    145

    Bismarck what water is to a fish.  The son of a nobleman first showed up on the

    pan-German stage in 1851 as Prussian minister to the German Confederation.  The

    Prussian eruption of wealth had begun to flow only the year before.  Prussian prosperity

    rose steadily until the Europe-wide depression of 1873.  In those 22 years, Bismarck

    ascended to the Prussian premiership, firmly seized the reins of state, defeated France,

    and unified German.

    73. Ladislas Farago and Andrew Sinclair, Royal Web: The Story of Princess Victoria and

    Frederick of Prussia, p. 85.

    74. Ladislas Farago and Andrew Sinclair, Royal Web: The Story of Princess Victoria and

    Frederick of Prussia, pp. 87-88, 120.

    75. William Manchester, The Arms of Krupp, p. 131.

    76. Ladislas Farago and Andrew Sinclair, Royal Web: The Story of Princess Victoria and

    Frederick of Prussia, p. 156.

    77. Ladislas Farago and Andrew Sinclair, Royal Web: The Story of Princess Victoria and

    Frederick of Prussia, pp. 87, 100-101, 137-138, 182.

    78. Ladislas Farago and Andrew Sinclair, Royal Web: The Story of Princess Victoria and

    Frederick of Prussia, pp. 171-177.

    79. For a catalog of the  military "advantages" which convinced the world of France's

    invincibility, see Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers Economic Change

    and Military Conflict From 1500 to 2000, p. 186.

    80. France's Louis Napoleon fought with an army of only 104,000 men.  Meanwhile, the

    Germans had mobilized 1,183,000, and had sent 400,000 to the French front.  (William

    Manchester, The Arms of Krupp, pp. 127, 136.)

    81. Paul Kennedy, The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers: Economic Change and Military

    Conflict From 1500 to 2000, p. 186.  Ladislas Farago and Andrew Sinclair, Royal Web:

    The Story of Princess Victoria and Frederick of Prussia, p. 175.

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