. A history of mediaeval and modern Europe for secondary schools. o fury by his aggressions along their frontiers andby various acts which they could consider perfidy. In an hourof blind folly, Frederick William declared war with only mari-time England and distant Russia for possible helpers. It was easy to forecast Prussian defeat, but that defeat wasastonishingly sudden. His Majesty the King, a Prussiangeneral had said, has several generals as good as or superior toMonsieur Bonaparte. They proved their worth at Jena(October 14, 1806) when the Prussian army was utterly routed 1by Napoleons co
. A history of mediaeval and modern Europe for secondary schools. o fury by his aggressions along their frontiers andby various acts which they could consider perfidy. In an hourof blind folly, Frederick William declared war with only mari-time England and distant Russia for possible helpers. It was easy to forecast Prussian defeat, but that defeat wasastonishingly sudden. His Majesty the King, a Prussiangeneral had said, has several generals as good as or superior toMonsieur Bonaparte. They proved their worth at Jena(October 14, 1806) when the Prussian army was utterly routed 1by Napoleons columns and practically the whole kingdom fellinto his hands with ease; one fortress after another capitulatingwith disgraceful haste. The old fighting machine of Frederickthe Great had been shattered to bits by the new fightingmachine of Napoleon. 1 The Prussians were not merely defeated, but so absolutely demoralized thattheir unfortunate king was unable to get them really together for another battlebefore he had been forced back nearly to the Russian 436 HISTORY OF EUROPE Czar Alexander presently came to Frederick Williams allies made a last stand in the extreme east of the Prussiankingdom. But after the unsuccessful battle of Friedland (1807),the czar would do no more. He was a somewhat fickle, impres-sionable man, and Napoleon succeeded in filling him with finenotions of dividing the entire world between the two friendlyempires of Russia and France. The result was the Peace ofTilsit (July 9, 1807). By this treaty Russia lost practically nothing, but Prussiawas almost stricken from the list of great Powers. She lost allher lands west of the Elbe, and nearly all her annexations atthe division of Poland; in short, her territory was reduced from89,000 to 46,000 square miles. She was later pledged to pay anenormous war indemnity to the French, and not to maintainan army of more than 42,000 men. The Peace of Tilsit probably marked the culmination ofNapoleons po
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