Operational Command in the Franco-Prussian War
Abstract
War erupted between France and a confederation of German states led by Prussia in July 1870. Within a month of the war's first major battle (Wissembourg, 4 August 1870), the French imperial army had been neutralized. Half of it, along with the Emperor Napoleon III himself, had been led off into captivity in the Rhineland while the other half found itself incarcerated in the fortress of Metz. The rapid demise of France's regular army stunned Europe. Before the summer of 1870, this veteran force, inheritor of the Napoleonic legacy and victor in hundreds of colonial encounters stretching from Cochin China to Mexico, had been considered by most informed observers to be the best army in the world. In Paris, a provisional republican government, led by the fiery lawyer Leon Gambetta, took up the struggle after the fall of the discredited Bonaparte dynasty (4 September 1870). Despite valiant efforts, all Gambetta and his followers could do, however, was to postpone final defeat for five months. On 27 January 1871, with the besieged French capital on the verge of starvation and the provincial levies in the process of dissolution, republican authorities agreed to lay down their arms and treat with the Germans. The terms imposed by the North German Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck, were severe. The French government had to pay a huge indemnity and acquiesce in the annexation of Alsace province and a large portion of Lorraine by the Germans. Contrary to what many historians have since alleged or implied, the outcome of this conflict was not a foregone conclusion. Efficient mobilization procedures, a substantial numerical superiority, and the new steel cannon of Mr. Krupp gave the Germans an edge but by no means an overwhelming advantage. The formations of Prussia's King William I still had to defeat their adversaries on the battlefield. The easily defensible terrain and hostile population of northeastern France made this a potentially difficult task.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Jun 01, 1991
- Accession Number
- ADA527978
Entities
People
- Arthur T. Coumbe
Organizations
- United States Army War College