Franco-Prussian War
The Franco-Prussian War, which erupted in July 1870, was a significant conflict between France and Prussia, alongside its German allies, rooted in tensions that had developed over the preceding decade. The war was largely a result of Prussia's growing power and aspirations for German unification, which posed a direct challenge to traditional French dominance in Europe. The immediate catalyst for the war was the controversy surrounding the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern for the Spanish throne, which, despite its withdrawal, inflamed French fears of encirclement by a united Germany.
The military confrontation saw early French victories overshadowed by Prussian efficiency and technological superiority, culminating in major defeats for France at Sedan and Metz. These losses led to the capture of Emperor Napoleon III and the subsequent proclamation of a French Republic. Despite attempts at resistance, Paris ultimately surrendered in January 1871, resulting in the establishment of the German Empire at Versailles.
The war concluded with the Treaty of Frankfurt in May 1871, which imposed harsh reparations on France, including the loss of Alsace and part of Lorraine. The ramifications of this conflict significantly altered the political landscape of Europe, fostering an environment of militarism and nationalism that would contribute to the outbreak of World War I in 1914 and later World War II. The legacy of the Franco-Prussian War has persisted in shaping European relations and conflicts over the subsequent decades.
Franco-Prussian War
Date July 19, 1870-January 28, 1871
The result of failed diplomacy, the Franco-Prussian War made possible German unification, upset the balance of power in Europe, and laid the basis for the twentieth century’s world wars.
Locale France; Prussia; southern Germany
Key Figures
Otto von Bismarck (1815-1898), chancellor of the North German Confederation, minister-president of Prussia, and chancellor of the German Empire, 1871-1890Napoleon III (Louis Napoleon Bonaparte; 1808-1873), emperor of France, r. 1852-1870Antoine-Agénor-Alfred Gramont (1819-1880), French minister of foreign affairsLéon Gambetta (1838-1888), French republican politicianLeopold (1835-1905), candidate for the Spanish throne and distant relative of Prussia’s King William IMarie-Edme-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon (1808-1893), French generalWilliam I (Wilhelm I; 1797-1888), Hohenzollern king of Prussia, 1861-1888, and emperor of Germany, r. 1871-1888
Summary of Event
The July, 1870, outbreak of war between France and Prussia and the latter’s German allies resulted from factors that had been building for more than a decade. Prussia and France had gradually moved toward a decisive struggle for hegemony on the Continent as other European countries stood aloof for various reasons. Great Britain concentrated on its overseas empire and paid little attention to the balance of power on the Continent. Austria was recovering from the defeat administered in 1866 by Prussia, which unified all of northern Germany (North German Confederation). Russia was suffering still from its defeat in the Crimean War. The newly formed kingdom of Italy was guided by its nationalist aspirations, especially the goal of making Rome the capital of its secular state despite the objections of the pope. For these and other reasons, no other European powers entered the struggle that erupted between Prussia and France.
From the time of Prussia’s defeat of Austria in 1866, many French and German citizens believed that war between France and Prussia was inevitable. The prospect of German unification under the leadership of a powerful Prussia not only was contrary to traditional French foreign policy but also was a threat to French dominance of Europe. France traditionally maintained excellent relations with the Roman Catholic states of southern Germany, such as Bavaria, whose governments often distrusted the militaristic government of Protestant Prussia. Southern Germans shared the dream of a united Germany, however, and Prussia had clearly assumed the lead in the German nationalist movement.
Napoleon III, the French emperor, apparently believed that political unification of the major national groups would lead to international cooperation. Although he was not totally opposed to the goal of German unification, he realized that Prussia’s recent victories had increased Prussian power at the expense of French prestige. He attempted to redress the balance through negotiations whereby France would gain territory by annexing French-speaking areas such as Luxembourg . Prussia first approved and then rejected these arrangements in 1867. Afterward, the French government grew increasingly hostile to Prussian initiatives.
With this background of tension, the crisis that finally led to war was the Spanish provisional government’s search for a monarch to replace the ousted Queen Isabella II . As one candidate after another proved either unworthy or unwilling to occupy the Spanish throne, the Spaniards turned to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a Prussian infantry officer and distant relative of King William I of Prussia. Both King William and his family were hesitant to permit Leopold to ascend the shaky Spanish throne. Only the combined efforts of the Spanish emissaries and of Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck persuaded the king to allow Leopold’s candidacy.
There is no doubt that from at least May of 1870, Bismarck encouraged Leopold’s candidacy, hoping it might provoke a crisis useful to the process of German unification. Bismarck apparently feared that France was growing stronger. In a May referendum, French voters had overwhelmingly endorsed both the leadership of Emperor Napoleon III and the creation of a constitutional monarchy. As Bismarck had expected, the French were enraged over their diplomatic defeat and the potential threat that placing a German prince on the Spanish throne posed to their security. Both the French government and French public opinion vigorously protested the prospect of Hohenzollern kings encircling France. The fervor of their protest caused Leopold to withdraw his candidacy, with the approval of King William.
Antoine-Agénor-Alfred Gramont, the French foreign affairs minister, then ordered the French ambassador to Berlin to obtain a promise from King William that he would never permit Leopold’s candidacy to be renewed. The ambassador met William I at Ems, where the king was vacationing. By editing the telegraphed account of this encounter, Bismarck made the episode appear more forceful and dramatic than it really was. When it appeared in newspapers, the condensed version aroused national passions in both countries, and France declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870. Clearly Gramont and Bismarck each wished to humiliate the other, when peace might otherwise have been preserved.
The Prussians already had plans in place for invading their neighbors, while the French had not. The southern German states joined the northern states. The army of the North German Confederation was technologically advanced, highly efficient, well organized, and staffed with able officers. On the other side, a major reform proposed for the French military in 1867 had been left underfunded and incomplete. French generals had become complacent and unimaginative since their last major campaigns during the 1850’s.
The French placed two major armies in the field, and they were beaten in major battles at Sedan and Metz. Napoleon III, who was extremely ill from kidney disease and in constant pain, joined the army of Marshal Marie-Edme-Patrice-Maurice de MacMahon. Political pressure from the ministers in Paris dictated the decision to attempt to assist the forces besieged at Metz rather than retreat toward Paris and raise fresh troops. The Prussians encountered and defeated MacMahon’s force near Sedan with superior artillery. Facing a disastrous defeat, Napoleon IIII8IIII sought death in combat but was captured. He surrendered the French forces on September 1.
Opposition politicians in Paris immediately abolished the empire and declared a republic on September 4. Even as the French capital was besieged, these politicians formed a protest government, known as the Government of National Defense, to continue the fight against the Prussians. A fiery leader of resistance, Léon Gambetta , escaped in a balloon. At Tours, he rallied fresh troops, who fought bravely until January 28, 1871, when Paris surrendered. An armistice was signed on the same day, but France’s Fort Belfort held out until February 16.
Meanwhile, Italy had seized the opportunity to take over Rome, where French troops had previously ensured the pope’s control of the entire city. The German princes and kings met at Versailles’s Hall of Mirrors and declared William I the emperor of a united Germany. German unification was thus achieved in the heat of military conquest and under an authoritarian government. The Germans refused to negotiate until the French formed a new government, so a hurried election for a National Assembly was held in February; it resulted in a conservative majority. The assembly appointed a conservative monarchist to head its executive and negotiate peace terms. This government’s authority was later rejected by Democratic-Socialists in Paris, who formed the Commune and fought the assembly’s troops.
Significance
The peace terms imposed on France in the Treaty of Frankfurt, which was signed in May of 1871, were considered severe by prevailing standards. The Germans seized the French province of Alsace and one-third of the province of Lorraine. These border areas contained rich iron ore deposits, well-developed industries, and a population who wished to remain French. France was also required to pay a large sum of reparations in gold and accept a German occupation army.
In many ways, the peace terms of the Franco-Prussian War haunted Europe for decades. The Germans never governed Alsace-Lorraine in the same way as the rest of their empire and ceaselessly worried about French revenge. Feeling isolated and threatened by German power, France built a system of powerful allies which, in turn, alarmed the German government and helped precipitate World War I in 1914. When the Germans lost that war in 1918, they had to return Alsace-Lorraine to France, pay reparations to the victors, and accept an occupation force. These conditions, in turn, helped lead to World War II. The Franco-Prussian War left Europe more inclined to seek military solutions to problems, less democratic, more competitive, and more narrowly nationalistic than it otherwise might have been.
Bibliography
Bury, J. P. T. Gambetta and the National Defence: A Republican Dictatorship in France. Reprint. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1971. First published in 1936, this work provides a look behind the lines at besieged Paris and the French resistance after the battle of Sedan.
‗‗‗‗‗‗‗. Napoleon III and the Second Empire. New York: Harper & Row, 1968. An overview of the reign of Napoleon III with a clear treatment of the war.
Craig, Gordon A. Europe, 1815-1914. 3d ed. Fort Worth, Tex.: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich College Publishers, 1989. This textbook gives a clear analysis of origins and results of the war.
Gall, Lothar. Bismarck: The White Revolutionary. Translated by J. A. Underwood. 2 vols. Boston: Unwin Hyman, 1990. This German writer stresses the essentially conservative nature of Bismarck’s policies.
Howard, Michael E. The Franco-Prussian War: The German Invasion of France. New York: Dorset Press, 1990. This is the single most instructive and balanced book on the war in English.
Lerman, Katharine Anne. Bismarck. New York: Pearson Longman, 2004. Careful examination of Bismarck’s exercise of power as a crucial means of understanding his personality and statecraft.
Medlicott, W. N. Bismarck and Modern Germany. London: English Universities Press, 1965. A concise account of the great chancellor’s role in founding unified Germany.
Price, Roger. The French Second Empire: An Anatomy of Political Power. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Chronicles Napoleon’s political career, examining how he was elected president, devised a coup to establish the Second Empire, and used the empire’s power to initiate liberal reforms and wage a disastrous war against Prussia.
Taithe, Bertrand. Citizenship and Wars: France in Turmoil, 1870-1871. London: Routledge, 2001. Study of the political culture of France during its Third Republic, at the time of the Franco-Prussian War.