Hi, I'm the History Guy. I have a degree in history and I love history,
and if you love history too, this is the channel for you.
It is still, in 2017, hard to fathom how the world could be brought into The Great Wars, World War 1
and World War 2. How could events so spin out of control that it would bring humanity to such
horror. In the attempt to explain the economic, military and political situation that gave rise
to the Great Wars of the 20th century, the war fought between France and Prussia between
July of 1870 and May of 1871 are sometimes lost in the mix. But while that war was much shorter
and more one-sided than anybody imagined it would be, its implications were vast.
So vast that they set Europe along a path that made the events of the first half
of the 20th century nearly unavoidable. And so today we're going to try to make
some sense of the first and second World War by highlighting the September 1870,
Battle of Sedan. The battle that brought down one empire, and gave rise to another.
Looming large in mid 19th century Europe, were two outsized personalities.
Otto von Bismarck was the Chancellor of the North German Confederation, with a vision of a German
Empire unified under the banner of Prussia. Napoleon III, the nephew of Napoleon Bonaparte,
was the first President of France elected by popular vote in 1848, and since 1852, Emperor
of the Second French Empire. The longest-serving french head of state since the French Revolution.
The two, the rising Bismarck and the aging Napoleon were on a collision
course. As the unification that Bismarck sought, was a direct threat to France.
Bismarck wanted a war with France as a means to an end. Finding a common foe, he thought, would bring
together his North German Confederation with the Southern German States of Bavaria, Wurttemberg,
Baden and Hesse. He saw Unification as only possible via what he described as, Iron and Blood.
Napoleon feared a large unified Germany on the French border and thought of it as a threat
to French territorial ambitions. Some people say that Napoleon was seeking war as a way to
shore up flagging support against an increasingly assertive national
assembly, but in any case, public sentiment would soon force his hand.
The pretext for war was the throne of Spain, which had been vacant since Spain's glorious
revolution in 1868. Casting about for unattached European royalty, the Spanish
had offered the throne to a German prince who was a distant relative of the King of Prussia.
Knowing that a German on the throne in Spain would threaten France, Bismarck was able to easily
use this situation to stoke tensions on either side. Even going so far as to alter a diplomatic
telegram, that was released to the public, that implied that both sides had insulted the other.
Outrage in France led to a Declaration of War, and that Declaration of War led to outrage in Germany,
that would bring together the North German Confederation and the Southern German states,
exactly as Bismarck had hoped. Ironically neither side really cared that much about
who was on the throne in Spain, it eventually went to an Italian prince.
Caught between conflicting interest and lack of trust for either side,
the other major European Powers decided not to intervene, instead hoping that it would
be a long and drawn out war that would decrease the power of both belligerents.
But the expected long drawn out stalemate was not to be.
While both were large nations, with large well-equipped modern armies,
the Prussians had an advantage in having created a more unified and empowered general staff that had
prepared extensive plans for mobilization, and a system of universal conscription that allowed
them to mobilize forces much faster than France. Thus Prussia was able to mobilize more forces,
more quickly, despite a comparative population disadvantage.
The decisive battle occurred near the French fortress of Sudan on the Meuse River,
in the northeast of France. Napoleon III personally led a French Army,
marching to relieve another French Army that was besieged. The Prussians had outmaneuvered him,
and caught him and his army in a pincer, between two Prussian forces. The battle was a desperate
attempt but outnumbered and dispirited French forces to try to break away from the encirclement.
The French attacks were brave but futile.
Fighting around the Village of Bezier was one of the first to feature
modern urban warfare, and French villagers even took up arms to help the French Army.
The village changed hands four times before the Prussians finally held. The French tried to break
through with three grand cavalry charges, but were unable to make headway and took terrible losses.
Finally surrounded by the Prussian heavy guns, Napoleon realized that more attempts were futile,
and surrendered. The capture of the Emperor and 120,000 French troops was his downfall,
as the Empire was overthrown by popular uprising, as soon as news of the defeat reached
Paris. The new Third Republic refused Prussian terms and continued to try to defend France.
But defeat was inevitable after the defeat at Sedan, and in all intents and purposes,
the French Army was defeated by the Prussians, in less than two months.
Napoleon III died in exile in England. His dying words were reportedly the plea,
“We were not cowards at Sedan, were we?”.
The war and the quick defeat of France would have profound implications. As Bismarck hoped,
the unity of purpose would bring together the North German Confederation and the Southern German
States; they would band together in 1871 into the Prussian Empire. Bismarck turned out to be
a depth politician who could manipulate alliances, to bring peace to Europe for a good deal of time,
and solidify the Prussian position as the most powerful state in Europe. But the lessons that
the next generation of German leaders learned was that the health of Germany was based on
war and expansion, and Bismarck's idea of Iron and Blood would loom large in the next century.
The defeat of France left France dispirited, demoralized and impoverished for a short period
of time, but the harsh surrender terms, including the loss of the territories of
the Alsace and Lorraine, would lead to a new sense of unity and purpose.
And reforms would lead to a resurgent French Army, bent on revenge. One unexpected consequence was
that during the war, the French Army was forced to give up its support for the Papal States
and this allowed the unification of the Italian Kingdom with its capital in Rome.
Throughout Europe, the other European Powers, learning lessons from the war, would modernize
their militaries and systems. Meaning that they were all much more prepared for..war.
While Bismarck was able to maintain peace during a critical time in European history,
Bismarck couldn't live forever, and in fact Europe had become a tightly
coiled spring. And in the end eventually, it would only take a couple of diplomatic miscalculations,
for the continent to explode, into the Great War.
I'm the History Guy. I hope you enjoyed this edition of my series,
five minutes of history, short snippets of forgotten history five to ten minutes long.
If you did enjoy them, please go ahead and click that thumbs up button that is there on your left.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to write those in the comment section
and I will be happy to respond. And if you'd like five minutes more of forgotten history,
all you need to do is click the subscribe button that is there on your right.