It is a disgrace to Germany, that a petty count of Hapsburg should have been preferred to so many powerful sovereigns." War, and a fearful one, was now inevitable.

Ottocar was a veteran soldier, a man of great intrepidity and energy, and his pride was thoroughly roused.

By a long series of aggressions he had become the most powerful prince in Europe, and he could lead the most powerful armies into the field.

His dominions extended from the confines of Bavaria to Raab in Hungary, and from the Adriatic to the shores of the Baltic.

The hereditary domains of the Count of Hapsburg were comparatively insignificant, and were remotely situated at the foot of the Alps, spreading through the defiles of Alsace and Suabia.