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$i6 General History of Europe population, both in Austria and in Hungary, who resented the predominating position assumed by the German element in Aus- tria and the Hungarian element in Hungary, this curious federa- tion of two states lasted down until 1918, when it all fell to pieces as a result of the World War. III. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR OF 1870 AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE GERMAN EMPIRE 921. Disappointment of Napoleon III. No one was more chagrined by the abrupt termination of the war of 1866 and the speedy victory of Prussia than Napoleon III. He had hoped that the combatants might be weakened by a long struggle, and that at last he might have an opportunity to arbitrate, and perhaps to extend the boundaries of France, as had happened after the Italian war. But Prussia came out of the conflict with greatly increased power and territory, while France had gained nothing. An effort of Napoleon's to get a foothold in Mexico had failed, owing to the recovery of the United States from the Civil War and their warning that they should regard his continued inter- vention there as a hostile act. 922. The Franco-Prussian War (isvo-mi). One course re- mained for the French emperor, namely, to permit himself to be forced into a war with Prussia, which had especially roused the jealousy of France. The nominal pretext for hostilities was rela- tively unimportant. 1 Bismarck eagerly encouraged war with France, for he believed that if the South German states were to 1 In 1869 Spain was without a king, and the crown was tendered to Leopold of Hohenzollern, a very distant relative of William I of Prussia. This greatly excited the people of Paris, for it seemed to them only an indirect way of bringing Spain under the influence of Prussia. The French minister of foreign affairs declared that the arrangement was an attempt to " reestablish the empire of Charles V." In view of this opposition Leopold withdrew his acceptance of the Spanish crown early in July, 1870, and Europe believed the incident to be at an end. The French ministry; however, was not satisfied with this and demanded that the king of Prussia should pledge himself that the plan should never be renewed. This William refused to do. Bismarck did not hesitate to falsify the actual circumstances in the German newspapers in such a way that it ap- peared as if the French ambassador had insulted King William. The Parisians at the same time received the impression that their ambassador had received an affront, and demanded an immediate declaration of war.