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The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the War of 1870, was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe, which appeared in question following the decisive Prussian victory over Austria in 1866. According to some historians, Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war on Prussia in order to induce four independent southern German states—Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt—to join the North German Confederation; other historians contend that Bismarck exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. All agree that Bismarck recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole.
The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as Deutscher Krieg, Deutscher Bruderkrieg and by a variety of other names, was fought in 1866 between the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia, with each also being aided by various allies within the German Confederation. Prussia had also allied with the Kingdom of Italy, linking this conflict to the Third Independence War of Italian unification. The Austro-Prussian War was part of the wider rivalry between Austria and Prussia, and resulted in Prussian dominance over the German states.
Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the military and of the ideals of a professional military class and the "predominance of the armed forces in the administration or policy of the state".
The Battle of Wörth, also known as the Battle of Reichshoffen or as the Battle of Frœschwiller, refers to the second battle of Wörth, which took place on 6 August 1870 in the opening stages of the Franco-Prussian War. In the second battle, troops from Germany commanded by Crown Prince Frederick William and directed by his chief of staff, General Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal, defeated the French under Marshal MacMahon near the village of Wœrth in Alsace, on the Sauer River, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Haguenau.
The twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt were fought on 14 October 1806 on the plateau west of the river Saale in today's Germany, between the forces of Napoleon I of France and Frederick William III of Prussia. The defeat suffered by the Prussian Army subjugated the Kingdom of Prussia to the French Empire until the Sixth Coalition was formed in 1813.
In the War of the Sixth Coalition, sometimes known in Germany as the Wars of Liberation, a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, Spain, Great Britain, Portugal, Sweden, Sardinia, and a number of German States defeated France and drove Napoleon into exile on Elba. After the disastrous French invasion of Russia of 1812 in which they had been forced to support France, Prussia and Austria joined Russia, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Portugal, and the rebels in Spain who were already at war with France.
The German General Staff, originally the Prussian General Staff and officially the Great General Staff, was a full-time body at the head of the Prussian Army and later, the German Army, responsible for the continuous study of all aspects of war, and for drawing up and reviewing plans for mobilization or campaign. It existed unofficially from 1806, and was formally established by law in 1814, the first general staff in existence. It was distinguished by the formal selection of its officers by intelligence and proven merit rather than patronage or wealth, and by the exhaustive and rigorously structured training which its staff officers undertook.
Mobilization is the act of assembling and readying military troops and supplies for war. The word mobilization was first used in a military context in the 1850s to describe the preparation of the Prussian Army. Mobilization theories and tactics have continuously changed since then. The opposite of mobilization is demobilization.
The Battle of Wavre was the final major military action of the Hundred Days campaign and the Napoleonic Wars. It was fought on 18–19 June 1815 between the Prussian rearguard, consisting of the Prussian III Corps under the command of General Johann von Thielmann and three corps of the French army under the command of Marshal Grouchy. A blocking action, this battle kept 33,000 French soldiers from reaching the Battle of Waterloo and so helped in the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo.
The Waterloo campaign was fought between the French Army of the North and two Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied army and a Prussian army. Initially the French army had been commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, but he left for Paris after the French defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. Command then rested on Marshals Soult and Grouchy, who were in turn replaced by Marshal Davout, who took command at the request of the French Provisional Government. The Anglo-allied army was commanded by the Duke of Wellington and the Prussian army by Field Marshall Graf von Blücher.
The military history of Germany spans the period from ancient times to the present.
The Battle of Beaune-la-Rolande on 28 November 1870 took place during the Franco-Prussian War, which was won by Prussia. In an attempt to relieve the Siege of Paris, French General Crouzat's XX Corps launched an attack against three Prussian brigades resting in Beaune-la-Rolande. These brigades were from the Prussian X Corps which was detailed to guard the flanks and rear of the force besieging Paris and provide early warning of any French counter-attacks. The French committed a force of 60,000 men, largely conscripts of the Garde Mobile, and 140 guns against the Prussians' 9,000 men and 70 guns, mostly drawn from regular troops, although military historian Gaston Bodart estimated their strength at 40,000 men and 174 guns. Despite the superiority of numbers the French attack failed to take the village and was ultimately forced to retreat by Prussian reinforcements.
The Royal Prussian Army served as the army of the Kingdom of Prussia. It became vital to the development of Prussia as a European power.
The Royal Saxon Army was the military force of the Electorate (1682–1807) and later the Kingdom of Saxony (1807–1918). A regular Saxon army was first established in 1682 and it continued to exist until the abolition of the German monarchies in 1918. With the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine by Napoleon the Royal Saxon Army joined the French "Grande Armée" along with 37 other German states.
The Imperial Russian Army or Russian Imperial Army was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was organized into a standing army and a state militia. The standing army consisted of regular troops and two forces that served on separate regulations: the Cossack troops and the Muslim troops.
Many of the small German states in Europe supported the British. King George III of Britain was simultaneously the ruler of the German state of Hanover. However some European Germans as individuals crossed the Atlantic to help the Patriots, who were supporters of Congress.
The Second Battle of Wissembourg from 26 December 1793 to 29 December 1793 saw an army of the First French Republic under General Lazare Hoche fight a series of clashes against an army of Austrians, Prussians, Bavarians, and Hessians led by General Dagobert Sigmund von Wurmser. There were significant actions at Wœrth on 22 December and Geisberg on 26 and 27 December. In the end, the French forced their opponents to withdraw to the east bank of the Rhine River. The action occurred during the War of the First Coalition phase of the French Revolutionary Wars.
The Battle of Châtillon, also known as the Battle of Châtillon-sous-Bagneux, was a skirmish in the Siege of Paris between France and North German Confederation in the Franco-Prussian War, took place on 13 October 1870. This is also considered the first battle in the history of the French Third Republic. In this fierce battle – occurred at Châtillon and Sceaux, Corps V of the Prussian army under the command of Lieutenant General Infantry Hugo von Kirchbach, along with the II Corps of the Kingdom of Bavaria by the Supreme Minister infantry Jakob von Hartmann which were the forces of the army Group 3 of Prussia by Prince Friedrich Wilhelm as General command., won a victory against an attack by the XIV Corps under General Renault - of the French army under General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot. Although some soldiers under Ducrot fought well, the majority of his army became agitated. The French were forced to flee to Paris, losing the Châtillon Plateau - a very favorable defensive position overlooking the fortresses south of Paris - to the Germans. This was a disaster for the "justice" of the French army during the war, although the French reported that they suffered only minor losses.
The Battle of Chateauneuf-en-Thimerais was a battle of the Franco-Prussian War, which took place on November 18, 1870, in the commune of Châteauneuf-en-Thymerais in France. This was one of a series of victories by a division of the Prussian army along the Loire under the command of Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin before the Garde Mobile's forces fledgling by commander Minister Fiereck, within a week after the Imperial German Army was defeated at the Battle of Coulmiers. During the Battle of Châteauneuf-en-Thimerais, the 22nd Division of the Kingdom of Prussia – noted as a brave division – was under the command of General Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig von Wittich who captured the commune, taking in his hands hundreds of French prisoners of war. The failure at this battle forced the French forces to retreat westward.
The Battle of Pontarlier, also known as the Battle of Pontarlier-La Cluse, was the final military operation of the Franco-Prussian War, that took place from January 29 to February 2, 1871, near Pontarlier and La Cluse-et-Mijoux, not long after the newly formed German Empire and French Republic had a ceasefire. During these engagements, the German Army of the South, under the command of Lieutenant General Edwin von Manteuffel won over the French Eastern Army under the command of General Justin Clinchant, the battle forced the French Eastern Army to withdraw to neutral Switzerland. The strong efforts of the German armies led by General August von Werder in The previous Battle of the Lisaine, as well as that of General Von Manteuffel's armies at the Battle of Pontarlier, resulted in the collapse of the assault on southern Germany which the Eastern Army had expected to be ruined. At the same time, the defeat of the Eastern Army finally forced the French Interior Minister Léon Gambetta to end resistance to the Germans. The defeat at Pontarlier also brought the French heavy losses, including a large number of soldiers being taken prisoner.
References
- ↑ Journal of the Military Service Institution of the United States Military Service Institution of the United States, Theophilus Francis Rodenbough - 1883 - At the battle of Woerth the French cavalry attempted a similar feat, which resulted in nothing but its own destruction. These two cases must be examined in some detail ; the data are taken from the German official history of the war. A.t the battle of Woerth" the French army, numbering about 45,000 men, under MacMahon, occupied a strong position on hills to the west of the Sauerbrook. The advance guard of the Third German Army, numbering about 90,000 men, under the Crown ...
48°23′00″N7°38′00″E / 48.3833°N 7.63333°E
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