Christopher Pringle, age 15, of Willingboro, N.J., for his question:
HOW LONG DID THE FRANCO PRUSSIAN WAR LAST?
The Franco Prussian War started as a struggle between France and Prussia and the conflict became one between France and Germany. The war lasted less than a year. It was declared by France on July 19, 1870, and it ended with the Treaty of Frankfurt on May 10, 1871.
Prussia had overthrown Austria in the Seven Weeks' War and placed itself at the head of the German states. Napoleon III was the emperor of France who allowed himself to be influenced by patriots who wanted to shame and humiliate Prussia. An excuse for the war was easily found.
Both countries entered the struggle with enthusiasm. The head of the Prussian army was Gen. Helmuth Karl von Moltke. He made careful preparation for the war with France and the French were largely unprepared.
The Germans defeated the French at Weissenburg, Worth and Spichern and also inflicted severe losses. The French armies under Marshall MacMahon and Marshal Bazaine were separated and kept apart by the Germans.
Bazaine was defeated and surrounded at Metz. MacMahon, who had been ordered to march to the relief of Bazaine, met the Germans in a great battle near Sedan.
The French were overwhelmed. Marshall MacMahon's entire army surrendered and the Emperor Napoleon III was taken prisoner. Marshall Bazaine later surrendered at Metz.
When the news of the defeat at Sedan reached Paris, the French deposed Napoleon and prepared to defend the city. The army and the citizens of Paris fought bravely, but they had to yield the city to the Germans and the war ended with the Treaty of Frankfurt.
The treaty provided that France would give Alsace and part of Lorraine to Germany, pay Germany $1 billion and support a German army of occupation until the sum was paid.
Neutral powers considered the Treaty of Frankfurt very harsh. They say that it helped set the stage for World War I by increasing French and German hostility.
The indemnity as outlined by the Treaty of Frankfurt was the largest in the history of modern Europe up to that time. France resolutely set itself to pay the money and, to the astonishment of the world, did so in three years.
French industry was greatly stimulated by the need to produce enough to pay the debt.
The Franco Prussian War abolished the North German Confederation and created a new German empire.
The trigger that started the war came when Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern, a Roman Catholic relative of the Prussian King, had been offered the Spanish crown. The French felt that if Leopold ruled Spain, the Hohenzollern family would become much too powerful.
Leopold refused the crown, but the French government insisted that no Hohenzollern should ever accept the Spanish throne. Prussia's chancellor Otto von Bismark and Wilhelm I refused the French demand and the war started.