, with Czernowitz for its capital. About forty
per cent of the inhabitants are Roumanians.

Pressburg, near the eastern frontier, is the old coronation city;
Komorn, lower down on the Danube, is famous as a fortress; Szegedin, the
chief town on the Theiss, was almost wholly destroyed by floods in the
year 1878.

Fiume, at the head of the Quarnero Gulf, is the chief seaport of
Hungary.

HISTORY OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY

  The empire of Austria arose from the smallest beginnings at the end
  of the eighth century. In 796 a Margraviate, called the Eastern Mark
  (i. e. “March” or frontier-land), was founded as an outpost of the
  empire of Charlemagne, in the country between the Enns and the Raab.
  The name Oesterreich appears first in 996.

=Rise Under the Hapsburgs.=--In 1156 the mark was raised to a duchy; and
after coming into the possession of the House of Hapsburg in 1282, it
began its period of growth toward a powerful state. The princes of that
house extended their dominion by marriage, by purchase, and otherwise,
over a number of other states, including the crowns of Bohemia and
Hungary; and from 1438 down to the nineteenth century they held almost
without interruption the throne of the German empire (nominally “the
Holy Roman Empire”)--the emperor being the most conspicuous, if not
always the most powerful personage among the crowned heads of Europe.

=Hapsburg Power Through Marriage.=--The most pronounced rise of Austria
and of the House of Hapsburg to historical eminence may be said to date
from the reign of Maximilian I. (1493-1519). By marrying Mary, daughter
of Charles the Bold (1477), he acquired possession of the Netherlands.
Through the marriage of their son Philip with Joanna of Spain, the
Houses of Austria and Spain were united.

=Passes to Charles V. of Germany.=--As Philip died in 1506, his elder
son, the celebrated Charles V., became heir to the united monarchies,
and was elected emperor of Germany in 1519. Thus, by a succession of
fortunate marriages, the House of Hapsburg became the most powerful
dynasty in the world.

Charles V., however, resigned all his German territories to his younger
brother, Ferdinand I., who was thus the continuation of the Austrian
branch of the line. Under Ferdinand the power of Austria greatly
increased.

=Division of the Empire.=--In the partition of the inheritance that took
place among Ferdinand’s three sons, the eldest, Maximilian II., received
the imperial crown along with Austria, Hungary and Bohemia; the second,
Ferdinand, Tyrol and Upper Austria; the third, Charles, got Styria,
Carinthia, etc. Maximilian II. was fond of peace, tolerant in religion,
and a just ruler. He died in 1576; and of his five sons, the eldest,
Rudolf II., became emperor.

Rudolf II. was negligent, leaving everything to his ministers and the
Jesuits. His war with the Porte and Transylvania brought him little
credit; and the Protestants of Bohemia, oppressed by the Jesuits,
extorted from him a charter of religious liberty. In 1608 he was obliged
to cede Hungary, and in 1611 Bohemia and Austria, to his brother
Matthias.

Matthias, who became emperor in 1612, ceded Bohemia and Hungary to his
cousin Ferdinand, son of the Archduke Charles of Styria, third son of
Maximilian II. Matthias lived to see the outbreak of the Thirty Years’
war, and died in 1619.

=Ferdinand II. and the Thirty Years’ War.=--Bohemia refused to
acknowledge his successor, Ferdinand II., to whom all the Austrian
possessions had again reverted, and chose the Elector Palatine,
Frederick V., the head of the Protestant Union, as king. This election
gave the signal for the Thirty Years’ war, in which the House of Austria
took the lead, both as the champion of Catholicism, and the head of a
power which aimed at universal domination in Germany and in the
Christian world. The battle of Prague (1620) subjected Bohemia to
Ferdinand, who formally set about rooting out Protestantism in that
country and in Moravia. The emperor also succeeded in extorting
acknowledgment of his sovereignty from the states of Austria; and here,
too, Protestantism, which had made great progress since the time of
Luther, was mercilessly suppressed.

Under Ferdinand’s successor, the Emperor Ferdinand III. (1637-1657),
Austria continued to be a theater of war; and at the peace of Westphalia
(1648) had to cede Alsace to France.

=Leopold I. and the War of the Spanish Succession.=--Ferdinand III.’s
son and successor, Leopold I., provoked the Hungarians to rebellion by
his severity. The struggle between Leopold and Louis XIV. of France for
the heirship to the king of Spain led to the War of the Spanish
Succession, during which Leopold died, in 1705.

His eldest son and successor, the enlightened Joseph I., continued the
war. He died childless in 1711, and was succeeded by his brother,
Charles VI.

=Hapsburg-Lorraine Line of Rulers.=--With the death of Charles VI., in
1740, the male line of the Hapsburgs became extinct, and his daughter,
Maria Theresa, who was married to the duke of Lorraine, assumed the
government. For many years it had been the aim of Charles to secure the
adhesion of the European powers to the Pragmatic Sanction, by which the
possessions of the Austrian crown should pass to Maria Theresa. Those
powers during his lifetime had promised to second his wishes, but he was
no sooner in his grave than nearly all of them sought to profit by the
accession of a female sovereign.

=War of the Austrian Succession.=--A great war arose, in which England
alone sided with Maria. Frederick II. of Prussia conquered Silesia. The
Elector of Bavaria was crowned king of Bohemia, and elected emperor as
Charles VII. in 1742. The Hungarians, however, stood by their heroic
queen, who was soon able to wage a fairly successful war against her
numerous foes. At the death of the empress in 1780, the monarchy had an
extent of two hundred and thirty-four thousand square miles, with a
population of twenty-four millions. The administration of Maria Theresa
was distinguished by unwonted unity and vigor, both in home and foreign
affairs.

Her successor, Joseph II., was an active reformer in the spirit of the
enlightened despotism of the times, though often rash and violent in his
mode of proceeding. He was succeeded in the government by his brother,
the grandduke of Tuscany--as German emperor, Leopold II.--who succeeded
in pacifying the Netherlands and Hungary.

=Austria and the French Revolution.=--At the outbreak of the revolution
in France the fate of Leopold’s sister, Marie Antoinette, and her
husband, Louis XVI. of France, led him to an alliance with Prussia
against France; but he died in 1792 before the war broke out. War was
declared by France on his son, Francis II., the same year, and by the
treaty of Campo Formio, 1797, Austria lost Lombardy and the Netherlands,
receiving in lieu the Venetian territory.

In 1795, at the second partition of Poland, it had been augmented by
western Galicia.

Francis, in alliance with Russia, renewed the war with France in 1799,
which was ended by the peace of Lunéville. It is needless to follow all
the alterations of boundary that the Austrian dominions underwent during
these wars. The most serious was at the peace of Vienna (1809), which
cost Austria forty-two thousand square miles of territory. It was in
1804, when Napoleon had been proclaimed emperor of France, that Francis
declared himself hereditary emperor of Austria as Francis I. On the
establishment of the Confederation of the Rhine, he laid down the
dignity of German emperor, which his family had held for nearly four
hundred years.

The humiliating peace of Vienna was followed (1809) by the marriage of
Napoleon with the Archduchess Maria Louisa, and in 1812 Austria figured
as the ally of Napoleon in his great campaign against Russia, but she
did not give much active assistance. In August of the following year
Austria joined the grand alliance against France and the Austrian
general, Schwarzenberg, was entrusted with the chief command of the
allied forces, which at the battle of Leipzig and in the campaign of
1814 broke the power of Napoleon.

=Congress of Vienna and Subsequent Period of Metternich.=--The
sacrifices and great services rendered by Austria in the gigantic
struggle received full consideration at the treaty of Vienna (1815). As
recompense for the loss of the Netherlands she received Venice and
Dalmatia, which afforded an outlet for her foreign trade.

After that time Austria, under the diplomatic guidance of Prince
Metternich, exerted a powerful influence in European politics generally,
and more especially in the German Confederation, of which her emperor
was president. The death of Francis I. in 1835 made little alteration in
the policy of Austria; Ferdinand I. trod in his father’s footsteps. The
political alliance with Russia and Prussia was drawn closer by a
personal conference of the emperor with Nicholas I. and
Frederick-William III. at Teplitz in 1835.

=Revolution of 1848.=--In Austria, after the fall of Metternich from
power, the revolutionary period of 1848-1849 was one of exceptional
severity, the movement for constitutional freedom being complicated by
the revival of the national spirit in Hungary, Italy and Bohemia. The
time was everywhere ripe for revolt, when the fall of Louis-Philippe of
France (February 24, 1848), gave the signal for the outbreak of the
revolutionary elements all over Europe. Nowhere was the spirit of change
stronger than in Vienna, which for many months became a scene of
confusion.

The leaders of the popular movement in Vienna were in sympathy with
Hungary, and when the imperial troops were ordered to suppress the
national rising there, the citizens again rose in insurrection. In the
meantime the military forces had withdrawn from the capital in order to
prevent the Hungarians coming to the aid of the Viennese. Vienna was now
besieged, and surrendered at the end of October, after a resistance of
eight days.

=Francis Joseph Emperor.=--The reaction was triumphant, and the leaders
of revolt severely punished; but as Ferdinand had not shown sufficient
vigor in the great crisis, he was persuaded to abdicate, and Francis
Joseph was declared emperor at the age of eighteen. Thus restored, the
central authority had now to assert itself in Hungary and to complete
the reconquest of northern Italy. With the surrender of Venice, which
took place in August, the subjugation of Italy was complete.

=Conquest of Hungary.=--In Hungary, the Magyars, though the Germans and
Slavs within the country itself were hostile to them, began the campaign
of 1849 with decided success. But the government had already solicited
the aid of Russia, whose armies, entering Transylvania and Hungary,
added to the imperial cause the irresistible weight of numbers.
Surrounded on every side by superior forces, the Hungarians were
completely beaten. It was in vain that Kossuth transferred the
dictatorship to General Görgei. Görgei, whether from treachery, as the
other Magyar leaders maintained, or from necessity, as he himself
averred, laid down his arms to the Russians at Vilagos (August 13). The
surrender of Komorn, in September, completed the subjugation of Hungary,
which was treated as a conquered country.

The ten years which followed on the revolutionary troubles of 1848 were
a period of reaction and of absolutism. A constitution which had been
granted in 1849 was soon annulled. The policy pursued was one of strong
centralization under a bureaucratic government, by which the claims of
nationality and of freedom were alike disregarded. Liberty of the press
and trial by jury were set aside. A rigorous system of police was
maintained. The aim was to Germanize the whole empire and to crush the
aspirations of both Slavs and Hungarians. The Church pronounced against
national freedom, and supported the central authority and received great
privileges by the Concordat of 1855. The result of all these proceedings
was only to irritate the national feeling in Hungary, Italy and Bohemia.

=Struggle Between Austria and Prussia.=--On the confused arena of German
politics, the struggle for ascendancy was kept up between Austria and
Prussia. In 1850 the two powers were armed and ready to come to blows
with reference to the affairs of Hesse-Cassel; but the bold and
determined policy of Schwarzenberg prevailed, and by the humiliating
arrangement of Olmütz, Prussia gave way. For a few years longer the
preponderance of Austria in the German Confederation was secured.

The rule of Austria in Italy had always been unsatisfactory. From her
own provinces in Venice and Lombardy she controlled the policy of the
courts of central and southern Italy, and her influence tended
invariably towards the suppression of national feeling and popular
liberty.

=Loss of Italian Possessions.=--Sardinia was the only state that
worthily represented the spirit of the Italian people. In the spring of
1859 it began to arm against Austrian supremacy. Austria demanded
immediate disarmament, on pain of war; but Sardinia refused. Austria
accordingly commenced hostilities by crossing the Ticino at the end of
April, 1859. Sardinia having secured the aid of France, the Austrians
were defeated at Magenta, Solferino and elsewhere, and their emperor was
fain to seek an armistice from Napoleon. On July 11 the two potentates
met at Villafranca, and concluded a peace, ceding Lombardy to Sardinia.
Venice was all that still remained of the Italian possessions of
Austria.

=Austro-Prussian War.=--The rivalry of Prussia and Austria for influence
in the Germanic body of states dated from the rise of Prussia to be a
leading power. The arrangement of Olmütz in 1850 had left a painful
feeling of humiliation in the minds of the Prussian statesmen. The long
rivalry was now to be brought to a decisive issue. In 1864 the combined
Prussian and Austrian forces drove the Danes out of Sleswick-Holstein,
but the two victors quarreled about the subsequent arrangements. War was
declared, and in 1866 the Austrian armies in Bohemia were completely
beaten by the Prussians, in a campaign of seven days, which closed with
the great defeat of Königgrätz or Sadowa.

=Period of Reforms.=--After the great war of 1866 the history of Austria
has been concerned chiefly with two important interests. In the first
place, the government had to attempt an arrangement of the conflicting
claims and rights of the peoples constituting the empire; in the second
place, it has had to establish working relations with the great
neighboring powers, Germany and Russia, and especially with the latter,
on the Eastern Question.

=Union of Austria and Hungary.=--Hungary’s claims to be recognized as a
separate and distinct country were now, with great advantage, pressed
forward. In 1867 its political rights were successful in being regarded
as justified. This agreement was the famous Ausgleich, which has since
been in force, and which has to a sufficient degree justified its
adoption.

At the end of 1867 the first parliamentary ministry was formed. The
Concordat was set aside. Education was freed from the control of the
Church. Marriage was placed under the jurisdiction of the civil power.
The press laws were relaxed. Finally, the Prussian system of military
organization was introduced.

In the foreign affairs of Austria the chief aim was to arrive at a
satisfactory understanding with Germany and Russia. After 1871 Bismarck
arranged as between Germany, Austria and Russia a “Three Emperors’
Alliance,” which after the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-1878 was superseded
by an alliance between Germany and Austria. This, by the inclusion of
Italy, in 1882, became the Triple Alliance, which remained in full force
down to the great European war of 1914.

During the Turkish revolution of 1908 Austria-Hungary annexed the
Turkish provinces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which the Treaty of Berlin
had placed under Austro-Hungarian administration and military occupation
in 1878.

=Racial Difficulties Bearing Upon the European War, 1914-1917.=--The
multiplicity of races and their mutual jealousies rendered the task of
the central government in Austria-Hungary both delicate and difficult.
(See Peoples and Races.) Russia, as a Slav nation and a great power, had
long exercised a predominant influence in the Balkans. Acting under this
influence, Servia secretly fostered aspirations in the direction of a
Pan-Slavic propaganda with the apparent object of not only lessening
Austrian influence in the Balkans but of breaking up, through internal
defections, the Austrian Empire; from the accomplishment of this Servia
hoped to profit.

The Slavs are closely allied with Russia. The spread of Pan-Slavism
constituted a menace to the very existence of the Dual Monarchy. The
growth of German and Russian aspirations directed at expansion through
the Balkan States had, therefore, a direct connection with the racial
element of which Pan-Slavism was but one manifestation. As an evidence
of the spread of the doctrine of “Pan-Slavic Unity” and of the
bitterness of the racial antipathy which it engendered, the Austrian
Archduke Francis Ferdinand and his wife, the Duchess of Hohenberg, were
assassinated on June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo, the capital of the Austrian
province of Bosnia. This act led directly to a declaration of war
against Servia on July 28th, followed by an Austrian invasion on July
30th. (Further causes and details of the war will be found under the
European War.)

SOVEREIGNS OF AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.

  The following is a list of the Hapsburg rulers of Austria (Dukes
  and, from 1453, Archdukes of Austria, from 1526, also Kings of
  Hungary and Bohemia, from 1804 Emperors of Austria).

                        HOUSE OF HAPSBURG
   Albert I.                                               1282
  *Rudolf II.                                              1282
  *Rudolf III.                                             1293
   Frederick (III. as rival Imperial claimant)             1307
  *Leopold I.                                              1314
  *Albert II.                                              1314
  *Rudolf IV.                                              1358
  *Albert III.                                             1365
  *Albert IV.                                              1395
   Albert V. (II. as Emperor, King of Hungary and Bohemia) 1404
  *Ladislaus (King of Hungary and Bohemia)                 1439
   Fredrick V. (III. as Emperor)                           1457
   Maximilian I.                                           1493
   Charles I. (V. as Emperor)                              1519
   Ferdinand I.                                            1520
   Maximilian II.                                          1564
   Rudolf V. (II. as Emperor)                              1576
   Matthias                                                1611
   Ferdinand II.                                           1619
   Ferdinand III.                                          1637
   Leopold I.                                              1658
   Joseph I.                                               1705
   Charles II. (VI. as Emperor, III. of Hungary)           1711
  *Maria Theresa.                                          1740
                    HOUSE OF HAPSBURG-LORRAINE
   Joseph II.                                              1780
   Leopold II.                                             1790
   Francis I. (II. as Emperor)                             1792
  *Ferdinand I. (V. of Hungary)                            1835
  *Francis Joseph I.                                       1848
   Charles Francis Joseph                                  1916

  * All except those marked with an asterisk likewise filled the
  throne of the Holy Roman Empire.

THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE

  Russia extends over eastern Europe, the whole of northern Asia, and
  a part of central Asia. This area, which is more than twice as large
  as Europe, and embraces one-sixth of the land-surface of the globe,
  has a population estimated at near one hundred and seventy-four
  millions. The Russian Empire consists of two well-defined parts:
  European Russia less than one-fourth of the whole but including
  nearly three-fourths of its population; and Asiatic Russia. The
  inhabitants of European Russia mostly belong to the Slavic branch of
  the human race.

  The subdivisions are indicated in the following table:

  =======================================+=========+===========
                                         |  AREA   |
              GOVERNMENTS AND            | ENGLISH |POPULATION
                 PROVINCES               | SQUARE  |JAN. 1912
                                         |  MILES  |
  ---------------------------------------+---------+-----------
  _European Russia_:                     |         |
     Russia proper (50 Provs.)           |1,862,524|122,550,700
     Poland (10 Provs.)                  |   49,018| 12,776,100
     Finland (Grand Duchy)               |  144,178|  3,140,100
  _Asiatic Russia_:                      |         |
     Caucasia (11 Provs.)                |  180,703| 12,288,100
     Central Asia (10 Provs. and Regions)|1,325,530| 10,727,000
     Siberia (8 Provs. and Regions)      |4,786,730|  9,577,900
  _Dependencies_:                        |         |
     Khiva                               |   26,028|    800,000
     Bokhara                             |   78,524|  1,500,000
     Inland Lakes                        |  317,468|     --
                                         +---------+-----------
                                         |8,770,703|173,359,900
  ---------------------------------------+---------+-----------

The various sections of European Russia differ greatly from one another,
and have thereby given rise to certain _popular divisions_ that are even
better known generally than the strictly governmental provinces. These,
with their distinguishing features, may be indicated as follows:

_Great Russia_ (Muscovy).--All the central and northern regions to the
Arctic shores. Chief towns: Moscow, Tula.

Except on its outskirts, this region presents everywhere the same
aspects, wide, undulating plains covered with cornfields and dotted with
small deciduous forests. The soil is of very moderate fertility in the
north, but very fertile in the black earth belt of the south.

The Great Russians, numbering about fifty-five millions, are a vigorous
and manly stock, usually rather light-haired, with blue or brown eyes,
well-formed hands and feet, and a serious, kindly, but somewhat crafty,
temperament, an inborn disposition for a wandering life, a very small
regard to the value of time, and (especially in the peasantry) an
extreme carelessness and slovenliness in all details of daily life.

_Little Russia_, or the Ukraine.--In the southwest. Chief town: Kieff.

The little Russians, over twenty-two millions in all, are settled in the
Ukraine, which contains also in the borderlands some twelve per cent of
Jews and six per cent of Poles. Their religion, like their love for
music and poetry and their passion for country life, they share with
their relations on the north and northeast, but in their developments of
folklore and popular song, and in the more feminine character both of
their physique and their intellect, they offer marked peculiarities. The
Little Russians of the Dnieper basin are closely allied to the
Ruthenians of Austria-Hungary.

The Ukraine comprises the governments of Tchernigoff, Kieff, Poltava,
and part of Kharkoff, as well as Volhynia and Podolia on the spurs of
the Carpathians, the richest and most populous parts of Russia. The soil
is mostly a rich black earth, and assumes farther south the aspect of
fine grassy steppes, or prairies, yielding rich crops of wheat.

[Illustration: =PETER THE GREAT IN HOLLAND=

The practical ambition of Peter the Great has probably never been
surpassed by any sovereign in history. He began empire building with his
travels in 1697. It was an unparalleled step for a young sovereign of
twenty-five to take: to withdraw from his kingdom and journey abroad in
order to learn the art of government. He was deeply interested in all
branches of engineering, especially ship-building, which he first
studied in Holland, working as an ordinary laborer in a dockyard. In
1698 Peter went to England to pursue his studies in the theory and
practice of ship construction, which he did by visiting the dockyards of
Woolwich, Chatham, and Deptford.]

_Eastern Russia._--Chief towns: Astrakhan, Kazan, Samara, Saratoff.

This part of the country is more elevated, but less effectively drained;
and vast forests stretch from the upper Volga to the Urals.

The peoples are of Turkish origin and include the Tartars of Kazan; the
Nogai Tartars of the Crimea in the south, and the Kirgiz on the Caspian.
The Bashkirs, Chuvash, and others, in the Ural and Volga, are Tartarized
Finns. The Kalmucks may be taken as the purest type of the Mongols; they
are short, swarthy, broad-shouldered horsemen, black-haired and
black-eyed, the eyes slanting down toward the flat nose.

_South Russia._--Along the Black Sea. Chief towns: Odessa, Nikolayeff,
Kisheneff.

This is chiefly the steppe-region, a belt more than two hundred miles
wide along the littoral of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, and
extends east through the region of the lower Volga and Ural till it
meets the steppes of central Asia.

Here are gently undulating plains, clothed with rich grass and coated
with a thick layer of fertile black earth.

In order to people Bessarabia after its conquest in the eighteenth
century without depriving the Russian landowners of their serfs, several
races of foreigners, as Moldavians, Wallachians (Vlachs), Servians,
Greeks, Germans, and even Scotch, were freely invited to settle there.
The population of the steppe-region exceeds thirteen millions.