Which leader was defeated in the franco prussian war

Barracks, hospitals and factories for the manufacture of military hardware were established all over the city. Railway shops became cannon foundries, while tobacco factories became arsenals. The Louvre was transformed into an armament shop after the art gallery was moved for safekeeping.

Balloons were constructed at the Orleans railway stations. The Tuileries and the Napoleon and Empress Circuses became barracks. Most of these actions centered on small sorties, unassumingly called "reconnaissances. As for the Prussians, once the city was surrounded and more troops made available for the siege, the question was whether to bombard the capital or starve it into surrender. In his diary entry for October 8, Crown Prince Frederick states, "we shall certainly have to make up our minds to a bombardment of Paris The arrival of the shelling did not panic the Parisians.

They had been expecting it since October. Precautions were taken to protect all works of art. Sandbags were placed in the windows of the Louvre, the School of Fine Arts and other important buildings, while outside monuments were taken underground. The bombardment lasted twenty-three days, usually from two to five hours each night.

In the end, the Parisians refused to be intimidated and the psychological advantage of this tactic was lost. The siege of Paris slowly made its impact in an area critical to survival: the economy.

According to a correspondent for The Times of London, "Business for France is everywhere broken up, and one-third of the country is devastated and ruined. In order to survive, Paris needed a self-supporting economy, while also channeling most of its resources for the defense. Factories were now employed in making military necessities, instead of consumer goods.

When the siege dragged on, the prospects for a speedy recovery evaporated and finally gave out completely when the bombardment began as some of those factories, in conjunction with other businesses, were damaged. The Prussians might not have been purposely inclined to destroy the French economy, except in one particular area: food consumption.

The government's failure to establish a census system early during the siege caused it to miscalculate on its supply of comestibles, playing into the hands of the invaders. The census did not take place until December 30 and it was discovered that Paris contained a population of 2,, residents excluding the armed forces. This number of inhabitants and the Prussian encirclement had disastrous consequences. Early in , the price of food had increased and by the start of the Franco-Prussian conflict it was 25 percent higher.

However, everyone, even the government, believed the siege would last a very short time, perhaps a maximum of two months. In just one minute period, the Prussian Guard Corps alone suffered 8, men killed or wounded, due to an unholy combination of fast, modern weaponry and outdated attack styles involving massed ranks of men.

Despite horrific losses at Gravelotte-St Privat, the Prussians won, thanks to superior artillery and better manoeuvring. Moltke then trapped most of the French army in the fortress of Metz. Political pressures intervened again on the French side and demanded a rescue effort. News of this debacle reached Paris a few days later and caused regime change. The new republican Government of National Defence filled the political vacuum and proclaimed a war of national resistance. The Franco-Prussian War now entered a new phase.

Prussian forces advanced on Paris, which they besieged from 19 September. The French capital was too strong to be taken by storm, so needed to be starved into submission. The Prussians did not recognise them as legitimate combatants and shot them upon capture, burning down villages suspected of harbouring them.

This messy, dirty war dragged on for the remainder of , to the discomfort of Bismarck who feared international opinion was swinging in favour of France. This created the conditions for French elections to be held, which produced a government with the authority to conclude a preliminary peace on 26 February. Few who ratified the Treaty of Frankfurt could have guessed the immense impact that the Franco-Prussian War would have on the continent of Europe — an impact that was, in the estimation of future British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, greater than the French Revolution.

The big question that arose — and persists — is how such a powerful state can operate within the wider family of European nations. Initially, things worked well enough. Bismarck used his undoubted political talents to preserve peace. However, when he fell from power in , the more pernicious legacies of the war came to the fore, including militarism. All major powers in the late 19th century were militaristic, but newly unified Germany was more so than most.

With Bismarck gone, no civilian leader had the stature to challenge its primacy. In Germany and across Europe, the military planner was let off the leash. In the first half of the s, Austria and Prussia both contended to speak for the German states; both maintained they could support German interests abroad and protect German interests at home.

After the victory over Austria in , Prussia began internally asserting its authority to speak for the German states and defend German interests, while Austria began directing more of its attention to possessions in the Balkans.

The victory over France in expanded Prussian hegemony in the German states to the international level. With the proclamation of Wilhelm as Kaiser, Prussia assumed the leadership of the new empire.

The southern states became officially incorporated into a unified Germany at the Treaty of Versailles of signed February 26, ; later ratified in the Treaty of Frankfurt of May 10, , which formally ended the war. Otto von Bismarck appears in white in the center. Painting by Anton von Werner. A large group of men, in formal military uniforms, gathered to proclaim the German Empire. Bismarck appears in white.

The Grand Duke of Baden stands beside Wilhelm, leading the cheers. Privacy Policy. Skip to main content. Search for:. Otto von Bismarck and the Franco-Prussian War President Hayes embraced the new technology, though he rarely received phone calls. In fact, the Treasury Department possessed the only other direct Eight climbers die on Mount Everest during a storm on May 10, It was the worst loss of life ever on the mountain on a single day.

Author Jon Krakauer, who himself attempted to climb the peak that year, wrote a best-selling book about the incident, Into Thin Air, which was By the end of the year he was officially promoted to director. This began his year tenure in power, during which time he personally shaped American criminal justice in the Most observers viewed the prisoner release as an attempt by the communist government of China to The South loses one of its boldest generals on May 10, , when year-old Thomas J.

In the first two years of the war, Jackson