Origins of the warPrussia’s defeat of in the 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 (who was related to the ) for the throne, which had been left vacant when Queen had been deposed in 1868. The Prussian chancellor, and Spain’s de facto leader, 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 Leopold’s candidacy was withdrawn under French diplomatic pressure, but Prussian King was unwilling to bow to the French ambassador’s demands that he promise to never again allow Leopold to be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 ), which accomplished his purposes of infuriating the French government and provoking it into a declaration of war.The French emperor, declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870, because his military advisers told him that the French army could defeat Prussia and that such a victory would restore his declining popularity in France.
Prussia has a proud military heritage: what else could be the case for the nation of Frederick the Great? The country has been at peace for ten years, the result of getting a free hand in northern Germany east of the Rhine in exchange for recognising French control west of the Rhine.
The French were convinced that the reorganization of their army in 1866 had made it superior to the German armies. They also had great faith in two recently introduced technical innovations: the breech-loading chassepot rifle, with which the entire army was now equipped; and the newly invented mitrailleuse, an early. The French generals, blinded by national pride, were confident of victory. For his part, saw war with France as an opportunity to bring the South German states into unity with the Prussian-led and build a strong.
Napoleon Total War Prussia Guide
The Germans had superiority of numbers, since, true to Bismarck’s hopes, the South German states (, and ) regarded France as the aggressor in the conflict and had thus sided with Prussia. An equally important asset was the Prussian army’s general staff, which planned the rapid, orderly movement of large numbers of troops to the battle zones.
This superior organization and mobility enabled the chief of the general staff, Gen., to exploit German superiority in numbers in most of the war’s battles. The French right wing, commanded by and accompanied by Napoleon himself, attempted to relieve Bazaine but was itself encircled and trapped by the Germans at on August 31. The following day, the Germans on the surrounding heights poured deadly artillery fire down on them.
The 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. French resistance was carried on against desperate odds by a new government of national defense, which assumed power in on September 4, 1870, and proclaimed the of the emperor and the establishment of the. On September 19 the Germans began to besiege., foreign minister in the new government, went to negotiate with Bismarck, but the negotiations were broken off when he found that Germany demanded Alsace and Lorraine., the leading figure in the provisional government, organized new French armies in the countryside after escaping from besieged Paris in a balloon. These engaged but could not defeat the German forces.
Bazaine at Metz with his 140,000 troops intact on October 27, and Paris surrendered on January 28, 1871.Armistice and consequencesThe of January 28 included a provision for the election of a French, which would have the authority to conclude a definite peace. This settlement was finally negotiated by and Favre and was signed February 26 and ratified March 1. Between then and the conclusion of the formal on May 10, 1871, the republican government was threatened by an insurrection in Paris, in which radicals established their own short-lived government, the.
Napoleon Total War Prussia Vs France
The Commune was suppressed after two months, and the harsh provisions of the Treaty of Frankfurt were then implemented: Germany annexed and half of, 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 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 were annexed by (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 armies controlled by a highly trained was soon adopted by the other great powers.) Most importantly, Germany’s annexation of 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 proved to be the driving force behind the prolonged slaughter on the Western Front in.