France Keeps What She Gets I by W
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1a1." 23, 1939 p-.,e Niae --NEXT!!'!' France Keeps What She Gets I By W. E. DiU The Story of World Empire (Continued from page one.) French were" a gay people, fond of dancing and light wines." As a major premise the statement was misleading. The French are a tough race; dramatic, but mtll- tant and acquisitive. Their tlrst g rea t dramatic spree was the French revolution, brought on because a spendthrift government couldn't avoid der- icits. They came out of it fight- (Acme photo.) ing all Europe, and willingly. Modem Algerian troope-pan of Frcmce'. colonial army_n parade in Paria. Nap 0 leo n understood the French. He stood before a starv- Bugeaud to· conquer the Alge- This usurper, who was faintly more under the domination of ing army of 37,000 at the start rians. The final surrender did ridiculous even to his subjects the empress. She judged Ineor- of his brilliant career and in- not occur until 1847. It was too (they called him Moustachu, a rectly that the empire, if it was formed them that victory, sup- late to add much prestige to the comment on his whiskers), re- to endure much longer, had to plies, wealth lay across the reign of the citizen king, as he mained for twenty years the make a spectacular success. She mountains in Italy. When victory called himself. The next year most important figure in Euro, guessed incorrectly t hat the was achieved he looted Italy of the Parisians were again on the pean politics. He stuck his nose French could go to war with '\ 1 her art treasures and forced on barricades battling the Orleans into every quarrel. He negotiat- Prussia and win. rr) \ r'"~~fl , Austria a treaty that guaranteed soldiery and the king had to ab- ed and plotted otllciously. He Bismarck, the chancellor of , t /fF~ 1 to France the territories the rev- dicate and fiee to England. He made several little wars, and Prussia, had much better tnror- \ "Honey, I didn't ~ that. You know I didn't!" olutionary armies had won. lacked the touch of drama that one fairly large one in the Cri· mation. He knew that his gov- This is the fourth phone call from the same party When, by good fortune and the the French demand. He carried mea, from which he escaped ernment had built up a magnif- for Harry, on chair number four, and business in force of genius, he seized power, an umbrella! creditably. By aiding Cavour in icent army. He knew, too, that the small town barber shop is temporarily at a Napoleon formed a new aristoc- Three kings in thirty -three the unifying of Italy he obtained Eugenie was a tyro in politics standstill. racy. Its members were men of years had added only Algeria to Nice and Savoy for France. and the French army was ill ability, and he guaranteed their the possessions of France. That On the old Napoleonic model equipped for modern warfare. loyalty to himself by making country was, of course, a great he established a court, magnif· The empress wanted to whip them rich. He took the lands prize. It was close to home and Ieent but not quite real. Its Germany and save her throne; of his enemies and set kings over 'capable of producing great agri· habitues were men and women Bismarck wanted to humble them. Bonapartes occupied the cultural wealth-a million and with backgrounds of family serv- France to make his country, thrones of Holland, of Spain, of a quarter square miles in which ice with Napoleon I. Legitimate with the rest of the German Westphalia. Murat the innkeep- 7,000,000persons, including 500,· European royalty recognized it, 1and s incorporated, the first er's son became king of Sicily. 000 French, now live. but shied away from it in a power on the continent. Much of Italy itself was attached The second republic, which social sense. The emperor was A dispute arose over the suc- to the Napoleonic empire and followed Louis Philippe, had a refused a princess allied to a cession of the crown of Spain. governed directly by prefects short and precarious existence. throne for a bride. Eventually Prussia had a candidate, and so sent out from Paris. France didn't quite know what he married Eugenie de Montijo, had France. Artfully Bismarck Never since the days of Char- she wanted, and a new Bona- a tall, red-hatred lady of the arranged things so that the tad- lemagne had there been such an minor Spanish nobility. ing Napoleon, listening to Queen empire as Napoleon governed in She dressed spectacularly. She Crinoline's advice, declared war 1810. It was too great, too cum- set the modes for Europe in the in July, 1870. bersome. The man at the top days of the huge hoop skirts. The campaIgns that followed was inadequate. He wasted his The French dubbed her Queen were swift. In early September resources in men and money Crinoline. Together she and the the emperor, with more than striving to conquer the rar- emperor governed more royally 100,000 men, surrendered at spreading steppes of Russia. than real royalty could have Sedan. Napoleon was sent into Fortune deserted him, and he done it. They even felt that they Germany as a prisoner, and the was on Elba in 1814. A year had assured a dynasty to France empress strove to carry on a later the hundred days and Wa· when their one son, the prince regency for her 14-year-old son. terloo ushered him to St. Helena. imperial, nicknamed Lou -Lou, France would have none of this Napoleon was gone for good. was born. and deposed Napoleon. The great empire shrank until In the beginning Napoleon III. German successes continued. it was no larger than it had been was successful in his foreign ven- Paris fell after a long and ter- in the days of the unlucky Louis tures. His armies aided in quell- rible siege. King W111iam of XVI. Once again the lesson had ing a revolt against Turkey in Prussia, in the palace of Ver- been rubbed in-conquered lands Syria. The Suez sailles, imposed a harsh peace. must be retained by force. canal was start- The provinces of Lorraine and e • • ed by De Les- Alsace, with a population of seps under his (Acme photo.) 1,500,000, we ret a ken from At the close of the Napoleonic patronage. His France and incorporated in Ger- Nati.e bcuaar in city of Tum., me· wars France had little in the sol die r sen· many, and the French were way of colonies. Her only Afri· tropoli. of one on Frcmce'. Africcm colonie •• 'gaged in an compelled to pay an indemnity can possession was the tiny trad- informal war of a billion dollars. ing post of Senegal. North Af· parte, clever, unprincipled, and with China in So the second empire ended. rica was ruled by the Barbary inordinately ambitious, appeared 1860 and on the Napoleon wen t to England, pirates. She did have a discov- on the scene. NAPOLEON way home took where he died a few years later. erer's claim on Madagascar, but Prince Louis Napoleon was over and occupied Cochin-China, Lou-Lou was killed while fight· had made no movement to oc- the name. He was the son of first of the great Asiatic de- ing with the British against the igh school youth, induIgiDgin one cupy and pacify that island, largo Louis, the brother whom the pendencies of France. savage Zulus in 1879. The Em· of those athletic hair trims, being er by itself than the homeland. great Napoleon had seated on But an ambitious attempt to press Eugenie, like a historic shown the beautiful rear view in Canada had been seized by the the throne of Holland. His give Mexico the status of a ghost, lived on until 1920. DJirror. British long before, and St. mother was Hortense de Beau- French possession ended dismal- Pierre and Miquelon were the harnais, daughter of Josephine, ly. The little Napoleon decided •• • tiny slices she held in North the first Napoleonic consort. He to seat a puppet emperor on the The French were only defeat- America. In the West Indies was 40 when the second repub- Mexican throne and persuaded ed 'in 1870; they were not de- she owned Martinique and Gua- lic was proclaimed. the Archduke Maximilian of stroyed. The indemnity was deloupe. For years he had been an exile Austria to take the place. Then paid in an unbelievably short Five cities t hat make up in Germany, Switzerland, and he sent an army with Maximll- time and the Germans removed French India had been occupied England. "Napoleonic liberty," ian and his" empress," Carlotta, their army of occupation. But only a few years. France was he insisted, was what the French to Vera Cruz. The British and the war was not forgotten. It occupied by internal troubles and needed. He even found writings Spanish governments had col- can be said that French national exhausted by the Napoleonic of the bigger Napoleon to prove laborated at first, but withdrew consciousness for nearly half a ventures. The Bourbon king that there had been liberty under when they understood Napo- century was dominated by the who had been restored, Louis the old empire. leon's real aim. The original belief that the defeat of Napo- XVIII., was weak and barely Prince Louis Napoleon became idea was they were only to col- leon III. must be avenged. / able to cope with the dissatfsfac- a real nuisance in 1836 when at lect debts from the Mexicans.