Franco-Prussian War
the war of 1870-71 between France and Germany. The real cause of the war was jealousy between France and Prussia. The immediate cause was the election of a prince of the Prussian house of Hohenzollern to the vacant throne of Spain. In response to the demands of France, this candidate was withdrawn, but the French ambassador pushed his demands to the verge of affront. The inside history of the "affront" is of interest, as it indicates the petty, underhand methods of a really great man. Bismarck built up the Prussian army for three ends,--the enlargement of Prussian territory, the expulsion of Austria from the German family of states, and the organization of a new German Empire. Two of these ends had been attained. Prussian territory had been doubled and Austria was struggling on the Danube alone, held in leash with Hungary.
To forge the links of an imperial union, Bismarck required the patriotic glow of a national war. A war with France was what Bismarck wanted, and was what he had to have to carry out his third measure. Bismarck wrote afterwards "that a war with France would follow that with Austria lay in the logic of history," but it rested in his brain more than it did in the logic of history. Bismarck knew that once the German princes were accustomed to say "We" in a great Germanic enterprise like a campaign of Germans against their hereditary foes, the French, they would gravitate in accordance with the "logic of history" and a few other considerations into the desired imperial union. It seems a pity to inject the commonplace into history; but Bismarck's army was ready, the taxpayers were impatient, the greatest German of his century needed war, and he needed it immediately. The Prussian king, William, walking in a garden at Ems for his health, turned aside the insistent French ambassador, Benedetti, with courtesy; but Bismarck, not disdaining to garble a telegram, made it appear to the world that William had been crowded offensively; that he had snubbed the French ambassador unmercifully; and that, by turning on his heel and leaving Benedetti, he had virtually told Napoleon to attend to his own affairs. Napoleon was furious and foolish. He fell into Bismarck's trap. War was declared by the French July 15, 1870. The Germans, being the attacked party, were in position to issue stirring proclamations in favor of defending the Fatherland. War found the Prussians prepared. Provisions, ammunition, arms, cannon, maps, even marching orders were all in readiness for immediate use. The minister of war, Von Moltke, had but to touch a spring, as it were, to set the entire military machinery of Germany in motion. To the surprise of Louis Napoleon, the neighboring German states sided with Prussia. France, on the contrary, found herself in no condition for war. Enormous sums of money had been squandered or worse. The military force of the country was unfit for service. Ammunition did not fit the guns for which it was sent; harness was rotten; supplies purchased at enormous prices were not in existence. One disaster followed another. Worth, Metz, Sedan, and Strasburg have passed into history to offset the glories of Marengo and Austerlitz.
Napoleon III surrendered to the Germans. Bonaparte left France forever. The French republic was declared. Paris was occupied by the German troops March 1st. Peace was concluded at Frankfurt May 10, 1871. Alsace-Lorraine was ceded to Germany. The French paid an enormous indemnity of $1,000,000,000, and set about reforming their government and army. While the German army lay at Versailles, Lewis, king of Bavaria, sent the following circular letter to the king of Saxony and to the other rulers of the various German states:
Most serene and powerful Prince, dear Friend, Brother, and Cousin:
Victoriously led by Prussia's heroic King, the German tribes, who for centuries have been united in language, manners, science, and art, now celebrate a brotherhood of arms which gives a glorious proof of the importance of the power of a united Germany. . . . I now address myself to the German Sovereigns, and especially to your majesty, to propose that you should, together with me, urge upon his majesty the King of Prussia, that the exercise of the presidential rights be united with the title of Emperor.
January 17, 1871, the king of Prussia thus addressed the German armies:
On this day, ever memorable to me and my House, I take, with the consent of the German Princes, and the adhesion of all the German people, in addition to my rank as King of Prussia, that of German Emperor. Your bravery and endurance, which I again recognize to the fullest extent, have hastened the work of the unification of Germany, a result which you have achieved at the sacrifice of so much blood. Let it always be remembered that brotherly feeling, bravery, and obedience, have rendered the army victorious.
On the next day at Versailles representatives of the North German states assembled in the great hall of the palace of Louis XIV. They created the new German Empire, and crowned the Prussian William III emperor.
The war was short and decisive. Excepting always the Napoleonic wars it is safe to say no other conflict of modern times has brought about more momentous results, or caused a greater shift of political influence.
See Sedan; Napoleon; Alsace-Lorraine; Bismarck; Versailles; German Empire