young heir to the throne, with the aid of experienced military leaders
succeeded in suppressing the rebellion. For sixty-eight years
(1848-1916) he was personally popular and held together the composite
state.

In 1866 Austria was driven out of the German Confederation by Prussia.
Seven years earlier she had lost most of her Italian possessions.
Thereafter her interests and ambitions lay to the southeast; and she
bent her energies to extend her territory, influence, and commerce into
the Balkan region. A semblance of popular government was established in
Austria and in Hungary, which were separated from each other in ordinary
affairs, but continued under the same monarch. In each country, however,
the suffrage and elections were so juggled that the ruling minority, of
Germans in Austria and of Hungarians in Hungary, was enabled to keep the
majority in subjection.

Austria-Hungary has not progressed as rapidly in industry and commerce
as the countries to the north and west of her. Her life is still largely
agricultural, and cultivation is often conducted by primitive methods.
Before the war her wealth per person was only $500, as compared with
$1843 in the United States, $1849 in Great Britain, $1250 in France, and
$1230 in Germany. She possessed only one good seaport, Trieste
(trĭ-ĕst´), and this partly explained her desire to obtain access to
the Black Sea and the Ægean Sea. About half of her foreign trade was
carried on with Germany. The low standards of national wealth and
production made the raising of taxes a difficult matter. The government
had a serious struggle to obtain the funds for a large military and
naval program.

ITALY.--For a thousand years before 1870 there was no single