Have you heard of the Franco-Prussian War of 1870?

[Julie4]

[WonderBell99]

Of course, I do. If I didn’t, my 10th grade history teacher would be highly disappointed in me.

The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71 resulted in unification of Germany. Bismarck knew that only a new war with an old enemy would unite other German states, who had been traditional rivals of Prussia, to throw in their lot with the new Prussian empire. That enemy would be France. He managed to provoke Napoleon III into declaring War against Prussia. This move by the French was condemned by other European powers. Prussia won and Bismarck had gathered the German general’s princes and Kings at Versailles and declared King William I of Prussia as the Emperor of the German Empire.

The coronation happened on 18th January, 1871. On the same day, a new constitution came into force extending the German federal states to the German kingdom with Prussia as its head.

[WonderBell99]

I remember my father and mother taking turns to quiz me on this chapter. I remember the whole chapter very well.

[purplepoppy]

Just another Europe conflict of the era. War was pretty much a hobby of the elite back then.

[Julie4]

Not really. This war will allow the reunification of Germany, which will allow Germany to become more and more powerful and to compete with the United Kingdom which will end up triggering the First World War.

[BCA6010]

Yes. Probably one of the most embarrassing defeats in French military history. The US also sent some notable Civil War veterans and generals over to observe the war from the Prussian side, which they thought very highly of from a tactics and strategy standpoint. General Sherman was almost mistaken for a French officer on at least two occasions too.

If I were a filmmaker, I'd have made at least one movie about that war by now, because it had a very long lasting impact on western European geopolitics that gets largely ignored.

[Anonymous]

Yes, I know more about it than most people. Prussia completely humiliated France. They ended up having to pay them war restitution and the Prussians literally held a victory parade in Paris after having bombarded its citizens for days.

[Bluemax]

Yes. It resulted in a Prussian victory and the unification of Germany.

[greenice27]

Helmuth von Moltke, the German commander in the battle of Sedan, also served as a consultant in the Turkish army between 1835 and 1839.

[MarkRet]

Yeah, the Prussians clobbered the French, and the French had to hand over Alsace-Lorraine to Prussia. Prussia then united all the German kingdoms to form Germany.

[RyanEC]

Yes.
It lead to Germany unification.
The French 3rd republic.
A rivalry between France and Germany that would go on until 1945.

[TommyMountainFigure]

I have, we covered it in History class at school. Not that I remember much about it.

[whereismyjohnny]

We learned about it in elementary school, but I don’t remember many details tbh.

[SunnyCaliGirl]

I probably did at some point in history class but forgot about it

[OddBeMe]

Wasn’t that the last war France was able to fight on its own?

[Julie4]

We can say it like that 🤣 But which countries have been able to wage wars alone since that time? 🤔😉

[OddBeMe]

USA! USA!

(Checking how many wars we won)

None.

[Julie4]

Well, there are American soldiers who died in two world wars, and the USA has also participated in a very important way in the war effort in a financial way. All of this deserves respect. Even the USSR could not have resisted Nazi Germany without the logistical support of the USA.

[OddBeMe]

Ehh, I’ve been studying the eastern front and it was pretty solidly Soviet. US had a steady Arctic supply of precious metals but overall, not a huge factor. It’s a strange war, rooting for one dictator over another.

[OddBeMe]

I did just read about thousands of French troops fighting back the Nazis during Dunkirk like fckin spartans at Thermopylae. Not sure why that was left out of the movie.

[Julie4]

Of course the Russians resisted heroically against Germany, and they had absolutely colossal human losses. I just wanted to say that the role of the USA in the war was a major contribution and the dead soldiers absolutely deserve my respect, they are heroes.

Anglo-Saxons like to diminish French heroism 🤣 that's why they didn't want to talk about that in the movie lol

[LindsayR07]

The United States has NEVER fought a war on its own. The French aided us in the Revolutionary war as well as the War of 1812 (which was really an extension of the Napoleonic Wars). The North received European help during the Civil War (as did the South). WWI and WWII were both huge alliances. The Turks helped us in Korea, along with South Korea obviously. The Turks, South Koreans, and Australians helped us in Vietnam. European countries have helped us too in both Iraq wars as well as Afghanistan, and not just NATO countries, but tiny countries not in NATO have volunteered their SF units to Afghanistan.

We have never waged a full on war alone.

[OddBeMe]

@LindsayR07 (whispers) shut up!

[LindsayR07]

@OddBeMe You know you love me for my brain 😁

[OddBeMe]

@LindsayR07 womens brains are their best feature. Boobs are close seconds.

[t-8900]

Yes my uncle actually wrote a book about it.

[Still-alive]

I have yes. not many details... but im aware of it

[SignedAutographs]

I have but I don't know a lot about it

[Dargil]

Same.

[chico800]

Yeah, I'm a bit of a World War 1 buff.

[IsoUser]

Not recently but please enlighten me.

[eagle1951]

I remember it from my History class

[Iron_Man]

Tell us about it

[bigpauly]

No I’m unfamiliar

[flirtatiousgirl]

Yes.

[Proabi]

Yeah