German forces were superior in numbers, training, and leadership and made more effective use of modern technology, particularly railways and artillery.Ī series of swift Prussian and German victories in eastern France, culminating in the siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, saw French Emperor Napoleon III captured and the army of the Second Empire decisively defeated the Government of National Defence declared the Third French Republic in Paris on 4 September and continued the war for another five months. The German coalition mobilised its troops much more effectively than the French and invaded northeastern France on 4 August. On 16 July 1870, the French parliament voted to declare war on Prussia France invaded German territory on 2 August. įrance mobilised its army on 15 July 1870, leading the North German Confederation to respond with its own mobilisation later that day. None, however, dispute that Bismarck likely recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole.

According to some historians, Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked the French into declaring war on Prussia in order to draw 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. Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to restore its dominant position in continental Europe, which it had lost following Prussia's crushing victory over Austria in 1866. 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 (later the Third French Republic) and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia.

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