History UsefulNotes / FrancoPrussianWar

* AwesomeButImpractical: The French regarded the Mitrailleuse (a primitive machine gun) as the secret weapon that would win the war for them. Emphasis on secret; security restrictions meant that no-one had a chance to train with the weapon and develop proper tactics. After the apparent failure of the weapon in the face of determined Prussian assults, the French believed that ''elan'' (fighting spirit) was more effective than machine guns. The Prussians (who'd been on the receiving end of the Mitrailleuse) decided to concentrate on firepower instead, with tragic results for the French in the beginning of UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne.

* Émile Zola's ''La Débâcle'' is set during the war, specifically at the Battle of Sedan and the French civil war in spring 1871.

The defeat of Napoleon III led to his fall and the proclamation of the Third French Republic, which continued the war longer than the Germans expected by continually raising new armies even as Paris was besieged. In a bloody epilogue after the signing of the definitive peace treaty French fought French as the forces of the conservative central government put down the Paris Commune, a short-lived revolutionary government which was in control by revolutionary members of the French working class. While short-lived and petty by that time, it would inspire a book by Karl Marx (''The Civil War in France'') and later UsefulNotes/VladimirLenin to start the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] and create SovietUnion, thus being responsible of communism's first steps as a major power through the 20th century.

This in turn started a chain of events that led to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. France, desperate and humiliated, formed a series of alliances in case they ever went to war with Germany again, and Germany did the same. With one exception, all of these alliances became the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, and Russia and its Baltic allies, as well as the other countries they gathered after the war began) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the countries they gathered). The newly-united Italy was the exception - Italy was in an alliance with Germany, but didn't enter World War I until the Allied Powers offered them parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

** The South German armies were in on it, too. One of the first heroes to make headlines through a daring reconnaissance raid was the Württemberg cavalry officer Count Zeppelin (yes, ''that'' [[CoolAirship Count Zeppelin]]).

** Also, France's entry into the war meant that the Emperor was forced to recall the expeditionary force he had sent to protect the city of Rome - by then the last the remnant of the Papal States - some years before, thus leaving it free for the Italians to take. The capture of Rome in 1870 completed the process of the Italian Unification.
* BoringButPractical: German deployment plans. By careful study of railway time-table and internal organisation of conscription depots, The General Staff managed to plan and then pull a successful deployment of more than 400 ''thousands'' of troops from UsefulNotes/AllTheLittleGermanies in less than two weeks.

There were multiple causes of the war, including but not limited to, a potential sale of Luxembourg to France, the vacancy of the Spanish throne, and [[OttoVonBismarck the Prime Minister]] of {{Prussia}} modifying and publishing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ems_Dispatch an insulting telegram]] about a meeting of the French Ambassador. For whatever cause, a dangerously underprepared France declared war on Prussia (and thus the North German Confederation) in July of 1870. These circumstances led the South German states (Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg) to join the side of the North German Confederation.

* GaulsWithGrenades: The French had more efficient (one of the first) bolt-action rifles and mitrailleuse, a primitive machine guns, though the Prussians had already used both bolt-action rifles (needle-rifles) and rifled cannons with great success against Denmark during the war that they used to get Schleswig-Holstein under their control, as well as against Austria. It was just that the some of the other German states had not yet had equipped all their troops with such new technology.
** The rifled needle-gun was the standard Prussian infantry weapon since the 1840s (recall that in 1861 most Confederate and Union infantry units used muzzle-loaders, and a surprising number even still were equipped with smoothbores). The new French Chassepot rifle was somewhat superior (and already a second-generation weapon), but that advantage was more than offset by the breech-loading rifled artillery of the German armies.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: French about ''their own'' machine guns. Everyone around the world about indirect artillery fire.

* ZergRush: Subtle, but still. Germans were constantly using their numerical advantage (achieved through wide conscription and effective use of railroads) to flank any French forces they met. This and indirect fire of their powerful artillery.

* ZergRush: Subtle, but still. Germans were constantly using their numerical advantage (achieved through wide conscription) to flank any French forces they met. This and indirect fire of their powerful artillery.

* AwesomenessByAnalysis: The Prussian general staff. By meticulously analyzing railroad networks, their capacities, and schedules, they were able to assemble sufficient men and supplies where they were needed when they were needed, despite the French having a presumably better trained and possibly better equipped army. (French Army was made of professional, long-term service soldiers while the Prussian was made of conscripts. French had better rifles and also early machine guns, although the Prussians had superior artillery.)

* ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTWddzIuhwU Bombardement d'une maison]]''(''Bombing of a house'', 1897), most probably the very first film to depict it (and probably the very first war film). It was directed by Georges Méliès (yes, [[Film/ATripToTheMoon that one]])

* Sizable chunk of VideoGame/VictoriaAnEmpireUnderTheSun will be about pouring vast amounts of time and resources either to bring the war or stop[=/=]postpone it. The outcome of the war is rather random in vanilla versions of first and second game, but gets brutally historical under expansion packs and mods.

The result was a 10-month CurbStompBattle as the Prussians decimated the French in all but three battles (where the French won one at Broney-Colombey and fought to a draw in two others), captured the French Emperor, Napoleon III, and unified Germany.

This war also started a chain of events that led to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. France, desperate and humiliated, formed a series of alliances in case they ever went to war with Germany again, and Germany did the same. With one exception, all of these alliances became the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, and Russia and its Baltic allies, as well as the other countries they gathered after the war began) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the countries they gathered). The newly-united Italy was the exception - Italy was in an alliance with Germany, but didn't enter World War I until the Allied Powers offered them parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

* CoolTrain : The chief German weapon was their trains. It enabled them to get tons of troops to the front in time. As a bonus it enabled them to use reserves as front-line units without worrying about them falling over with weariness after all the marching.
* CurbStompBattle
* CycleOfRevenge: The entire war was seen as an important episode in the sequence of wars between "hereditary enemies" France and Germany from the middle ages to World War 2.

* GaulsWithGrenades: The French had more efficient weapons, including one of the first bolt-action rifles and machine guns, though the Prussians had already used both bolt-action rifles (needle-rifles) and rifled cannons with great success against Denmark during the war that they used to get Schleswig-Holstein under their control, as well as against Austria. It was just that the some of the other German states had not yet had equipped all their troops with such new technology.

* ObligatoryWarCrimeScene: Whooooboy... the French guerrillas weren't angels, operating well outside of the laws and customs of war in place at the time. However, the German Armies behaved downright appallingly when it came to [[BerserkButton said Franc-Tireur.]] While the anger was somewhat justified, the retaliations tended to be gratuitous and far out of proportion to the Franc-Tireur and what they had done. Of course [[AppealToForce nobody was in a position to bring the greatest military power on the continent to account even if anyone had wanted to.]] It Probably doubles as foreshadowing for [[UsefulNotes/FirstWorldWar certain]] [[UsefulNotes/SecondWorldWar behavior patterns]] later.

* RockBeatsLaser: Despite the technological advantage of the French forces (they had far superior rifles, and even an early form of a machine gun), the Prussians still crushed them easily. Partially subverted, as the Prussians had a highly superior ''artillery'', though.

* TheSiege: Beside the siege of Paris, there were several smaller ones, in particular the one of the fortress town of Belfort in Lorraine. Here the French forces succeeded in holding the place until the end of the war, which turned their commander, Colonel Denfert-Rochereau, into a national hero.

* TheSpartanWay: The Prussian General Staff which was a number of [[TheSmartGuy gifted men]] who were originally trained to act as [[TheStrategist strategists]] that could theoretically institutionalize Napoleonic genius. They were picked from among the best officers, rigorously schooled, trained with war games and staff rides (taking them on a field trip into the country and asking them to evaluate the tactical ramifications of the terrain.

** Among the crowd at the proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor was a Prussian guards officer, Paul von Hindenburg, later German supreme commander in the final years of World War 1 and, as president of the Weimar Republic, the man who - begrudgingly and out of other options - appointed Hitler chancellor.
** Georges Clemenceau, the man who would head the victorious French government at the end of World War 1, witnessed the Paris Commune as mayor of Montmartre.

* Several Creator/GuyDeMaupassant short stories use the war as setting.

* HeyItsThatGuy: Among the crowd at the proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor was a Prussian guards officer, Paul von Hindenburg, later German supreme commander in the final years of World War 1 and, as president of the Weimar Republic, the man who - begrudgingly and out of other options - appointed Hitler chancellor. Meanwhile in Paris, Georges Clemenceau, the man who would head the victorious French government at the end of World War 1, witnessed the Paris Commune as mayor of Montmartre.

** Given how pivotal the war was, a French victory or the avoidance of the war altogether sets up a whole bunch of interesting and long-range "what if?" scenarios. Most of all, the Second Empire wouldn't have collapsed and France would have remained a Bonapartist monarchy instead of becoming the Third Republic, while German unification under Prussia would have been delayed if not averted. Also twentieth century world history would very likely have run completely differently, given how much this war spawned the national animosities and disruptions to the BalanceOfPower that in hindsight led up to the World Wars.

* In the alternate history ''[[http://www.alternatehistory.com/discussion/showthread.php?t=238352 The Legacy of the Glorious]]'', this war is known as the ''Hohenzollerns' War'', after the reigning dynasty in Prussia (although in [=TTL=]'s Spain it is called ''King Leopold's War''). Like it happened in RealLife, the most direct cause of the war was the Ems dispatch, but there is a difference: since Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was confirmed as King of Spain before the French caught wind of it, France declares war on Prussia and Spain. War ends even more disastrously for the French, because, apart from Alsace-Lorraine, they also lose the southern department of Rousillon and the Oranesado in north Africa to Spain, as well as paying a greater war indemnization.

The defeat of Napoleon III led to his fall and the proclamation of the Third French Republic, which continued the war longer than the Germans expected by continually raising new armies even as Paris was besieged. In a bloody epilogue after the signing of the definitive peace treaty French fought French as the forces of the conservative central government put down the Paris Commune, a short-lived revolutionary government which was in control by revolutionary members of the French working class. While short-lived and petty by that time, it would inspire a book by Karl Marx (''The Civil War in France'') and later VladimirLenin to start the [[RedOctober October Revolution]] and create SovietUnion, thus being responsible of communism's first steps as a major power through the 20th century.

** Also, France's entry into the war meant that the Emperor was forced to recall the expeditionary force he had sent to protect the city of Rome - by then the last the remnant of the Papal States - some years before, thus leaving it free for the Italians to take. The capture of Rome in 1870 was the event completing the process of the Italian Unification.

* Also, France's entry into the war meant that the Emperor was forced to recall the expeditionary force he had sent to protect the city Rome - by then the last the remnant of the Papal States - thus leaving it free for the Italians to take. The capture of Rome in 1870 was the final event of the Risorgimento.

This war also started a chain of events that led to UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. France, desperate and humiliated, formed a series of alliances in case they ever went to war with Germany again, and Germany did the same. With one exception, all of these alliances became the Allied Powers (France, Great Britain, and Russia and its Baltic allies, as well as the other countries they gathered after the war began) and the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the countries they gathered). The newly-united Italy was the exception - Italy was in an alliance with Germany, but didn't enter World War I until the Allied Powers offered them parts of Austria.

** Given how pivotal the war was, a French victory sets up a whole bunch of interesting and long-range "what if?" scenarios. Most of all, the Second Empire wouldn't have collapsed and France would have remained a Bonapartist monarchy instead of becoming the Third Republic, while German unification under Prussia would have been delayed if not averted. Also twentieth century world history would very likely have run completely differently, given how much this war spawned the national animosities and disruptions to the BalanceOfPower that in hindsight led up to the World Wars.

** Given how pivotal the war was, a French victory sets up a whole bunch of interesting and long-range "what if?" scenarios. Most of all, the Second Empire wouldn't have collapsed and France would have remained a Bonapartist monarchy instead of becoming the Third Republic, while German unification under Prussia would have been delayed if not averted. Also twentieth century world history would very likely have run completely differently, given how much this war spawned the national animosities and disruptions to the BalanceofPower that in hindsight led up to the World Wars.

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/FrancoPrussianWar.jpg