Triple Game between Francis I., Henry VIII., and Charles IV.--Leo X.--Luther--The Diet of Worms--Protestantism Born--Margrave of Brandenburg Usurps Sovereignty over Prussia--The Peasants War--The Augsburg Confession--Charles V. Thwarted--Protestantism a Dominant Power in his Empire--Schisms in the New Faith--Calvinism--Reformers--Lutherans--The Schmalkaldian League--Anabaptists--Abdication of Charles V.--Philip II.--Death of Charles--Ferdinand I.--Council of Trent--Society of Jesus CHAPTER X. A Protestant Germany--A Divided Protestantism--True Meaning of the Struggle--Unfruitful Waiting--The Renaissance--Music, Art, Letters, Born Anew--Thought Awakened--Copernicus--Galileo--Kepler--Impending Calamity--Protestant Union and Catholic League--Thirty Years' War Commenced--Wallenstein--Gustavus Adolphus--His Triumph and Death--Richelieu--Death of Wallenstein--Peace of Westphalia--Division of Territory CHAPTER XI. Romano-Germanic Empire Perishing--European Conditions--Louis XIV.--Decay of National Spirit--Rise of Brandenburg--Combination against Louis XIV.--Spanish Succession--Under Frederick I. Brandenburg Becomes Prussia--Alliance with England--Marlborough and Prince Eugene--Blenheim--Peace of Utrecht--Territorial Changes--Charles XII. and Peter the Great--Pragmatic Sanction--Frederick William I.--Stirrings of Thought in this Time of Chaos--Birth of German Speculative Philosophy--Spinoza--Soul Awakening CHAPTER XII. Frederick the Great--His Childhood--Von Katte's Execution--Frederick at Potsdam--Frederick II., King of Prussia--Maria Theresa, Empress--War of Austrian Succession--Silesia--Personal Traits of the Two Sovereigns--Frederick Joins France against Austria--Peace of Dresden--Frederick Becomes "The Great"--Healing the Wounds Left by Two Wars--Voltaire's Influence--Frederick a Reformer and a Despot--Growth in Thought and Birth of a Native Literature--Voltaire at Frederick's Court--Change Wrought by a Nearer View of King and Poet CHAPTER XIII. War over American Boundary between England and France--Maria Theresa Joins France--Her Policy--A Combination against Frederick II.--Seven Years' War--Peace of Hubertsburg--Silesia Forever Abandoned by Austria--Prussia One of the "Five Great Powers"--Healing Wounds Again--Conditions External and Internal CHAPTER XIV. Marie Antoinette Married to the French Dauphin Louis--Unsuspected Conditions--Joseph II.--Reforms by a Progressive Hapsburg are a Failure--Romanticism Replaces Sentimentalism in Literature--_Sturm und Drang_ Period--Luther's Influence upon Letters--Frederick Succeeded by his Nephew--Effect of Prussia's Ascendancy in the German Empire--Its Coming Dissolution--Why Patriotism Could Not Exist--The Calm before the Hurricane CHAPTER XV.