THE ROOTS OF THE WAR out of Metz toward the north and hoped that MacMahon would arrange to join him. That marshal, therefore, ordered his poorly organized one hundred and fifty thousand men to march not toward Paris, but toward the Meuse, headed somewhere between Verdun and Sedan, on the desperate chance that he could get into direct touch with Bazaine. This new movement was so contrary to all rules of sound strategy that for a few days the Prussian general staff could not believe the French would uncover the road to their capital and despatch their only remaining free army on a wild-goose chase.After their cavalry scouts had confirmed the rumors, however, an overwhelming body of German troops was sent after MacMahon. 20 THE ROOTS OF THE WAR many of her most distinguished generals and statesmen.A certain amount of mongrel German was spoken in their villages, but this did not affect the sympathies of the region. If the question of annexation to Germany had been submitted to popular vote, the proposition would have been buried under an enormous adverse majority.Nevertheless, Prussia demanded Alsace-Lorraine. The country had been overrun by her armies. German sentiment demanded that as much of the old "Imperial Land" as possible should be returned to the newly consolidated empire, and King William had just assumed the title of German Emperor.Strassburg in French hands always presented great strategic opportunities for an invasion of Baden and Wiirtemberg, while Metz in German hands offered corresponding military chances for a great thrust into the heart of France. The wishes of the fifteen hundred thousand Alsace-Lorrainers, as cultivated, industrious, and honorable folk as existed in Europe, were the last thing the victors chose to consider. Nevertheless, Bismarck was too shrewd not to realize that it would be a serious matter to absorb into the new German Empire too many Frenchmen. Early in 1871 he talked of taking only Alsace and Strassburg, but of leaving Metz to the vanquished, and of using a part of the indemnity to build a huge fortress a few miles back to cover the frontier. "I do not like so many Frenchmen being in our house against their will," he said. "The military men, however, will not be willing to let Metz slip, and perhaps they are right. ' ' Moltke, for his part, declared that the possession of Metz was worth one hundred thousand men at the opening of a campaign, and he easily talked over King William,now also emperorwho was first and last a soldier rather than a statesman. NEIGHBORS OF THE NEW GERMAN EMPIRE 45 leges, and often its own special race and language. Even if loyal to the person of the emperor, the various nationalities hated nearly all their neighbors under the same ruler. It was this state of mutual antipathy which made some kind of central authority indispensable, lest the whole~region dissolve in local wars and anarchy.This really kept the empire alive through many crises which almost destroyed it.In 1870 the Austrian kaiser was Franz-Joseph, who had begun to reign in 1849 and who ...
