CHAPTER XI.

Romano-Germanic Empire Perishing--European Conditions--Louis XIV.--Decay of National Spirit--Rise of Brandenburg--Combination against Louis XIV.--Spanish Succession--Under Frederick I. Brandenburg Becomes Prussia--Alliance with England--Marlborough and Prince Eugene--Blenheim--Peace of Utrecht--Territorial Changes--Charles XII. and Peter the Great--Pragmatic Sanction--Frederick William I.--Stirrings of Thought in this Time of Chaos--Birth of German Speculative Philosophy--Spinoza--Soul Awakening