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Nov 12, 2020 · The Franco-Prussian War overturned the balance of power in Europe. That balance, stable since the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1814-15 , had depended on a rough equivalence among five European great powers: Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia.
- Overview
- Origins of the war
- The French collapse and the siege of Paris
- Armistice and consequences
Franco-German War, (July 19, 1870–May 10, 1871), war in which a coalition of German states led by Prussia defeated France. The war marked the end of French hegemony in continental Europe and resulted in the creation of a unified Germany.
Prussia’s defeat of Austria in the Seven Weeks’ War in 1866 had confirmed Prussian leadership of the German states and threatened France’s position as the dominant power in Europe. The immediate cause of the Franco-German War, however, was the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (who was related to the Prussian royal house) for the Spanish throne, which had been left vacant when Queen Isabella II had been deposed in 1868. The Prussian chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, and Spain’s de facto leader, Juan Prim, persuaded the reluctant Leopold to accept the Spanish throne in June 1870. This move greatly alarmed France, who felt threatened by a possible combination of Prussia and Spain directed against it. Leopold’s candidacy was withdrawn under French diplomatic pressure, but Prussian King William I was unwilling to bow to the French ambassador’s demands that he promise to never again allow Leopold to be a candidate for the Spanish throne. Bismarck edited William’s telegraphed description of this interview, and on July 14 he published this provocative message (the Ems telegram), which accomplished his purposes of infuriating the French government and provoking it into a declaration of war.
Franco-German War events
Battles of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte
August 16, 1870 - August 18, 1870
Battle of Sedan
September 1, 1870
The efficient German mobilization contrasted with confusion and delay on the French side. Germany was able to deliver 380,000 troops to the forward zone within 18 days of the start (July 14) of mobilization, while many French units reached the front either late or with inadequate supplies. The vast German and French armies that then confronted each other were each grouped into right and left wings. After suffering a check at the Battle of Wörth on August 6, 1870, the commander of the French right (south) wing, Marshal Patrice Mac-Mahon, retreated westward. That same day, about 40 miles (65 km) to the northeast, the commander of the French left wing, Marshal Achille Bazaine, was dislodged from near Saarbrücken and fell back westward to the fortress of Metz. His further retreat was checked by the German right wing in the blundering Battles of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte on August 16 and 18, respectively, and he then took refuge behind the defenses of Metz indefinitely.
The French right wing, commanded by Mac-Mahon and accompanied by Napoleon himself, attempted to relieve Bazaine but was itself encircled and trapped by the Germans at Sedan on August 31. The following day, the Germans on the surrounding heights poured deadly artillery fire down on them. The Battle of Sedan was a disaster for the French. Trapped against the Belgian frontier, the French lost 17,000 men and were compelled to surrender on September 2. About 104,000 officers and men were taken prisoner, including both Napoleon and Mac-Mahon. German losses numbered 460 officers and 8,500 men. Since Bazaine’s army was still bottled up in Metz, the result of the war was virtually decided by this surrender.
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The armistice of January 28 included a provision for the election of a French National Assembly, which would have the authority to conclude a definite peace. This settlement was finally negotiated by Adolphe Thiers and Favre and was signed February 26 and ratified March 1. Between then and the conclusion of the formal Treaty of Frankfurt on May 10, 1871, the republican government was threatened by an insurrection in Paris, in which radicals established their own short-lived government, the Paris Commune. The Commune was suppressed after two months, and the harsh provisions of the Treaty of Frankfurt were then implemented: Germany annexed Alsace and half of Lorraine, with Metz. Furthermore, France had to pay an indemnity of five billion francs and cover the costs of the German occupation of France’s northern provinces until the indemnity was paid. The culminating triumph of Bismarck’s plans came on January 18, 1871, when King William I of Prussia was proclaimed German emperor at Versailles, the former palace of the kings of France.
The Franco-German War had far-reaching consequences. It established both the German Empire and the French Third Republic. With Napoleon III no longer in power to protect them, the Papal States were annexed by Italy (September 20, 1870), thereby completing that nation’s unification. The Germans’ crushing victory over France in the war consolidated their faith in Prussian militarism, which would remain a dominant force in German society until 1945. (Additionally, the Prussian system of conscript armies controlled by a highly trained general staff was soon adopted by the other great powers.) Most importantly, Germany’s annexation of Alsace-Lorraine aroused a deep longing for revenge in the French people. The years from 1871 to 1914 were marked by an extremely unstable peace, since France’s determination to recover Alsace-Lorraine and Germany’s mounting imperialist ambitions kept the two nations constantly poised for conflict. Their mutual animosity proved to be the driving force behind the prolonged slaughter on the Western Front in World War I.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
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Sep 20, 2021 · The 1870-71 war resulted in two mutually hostile powers in Europe, which led to two rival alliances on the continent. This antagonistic rivalry was perhaps the most significant factor in the outbreak of the First World War. Conclusion. The Franco-Prussian War decisively changed the balance of power in Europe.
1st Grenadiers of the Guard. 2nd Brigade : Gen. Le Poittetin de la Croix. 2nd Grenadiers of the Guard. 3rd Grenadiers of the Guard. 2nd Division Artillery : Lt. Col. de Cevilly. 2 Guard Foot Artillery batteries (4-pdr. guns) 1 Guard Mitrailleuse battery. 3rd Engineer Regiment (1 company) Cavalry Division : Gen. Desvaux.
In order to end the Franco-Prussian War, the Germans besieged Paris, beginning on September 19, 1870. The length of the siege helped to salve French pride, but it also left bitter political divisions.
Aug 31, 2023 · In both cases, the war is used to typify various forms of warfare in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. 1 From the perspective of an institutional and functional history of the military, 2 however, the Franco–Prussian War is seen as an expression of a fundamental change in military thinking due to the development of an emergent form of ...
May 21, 2018 · Franco-Prussian War the war of 1870–1 between France (under Napoleon III) and Prussia, in which Prussian troops advanced into France and decisively defeated the French at Sedan. The defeat marked the end of the French Second Empire.
