Industrial Age · Europe · War

1870

Franco-Prussian War Declared

July 19, 1870

Bismarck, by editing a telegram from the baths at Ems to sound insulting, baited Napoleon III into declaring war on Prussia. Within six weeks the French emperor was a prisoner at Sedan with a hundred thousand men. The Second Empire collapsed; Paris proclaimed a republic; the siege began. Bismarck had his war, and Europe had a new German state.

More from 1870 Industrial Age

In context

Also in 1870 (4 other events on record)

Sedan · Europe · War
Rome Taken by Italy · Europe · Politics
Metz Capitulates · Europe · War
Dogali Falls in Japan's Reforms · East Asia · Politics

Before and after in Europe

Before: 1869: Tolstoy's War and Peace
After: January 18, 1871: German Empire Proclaimed

Before and after in War

Before: April 13, 1868: Tewodros Dies at Magdala
After: 1873: Anglo-Ashanti War

Era

Industrial Age (1801–1900), one of 513 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Franco-Prussian War