72 / CHRONICLESnVIEWSnTHE EMPIRE AT EUROPE’S ENDnby Erik von Kuehnelt-LeddihnnIn the German name for Austria, Osterreich, Reichndenotes more than “empire” in the sense of territorialnextension; there is also a certain spiritual content. In thenMiddle Ages, empire meant the Eastern Roman Empire ofnByzantium, and after Christmas Day 800, when Charle-nErik von Kuehnelt-Leddihn is the European correspondentnfor National Review and author most recently ofnGleichheit Oder Freiheit? (Hohenrain Verlag).nnnmagne was crowned by Pope Leo XIII, the Sacer ImperatornRomanus was a German and from 1440 on, with onenexception, a Hapsburg. He was the protector and nominalnoverlord of all Western Christendom. The Holy RomannEmpire (whose colors were Black and Gold) existed, at leastnon paper, until 1806.nIn 1804 Francis II assumed the title Emperor of Austrianbut two years later dropped the “Roman” claim that hadnbeen drained of meaning by Napoleon’s conquests. However,nprayers for the Holy Roman Emperor on Good Fridaynand Holy Saturday, contained in all Catholic missals thenworld over, were abolished only in 1952. (In these, God’snhelp was implored to strengthen the Empire against thenattack of the barbarians who were “merely trusting in theirnferocity.”)nThe Second Reich, founded by the Hohenzollerns, wasncreated in Versailles on January 18, 1871, when William Inbecame the German Emperor—not the “Emperor ofnGermany,” since a country called Deutschland (“Germany”)nhas existed officially only since 1949. The DeutschesnReich of 1871 was a federated state dominated by Prussia. Itsncharacter was not conservative but national-liberal, and thenNational-Liberal Party was the force behind Bismarck, annex-conservative, who as a young man had been a Prussiannpatriot and not a nationalist.nThe history of Austria is inseparable from Germannhistory. In 1866 the Prussians destroyed the GermannLeague (which served as a successor, of sorts, to the HolynRoman Empire), first by making a treaty with Italy againstnAustria and then by defeating Austria in the war thatnensued. A year later, Austria had to come to terms withnHungary, smaller in population but larger in area. Hungary,ntoo, was a Reich, just like Austria, and it had a longerncontinuous history. Saint Stephen, King of Hungary, hadnreceived his royal crown from Pope Sylvester in 1001, whilenFrancis II (now Francis I) established the Empire of Austrianonly in 1804. Thus from 1867 until 1918 we speak of thenAustro-Hungarian Monarchy.nStill, we have to return to the concept of Reich. It is anlarge country and not a national state. A Reich ideallyncontains a great variety of states, races, ethnic units,nlanguages, dialects, classes, laws, institutions, traditions,nprivileged groups, and so forth. Besides “Empire,” Reich innGerman also means “rich” and is connected with “reichen,”nto reach (out). Its uniting force is not Nationalismusn(ethnicism-racism) but patriotism—a pride in a wealth ofnforms which must be stronger than some sort of warm,ncollectivis herd-feeling with a suspicion for otherness. AnReich, above all, must have a continental, if not a global,nmission—a task, an aim. Although Switzerland is a shiningn