Franco-Prussian War

Franco-Prussian War
Part of the wars of German unification
(clockwise from top right) Battle of Mars-la-Tour, 16 August 1870 The Lauenburg 9th Jäger Battalion at Gravelotte The Last Cartridges The Defense of Champigny The Siege of Paris in 1870 The Proclamation of the German Empire
Date 19 July 1870 – 28 January 1871 (6 months, 1 week and 2 days) Location France and Prussia Result German victory, Treaty of Frankfurt Fall of the Second French Empire Formation of the French Third Republic Beginning of Franco-German enmity Territorial changes Unification of Germany and formation of the German Empire German annexation of Alsace-Lorraine
Belligerents
North German  Confederation Baden Bavaria Württemberg	French Empirea
German Empirec	French Republicb Foreign volunteers
Commanders and leaders
William I Otto von Bismarck Helmuth von Moltke Crown Prince Friedrich Prince Friedrich Karl Karl F. von Steinmetz Albrecht von Roon	Napoleon III (POW) François Achille Bazaine (POW) Patrice de MacMahon (POW) Louis Jules Trochu Léon Gambetta Giuseppe Garibaldi
Strength
Total deployment: 1,494,412 Initially: 938,424 730,274 regulars and reservists 208,150 Landwehr Peak field army strength: 949,337	Total deployment: 2,000,740 Initially: 909,951 492,585 active, including 300,000 reservists 417,366 Garde Mobile Peak field army strength: 710,000
Casualties and losses
144,642 44,700 dead 89,732 wounded 10,129 missing or captured	756,285 138,871 dead 143,000 wounded 474,414 captured or interned
~250,000 civilians dead, including 162,000 Germans killed in a smallpox epidemic spread by French POWs
a Until 4 September 1870. b From 4 September 1870. c From 18 January 1871.

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871) was a war between France and Prussia, which was helped by German allies of Prussia. The war was provoked by Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck, who wanted to unite Germans under Prussian rule by making them fight together against a common enemy. Bismarck irritated French Emperor Napoleon III into declaring war on 19 July 1870. The war ended by a Prussian victory on 10 May 1871.

Causes

The French feared a Protestant country on their border. France had helped Prussia beat Austria during the Austro-Prussian War (1866), but it would not allow the North German Confederation and South German states to unify. In 1869, the throne of Spain was offered to a prince of the Catholic branch of the Prussian Hohenzollern royal family.

France found out about the offer, and demanded for Prussia to reject it since France did not want to be surrounded by Hohenzollerns. The prince refused, but the French wanted Prussia to do the same. Prussian King Wilhelm I sent a telegram from Ems that assuring French Emperor Napoleon III that the prince would not become king of Spain. Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck publicly released a version that he had edited or doctored to make it seem that his king had insulted the emperor's ambassador. That was part of his plan to unify the German states. Both sides exchanged angry words, and France declared war. On July 19 1870 the war started, and Prussia was fully supported by the South German states.

Results

Germans built this statue in 1883 to warn the French

With its German allies and universal conscription, Prussia brought together a bigger army than the French. The Prussian Army also had better weapons, training and leadership. For example, the Prussian General Staff were very well organised. The army had some old-fashioned equipment like the Dreyse needle gun, but its Krupp mobile artillery (heavy-duty guns) were far better than the old French muzzleloaders. Notable victories occurred at Sedan, Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte and Metz. The Germans captured Napoleon in Metz, but French Republicans overthrew the Second French Empire and continued the war for a few months. The Germans conquered Paris and then made peace.

After the war, France had to give Prussia some regions that had been under French control. They were most of Alsace and some of Lorraine, most of which spoke German dialects. Prussia took steps to unite the independent German states into one country, the German Empire. The historical term for that is the Unification of Germany.