During the twenty years of the Napoleonic Wars, Europe was torn apart. Large armies crossed Europe from Spain to Russia. Hundreds of thousands lost their lives and property fighting for or against Napoleon. Economically Europe was devastated. Yet throughout all the death and destruction, many of the world's most famous love stories took place. The most famous of these may be that of Napoleon and Josephine. Almost all countries that took part in the Napoleonic wars have a love story dear to their compatriots. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essayOne of the romantic but lesser-known stories is the love story of the German prince Wilhelm Hohenzollern and the Lithuanian princess Elisa Radziwill. Only William Shakespeare's lack of a pen prevented their story from rivaling that of Romeo and Juliet. Their bittersweet love story is worthy of a movie, but little known to our current generation. A century ago their love story brought tears to the eyes of young lovers across Europe. The nightmare of the Napoleonic Wars had led to a resurgence of sentimentalism and led to great skill in writing love letters in the early 19th century. Lovers were judged not only by their ardor but also by their ability to write letters. It is from the letters written by Wilhelm and Elisa and from their love story as told and retold by members of the German royal court and ordinary people that they are remembered fondly. Wilhelm was born in 1797, prince of the royal house of Hohenzollern and son of Frederick William III, king of Prussia. He was destined to lead the German states in 1871 in the formation of the Imperial German Empire. Princess Elisa was a direct descendant of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas and was born into the noble Radziwill family with possessions in Lithuania, Poland and Prussia. Although not members of a royal house, the Radziwill ancestors were illustrious by almost any standard. She was destined to die at an early age, grieving the loss of her true love. William and Elisa's love slowly grew throughout their childhood as the great struggles of the Napoleonic Wars took place around them. It flourished in the post-war period as it was danced in the royal palaces of Berlin, Vienna, Posnan and on wealthy country estates in Prussia and Lithuania. Yet the love that had been denied them in life was carried by both of them in death and would immortalize them forever. Elisa was born in 1803 on one of her father's royal estates as Napoleon's forces marched across Europe. His father was Antoni Henry Radziwill, lord of Klezh and son of the last voivode of Vilnius. His mother was Princess Louise of Prussia, niece of Frederick the Great and cousin of King Frederick William III. Although one of the richest families in Europe, the Radziwill family's estates were located in territories divided by Russia, Prussia, and Austria during the final dismemberment of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1795. To protect these divided possessions, Antoni Radziwill sought to maintain good relations with both Moscow and Berlin. Prince Radziwill adhered to the dictum that family interests come before all other considerations. He sought to consolidate close ties with the Prussian and Russian rulers who occupied his country. Unlike his brother Michele, who went into exile and served as a general under Napoleon, and his cousin Domenico, whose courageous death leading his troops against the Russians was mentioned in Napoleon's dispatches, Antoni was not a patriot. Rather than fight for restorationof independence in his country, Antoni tried to become more Prussian than the Prussians. For this reason Antoni Radziwill was not loved by his compatriots. Being a close personal friend of King Friedrich Wilhelm III, Antoni faithfully followed the exiled monarch to Königsberg and Memel after his military defeats by Napoleon at Jena and Auerstedt. Out of his loyalty, Antoni accompanied King William to the Congress of Vienna where the victors would divide Europe after the fall of Napoleon. He would be made governor of Posnan and given large properties confiscated from other Radziwill members who supported Napoleon. The friendship between the Hohenzollern and Radziwill was consolidated while King William and his family lived on the Radziwill estates in East Prussia after the French occupied Berlin. The Radziwill estate in Memel resembled a nursery filled not only with their eight children, but also with Prussian Crown Prince Frederick, Prince Wilhelm, Prince Charles and Princess Charlotte. With the death of the Queen Mother, the Prussian royal family regarded Princess Louise as their stepmother and the Radziwill estates as their second home. In this atmosphere the two families lived a special relationship unparalleled in the kingdom. Eventually the childhood friendship between the young Prince William and Princess Elisa will transform into eternal love. The relationship between the two families was so close that it never occurred to anyone that inequality at birth would one day separate them. From his early years, Wilhelm was raised in the Prussian military tradition and at the age of ten he was commissioned as a second lieutenant. Although the Prussian army had regularly won major battles under Frederick the Great, the armies were now regularly defeated by Napoleon's French forces. As a result, William experienced great instability and humiliation as a young man. His early years in exile were to have a profound effect on the prince and his subsequent policies. By the time of Napoleon's final defeat in 1814, William had become a staunch conservative and a staunch supporter of the established system. William expected his subjects to faithfully fulfill their obligations without question and swore to fulfill their duties scrupulously. This oath of duty will no doubt cause Wilhelm to renounce his true love when she threatens the stability of the monarchy. One cannot be sure when Wilhelm and Elisa first fell in love, but one of his letters written at 19 certainly documents the awakening of his love. romantic feelings. Although Elisa was just fourteen, Wilhelm wrote to a friend how happy he was to learn that the Radziwill family was moving from Posnan to Berlin. He wrote about his desire to know what the beautiful, big-eyed Elisa would be like after two years of separation. When he was twenty-four and Elisa was eighteen, their love was evident to everyone. Wilhelm matured from a callous teenager to a serious young man. He had traveled to St. Petersburg, Paris and London and had been decorated by his father and Tsar Alexander for bravery in combat. He was in every way a charming young man in the prime of his life. Since her early years, Elisa had been described as one of the most fascinating creatures to have ever walked this earth. Her smiles were said to be like rays of sunshine that brought pleasure to all who met her. Even King Frederick William could not hide his emotion and commented that Elisa was an angel on earth. Wilhelm himself wrote: “his gentle nature, his noble and sensitive character, his intellectual gifts and the indescribable grace in all the things he does, can only be the reflectionof a beautiful soul and a splendid mind." Sleeping Beauty Castles in Berlin, Vienna and Posnan were the perfect setting for their love story. They danced in candle-lit ballrooms and took leisurely strolls along the riverbanks in the moonlight. Wilhelm would give Elisa the eternal code name in his letters to indicate the eternal nature of their love. Their future looked bright and cloudless. As they danced across Europe there was little sign of the trouble that awaited them. While Wilhelm and Elisa thought only of the moment when they would be united forever, court gossip began to cloud their future. The German palace clique slowly moved to extinguish their eternal love. THE Hohenzollers were a staunch Lutheran monarchy, who were taught to view all others as being in serious danger of losing their immortal souls. The conversion of William's sister, Princess Charlotte, to the Russian Orthodox faith before her marriage to Grand Duke Nicholas had caused the court to become concerned about her safety. Although Elisa had been raised as a Lutheran in accordance with a prenuptial agreement, Prince Antoni Radziwill and his children were Roman Catholic. This fact caused great anxiety at the Prussian court and many feared that the young prince might be influenced to become Catholic. As rumors of William and Elisa's marriage increased, emotion at court reached a fever pitch. Elisa's suitability for the royal position was eventually questioned. Equality of birth was a prerequisite of the court and the marriage of a royal prince to Princess Radziwill was viewed with prejudice by the Royal House of Prussia. For eight years King William wavered on an official proclamation, allowing the young lovers to continue their romance. Some suggested strategies that would allow the lovers to overcome the court's objections, such as having Tsar Alexander of Russia adopt Elisa. Elisa's adoption would make her a member of a ruling family, except that such an action would be a great insult to Prince Antoni and the Radziwill family. The lovers tried in vain to find a solution to their dilemma. Many reasons have been given for King William's vacillations. One of the most interesting is the hypothesis that the 54-year-old monarch had set his sights on Elisa himself and was just waiting for young William's passion to calm down. The mysteries of the king's psyche are unknown, however, shortly thereafter he married the twenty-four-year-old Countess Augusta von Harrach. It will never be known whether the king was behind the lovers' dilemma, but such were the rumors circulating at court. Finally, in 1826, King William officially informed the Radziwill family that no marriage could take place. Although of good family, the family was however not descended from a ruling house and therefore unsuitable for a royal marriage. The decision shocked the young lovers. Wilhelm immediately tried to see Elisa but she fled with her family to Posnan. William had accepted the king's decision but still tried to see Elisa. They finally met just a week before his arranged marriage to the seventeen-year-old Duchess Auguste von Weimar. History has no record of their conversation and one can only imagine what happened during their meeting. After the wedding Wilhelm wrote to his sister Charlotte that one can only truly love once, but that Auguste cannot and should not be denied respect and affection. Aside from marriage, William devoted himself to his three remaining passions: Prussia, the army, and absolutism. Thanks to his efforts, Prussia would become the central power of a unified German nation. If.