Liberal interest in the unification of Germany was quickened and deepened by the events of 1840. This was the year of the War Scare on the Rhine, a crisis which evoked an upsurge of national feeling comparable in intensity to that of 1813. France was out-manouvered by Britain over the Egyptian question in the summer of 1840. The French, irritated by their isolation in the Near East, sought to retrieve their prestige by pursuing an active foreign policy in Europe. Thiers, the new foreign minister, rattled the French sabre while the Paris press denounced the treaties of 1815 and called with enthusiasm for the immediate reconquest of the Rhineland which had been an integral part of France from 1792 to 1814. After the 1830 Revolution liberals in South and West Germany had been filled with admiration for France; overnight these friendly sentiments waned and were replaced by a mood of sharp hostility...