Franco-Prussian War Assignment

Otto von Bismarck is considered to be the founder of the modern German state, this is due to his efficiency in battles and diplomacy. This was a very important factor during the Franco-Prussian war. What Otto wanted from that war was to unite all of the little Germans states together, so they can beat the French Empire and realize that together, they can do unbelievable things. It totally worked and as he supposed, Prussia was the most powerful power in that new state due to his military power and territory. He tricked France thanks to the famous “Ems telegram”

The role of the guns was very important, the mitrailleuse, the Dreyse needle gun, the Chassepot rifle. All of them were used over the muzzle-loading weapons, this is due that the breech-loading weapons are easier and faster to reload during the battle, and with that, there’s more efficacy in the shoots and there are more kills in favor of the one controlling and shooting the weapon.

In 21th June, 1870. Leopold of Hohenzollern- Sigmaringen, a Prussian prince, was candidate for the throne of Spain. This application could raise fears of France to be “surrounded " by a potential coalition, similar to the empire of Charles Quint . But it is the political one-upmanship in the context of struggles for influence on the European scene (especially after the failure of the French intervention in Mexico ), which on July 6 , gave the Duke of Gramont , Minister of Foreign Affairs of Napoleon III , to announce that France opposes this application. July 12, Leopold of Hohenzollern -Sigmaringen withdraws, according to the statement of his father Prince Antoine to soothe diplomatic tensions. But on July 13, via France's ambassador Benedetti sent to Leopold in the town of Ems, Napoleon III asked "guarantee" the withdrawal, which is an obvious and unnecessary humiliation. King William of Prussia, is nevertheless confirm the renunciation of the Prince, adding that "it has nothing else to say to the ambassador” is the famous "Ems telegram."

Everything seems to be set, but the story that Otto von Bismarck tells to the media is that the meeting between William of Prussia and the Ambassador of France was an humiliating dismissal of the ambassador, causing outrage among French. Was analyzed later this biased story as a deliberate provocation Bismarck after rebuff of the Luxembourg crisis (1867) , to induce Napoleon III to declare war on Prussia, in order to collect against France various Germanic states south and north , to finally arrive at their unification. But these post hoc analyzes are not confirmed by the correspondence of Bismarck, who seems to have written his story especially to hide the humiliation of having had to yield to French demands. There are no less than the French reaction perfectly served his purpose, even if not necessarily sought war in 1866 after the success of the Battle of Sadowa during the Austro-Prussian War.

Still, that Bismarck is well aware of the realities of the French army: army rifles certainly well, but aging, little prepared for a European war, and demoralized by the disaster of the expedition to Mexico. The risk was therefore measured.

After Prussia won the war, the relation between Germany and France was very cold, it was almost inexistent, even more, WWI & WWII only made things worse for Germany and France, but in 1963, they signed the Elysée Treaty, in which establish the friendship between Germany and France.

After the War. France passed through a dark time called “the Paris Commune”, this movement was based in the ideas of Karl Marx about the Bourgeoisie and the proletarian. Nonetheless this was a dark time due the lack of food, people used to sell rats and animals from the streets only to get money, or even for live due the famine. The final week was called “The Bloody week” due to all the wars that were inside France and it ended with the massacre of Pere-Lachaise Cemetery. After all of this, the number of victims is still unknown, but it’s estimated that approximately 20,000 people died.