A School History of the Great War | Page 5

that the rule of foreigners was opposed
to the national welfare.
By 1870 the union of all Italy into one kingdom was completed. In this
work three great men participated, as well as many lesser patriots. The
first was Garibal´di, a man of intense courage and patriotism. He
aroused the young men of Italy to the need of national union and the
expulsion of the foreigners. For over thirty years he was engaged in

various military expeditions which aided greatly in the establishment of
the national union. The second leader was of an entirely different
character. Count Cavour (ka-voor´) was a statesman, a politician, a
deep student of European history, and a man of great tact. He, too,
wished for a united Italy, but he believed union could not be gained
without foreign assistance. By most skillful means he secured the
support of France and of England, while at the same time he used
Garibaldi and his revolutionists. He had succeeded, at the time of his
death in 1861, in bringing together all of Italy except Rome and Venice.
He won for the new Italian kingdom a place among the great nations of
Europe.
The third great Italian was Victor Emman´uel, king of Sardinia. He
approved of a limited monarchy, like that of England, instead of the
corrupt despotisms which existed in most of the Italian peninsula. He
knew how to use men like Cavour and Garibaldi to achieve the national
ambitions. By a popular vote in each part of Italy Victor Emmanuel
was accepted as king of the united nation. The country was not ready
for a republic; but Victor Emmanuel proved a wise national leader,
willing to reign, according to a written constitution under which the
people's representatives had the determining voice in the government.
In 1870 the king entered Rome and early the next year proclaimed the
city to be the capital of Italy.
BELGIUM.--The country we now know as Belgium has had a very
checkered history. At one time or another it has been controlled by
German, French, Spanish, and Austrian rulers. At the opening of the
nineteenth century it was annexed to the kingdom of Holland (1815).
But a revolt took place in 1830, and the Belgians separated from the
Dutch and chose a king for themselves. Their constitution declares that
the government is a "constitutional, representative, and hereditary
monarchy." The government is largely in the control of the people or
their representatives. There is one voter for every five persons in the
population, nearly the same proportion as in the United States. In 1839
the principal states of Europe agreed to recognize Belgium's
independence, and in case of war among themselves to treat her
territory as neutral land, not to be invaded. This treaty was signed by

Prussia as well as by Austria, France, Great Britain, and Russia. The
treaty was again acknowledged by Prussia in 1870. It was in violation
of these treaties, as we shall see, that Prussian and other German troops
invaded Belgium on August 4, 1914.
FRANCE.--In 1789 France entered upon a period of revolution. The
old monarchy was shortly overthrown, and with it went aristocracy and
all the inequalities of the Middle Ages. A republic, however, did not
long endure; and Napoleon Bonaparte used his position as a successful
general to establish a new monarchy called the French Empire. After
Napoleon's downfall, the allied monarchs of Europe restored the old
line of kings in France. But the country had outgrown despotism. A
revolution in 1830 deposed one king and set up another who was ready
to rule under the terms of a constitution. In 1848 this monarchy was
displaced and the second French republic was established. But again a
Bonaparte, nephew of Napoleon I, seized the government and
established a second empire, calling himself Napoleon III. He aped the
ways of his great predecessor and tried by foreign conquest or
annexation in Africa, Italy, and Mexico to dazzle the French people.
But he was never popular, and his reign closed in the defeat and
disgrace of the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), for which he was partly
responsible.
The third French republic was proclaimed in 1870 and is the present
government of the country. Under the constitution there is a senate, the
members of which are elected for nine years, and a lower house,
elected for four years. The president is chosen by these two houses of
the legislature for a term of seven years. No member of the old royal
families may become president of the republic. The president of France
does not possess nearly so much power as the president of the United
States. Many of the executive duties are performed by the premier, or
prime minister, and other cabinet ministers.
Republican France has become one of the great nations of