1871 in France

The year 1871 in France was dominated by the Franco-Prussian War. The war technically started in July of 1870, but did not end until the 10th of May 1871. The war was centered around a conflict between the Second French Empire, and the united North German Confederation (led by Prussia.). Conflict began when Prussia wanted to extend the unification and expansion of Germany. An attack was planned on France to gain the southern German states. This insulted France, and they demanded war. Napoleon III was in charge at this point, and was nervous, but the French army assured him that they would easily be able to win the war. After war was officially declared, the French were surprised at the speed and size of the German Army. In addition, Germans were better trained, better equipped, and made better use of their resources than France. Over the next five months, Germany continued to defeat France in devastating amounts. Some of the battles included:

• Battle of Wissembourg
• Battle of Spicheren
• Battle of Worth
• Battle of Gravelotte
• Battle of Sedan
• Siege of Metz
• Siege of Paris

This was Europe During all of this change:

Following the fall of the Paris Capital, revolutionaries called the Paris Commune attempted to take power. They held power for approximately 2 months. Soon after, they were suppressed (with a large amount of casualties) by the regular French army. (This was at the end of May 1871). The Paris Commune was in charge between the Second and Third Republic of France. 

All of this upset all of the treaties in Europe, unifying the continent into two main powers. These treaties had been in place as a type of checks and balances since 1815, but they failed when everyone just started ganging up on one another. All of these treaties were the root of World War 1. 

To give everyone an idea of how out-done the French was:

• The french Army contained about 400,000 soldiers, the German army consisted of 1,000,000 soldiers
• The French Army was not trained, the German army was trained very well.
• The French Army had shitty, common guns, the German army also had shitty guns
• French Army moved in lines (easy targets), the German army moved in clusters (difficult to target).

Anyway, all this is considered a major player in the start of World War 1.