The Franco-Prussian War

France vs. Prussia & the German States from 1870 to 1871

Short duration – dramatic changes in Europe

Rapid and overwhelming victory of the German states under the leadership of Prussia =

creation of a unified German Empire

Brought the fall of the French empire of Napoleon III which was replaced by the Third

Republic.

Prussia first fight and destroy Napoleon III, then armies of French Third republic .

Marked final step in Germany's rise to the position of a major continental power

The territory of Alsace-Lorraine taken by Germany --retain until World War I.

Causes of the Franco-Prussian War

Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898) -- Prime Minister of Prussia. Bismarck’s policies brought about 3 European wars which led to the unification of Germany.

Chancellor in 1871 - known as the “Iron Chancellor”

1868 on – planned German unification. Problem: German Protestant states in

north and German Catholic south -- divided culturally and politically, but united in

their hatred for France since the Napoleonic Wars

France had looted the German states and pressed an estimated 250,000 Germans

into the French armies .

Most countries had kept up citizen militias, usually separate from the regular forces.

The Prussians began to build up large trained reserves - integrated into the army.

Napoleon III (1808-1873), nephew to Louis Bonaparte. After Revolution of 1848, France became a republic and he was allowed to return .

Elected to the National Assembly and won the presidency in the same year.

French constitution forbade a president from serving more than one term, so

staged a coup and made himself dictator in 1851 and later emperor.

Napoleon III sought to defeat Prussia and recover all or part of the Rhine frontier Prussia's victory over Austria in recent Austro-Prussian War (1866) increased

tensions with France

felt Prussia was growing too strong .

Many French military leaders were shocked by the Prussian defeat of the Austrians

- and urged military reforms.

Since the defeat of 1815, France subordinate power in Europe .

Franco-Prussian War 2

Both Napoleon III and Bismarck needed a war for political reasons War waited because Napoleon III wanted more time to complete army reforms and

Bismarck need time to gather southern German support for a unified Germany.

BUT - It was inevitable that some event would trigger a war.

A Pretext for War In 1869 -- Spanish parliament offered the throne (vacant since 1868) of Spain to

Hohenzollern Prince Leopold, nephew of King Wilhelm I of Prussia

If Bismarck could place Leopold on Spanish throne, France would have two German

Hohenzollern monarchies on its borders .

Upon Bismarck's insistence, the reluctant Leopold accepted the offer On July 2, 1870, Spanish informed French ambassador of their choice.

When French minister of foreign affairs, the Duc de Gramont, heard of it, he

convened the legislature and made a threatening speech

Gramont knew the French army was weaker than the Prussian army, but assumed

that if war came France would have the support of Austria , which lost to Prussia in

1866, and Denmark, which lost to Prussia in 1864 . There was no formal alliance

between France and Austria and Denmark .

Bismarck's Reworded “Ems Telegram” – Provoking the Gallic Bull Gramont informed French ambassador to Prussia that King Wilhelm must sign and publish a document renouncing all claims to the Spanish throne

Wilhelm -- insulted and refused.

Telegrammed to Bismarck - elated to hear it.

Instead of declaring war right away, Bismarck reworded the telegram as to arouse a

war fever in France and the Germanic states . As a result, the French Chamber on

July 15, 1870 declared war on Prussia.

Engineered the French into declaring war on Prussia first to get the south German

states to join the north German alliance and insure the neutrality of the other great

powers !

There was not universal support for the war in the French legislative body as some

republicans realized the bad position it would place France in.

The German states, seeing France as the aggressor, came to Prussia's support .

German Advantages: A national army organized under universal military service.

Efficient use of railroads.

Franco-Prussian War 3

Innovative group artillery.

Prussians won a decisive battle at Sedan on Sept 1 - 2 1870 Napoleon III was captured .

Paris surrendered in January 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt was signed on May 10, 1871.

France ceded Alsace, except Belfort and eastern Lorraine to Germany

German army could occupy northern France till an indemnity of five billion Francs

was paid .

On Jan 18, 1871 at Versailles William I was proclaimed the German

emperor

Outcomes - Germany Creation of a unified German Empire

Destroyed balance of power in Europe since Congress of Vienna

Germany established as major power in Europe with one of most powerful and

professional armies in world.

Outcomes – France Before Germans entered Paris, National Guards removed cannons from the

Germans' path to store them in "safe" districts – leaving unprotected civilians.

Growing discontent after Franco-Prussian War led to the Paris Commune from

March thru May, 1871.The National Assembly's army brutally crushed the

Commune, and when the Commune had been demolished, the National Assembly

proceeded with executions that numbered 20,000 in one week!

Elsewhere: With the outbreak of war, Napoleon withdrew garrison from Rome. With this gone, Italian national army able to take Papal State of Rome in 1870. Led to Italian unification

Casualties

French Prussian/German 138,871 dead

143,000 wounded 474,414 captured

756,285 total casualties

120,000 dead 128,000 wounded

248,000 total casualties

Franco-Prussian War 4

Interesting Facts of the Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian (F-P) War had the first purposeful bombardment of civilians in warfare.

The most efficient and the cleanest hospital in Paris during the Siege was the American

Ambulance, run by American citizens living in Paris.

The Prussians were the first to use antiseptic surgery.

The F-P War saw the first wide-spread use of breech-loading firearms by both armies in

Europe.

The F-P War had first wide-spread use of machine-guns in Europe.

The first formal proposal for an international criminal court was made by the Swiss in

the aftermath of the atrocities of the F-P War.

Surplus US Army Enfield, Springfield, Remington, & Spencer rifles, along with Sharps

carbines were purchased by the French Government .

American Generals Philip Sheridan and Ambrose Burnside were sent over to France as

observers with the Prussian Army.

During war, 101 million letters were sent by both sides.

For Further Reading R. H. Lord, The Origins of the War of 1870 (1924, repr. 1966) D. Clarke, ed., Roger de Mauni: The Franco-Prussian War M. Howard, The Franco-Prussian War F. Hoenig, Volkskrieg an der Loire L. A. Hale, The Peoples War. Wawro, Geoffrey. The Franco-Prussian War: The German Conquest of France in 1870–1871. The Franco-Prussian War Association http://www.oocities.org/F-Par1870/history.html The Franco-Prussian War http://francoprussianwar.com/