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Emperor Napoleon in his study "Miracle" at Austerlitz On December 2, 1805, Napoleon engages the combined armies of Russia and Austria at Austerlitz. Dawn begins with thick fog and mist. The Russians and Austrians could wish for nothing better. Under its cover, they hope, the Austro-Russian armies will be able to complete their maneuvers without the French seeing what they are doing. "But suddenly," as one historian will describe it, "the sun with uncommon brightness came through the mist, the sun of Austerlitz. It was in this blazing sun that Napoleon at once sent a huge cavalry force under Marshal Soult into the gap left between the center and the left of the Austro-Russian battlefield." This is the break Napoleon needs. His victory is sealed. Many see it as the result of divine intervention.

France is now indisputably the leading power on the Continent.
Austerlitz gives Napoleon increased confidence. "Tell the Pope," he writes to Rome, "I am Charlemagne, the Sword of the Church, his Emperor, and as such I expect to be treated!"
With renewed vigor, Napoleon pushes ahead with his plans for a United States of Europe-a league of European states under French hegemony. "I shall fuse all the nations into one," he declares.

Holy Roman Empire Dissolved

In July 1806 Napoleon organizes the Confederation of the Rhine (Rheinbund). It is a union of all the states of Germany (except, of course, Austria and Prussia) under his protection.
With the advent of this French-controlled federation, it becomes clear to all that the Austrian-led Holy Roman Empire is dead. Napoleon has rearranged the map of Europe. He is supreme in Western Europe, and is virtual dictator in the German states. He has usurped the Holy Roman Emperor's primacy among Europe's monarchs.
In view of these facts, it is preposterous for an Austrian archduke to bear the grandiose title of "Holy Roman Emperor," pretending to be supreme over Christendom.
On August 6, 1806, Holy Roman Emperor Francis II formally resigns his titles and divests himself of the imperial crown. He is now simply "Emperor of Austria." Technically, Napoleon has swept away the moribund Holy Roman Empire, the sacrum Romanum im-perium. But he perpetuates it, under a different name, for another eight years.
In October 1806 Napoleon defeats Prussia in the battles of Jena and Auerstadt. No power can stand before him. He is the unchallenged Emperor of the West!

Excommunication

Meanwhile, relations between Napoleon and the Papacy deteriorate rapidly.
Pius VII refuses to join Napoleon's Continental System, the emperor's plan for shutting Great Britain out from all connection with the continent of Europe. On

February 2, 1808, French forces occupy Rome. The Pope is arrested and detained. "The present Pope has too much power," Napoleon writes his brother. "Priests are not made to rule."
In 1809 Napoleon decrees the Papal States annexed as a part of the French Empire. Pius replies with a bull of excommunication on June 10. Napoleon's reply? "In these enlightened days none but children and nursemaids are afraid of curses," he laughs.
The Pope becomes Napoleon's prisoner, and is eventually transferred to Fontainebleau, near the city of Paris. He does not return to the Vatican until May 1814.

Decline and Fall

In April 1810 Napoleon marries Archduchess Marie-Louise of Austria, having dissolved his childless marriage with the empress Josephine. Marie-Louise is a Habs-burg princess, the eldest daughter of the last Holy Roman Emperor, Francis II. In March 1811 she bears Napoleon a long-desired son, wno is given the title "King of Rome."
Though elated at the birth of an heir, Napoleon is growing restless. Western Europe is already beginning to seem too small for him. He now plans what is to be the capstone of his career-the incorporation of Russia into his Empire.
In June 1812 Napoleon and his 600,000-man Grand Army cross the Niemen River and invade Russia. Following the Battle of Borodino on September 7, the Russians retreat. The French reach Moscow on September 14 only to find it burned by the Russians at the encouragement of the British.
But Napoleon has overreached himself. In trying to grasp too much, he loses all. The freezing Russian winter devours his men by the multiple thousands. A disastrous retreat from Russia begins.
It is the beginning of the end. Napoleon returns to France having lost more than 400,000 men! The handwriting is on the wall.
In October 1813 Napoleon meets the allied armies of Prussia, Russia and Austria at Leipzig in the "Battle of the Nations." His army is torn to shreds.
The Allies close in on Paris. In March 1814 the Treaty of Chau-mont is signed by Russia, Prussia, Austria and Great Britain. It restores the Bourbon dynasty.
With everything crashing around him, Napoleon finally abdicates in favor of his young son on April 6, 1814. The Allies reject this solution. The Senate, too, does not recognize the child's title, and calls the Bourbon Louis XVIII to the throne instead. Napoleon then abdicates unconditionally and is sent into exile on the island of Elba.

Into the Abyss

With the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the time-honored system of Roman-inspired government first resurrected by Justinian in A.D. 554 comes to an end after 1,260 years.
A year later, Napoleon escapes from his island home. Recruiting an army, he marches on Paris. His brief return to power is to last but 100 days.
On June 18, 1815, Napoleon meets a combined British-Prussian army near the Belgian town of Waterloo. After a bitter battle he is delivered a crushing defeat. As the French author Victor Hugo will write: "// was time for this vast man to fall."
On July 15 Napoleon surrenders and, as a prisoner, is sent to Saint Helena, a volcanic island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The little Corsican who had conquered Europe becomes a caged eagle. "What can I do on a little rock at the world's end?" he laments.
From the abyss of Saint Helena, Napoleon reminisces: "I wanted to found a European system, a European code of laws, a European judiciary. There would have been but one people throughout Europe."
Napoleon dies on May 5, 1821, on Saint Helena, having been slowly poisoned by one of his disenchanted countrymen. His dream of a unified Europe will have to be left to others.
Even as Napoleon's body is being interred in the island's rocky soil (later to be entombed in Paris), the Continent is beginning to reform and reshape itself. The nations of Europe are moving toward a new configuration-and an unexpected destiny.

The Second Reich

THE NAPOLEONIC attempt to restore the Roman Empire in the West is but a shortlived success.
Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo in 1815 sends the one-time master of Europe into lonely exile on the rocky island of St. Helena in the south Atlantic. And his dream of a unified Europe follows him into the abyss.
Defeated France is reduced to her 1790 MMMHI boundaries, assessed a ----- large indemnity payment and forced to submit to an allied army of occupation. The unpopular Bourbons are restored to the French throne under Louis XVIII, brother of Louis XVI. He will reign as French king until his death in 1824.

Feeble Confederation

But the affairs of the rest of Europe also have to be reordered.
To guard against the recurrence of war, the Congress of Vienna H^HHai convenes to redraw the map of Europe and bring stability to the war-exhausted Continent.
Among the chief negotiators are Austria's chancellor Prince Met-ternich, Britain's foreign minister Lord Castlereagh, Czar Alexander I of Russia, Prussia's King Frederick William III, France's representative Talleyrand, and the Papal delegate Cardinal Consalvi.
The international assembly reorganizes the political boundaries of Europe. One of the results of the Congress is the establishment of the German Confederation (Deutscher Bund) under the presidency of Austria. The defunct Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation is no more.
Napoleon's reorganization of Germany consolidated scores of smaller German states into larger entities. The new German Confederation is an association of 39 sovereign German states. But it is a feeble organization. Unity is still severely hampered by rivalries among states. The loosely knit league will limp along until 1866.

First Step Toward Unity

Prince Metternich (1773-1859), the Austrian chancellor, seeks to make Austria a leading European power and the undisputed head of the German-speaking peoples. But his designs are opposed by a formidable antagonist-Prussia. Under Frederick the Great (king in Prussia from 1740 to 1786), Prussia had become a rival to Austria for control of the German states. This rivalry persists. Prussia still seeks to gain the upper hand in German affairs.
In 1834, Prussia organizes a German customs union, known as the Zollverein, under Prussian leadership. It creates a free-trade area throughout much of Germany, removing unnecessary restrictions from commerce. And, significantly, it undermines Austria's dominant position in the region.
The Zollverein shows the Germans the value of cooperation. It encourages the desire for unity. Historians will look back on the customs union as a key first step on the road toward German reunification.

Revolutions in France

Back in France, a revolution in July 1830 drives the Bourbons from the throne. The Bourbon monarch, Charles X (1824-1830), flees to England in exile.
The new king of the French is Louis-Philippe, duke of Orleans. Though a relative of the exiled king, Louis-Philippe has a reputation as a progressive. He reigns for nearly 18 years as constitutional monarch.
In 1848, a revolutionary tide sweeps across Europe. The colorless and increasingly unpopular Louis-Philippe is one of its victims. Abdicating in Febru-•••IMI ary, he too flees to England.
On December 10, 1848, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte (1808-1873), a nephew of the late Emperor Napoleon I, is elected president of France's Second Republic. The republic, however, is short-lived.
In the last month of 1851, Louis Napoleon Bonaparte stages a widely popular coup d'etat, establishing an authoritarian government under his leadership. A vote is taken in favor of the restoration MHH^H of the Empire.
The Second Empire is formally inaugurated on December 2, 1852, the day of Louis Napoleon's coronation. He styles himself Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. (Napoleon II, the young son of Napoleon I, had died in 1832.)
A major concern of his reign will be the threatened emergence of a unified German nation. The stage is being set for a titanic clash of ambitions that will rock Europe to its very foundations!

House of Savoy

Meanwhile, in Italy, a crucial series of events is taking place.
The Congress of Vienna had again divided Italy into numerous states. Most of the peninsula is now dominated by Austria. Only the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont is free of Austrian influence.
In 1849, Victor Emmanuel II comes to the Sardinian throne. He is head of the House of Savoy. During the 18th century, this dynasty had acquired the rulership of the island of Sardinia and territories in northern Italy, centered on the region of Piedmont. The capital of the Kingdom of Sardinia-Piedmont is the city of Turin.
A growing movement is now under way for Italian freedom and unification. It is called the Risorg-imento ("resurgence"). Victor Emmanuel is an ardent supporter of the cause of Italian independence.
In 1852, Count di Cavour (1810-1861) becomes prime minister of Sardinia-Piedmont. He is a descendant of one of the ancient noble families of Piedmont. Like his king, Cavour is devoted to the cause of ejecting Austria from Italian affairs and bringing about the unification of Italy under the House of Savoy.

Garibaldi's Red Shirts

In July 1858, Cavour meets with Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. They agree to provoke Austria into war.
The war comes in 1859. The Franco-Italian coalition succeeds in breaking the power of Austria in the Italian peninsula. But at the last moment, Napoleon III deserts the Italians and concludes a treaty with the Austrians. He wants Italy liberated from Austria, but does not want the peninsula united under Savoy.
Despite this setback, the movement for Italian unification continues. Another figure now enters the picture: Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882).
Years earlier, Garibaldi had joined Young Italy, a movement for Italian liberty and unification organized by the revolutionist Giuseppe Mazzini. Now Garibaldi decides that the best road to unity lies in his working with Victor Emmanuel and Cavour.
In May 1860, with the support of Cavour, Garibaldi leads a 1,000-man volunteer guerrilla army from Genoa in a spectacular invasion of Sicily, then ruled by the king of Naples. This is the famous Expedition of the Thousand. Garibaldi's men are clad in scarlet shirts, and are popularly dubbed the Red Shirts.
Sicily is taken after three months of fighting. Garibaldi then moves against Naples. That city falls on September 7, 1860.
Sicily and Naples have been conquered! Garibaldi is a national hero. Garibaldi hands his conquests over to Victor Emmanuel. Other Italian states declare by plebiscite for union with Sardinia-Piedmont.
On March 17, 1861, Victor Emmanuel II is proclaimed the first king of Italy. Most of Italy is united under the House of Savoy!
But the unification of the peninsula is by no means complete.

Rome Holds Out

Not included in the new kingdom is the Papal possession of Rome. Emperor Napoleon I had taken the Papal States-territory in central Italy ruled by the Papacy- from the Pope in 1809. They were restored to the Pontiff by the Congress of Vienna in 1815.
Now, the Papal States (or States of the Church) are seized by the armies of Victor Emmanuel and annexed to Italy. The Church's temporal power is shattered! Only Rome-garrisoned by French troops-remains under Papal sovereignty. France considers herself the protector of the Papacy.
Garibaldi still dreams of Rome as the capital of the new united Italy. In 1862, he raises a force to capture Rome and annex it to the Italian kingdom. But Victor Emmanuel, desirous of avoiding a conflict with France, orders his own forces to stop Garibaldi. Four years later Garibaldi tries again, but is defeated by Papal and French, forces. l
The time is not yet ripe for the conquest of Rome.

Enter Bismarck

Now the focus shifts to Germany.
In Prussia, Otto von Bismarck becomes prime minister and minister of foreign affairs in the autumn of 1862. He serves under King William (Wilhelm) I, who acceded to the Prussian throne in 1861.
Bismarck was born in 1815, the year of Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo. He is a political genius, ultraconservative in viewpoint. From 1859 to 1862, he served as Prussian ambassador to Russia.
Bismarck's chief ambition is to unify Germany under Prussian leadership and exclude Austria from German politics. During a short stay in London in the summer of 1862, he astonishes British statesmen by bluntly declaring that when he becomes Prussian prime minister, his first move "will be to reorganize the army with or without the help of the Diet. As soon as A,, the army shall have been brought into such a condition as to inspire respect, I shall seize the first pretext to declare war on Austria, dissolve the German Diet, subdue the minor states, and give national unity to Germany under Prussian leadership."
Within nine years he will fulfill this program.

Iron Chancellor

At the very outset of his premiership, Bismarck stuns the world by declaring to the Ways and Means Committee of the Prussian Diet: "The great questions of our day cannot be solved by speeches and majority votes, but by blood and iron." He is thereafter popularly known as the Iron Chancellor.
Bismarck expands the Prussian military as the long-standing hostility between Prussia and Austria nears the breaking point.
In 1866, the question of the leadership of Germany is finally >""' fought out. In June, Bismarck ' picks a quarrel with Austria over the possession of Schleswig-Hol-stein, a territory at the base of the Jutland peninsula bordering Denmark. Thus begins the Seven Weeks' War, occupying the summer of 1866.
The Seven Weeks' War is a conflict between opposing groups of German states, one led by Austria and the other by Prussia. It culminates at the battle of Sadowa (Koniggratz)-an overwhelming Prussian victory.
Austria is now excluded from participation in German affairs. Bismarck declares null and void the Constitution of the German Confederation of 1815.

New Confederation

In the wake of the Prussian victory over Austria, the North German Confederation (Norddeutscher Bund) is formed under Prussian hegemony in 1867. It is a union of the German states north of the Main River.
Berlin becomes the capital of this new Confederation. Bismarck writes a constitution making the Prussian king the hereditary ruler and the Prussian prime minister its chancellor.
The four large southern German states of Baden, Bavaria, Saxony and Wiirttemberg remain independent and are permitted to form a separate confederation. They enter into a military alliance with Prussia.
Austria's defeat in the Seven Weeks' War leads Austrian Emperor Franz Josef and his government to establish a dual monarchy embracing the Empire of Austria and the Kingdom of Hungary. It is officially known as the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy (Oester-reichisch-Ungarische Monarchic). The two halves of the monarchy are independent of each other. The bond of union is the common dynasty and a close political alliance. The crown is hereditary in the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty.

Franco-Prussian War

Bismarck's ultimate goal-that of uniting all Germany under Prussian leadership-has still not been achieved. His next move will be to bring the south German states into final union with the Prussian-led North German Confederation. He will accomplish this by provoking a war with France.

After making sure that Russia will remain neutral in any Franco-German conflict, Bismarck uses the candidacy of a Hohenzollern prince to the throne of Spain to goad France into war.
Napoleon III of France declares war on Prussia on July 19, 1870- just as the Iron Chancellor had hoped. The ambitions of the two men have come to a clash. Thus begins the Franco-Prussian War.
As Bismarck had anticipated, the south German states side with Prussia against France. Fighting side by side against the armies of Napoleon III, Germans of the north and south develop a sense of camaraderie and oneness-another step toward the unification of all Germany.
The German offensive is planned brilliantly by General Helmuth von Moltke. On September 1, 1870, Prussia defeats France at the battle of Sedan. Napoleon III surrenders himself to the Prussians. Paris itself is captured on January 28, 1871.
The German victory marks the end of French hegemony in continental Europe. The war is concluded by the peace of Frankfurt on May 10, 1871.

Second Reich

The Franco-Prussian War brings about a strong feeling among German states for a closer union. The south German states decide to unite with the North German Confederation.
On January 18, 1871, King William I of Prussia is proclaimed German Emperor (Deutscher Kaiser) in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles near Paris. North and South Germany are united into a single Reich, or Empire. Bismarck has succeeded in consolidating Germany under the Prussian Ho-henzollerns!
Bismarck assumes the office of Reich Chancellor and is made a prince.
This new German Empire is called the Second Reich. (The First Reich had been inaugurated in A.D. 962 with the crowning of Otto the Great as Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII.) This Second Reich, born in 1871, will live 47 years (until 1918).

Germany has become the dominant force in European affairs!

Prisoner Popes

With the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon Ill's troops in Rome return home. For years they had maintained the temporal power of the Papacy over that city. Now Rome is virtually defenseless.
On September 20, 1870, the forces of Victor Emmanuel II enter Rome. The "Eternal City" is taken by Italian troops in the name of the Kingdom of Italy. In October, Romans vote overwhelmingly to become part of the Italian kingdom. Rome officially becomes the capital of a united Italy on July 2, 1871.
After 1,500 years, Rome is again the capital of Italy!
But what of the Papacy?
The Pope, Pius IX (1846-1878), has been stripped of temporal power by troops of the Kingdom of Italy. He excommunicates the invaders, declares himself a prisoner in the Vatican and refuses to recognize the new kingdom. His successors, too, will become voluntary prisoners in their own palace. It will be six decades before reconciliation is effected.
Though weak in the temporal sphere, the Papacy is asserting its strength in the spiritual realm.
Pope Pius had convoked the first Vatican Council in 1869. The next year it declared Papal Infallibility as a formal article of Catholic belief. This dogma holds that when a Pope speaks officially (ex cathedra) to the universal Church on a doctrine of faith or morals, he cannot err.
This dogma had long been held in some form, but in view of objections being made against it, the bishops in the Vatican Council thought it expedient to make clear the stand of the Church.
Not all, however, are willing to submit to this newly defined and reasserted Papal authority.

Struggle for Power

The German Reich is ruled by a Protestant dynasty, the Hohen-zollerns.
Bismarck seeks to strengthen the unity of the Reich by limiting the power of the Catholic Church within Germany. He accuses Catholic elements within the Reich of political separatism, and labels them a threat to the unified German state.
Thus begins the so-called Kul-turkampf (1871-1887), the conflict between Prussia and the Church of Rome. It is a struggle between two rival cultures and powers-the Catholic Church and the secular state. Bismarck's objective is to wipe out the Vatican's political influence within the Reich.
"We are not going to Canossa, either bodily or spiritually!" Bismarck declares, in an allusion to the capitulation of Emperor Henry IV to the Pope at Canossa in 1077.
A series of drastic laws are passed to intimidate the Catholic clergy. "What is here at stake is a struggle for power, a struggle as old as the human race, the struggle for power between monarchy and priesthood. That is a struggle for power which has filled the whole of German history," Bismarck declares.
Pope Pius dies in 1878 after a pontificate of 32 years-the longest in the history of the Popes. But the Kulturkampf continues, though on a lesser scale, for another nine years.

A major reason for the Kulturkampf had been Bismarck's desire to create some focus for national resentment. But with the rise of socialism, Bismarck now sees the socialists filling that role even better. He gradually begins to rescind his anti-Catholic measures.

New German-Italian Alliance

Bismarck is also active in the international political arena. On October 7, 1879, he concludes a military pact with Austria-Hungary, allying the Habsburgs with Prussian-dominated Germany. The alliance is designed to render France powerless against the Reich.
In 1882, Italy joins, forming the Triple Alliance. It will remain in force until Italy's defection in 1915.
The ancient ties of Italy and Germany, extending back to the days of Charlemagne and Otto the Great, are reforged. It is the prelude to an era that will arise more than a half century later under Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.

Conflict and Defeat

Emperor William I dies March 9, 1888. His son and successor, Frederick III, lives only a few months. In June 1888, William II becomes Emperor of Germany. The new Kaiser is anxious to direct the government personally. He demands the Iron Chancellor's resig-nation.
After 38 years of service, Bismarck steps down in March 1890. He retires to his castle, Friedrichs-ruh, near Hamburg. The Kaiser then sets an aggressively independent course in foreign affairs - a course that leads eventually to war.
On June 28, 1914, Archduke Francis Ferdinand - heir to the throne of Austria- Hungary - is assassinated by a Serbian in the Balkan town of Sarajevo. The great powers are caught in the webs of their alliances. The bloody event triggers World War I.
When the guns finally fall silent on November 11, 1918, a staggering 10 million lie dead. And the German Empire lies vanquished.
The abdication of the Kaiser is announced November 9. Defeated Germany is demilitarized and becomes a republic. A new German constitution is adopted at the city of Weimar.
Many German war veterans are embittered by defeat and the hu-initiations imposed on Germany by the Treaty of Versailles. Among them is a young Gefreiter (lance corporal) by the name of Adolf Hitler.

The Third Reich

THE GREAT WAR is over. Four brutal, bloody years of conflict leave Europe devastated.
The armistice is signed on November 11, 1918. Voices around the world proclaim this was "the war to end all wars." It is a joyous day for the victors.
But for the vanquished, it is a
dark and painful time. The victori
ous Allied nations dictate a peace treaty they will live to regret. ------
On June 28, 1919, the Treaty of Versailles is signed in the Hall of Mirrors at Versailles Palace, near Paris. Germany is formally given all blame for the war. She is stripped of all her overseas colonies, de-militarized, and strapped with near impossible reparations payments.
The harsh terms of surrender imposed on defeated Germany will prove to be the seeds of a greater, more horrible war to come

II Duce

In Italy, a troubled postwar period has begun.
Despite her membership in the Triple Alliance, Italy had declared her neutrality on the outbreak of World War I. In the spring of 1915, Italy joined the Allies and declared war on Germany and Austria. Victory in 1918 fueled Italian hopes for territorial rewards.
But Italy's expectations are bitterly disappointed. Though a victor, the country gains little from the Treaty of Versailles. Italians complain that they have been robbed of their share of the spoils. A sense of injury and frustration grips the country.
Among the discontented is Be-nito Mussolini. Son of a poor blacksmith, Mussolini was born in 1883 in the north Italian town of Predappio. An aggressive and ambitious child, he once declared to his startled mother, "One day I shall make the whole earth tremble!"
Formerly a journalist and schoolmaster, Mussolini fought as a corporal in World War I. He was seriously wounded in February 1917.
After the war, Mussolini launches a movement that becomes, in 1921, the Fascist party. Mussolini is // Duce-"the leader"-of the ultranationalist, anti-Communist organization. His followers are mostly jobless, disgruntled war veterans. They adopt the black shirt as their uniform.
The Fascists derive their name from the fasces of Imperial Rome-an ax wrapped in a bundle of elm or birch rods symbolizing unity and power. The Fascist party adopts the ancient insignia as its emblem.

March on Rome

Italy is plagued by increasing disorder. Unemployment, strikes, riots and general unrest tear at the fabric of society. The government is unable to establish order. Italians look for a way out.
Mussolini-now a member of the Italian parliament-seizes the opportunity. A gifted orator, he catches the imagination of the crowds. Posing as a defender of law and order, he capitalizes on the fears of middle-class Italians.

Late in October 1922, the black-shirted Fascist militia makes its dramatic march on the city of Rome. King Victor Emmanuel III permits them to enter the city on October 28. The government is brought down.
On October 29 the king calls on Mussolini to form a new government. II Duce makes his entry into Rome on the 30th. The next day he becomes the youngest prime minister in Italian history at age 39. Mussolini's play for power has succeeded. Tired of strikes and riots, the Italian people give him complete support. Mussolini is handed full emergency powers. Fascism has come to power in Italy. By degrees, Mussolini tightens his grip on the country and transforms his government into a dictatorship.

Weimar Republic

Meanwhile, in defeated Germany, a democratic government has replaced the old Empire. It is referred to as the Weimar Republic, because the assembly that adopted its constitution in 1919 had met at the city of Weimar.
Many Germans cannot accept their country's defeat. The war leaves them humiliated and disoriented. The Weimar Republic is plagued from the start by a host of political, economic and social problems. Germans quickly discover that it is easier to write a democratic constitution than to make it work.
The constitution ensures the representation of small minority parties in parliament. Innumerable separate parties are formed. As a result, government majorities can be formed only by coalition-temporary alliances of parties. The fragile governments thus formed are victims of continual disunity and bickering among "partners." Small parties often hold the balance of power, stalling and blocking legislation. Hitler has proved himself unequaled in his ability to exploit events to his own ends.

The Third Reich

On January 30, 1933, Hitler is asked to form a government. After years of careful planning, he has at last become Chancellor.
The Weimar Republic is finished. A modern-day interregnum-a "time without an emperor"-it had lasted but 14 years.
The Third Reich has begun.
Hitler's emergence as Chancellor is hailed enthusiastically by the Italian press. Mussolini naively views Hitler as his Fascist protege, someone he can control and utilize for his own purposes.
Hitler asks the Reichstag to pass an enabling bill, giving his government full dictatorial powers for four years. The parliament passes the sweeping legislation, and the Nazis assume complete control of Germany. In 1934, the offices of Chancellor and President are merged. Hitler assumes the title of Fuehrer und Reichskanzler.
In short order, the German dictator reinvigorates a demoralized country. He strengthens the shattered economy, reduces unemployment and raises the standard of living.
But Hitler's aims far transcend his own country's borders. He is convinced he has a great mission to perform. He feels destined to become ruler of a great Germanic Empire. He holds an unshakable conviction that the Reich will one day rule all of Europe-and from there seize the leadership of the world! A new order will emerge in the world, with the German "master race" at its head!
Hitler compares himself with Charlemagne, Frederick the Great and Napoleon. From his mountain fortress in Obersalzberg, overlooking Berchtesgaden, the Fuehrer has a panoramic view of the Unters-berg. It is in this mountain, as legend has it, that Charlemagne still sleeps, and will one day arise to restore the past glory of the German Empire. "You see the Un-tersberg over there," Hitler tells visitors in a mystical tone. "It is no accident that I have my residence opposite it."

Concordat with Vatican

Like Mussolini, Hitler-a Catholic by birth-sees a need to come to terms with the Vatican.
On July 20, 1933, the Vatican signs a concordat with the Nazi regime, protecting the rights of the Church under the Third Reich. Pope Pius XI hopes that Hitler will discourage the extreme anti-Christian radicalism of National Socialism. For Hitler, the concordat gives his new government an outward semblance of legitimacy.
But relations between Berlin and the Vatican are strained. Pope Pius has no illusions about Naziism. He authors several protests against Nazi practices. On March 14, 1937, Pius issues his encyclical Mil brennender Sorge ("With Burning Anxiety") against Naziism. It charges that the German state has violated the 1933 concordat, and vigorously denounces the Nazi conception of life as utterly anti-Christian.
About the same time, Pius-an outspoken adversary of communism-issues another encyclical, Divine Redemptoris, denouncing the Bolshevik campaign against religion. It pronounces the political philosophy and the atheistic ideology behind Marxist doctrine as contrary to the Divine Will and intrinsically evil.

New Roman Empire

In Italy, Mussolini has been vigorously pursuing his vainglorious dream of a modern Roman Empire.
In 1896, Italy had suffered a hu-r" miliating defeat in Ethiopia* (Abyssinia) at the hands of King Menelik II. Italian forces were crushed by an Ethiopian army at the Battle of Adowa. Ten thousand Italians lay dead. The defeat was disastrous to Italian expansion in Africa.
The humiliation has not been forgotten. The memory of Adowa still lives. The score must be settled.
Mussolini, the modern Caesar, casts eyes toward Ethiopia. He sees its conquest as a means of restoring Roman grandeur.
On October 3, 1935, the Italian dictator launches his first foreign military adventure. He invades the kingdom of Ethiopia as the League of Nations weakly stands by.
After months of fighting, Adowa is avenged. II Duce's African venture is a success-a "Roman triumph." The armies of Emperor Haile Selassie are defeated.
On May 9, 1936, Italy formally annexes Ethiopia. King Victor Em- i manuel is proclaimed Emperor of * Ethiopia. A month later, a decree incorporates Ethiopia with the e isting Italian colonies of Eritrea and Italian Somaliland into a single great colony, Italian East Africa.
Mussolini now proclaims another resurrection of the Roman Empire. "At last Italy has her empire," II Duce declares to an enormous crowd from the balcony of the Palazzo Venezia.
"Legionnaires!" he continues. "In this supreme certitude raise high your insignia, your weapons, and your hearts to salute, after fifteen centuries, the reappearance of the empire on the fated hills of Rome."
Though a great success at home, Mussolini's Ethiopian adventure isolates Italy from the Western democracies. As a result, Mussolini turns to Hitler as an ally. In Octo ber 1936, the "Berlin-Rome Axis" is formed. Hitler and II Duce forge an agreement to coordinate their foreign policies. As in the days of Otto the Great, Germany ties its destiny to Italy! i

Prelude to War

While the fight is going on in Ethiopia, events are happening in quick succession in Germany.
In a daring move, Hitler orders German troops to march into the demilitarized zone of the Rhineland, established by the Treaty of Versailles. It is March 7, 1936. The French fail to call Hitler's bluff.
A year earlier, Hitler had unilat-erally abrogated the disarmament clauses of the Versailles treaty and had begun to rearm openly.
In March 1938, Germany occupies Austria, which is quickly incorporated into the Greater German Reich. In September, Hitler demands and receives the cession of the Sudetenland area of Czechoslovakia ("my last territorial claim in Europe," he says).
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain of Britain yields to Hitler's demands, hoping against hope that concessions to the dictator will promote "peace in our time."
On May 22, 1939, ties between Hitler and Mussolini become even closer as the two form a 10-year political and military alliance-the Pact of Steel. The Italian press proclaims, "The two strongest ?powers of Europe have now bound themselves to each other for peace and war."
In August 1939, Germany and Soviet Russia sign a nonaggression pact, guaranteeing Soviet nonintervention in Hitler's ventures in the West. Hitler's eastern flank is now secure. The stage is set. A catastrophe is about to engulf the world!
In a final last-minute appeal to head off the outbreak of world conflict, the new Pope, Pius XII, declares on August 24, "Everything can be lost by war; nothing is lost by peace."
But Hitler's plan is set. Casting aside all pretenses of peaceful aspirations, the German dictator accuses and attacks Poland on September 1. The peace of Europe is broken. World War II has begun- a struggle for the mastery of the world!

Papal Dilemma

Pope Pius XI died in March 1939. His successor as war breaks out in Europe is Eugenio Pacelli, now Pius XII.
Few Popes will be the subject of as much controversy as he.
In 1917, Pacelli had been sent as Papal nuncio (ambassador) to Munich to negotiate a concordat with the Bavarian Court. This accomplished, he was sent to Berlin in 1925 with the same aim. After concluding the concordat with the Weimar Republic, Pacelli was recalled to Rome in 1929 and created a cardinal and Vatican secretary of state.
As Cardinal Pacelli, he drew up and signed the concordat with Hitler's Nazi Germany on behalf of Pius XI in the summer of 1933.
Pacelli's years in Germany gave him a fluency in the German language and a great love for the German people. In view of this, his proclaimed neutrality as wartime Pontiff will be questioned. After the war he will be accused of failing to denounce Hitler and neglecting to speak out publicly against Hitler's "final solution" to the "Jewish problem." Some critics will declare that by remaining silent he became an accomplice to genocide.
Pledged to neutrality, Pius believes the Holy See can play a peacemaking role if it maintains formal relations with all the belligerents. Yet he is keenly concerned about the Jews.
Pius faces a terrible choice. He knows the capabilities of Naziism, having been closely associated with the anti-Nazi encyclical Mit bren-nender Sorge.
In September 1943, Germans occupy Rome. The dilemma of Pius XII becomes even more acute. Nazi troops are now camped on his very doorstep. Public condemnation of Hitler could lead to reprisals, even invite a Nazi invasion of the Vatican. That would jeopardize the Holy See's diplomatic efforts on behalf of the Jews and end any influence the Papacy might have in favor of peace.
Pius issues repeated private protests against Nazi atrocities and is even involved in efforts to shelter Jews and political refugees. But he stops short of outright public denunciation. Faced with circumstances in which his public statements might further rouse Hitler against the Jews and expose German Catholics to charges of treason, he takes the side of caution. In retrospect, sympathetic observers will assert that, under the circumstances, Pius did all he could against a powerful totalitarian government. Public denunciation would not have stopped the Nazi leadership anyway.

Shattered Empires

At the outset of war, Germany seems invincible. Hitler subjects a whole continent, directly or indirectly, to his power. Not since the days when the Roman Empire was at its height has one man ruled such vast expanses in Europe.
But Hitler's is an ephemeral empire. In 1941, the German dictator makes Napoleon's disastrous mistake of invading Russia. Operation Barbarossa is a fatal blunder. The tide of war begins to turn.
In the end, the Fuehrer and the Duce die within days of each other, their dreams of conquest and empire shattered.
Mussolini is executed by Italian partisans on April 28, 1945. His megalomaniac attempt to restore the Roman Empire ends in ruin. Hitler, it is declared, has committed suicide in his Berlin bunker on April 30, as his "Thousand-year Reich" crashes around him.
The war in Europe is over.
Italy is devastated. Germany lies in ruins. Some observers declare Germany will never rise again. Others say it will take at least 50, maybe even 100 years or more. Privately, some Germans are thinking that no defeat is final.
As the victors and vanquished alike pick up the pieces of their shattered and now-divided continent, a centuries-old concept again takes its rise in the minds of Europeans-the ideal of a United States of Europe. Europe slowly sets out on the path toward its final-and most crucial-revival.

The Final Union

It is the spring of 1945. The fighting in Europe is over. Never has war been more destructive. The human and material losses are incalculable.
The staggering enormity of the tragedy gradually becomes clear. The appalling cost in human lives totals more than 40 million civilian and military deaths.
Europe lies in ruins. Germany in particular has been hard hit. Many wonder whether war-torn Germany will ever rise again.
Europe has hit bottom. It has been the pattern of European history: catastrophe, followed by revival, followed by catastrophe.
The war-ravaged Continent slowly begins to pick up the pieces. The suffering and destruction of World War II prompt many to ask how such a catastrophe might be avoided in the future. Many wonder: Is Europe doomed to oscillate between order and chaos, between power and ignominy? Or might a new path toward peace and stability be found?

Age-old Ideal

In a celebrated speech at Zurich, Switzerland, in September 1946, Winston Churchill suggests a possible solution: "We must build a kind of United States of Europe."
Once again, an age-old ideal resurfaces.
The devastation of two world wars has made the limitations of national sovereignty painfully evident. If Europe's individual nationalisms could be submerged within the context of European suprana-tionalism, many feel that future continental conflagrations could be averted. If Europe could become one family of nations, historic enmities could be put to rest.
The plan has highly significant overtones. For centuries, statesmen have advocated the union of European nations. Now, a fresh movement toward unity arises from the devastation of World War II.
But how to begin?
It is Churchill, among others, who again suggests a course: "The first step in the re-creation of the European family must be a partnership between France and Germany."
The reconciliation of these two age-old enemies is widely viewed as the essential cornerstone of peace in postwar Europe. In essence-the re-creation of the Empire of Charlemagne!
How, specifically, might this be achieved?

First Steps Toward Unity

A scheme is devised to unite France and Germany within a common venture designed to bind their economic destinies so tightly together that another intra-European war could not occur. The result is the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), created by the Treaty of Paris in April 1951.
The ECSC is a first step toward European integration. It creates a common transnational authority to pool French and German iron, coal and steel resources. The project is extended to include Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
The wheels of European industry have begun to turn again. Massive U.S. aid in the form of the Marshall Plan has helped spur European recovery. And the ECSC has shown Europeans the advan; tages of cooperation.
Now, a further step is taken on the road toward integration.
Individually, the nations of Western Europe-fragmented by internal barriers-are merely secondary influences in world affairs. But united, many come to realize, their joint economic strength could allow them to recover some of their lost influence and give them a major voice in the global arena.
The signing of the Treaty of Rome on March 25, 1957, creates the European Economic Community (EEC), or Common Market. Its six charter members are the same countries associated in the ECSC. (By 1986, the number of members will have grown to 12.) (WATCH THEM TODAY)
The EEC's initial goal is to remove trade and economic barriers 4li between its members and unify their economic policies. But the ______ ultimate hope is that ••••• the organization will be able to bring about the eventual political unification of Europe. Many hail the EEC as the nucleus of a future "United States of Europe."
In short order the EEC becomes the world's most powerful trading bloc. And West Germany-at the center of the European continent- becomes the most powerful nation of Europe west of the Soviet Union.

Pattern of History

Again, Europe has set out on the road to unity. Past articles in this series have shown that the Roman dream of a united Europe has permeated the history of the Continent. Justinian dreamed of restoring the Roman Empire. He accomplished it in A.D. 554, healing the "deadly wound" administered to Rome by barbarian invaders in 476. But his restoration was shortlived.

In A.D. 800, Charlemagne was crowned as imperator Romano-rum, again restoring the Roman Empire in the West. In Charlemagne, Western Europe had a Christian Caesar, a Roman emperor born of Germanic race. His realm was the spiritual heir of the old Western Roman Empire.
Charlemagne was rex pater Eu-ropae-"King Father of Europe." He showed Europeans the ideal of a unified Christian Empire. Throughout the Middle Ages, the memory of the once-great Roman Empire lived as a vital tradition in the hearts of Europeans.
In 962, Otto the Great revived Charlemagne's Empire as the first fully German Reich. The Sacrum Romanum Imperium Nationis Germanicae-Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation-made its debut. Otto's octagonal crown became the very symbol of the concept of European unity. Germany became the power center of the Empire.
In the 16th century, the great Habsburg Emperor Charles V pursued tirelessly, though unsuccessfully, the medieval ideal of a unified Empire embracing the entire Christian world.
Napoleon, too, dreamed of a resurrected Roman-European civilization, dominated by France. He considered himself the heir and successor to Caesar and Charlemagne.
Mussolini likewise envisioned a modern Roman Empire. In 1936 he proclaimed another resurrection of the Roman Empire, claiming succession to imperial Rome.

Mutual Need

Along with the time-honored system of Roman-inspired government, another pattern has stood out in the panorama of European history: the intimate relationship of the spiritual with the secular power.
Throughout the Middle Ages, leaders considered the Church at Rome to be God's chosen instrument in spiritual matters. The Holy Roman Empire was regarded as God's chosen political organization over Western Christendom. Pope and Emperor were regarded as God's vice-regents on earth.
This intimate alliance of Church and State served the needs of both institutions. The Empire exercised its political and military powers to defend religion and enforce internal submission through religious uniformity. The Church, in turn, acted as a glue for Europe, holding together the differing nationalities by the tie of common religion.
This ideal in Church-State relations was never completely realized, as we have seen in the frequent conflicts between Emperors and Popes for the leadership of Christian Europe. Yet despite their rivalry, the Papacy and Empire remained closely associated, their need for each other overriding disagreements of lesser importance.
Justinian became inheritor of the Roman Empire as Christianized by Constantine. He acknowledged the supremacy of the Pope in the West.
Charlemagne received the imperial crown at the hands of Pope Leo III, initiating a close alliance between Pope and Empire.
Otto the Great was crowned Holy Roman Emperor by Pope John XII, reviving Charlemagne's Empire in an alliance between Emperor and Church.
Pope Clement VII crowned Charles V as Holy Roman Emperor. Charles fought hard to maintain the spiritual unity of Europe.
Napoleon's coronation was consecrated by Pope Pius VII. Mussolini, too, recognized the need to come to terms with the Vatican, as did Adolf Hitler a few years later.
All these successors of the Roman Caesars understood the vast importance of the Papacy in European affairs.
But what of the present and future role of the Vatican in Europe in these latter days of the 20th century?

Elusive Unity

Over the past few decades the authority and unity of the Roman Catholic Church have been severely shaken. The festering issues of birth control, abortion, divorce, celibacy, homosexuality, women in the priesthood, political activism of priests and distribution of ecclesiastical power have greatly troubled the Church.
Many even in the upper echelons of the Vatican hierarchy have ex- lit pressed apprehension over the Church's future.
At the same time, the continent of Europe itself stands at an historic crossroads. Divided ideologically between East and West and beset with serious economic and military concerns, Europe faces crucial decisions on its future.
Like the Catholic Church, Europe has been weakened by division. And both prelates and politicians alike realize that a house divided against itself cannot stand.
In the face of this division, voices within both European political circles and the Catholic Church are appealing for UNITY. But how, many ask, is that elusive unity to be achieved? How are the rifts to be healed-both within the Church and within Europe itself?
The record of the recent past does not augur well for the future. On a purely political basis, the nations of Europe have been unable / to unite. Strides have been made, _)( but the slow process of gradually t increasing the powers of the EEC's political institutions has not worked as hoped. The process has resulted in only minimal surrender of national political sovereignty. The institutions are invested with no substantial powers. And Eastern Europe is still cut off.
Likewise, the Catholic Church within remains philosophically divided between liberal and conservative, despite the best efforts of unity-minded churchmen.
Confronted with these realities, leading European politicians and Catholic clergymen have come to an important realization. There is only one possible course for the future, they believe.

Common Cause

If they are to solve their respective problems, Europe and the Catholic Church need each other's help.Their common need for unity can be achieved only by working together. Once again, the past points the way to the future.
Influential churchmen inside the Vatican have come to believe that the only way to inspire unity and bring new life to the Church is to plunge it into a cause larger than itself. That cause, many believe, is the unification of Europe!
In turn, many of Europe's political leaders see a role for the Church in their efforts. They believe the Church might once again exercise its powerful cohesive effect on Europe, providing the glue-the tie of common religion-to hold Europe together politically.
Again, as in centuries past, Europeans are beginning to appreciate that religion and politics are interdependent. In essence, they are envisioning a reconstitution of the whole of classic Europe, along the lines of the old Holy Roman Empire, under Catholic aegis.
The dream of the Holy Roman Empire yet lives!
The time-honored theme of European unity on the basis of a common religious heritage has been raised frequently by Pope John Paul II. For him it is no casual, passing concern. He has made it very clear that he believes he has a literal calling from God to unite Europe!
During his well-publicized trip to his native Poland in June 1979, the Pope declared: "Europe, despite its present and long-lasting division of regimes, ideologies and economic systems, cannot cease to seek its fundamental unity and must turn to Christianity. . . . Economic and political reasons cannot do it. We must go deeper. . . ."
In Santiago, Spain, in 1982 he proclaimed the following, in what he called a "Declaration to Europe":
"I, Bishop of Rome and Shepherd of the Universal Church, from Santiago, utter to you, Europe of the ages, a cry full of love: Find yourself again. Be yourself. Discover your origins, revive your roots."
The Pope has repeatedly stressed that Europe must seek religious unity if it is to advance beyond its present divisions. At his final mass during his trip to Poland in June 1983, John Paul prayed for "all the Christians of East and West, that they become united in Christ and expand the Kingdom of Christ throughout the world."

The following September, in the first Papal pilgrimage to Vienna, Austria, in two centuries, the Pope again urged Europeans on both sides of the Iron Curtain to unite on the basis of their common Christian heritage. To a crowd of 100,000, he emphasized Europe's unity in "the deep Christian roots and the human and cultural values which are sacred to all Europe."

Recurrent Theme

The theme of European unity on the basis of common religious heritage is not unique to John Paul II. Since World War II, each Pope has thrown his weight behind moves for the creation of a supranational European community.
Pope John XXIII said that Catholics should be "in the front ranks" of the unification effort.
Pope Paul VI was especially vocal in his support for European unity. In November 1963, he declared: "Everyone knows the tragic history of our century. If there is a means of preventing this from happening again, it is the construction of a peaceful, organic, united Europe. "
In 1965, Paul VI observed that "a long, arduous path lies ahead. However, the Holy See hopes to see the day born when a new Europe will arise, rich with the fullness of its traditions."
Perhaps the most forceful of Paul VFs calls for European unification came on October 18, 1975. It was an address in Rome to participants in the Third Symposium of the Bishops of Europe. Present were more than 100 bishops, cardinals and prelates representing 24 European countries. The Pope declared:
"Can it not be said that it is faith, the Christian faith, the Catholic faith that made Europe . . . ?"
Paul VI continued: "And it is there that our mission as bishops in Europe takes on a gripping perspective. No other human force in Europe can render the service that is confided to us, promoters of the faith, to reawaken Europe's Christian soul, where its unity is rooted."
Paul VI called the Catholic faith "the secret of Europe's identity."

In discovering this secret, he said, Europe could then go on to perform "the providential service to which God is still calling it."

Europe and the Cross

The Popes' calls for the spiritual unity of Europe have been echoed by influential spokesmen in the political arena.
Prominent among these is Dr. Otto von Habsburg, a key figure in the movement for European unification. Dr. Habsburg is the eldest son of the last Austro-Hungarian Emperor and a member of the European Parliament.
Inter-European unity has long been a quest of the Habsburgs, as we have seen. Dr. Habsburg often speaks of the similarities between the Holy Roman Empire of the Middle Ages and his view of a coming "United States of Europe."
Dr. Habsburg has long advocated a strong religious role in any future united Europe. He regards the Roman Catholic Church as Europe's ultimate bulwark. "The cross doesn't need Europe," he once stated, "but Europe needs the cross."
Europeans, he believes, must be reawakened to their historical religious heritage. "If we take Christianity out of the European development, there is nothing left," he declares. "The soul is gone."
Dr. Habsburg has also called attention to the potential role of the crown of the Holy Roman Empire, which today resides in the Schatzkammer (Royal Treasury) in Vienna.
Christopher Hollis, in the foreword to Dr. Habsburg's book The Social Order of Tomorrow, points out that Dr. Habsburg "would like to see Europe resume her essential unity, and in the symbolism of that unity he thinks that the imperial crown of Charlemagne and of the Holy Roman Empire might well have its part to play."
It is to the model of the Holy Roman Empire that many European political figures and leading churchmen are now looking for the answer to today's political and religious woes. A revived alliance between church and "empire," they believe, may be the very key-the only key-to European survival in the face of perilous world conditions!

Final Revival

Forces already have been set in motion that will revolutionize the face of Europe-and the role of the Roman Catholic Church.
Prophecy reveals that current efforts toward Church unity and European political integration will be achieved*. The result will be the emergence of a religious-political union in Europe, in the spirit of the old Holy Roman Empire-a final revival, in this age of the Bomb, of the ancient Roman political system!
As we have seen in this series of articles, numerous revivals of the Roman Empire have arisen in Europe in the centuries since the fall of ancient Rome. In Revelation 17, these revivals are represented by the seven heads of a wild animal. Six have already occurred, from Justinian to Mussolini. One last restoration of this great political system is yet to arise.
This confederated Europe will be an immense political, military and economic power-a great Third Force in world affairs, a superpower in its own right.
Prophecy further reveals that this powerful church-state union will be composed of "ten horns"- meaning 10 nations or groups of nations (Rev. 17:3)-under the overall leadership of a single political figure (verse 13). Europe will again have a single political head of state!
Moreover, prophecy foretells that a religious figure of unprecedented power and authority will sit astride the "empire," directing it as a rider guides a horse (Rev. 17:3).
To counter the ongoing spread of atheism, secularism and consumerism, the Vatican-as in centuries past-will be forced to become a major power in the international arena. The political muscle of the Papacy will be rein-vigorated. In these turbulent last days of the 20th century, the "spiritual unity" of the Continent-as so often urged by recent Popes- will be realized!

Two Legs

Now notice further: In the second chapter of the Old Testament book of Daniel, the Roman Empire and its predecessors are pictured as a giant human figure. The figure's 10 toes correspond to the 10 end-time national units also described (as "horns") in Revelation 17.
The prophecy of Daniel reveals that these 10 entities will constitute a political system that will exist at the return of Jesus Christ to establish the kingdom of God on this earth (Dan. 2:44, 45).
The original Roman Empire was broken into two "legs," as pictured in the human image of Daniel's prophecy-the Eastern Empire centered at Byzantium (Constantinople) and the Empire of the West centered at Rome.
Thus it is very possible that the coming reconstituted Roman Empire will be composed of two distinct yet cooperative parts: one comprising nations of Western Europe, the other incorporating nations freed from Soviet dominance in Eastern Europe. Given the fact of five toes on each foot of the human image, possibly five entities will come from the West and five from the East.
With this in mind, Pope John Paul IPs appeals to Christians behind the Iron Curtain take on added significance. His voice is a source of enormous influence in that region. Many East Europeans have caught his vision of a pan-European Christian alliance against the secular materialism of our modern age.
"The Pope," observes one news commentator, "has undertaken the liberation of Eastern Europe." Vatican observers speculate that the voice of the Papacy might continue to stir religious and nationalistic fervor in Eastern Europe, which, together with other factors, could weaken the Kremlin's hold sufficiently to open the way for a political deal between Europe and the Kremlin-a deal that would allow elements of Eastern Europe to as-^ v sociate themselves with an evolving '%/ West European union.
In this age of intercontinental missiles, the nations of Eastern Europe no longer adequately fulfill their original function as a security buffer for the Soviet Union. And they are a severe drain on Soviet economic and military resources. Many political observers are therefore suggesting that the Kremlin might soon be willing to strike a deal: the withdrawal of its military forces from Eastern Europe in exchange for the neutralization of Eastern Europe and the withdrawal of American forces from Western Europe!
The resulting political vacuum in Europe could then be filled by a new entity-the prophesied resurrected Holy Roman Empire!

United Europe Inevitable

What is transpiring on both sides of the Iron Curtain today are the first steps in the refashioning of Europe into a new, yet old, alignment.
As George Bailey, in his perceptive book Germans, suggests: "Can we be sure that history has written finis to what was perhaps the grandest design ever conceived by man: the Holy Roman Empire?"
Declares Otto von Habsburg: "We are well beyond the point of no return where you can still go back into the [recent] past. Of course, we have not yet arrived at the other shore; but we can't go back."
A united Europe is inevitable.
Unity is not a condition which nations achieve by some natural and inevitable tendency. Unity is created or imposed by vigorous human action, by effort and will. Europe awaits a modern Charlemagne, another Otto the Great, a second Charles V-a champion to resurrect the tradition of imperial unity.
The coming Renovatio imperil Romanorum-restoration of the Empire of the Romans-will astound the world! Europe-and the Church of Rome-will again be powers to reckon with.

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