Franco-Prussian War the Events Which

Franco-Prussian War

The events which sparked the declaration of war by France on July 14, 1870 began with the deposition of Queen Isabel II of Spain in 1868. Two candidates stood to gain the throne, one was Hohenzollern of the Catholic Sigmaringen line (Franco). When France's Emperor Napoleon III demanded that Wilhelm renounce the candidacy, he agreed, however he did not agree to Napoleon's demand that there would be no Hohenzollern candidacy in the future.

France considered this as an affront and so declared war, for it was overly confident due to its victories in the Crimean War 1853-1856 and over Austria in 1859, yet France failed to take into account Prussia's victories against Denmark in 1864 and Austria in 1866 (Franco).

Chancellor of Prussia, Otto Von Bismarck, had apparently edited a message made public that led the French to believe they had been insulted. Bismarck, who wanted to reform the German Federation, regarded France's interference in the unification process as an obstruction (Franco). When in 1867, Bismarck ordered Prussian troops to Luxemburg, France perceived this as a move intended to insult relations between the two powers (Franco).

Napoleon's popularity was suffering greatly on the home-front, and he saw this conflict with Germany as a way to regain his image however miscalculations led to this becoming the end of his power and reign (Siege). Although the French were quite confident, the outcomes proved devastating for them. In a matter of weeks Bismarck had gathered an impressive force (Siege). The French suffered defeats from the very beginning of the conflict, Weissenburg on August 4th, Worth on August 6th, Spichern on August 6th, and Gravelotte on August 18th (Franco).

With the French forces divided, one at Metz and the other at Sedan, German troops surrounded both armies (Franco). Under heavy artillery fire, the French at Sedan were forced into the fortress, and on September 1870, finally surrendered. Emperor Napoleon III was taken prisoner, along with 83,000 French soldiers, and by October 27th, Metz had surrendered (Franco).

On September 4th, a Government of National Defense was established and Napoleon was declared deposed, as the French suffered added humiliation by having Paris seized by the Germans on September 20th in their attempt to pressure the French government (Franco). Parisians found themselves desperate as food and other supplies began to dwindle, and began communicating with other parts of France by using balloons and carrier pigeons (Franco). In fact, to increase the volume of material that could be carried, the French developed microphotography (Siege). The French troops made two attempts to break through the German lines, but failed, thus on January 28, 1871, Paris surrendered, and on March 1, 1871, the French Provisional Government accepted the German peace terms (Franco).

The last few weeks before the surrender, Parisians were virtually on the verge of starvation, and were enduring almost continuous shelling by the Germans, who did not always hit military targets, but often hit civilian targets as well (Siege). As the situation deteriorated in Paris, Reds throughout the city threatened revolt, and this combined with inside and outside threats ultimately led to the government to seek negotiations with Germany (Siege).

France paid a high price for this conflict, and the conditions demanded by the Germans were harsh (Franco). France lost Alsace and Lorraine and were forced to pay 5 billion Gold Francs in reparations (Franco). Germany entered the conflict with a total of 797,500 men, against France's 935,960 troops (Franco). France lost 150,000 men, while Germany lost only 44,000 (Franco). To add further humiliation, Bismarck insisted that France allow a German triumphal march down the Champs Elysees (Siege).

While the Franco-Prussian War was a war declared, it was essentially a 6-month conflict. Although the French outnumbered the Germans, they were careless and underestimated the Germans' military tactics and strategies. Emperor Napoleon III had basically played right into Bismarck's hands. Napoleon lost his power and reign, while Bismarck achieved exactly what he had set out to do, unite Germany.

The aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War generated considerable apprehension throughout Europe concerning the changing nature of warfare (Paris 1993). The ease with which Prussia defeated France was attributed to the new technology of war, as well as to superior training and motivation. Railways, sophisticated rifles and new forms of artillery played a major part in the Prussian victory (Paris 1993). During the following decades, Europeans attempted to define how these technological advancements would be used in future conflicts and considered what other new and even more horrifying weapons might be created by industrialized nations (Paris 1993).