Disciplined troops were needed, who could sweep the
field with well-aimed bullets, and crumble walls with shot and shells.
This led to the establishment of standing armies, and gave the great
powers an immense advantage over their weaker neighbors. The invention
of printing, also, which began to be operative about the middle of the
fifteenth century, rapidly changed, by the diffusion of intelligence,
the state of society, hitherto so barbarous. The learned men of Greece,
driven from their country by the Turkish invasion, were scattered over
Europe, and contributed not a little to the extension of the love of
letters. The discovery of the mariner's compass and improvements in
nautical astronomy, also opened new sources of knowledge and of wealth,
and the human mind all over Europe commenced a new start in the career
of civilization. Men of letters began to share in those honors which
heretofore had belonged exclusively to men of war; and the arts of peace
began to claim consideration with those who had been accustomed to
respect only the science of destruction.
Maximilian was at Innspruck when he received intelligence of the death
of his father. He commenced his reign with an act of rigor which was
characteristic of his whole career.
Pages:
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132