Franco-Prussian War

Causes of the war

Tensions had long been running high between Prussia and France following the Prussian victory in the Austro-Prussian War and its subsequent annexation of almost all Northern Germany. The humbling of Austria and Prussia's new territorial gains had shattered the European balance of power that had existed since the end of the Napoleonic Wars.

Related Topics:
Austro-Prussian War - Austria - Balance of power - Napoleonic Wars

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Following the end of the Austro-Prussian War, Prussian prime minister Otto von Bismarck and the French emperor Napoleon III had attempted to reach a private agreement regarding the balance of power in Europe. Napoleon III wished to realise French aspirations for "natural borders", a long term goal of French foreign policy since the Middle Ages - to annex all land west of the Rhine river and the Alps including Belgium, the southern Netherlands and Luxembourg, and Savoy. A solid defensible border was also insurance against the possibility of a united Germany unfriendly to France.

Related Topics:
Otto von Bismarck - Napoleon III - Natural borders - Rhine - Alps - Belgium - Netherlands - Luxembourg - Savoy

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Savoy had been obtained from Italy following French support for Italian independence from Austria. Now Napoleon III sought Prussian neutrality when attempting to acquire Luxembourg and Wallonia (the French-speaking part of Belgium), while expecting Prussian neutrality as "compensation" for French neutrality during the Austro-Prussian War and for Prussian territorial gains. Bismarck was non-committal at best, but to the French government, Bismarck appeared to agree to or at least agreed not to obstruct any French moves against the Low Countries.

Related Topics:
Italy - Wallonia

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The Luxembourg Crisis

Thus in 1867, France began by negotiating the purchase of Luxembourg from the Dutch government, as Luxembourg was then in personal union with the Netherlands. Assuming that Bismarck would honour his part of the agreement, the French government was shocked to learn that instead Bismarck, Prussia and the North German Confederation were threatening war should the sale be completed. Luxembourg lay astride one of the principal invasion routes an army would use to invade either France or Germany. The city of Luxembourg's formidable fortifications, constructed by the famous military engineer Marshal Vauban were considered "the Gibraltar of the North", and neither side could tolerate the other controlling such a strategic location. To mediate the dispute, the British hosted the London Conference (1867) attended by all European great powers. It confirmed Luxembourg's independence from the Netherlands and guaranteed its independence from all other powers. War appeared to have been averted, at the cost of thwarting French designs.

Related Topics:
1867 - Personal union - North German Confederation - Military engineer - Vauban - Gibraltar - British - London Conference (1867)

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French prestige and domestic politics

France's position in Europe was now in danger of being overshadowed by the emergence of a powerful Prussia, and France looked increasingly flat-footed following Bismarck's successes. In addition, France's ruler Napoleon III was on increasingly shaky ground in domestic politics. Having successfully overthrown the Second Republic and established the Bonapartist Second Empire, Napoleon III was confronted with increasingly virulent demands for democratic reform from leading republicans such as Jules Favre along with constant rumours of impending revolution. In addition, French aspirations in Mexico had suffered a final defeat with the execution of the Austrian born French puppet Emperor of Mexico Maximillian in 1868. The only force uniting the French was the universal desire to punish Prussia for its "arrogance". It was hoped that a war with Prussia would unite the French nation behind Napoleon III, quash any republican or revolutionary sentiment behind reactionary nationalism, re-establish France as the paramount power in Europe, and gain France the Rhineland and later Luxembourg and Belgium.

Related Topics:
Second Republic - Second Empire - Jules Favre - Revolution - Mexico - Maximillian - Nationalism - Rhineland

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Bismarck and German nationalism

Prussia in turn was also beset with problems. While revolutionary fervour was far more muted than in France, Prussia had recently acquired millions of new suspicious citizens as a result of the Austro-Prussian War. The remaining German kingdoms and principalities maintained a steadfastly parochial attitude towards Prussia and German unification, their suspicions only heightened following Austria's defeat. The German princes insisted upon their independence and balked at any attempt to create a federal state.

Related Topics:
Austro-Prussian War - Parochial

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Before the war, only some Germans, inspired by the recent unification of Italy, accepted and supported nationalism, for German nationalists had been defeated by Prussia during the unsuccessful revolution of 1848 and 1849. It was only during the war that the mood in Germany would change. Although many Germans admired France, more and more of them felt that defeating France was necessary, and even the princes began to realise that Germany must unite in order to preserve the fruit of an eventual victory.

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Bismarck had an entirely different view. He was interested only in strengthening his state and the power of its king. Uniting Germany appeared immaterial to him unless it improved Prussia's position. Bismarck considered the conflict with France inevitable, knowing that France would not quietly tolerate a powerful state to its east. He also viewed the war as a means to end the influence which France had long since exercised over Germany, and to win the South German states as allies to the North German Confederation created in 1867.

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Crisis and the outbreak of war

Napoleon III and Bismarck independently sought a suitable crisis to ferment, and in 1870 one arose. The Spanish throne had been vacant since the revolution of September 1868. The Spanish offered the throne to the German prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a distant cousin of King Wilhelm of Prussia. Fearing that a Hohenzollern king in Prussia and another one in Spain would put France into a two-front situation, Napoleon III was determined this time to stand up to the expansion of Prussian influence. He successfully forced the Wilhelm I to urge the prince's withdrawal from his Spanish candidacy. Disappointed that the Prussians had backed down so easily, the French government tried to prolong the crisis. The French ambassador in Prussia Vincent Benedetti was ordered to require Wilhelm I to guarantee that no Hohenzollern would ever again be a candidate for the Spanish throne. When the French ambassador bypassed the diplomatic channels and directly confronted the king at his holiday resort, King Wilhelm became infuriated. His message to Berlin (the Ems Dispatch) reporting this interview with the French ambassador was edited by Bismarck in such a way as to provoke French indignation, and then leaked for publication. France officially declared war on July 19, 1870.

Related Topics:
1870 - Spanish throne - Revolution - 1868 - Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen - Vincent Benedetti - Wilhelm I - Ems Dispatch - Bismarck - July 19

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Alliances and diplomacy

Diplomatically and militarily, Napoleon III looked for support from Austria, Denmark, Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg as all had recently lost wars against Prussia. However, Napoleon III inexplicably failed to conduct any diplomacy to secure revanchist alliances from these states. Denmark had twice fought and lost to Prussia during the First and Second Wars of Schleswig and was unwilling to confront Prussia again. Austria also refused to risk confronting Prussia again so soon after the near disaster of the Austro-Prussian War.

Related Topics:
Denmark - First - Second Wars of Schleswig

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To make matters worse, acts by Napoleon III and his governments had isolated France from the other European powers. Russia remained neutral, unwilling to aid France after French participation in Russia's humiliation during the Crimean War. Italy was also disinclined to assist France, having been forced to surrender claims to Savoy to France as the price for assistance against Austria during the Italian wars for unification. In addition, Napoleon III had made himself protector of the Papal States, infuriating Italian nationalists who wanted Italy united with Rome as the capital.

Related Topics:
Russia - Crimean War - Italy - Savoy - Papal States - Rome

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Bismarck had also worked assiduously to diplomatically isolate France from the other European powers. As part of the settlement of the Austro-Prussian War, secret treaties of mutual defense were signed between Prussia and Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg. Bismarck also added the threat that should the south German monarchs refuse to honour their treaty commitments, he would personally appeal to pan-German nationalists in southern Germany to overthrow their royal houses. Bismarck then made public French correspondence demanding Belgium and Luxembourg as the price for remaining neutral during the Austro-Prussian War - Britain in particular took a decidedly cool attitude to these French demands - which he called 'tipping policy' - and showed no inclination to aid France.

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According to the secret treaties signed with Prussia and in response to popular opinion, Bavaria, Baden, and Württemberg mobilised their armies and joined the war against France. While not prepared to join a united Germany, the south German monarchs could not ignore public opinion which would not stand for another Bonapartist invasion of Germany.

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