July 19, 1870: Franco-Prussian War begins

On this day in 1870, the Second French Empire began hostilities against the Kingdom of Prussia – an outcome the latter had actively sought.

At the time, Prussia controlled most of northern Germany, while southern Germany was a smattering of territories. Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck wanted to unify the various kingdoms and duchies into a single political unit.

To do so, he aimed to invoke jingoistic pride against the French by pushing them to declare war. He leveraged the ongoing Wars of Spanish Succession (which eventually resulted in the reinstatement of the House of Bourbon) and falsified documents to suggest that King William of Prussia had insulted the French foreign minister in a meeting.

The French, led by Emperor Napoleon III (nephew of Napoleon I), took the bait, and over the next nine months were crushed: 140,000 dead, 140,000 injured, and 450,000 taken prisoner, against just 30,000 dead for the Germans, who annexed Alsace and Lorraine after the war.

In that short span, the German Empire – also known as the Second Reich – united (it lasted until 1918), and the Second French Empire became the Third French Republic, which would last until the formation of the Vichy government in 1940.

In March 1871, a revolution took place in Paris, with socialist workers proclaiming the Paris Commune was in charge of the city. This lasted two months, until it was violently suppressed by the first president of the Third Republic, Adolphe Thiers. (My favorite part: they brought back the Revolutionary Calendar, which worked almost entirely in decimal numbers.)

Oh, look: here’s a website all about the Franco-Prussian War.

Image: Édouard Detaille (1848–1912), A French cavalry officer guarding captured Bavarian soldiers (1875). Private collection.