LET us lk backward a minute t see what had been gingn in Eurpe since the timef Naplen.
After Naplen was sent t Elba， the French had t have anther ruler. They wanted theirld kings back again. The family namef theirld kings was Burbn， and the French thught theyught t have a Burbn rulerver them. Accrdingly they triedut three Burbns-ne after thether-all relativesf their last king， whm they had beheaded.
Allf them prved n gd. The French peple had given the Burbn family a gd tryut， and s at last they stpped wrrying with kings and started anther republic.
Nw， a republic has a president insteadf a king， s the peple had t chse a president； and whm d yu suppse they pickedut？ Why， the nephewf Naplen. The nephewf Naplen was named Luis Naplen. He had planned and pltted again and again t make himself kingf France， but again and again he had failed. And nw he was elected president！ But Luis Naplen didn"t want t benly president. He wanted t be like his uncle the great Naplen. He dreamedf being emperr and cnquering Eurpe， and s it was nt lng after this befre he had himself made emperr， and called himself Naplen III.
Naplen III was jealusf the neighbring cuntryf Prussia. It was getting t be t strng， he thught. Prussia had a king at this time named William wh was very able himself， and he had an able assistantr prime minister named Bismarck， wh was lking fr an excuse t fight France. Presently a war was started between the tw cuntries in 1870. Naplen sn fund he had made a bad mistake in picking the war with Prussia. Prussia was nt getting t strng； it was already t strng.
Naplen III was cmpletely beaten by Prussia， and he with a large army had t surrender. Then in disgrace he went t live in England.
The Prussians marched int Paris and made the French agree t pay them a billin dllars. When smef the French twns said they culdn"t pay， Bismarck lined up the leading citizensf the place and tld them they wuld besht if they didn"t raise the mney that was demanded. France paid， and， t the wnder and amazementf everybdy， they paid this immense sum in tw years" time. But it tk France a lng time t frget the way they were made t pay and the way they were treated by the Prussians， and fr a lng time there was deadly enmity between these tw cuntries. This war was called the Franc- Prussian War， as it was between France and Prussia.
There were a numberf little cuntries near Prussia. They were called German states. But thugh their peple were related and spke the same language， the cuntriesr states were separate. As a resultf the war， Prussia was able t jin all these German states tgether and t make fr the first timene big， strng， pwerful natin called Germany， feared byther cuntriesn accuntf its great armyf fighting men. William was made emperrf all Germany and called kaiser. He was crwned in the French palace that Luis XIV had built at Versailles.
The French thught the Germans had been able t win this war because they had public schls in which all their children were trained and becausef the way their sldiers were drilled. S France set t wrk and started public schls everywhere in France and imitated the German wayf drilling their army s that they wuld be prepared in the next war.
France became a republic with a president and an assembly chsen by the peple. The French wanted n mre emperrs.
At that time Italy was nt a single cuntry as it is nw. It was a cllectinf small states， as Germany had been. Smef these were independent sme werewned by France； sme werewned by Austria. The kingfnef these Italian states was Victr Emmanuel. He wanted all the Italian states t unite and becmene single cuntry likeur United States. He was helped by his prime minister， a very able man named Cavur， and by a rugh but rmantic ppular her named Garibaldi， wh was called the Herf the Red Shirt.
Garibaldi， wh had been a candlemaker in New Yrk City， was always pr and seemed nt t care fr mney. He was s ppular that whenever he called fr sldiers t fight with him fr his belved Italy， they atnce flcked arund him， ready t fight t the death.
At last these three， Victr Emmanuel， Cavur， and Garibaldi， succeeded in making their cuntryne big natin. The Italians erected mnuments t them and named streets after them. T hnr Victr Emmanuel， they built a magnificent buildingn a hill in Rmeverlking the city， a building that was intended t be mre beautiful than anything built in Athens during the timef Pericles，r in Italy during the Renaissance.
If yu cllect pstage stamps it wuld be interesting fr yu t get， if yu81 Three New Pstage Stamps 413can， stampsf these cuntries at that time， the New French Republic， United Germany， and United Italy.
【中文阅读】
让我们花一分钟回头看看自从拿破仑时代以来欧洲发生的事情。 拿破仑被流放到厄尔巴岛以后，法国人只得再找一位统治者。他们希望恢复原来的王室家族。这个家族姓"波旁"，法国人认为他们应当让一个波旁家族的人来统 治他们。因此他们试用了三个波旁家族的人--一个接一个--都是那个被他们斩 了首的最后一个国王的亲戚。
结果是，这三人都当不了国王。法国人给了波旁家族一个很好的证明自己的机 会，所以最后他们不再为选谁当国王而烦恼了，而是又一次建立了一个共和国。
那么，共和国就要有一个总统，而不是国王，所以人民还得选出一位总统；你 猜他们选出了谁？呦，拿破仑的侄子。拿破仑的侄子名叫路易 拿破仑。他曾为当上 法国国王策划密谋了一次又一次，但是一次又一次地失败了。现在他居然被选为总 统了！但是路易 拿破仑不想仅仅当个总统。他希望像他的叔叔那样成为伟大的拿破 仑。他梦想成为皇帝，征服整个欧洲，于是在成为总统后不久他就让自己当上了皇 帝，而且自称为"拿破仑三世"。
拿破仑三世嫉妒邻国普鲁士。他认为这个国家渐渐变得过于强大了。这个时候 普鲁士的国王叫威廉，他本人就能力非凡，再加上有一位精明强干的助手或者说首 相名叫俾斯麦。俾斯麦正在为同法国打仗找借口。不久，在 1870 年，两国间爆发了 一场战争。拿破仑很快就发现挑起同普鲁士的战争是犯了一个严重的错误。普鲁士 不是"变得"过于强大，而是已经太强大了。
拿破仑三世被普鲁士彻底打败，他只得带着一支大部队投了降。他失势后到英 国去居住了。
普鲁士军队进入巴黎，迫使法国人同意赔偿他们十个亿。有些法国城镇表示他 们付不出钱，俾斯麦就把当地的头面人物找来，排成队，告诉他们如果他们筹不到 规定数额的钱，他们就会被枪毙。法国交了赔款，让所有人困惑和惊讶的是他们只 用了两年的时间就付清了这笔巨额赔款。但是法国人久久难以忘怀他们被迫赔款的 耻辱，以及普鲁士人对待他们的那种盛气凌人的态度，长期以来这两个国家都是不 共戴天的仇敌。这场战争被称为"普法战争"，因为这是发生在法国和普鲁士之间的 战争。
普鲁士附近有一些小国。它们被称为"德意志邦国"。尽管这些国家的人民彼此 有亲缘关系，说着同一种语言，可是这些国家或邦国是各自独立的。由于这场战争， 普鲁士能够将所有这些德意志邦国联合在一起，由于它的军队强大，士兵英勇好战， 威慑了其他国家，首次建立了一个又强又大的国家，叫做德国。威廉成了整个德国 的皇帝，被称为"德意志帝国皇帝"。他在路易十四在凡尔赛建造的法国皇宫举行了加冕仪式。
法国人认为德国能够赢得这场战争首先是因为他们有公立学校，所有的孩子都 在公立学校里接受系统训练，另外还因为他们训练士兵的先进方式。所以法国认真 着手在各处开办公立学校，并模仿德国人训练军队的方法，目的是为下一次战争做 好准备。
法国成为一个共和国，总统和议会都由人民选出。法国人民再也不需要皇帝了。 那时，意大利还不像现在这样是一个单一完整的国家，而是由许多小城邦组合 在一起，就像当初德国那样。其中有些城邦是独立的，有些为法国所有，有些为奥 地利所有。其中一个意大利城邦的国王叫维克托 伊曼纽尔。他希望意大利所有城邦 都统一起来，成为一个完整的国家，就像美国一样。他有两个得力的助手，一个是 首相，名叫加富尔，聪明能干，另一个名叫加里波第，是一位粗野但却富有传奇性的民间英雄，人称"红衫军勇士"。 加里波第曾经是纽约市的一个制蜡烛的工匠，总是很穷，却似乎一点都不贪财。
他非常受欢迎，每当他呼吁士兵们和他一起为他心爱的意大利作战时，他们总是立 刻聚集在他周围，随时准备战死沙场。
最终这三个人，维克托 伊曼纽尔、加富尔和加里波第，成功地把意大利统一 为一个大国。意大利人民为他们竖立了纪念碑，以他们的名字命名街道。为了纪念 维克托 伊曼纽尔，他们在罗马的一座小山上建造了一座宏伟的俯瞰全城的建筑物， 人们想让这座建筑物比伯里克利时代雅典的任何建筑物，或者比文艺复兴时期意大 利的任何建筑物都美丽、壮观。
如果你集邮，如果你能够获得那一时期这三个国家的新邮票，即法兰西共和国、 统一的德国和统一的意大利发行的，那就太有意思了！
公元 1870 年
