392	A BRIEF SURVEY OF HUMAN HISTORY
arms for fifty years." Europe has not yet got out of the
hole Bismarck put her into.
Austria was defeated by Prussia in the battle of Sadowa
in 1866. This resulted in the separation of the North Ger-
man Confederation from the Austrian * Empire'. Next year,
1867, the Dual Monarchy of Austria-Hungary was form-
ed which lasted till the Great War (1914-18). France was
defeated at Sedan in 1870, and Napoleon III abdicated,
Paris surrendered, after a siege of four months, on January
28,187L In the peace that followed, France paid to Prussia
a heavy war indemnity, and ceded to her the Rhine provinces
of Alsace and Lorraine. These were the seeds of the Great
War of 1914-18. France formally inaugurated her 'Third
Republic in 1875,
In Eastern Europe also the Russian policy of expansion
had, in the meanwhile, culminated in the Crimean War of
1854-56. Turkey—-" the sick man of Europe "—being sub-
jeeted to a similar operation by Russia as that of Poland,
was doctored back into life by England and France. But
there was again a relapse in 1875 owing to the'Balkan
States catohing infection from Russia. This once 'more
brought the ' Colossus of the North' down to the gates of
Constantinople, and Britain ordered two ^ar-vessds to enter
the Dardanelles 'for the protection of life and property.1
But ultimately, through one of the most thrilling diplo-
matic manoeuvres recorded in history, war was averted. The
Treaty of Berlin, 1878, brought relief to the Balkans, and
' peace with honour' to England; but it also transferred
the attention of Russia from the Near to the Far East.