Franco-Prussian War

History glossary

Topic: The Rise of Nationalism in Europe · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

The Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) was the war in which Prussia, leading the other German states, defeated France [1]. At Sedan in 1870 the Germans captured the French emperor, Napoleon III.

It matters for two reasons:

  • It was the last of Bismarck's three wars, and it completed German unification. The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles on 18 January 1871.
  • France had to give Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. This left a deep anger in France that lasted until the First World War.

Explanation

Background — why the war came

  • After 1848, kings and armies took over the work of uniting Germany.
  • The liberal Frankfurt Parliament had tried to unite Germany in 1848. It failed when Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia refused the crown it offered him.

  • Otto von Bismarck, Prussia's chief minister, then led unification. He used the Prussian army and bureaucracy (the trained officials who ran the state).

  • Bismarck won three wars in seven years. He beat Denmark (1864), then Austria in the Seven Weeks' War (1866), then France (1870–71) [1].

  • Some German states were still outside Prussia's control.
  • After 1866 Prussia led the northern German states.
  • The southern states (Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden) were still separate.

  • Bismarck expected that a war against France would bring them in.

  • There was a quarrel over the Spanish throne.

  • A prince of the Hohenzollern family (Prussia's ruling family) was offered the throne of Spain. France felt surrounded and objected.
  • Bismarck edited and published a report of talks between the Prussian king and the French ambassador. It is known as the Ems Telegram. He shortened it so that each side would feel insulted.
  • France declared war in July 1870.

Course of the war

  • The southern German states joined Prussia. So France faced a united German army.
  • Battle of Sedan (September 1870). A French army was surrounded and surrendered. Napoleon III himself was taken prisoner.
  • The French empire fell.
  • Napoleon III's rule (the Second Empire) collapsed after Sedan.
  • A republic, later called the Third Republic, was declared in Paris.

  • The fighting went on, and German armies besieged Paris.

  • 18 January 1871. William I of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor (Kaiser) in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.

  • Versailles was then the Prussian military headquarters inside conquered France.

  • Prussian guns were shelling Paris at the same time [1].

  • Paris surrendered early in 1871, and the war ended with the Treaty of Frankfurt (1871).

Results

  • German unification was complete.
  • The new German Reich (empire) brought its currency, banking, legal and judicial systems into one pattern, based on Prussian models.

  • Bismarck served as chancellor of the Empire for 19 years [1].

  • France lost land and money.

  • Alsace-Lorraine went to Germany.

  • France also had to pay Germany a large war indemnity (a money payment for losing).

  • There was revolt in Paris. The Paris Commune (1871) was a short-lived revolutionary government in Paris. The new French government crushed it.

  • Italy was completed.
  • France had kept troops in Rome to guard the Papal States (the lands ruled by the Pope).

  • It withdrew them to fight the war, so Rome joined Italy in 1870 and later became its capital.

  • France wanted revenge. It wanted Alsace-Lorraine back. This anger was a long-term cause of the First World War (1914).

Time, place and evidence

  • Period: 1870–71. It falls in the "age of nationalism" in Europe (1789–1914), in the stage after 1848, when unification came from "cabinet diplomacy and war" [1].
  • Places:
  • Sedan, in north-eastern France, where Napoleon III was captured.
  • Paris, which was besieged and shelled.
  • Versailles, where the Hall of Mirrors ceremony took place.
  • Frankfurt, where the peace treaty was signed.

  • Alsace-Lorraine, the land France gave up.

  • Key people:

  • Otto von Bismarck, chief minister of Prussia.
  • Kaiser William I, king of Prussia and then German Emperor.

  • Napoleon III, emperor of France.

  • How we know:

  • Official records: the Ems Telegram that Bismarck published, the Versailles proclamation of 18 January 1871, and the Treaty of Frankfurt.
  • The NCERT text: Class 10, "The Rise of Nationalism in Europe".
  • Reference works: Britannica's accounts of Bismarck, William I and Germany from 1871 to 1918 [1].

Don't confuse with

  • Seven Weeks' War (1866): Prussia fought Austria, not France [1]. It removed Austria from German affairs. The Franco-Prussian War then brought in the southern German states.
  • Prussia's war with Denmark (1864): This was the first of Bismarck's three wars [1]. The Franco-Prussian War was the third and last.
  • Treaty of Versailles (1919): This treaty ended the First World War. Germany signed it in the same Hall of Mirrors. Versailles in 1871 was the birth of the German Empire. Versailles in 1919 was Germany's defeat.
  • Treaty of Frankfurt (1871) vs Frankfurt Parliament (1848): The treaty ended the Franco-Prussian War and gave Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. The parliament was the failed liberal attempt to unite Germany. Its crown was refused by Friedrich Wilhelm IV.

Prelims Hooks

  • Bismarck's three wars, in order: Denmark (1864) → Austria, Seven Weeks' War (1866) → France, Franco-Prussian War (1870–71) [1].
  • Napoleon III was captured at Sedan (1870), and the French Second Empire fell.
  • 18 January 1871, Hall of Mirrors, Versailles: Kaiser William I was proclaimed German Emperor. This happened inside conquered France while Paris was being shelled [1].
  • Treaty of Frankfurt (1871): Alsace-Lorraine passed from France to Germany.
  • Trap: The war also completed Italian unification. French troops left Rome, and Rome joined Italy in 1870.
  • Trap: The German Empire was proclaimed at Versailles, not in Berlin.

Mains Points

  • "Can the army be the architect of a nation?" The war is the clearest case of nationalism in conservative, military hands after 1848.
  • Germany was united by cabinet diplomacy and war, not by a popular nationalist wave [1].
  • So Prussian institutions, the Junkers (Prussia's big landowners) and the army officers dominated the new Reich.

  • This military start became a lasting weakness, which Germany carried into 1914.

  • The war's results shaped the road to 1914.

  • Taking Alsace-Lorraine turned France into a lasting enemy of Germany.
  • France's wish for revenge, and a strong Germany in the middle of Europe, upset the balance of power.

  • These pressures fed the alliance system and the slide from nationalism into aggressive imperialism after 1871.

  • One war finished two nations.

  • It completed German unity, and by forcing French troops out of Rome it completed Italian unity in 1870.
  • Both were "top-down" unifications made by states and armies. In both, the feeling of being one nation had to be built after political unity.

Related concepts

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Sources

  1. 1Otto von Bismarck / Germany 1871–1918 / William I, emperor of Germanybritannica.com · tier 3