Stories of Famous Songs, Vol 1

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STORIES OF
in Russia, and the thrashing his armies received in Spain from the Duke of Wellington, that any hope of deliverance appeared on the horizon. In 1813 Frederick William III. of Prussia struck the keynote of freedom when he called upon all the states to fight together for the " Fatherland." The French were routed, and the Battle of Waterloo ended the murderous career of Napo-leon, and set Germany on the high road to prosperity, though still not an undivided coun-try. It is to this epoch-making time that Ger-many owes the birth of such songs as " Was^ ist des Deutschen Vaterland," " * J W * Schwert-lied," and other national songs. Indeed, all the songs of this period are really war hymns, and encourage armed rebellion against the French Power. But they were not exclusively directed to the driving out of the French forces. The French Revolution had sounded the knell of despotism, not only in France, but in Germany also. The principle underrunning all these battle-chants was : First drive out the French, and then restore the native powers that be, but with essential modifications. The princely pre-rogatives were to be curtailed, and more consti-tutional modes of government introduced. This explains to a certain extent the extraordinary patience with which the German princes bore
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