Ablis ( French pronunciation: [abli] ) is a commune in the Yvelines department in north-central France .
87-1034: During the Franco-Prussian War , when a German unit moved to take Ablis on October 7, 1870, they were ambushed and routed by about 1,500 French militia soldiers who were supported by the citizens of Ablis. In revenge, a German cavalry division subsequently torched Ablis. Ablis is twinned with Wendelsheim (Germany). This Yvelines geographical article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Franco-Prussian War German victory Before 18 January 1871 : [REDACTED] North German Confederation [REDACTED] Bavaria [REDACTED] Württemberg [REDACTED] Baden Total deployment : Initial strength : Peak field army strength : Total deployment : Initial strength : Peak field army strength : 756,285 144,642 The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War , often referred to in France as
174-499: A French public which wanted territory and a French army which wanted revenge. The situation did not suit either France, which unexpectedly found itself next to the militarily powerful Prussian-led North German Confederation, or Prussia, whose foremost objective was to complete the process of uniting the German states under its control. Thus, war between the two powers since 1866 was only a matter of time. In Prussia, some officials considered
261-463: A bad situation much worse was the conduct of General Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot , commander of the 1st Division. He told General Abel Douay , commander of the 2nd Division, on 1 August that "The information I have received makes me suppose that the enemy has no considerable forces very near his advance posts, and has no desire to take the offensive" . Two days later, he told MacMahon that he had not found "a single enemy post ... it looks to me as if
348-581: A broad deployment which made envelopment highly likely but the effectiveness of French Chassepot-rifle fire inflicted costly repulses on infantry attacks, until the French infantry had been extensively bombarded by the Prussian artillery. The Battle of Spicheren on 5 August was the second of three critical French defeats. Moltke had originally planned to keep Bazaine's army on the Saar River until he could attack it with
435-543: A column or line formation , Prussian infantry moved in small groups that were harder to target by artillery or French defensive fire. The sheer number of soldiers available made encirclement en masse and destruction of French formations relatively easy. The army was equipped with the Dreyse needle gun renowned for its use at the Battle of Königgrätz , which was by this time showing the age of its 25-year-old design. The rifle had
522-677: A contact-detonated shell, the Krupp gun had a longer range and a higher rate of fire than the French bronze muzzle loading cannon, which relied on time fuses. The Prussian army was controlled by the General Staff , under General Helmuth von Moltke . The Prussian army was unique in Europe for having the only such organisation in existence, whose purpose in peacetime was to prepare the overall war strategy, and in wartime to direct operational movement and organise logistics and communications. The officers of
609-482: A distant plateau south of the town of Spicheren, and took this as a sign of Frossard's retreat. Ignoring Moltke's plan again, both German armies attacked Frossard's French 2nd Corps, fortified between Spicheren and Forbach. The French were unaware of German numerical superiority at the beginning of the battle as the German 2nd Army did not attack all at once. Treating the oncoming attacks as merely skirmishes, Frossard did not request additional support from other units. By
696-519: A fierce opponent of Prussia who, as French Ambassador to Austria in 1866, had advocated an Austro-French military alliance against Prussia. Napoleon III's worsening health problems made him less and less capable of reining in Empress Eugénie, Gramont and the other members of the war party, known collectively as the "mameluks". For Bismarck, the nomination of Gramont was seen as "a highly bellicose symptom". The Ems telegram of 13 July 1870 had exactly
783-511: A major obstacle in terms of logistics. Only one railway there led to the German hinterland but could be easily defended by a single force, and the only river systems in the region ran along the border instead of inland. While the French hailed the invasion as the first step towards the Rhineland and later Berlin, General Edmond Le Bœuf and Napoleon III were receiving alarming reports from foreign news sources of Prussian and Bavarian armies massing to
870-512: A massacre, the French army disengaged and retreated in a westerly direction towards Bitche and Saverne, hoping to join French forces on the other side of the Vosges mountains . The German 3rd army did not pursue the French but remained in Alsace and moved slowly south, attacking and destroying the French garrisons in the vicinity. About 160,000 French soldiers were besieged in the fortress of Metz following
957-403: A peace settlement is usually considered to be distinct from war reparations. War reparations are often governed by treaties which belligerent parties negotiate as part of a peace settlement . Payment of reparations often occur as part of a condition to remove occupying troops or under the threat of re-occupation. The legal basis for war reparations in modern international law is Article 3 of
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#17330855295981044-436: A range of only 600 m (2,000 ft) and lacked the rubber breech seal that permitted aimed shots. The deficiencies of the needle gun were more than compensated for by the famous Krupp 6-pounder (6 kg despite the gun being called a 6-pounder, the rifling technology enabled guns to fire twice the weight of projectiles in the same calibre) steel breech-loading cannons being issued to Prussian artillery batteries. Firing
1131-567: A reserve and to guard against a Prussian advance through Belgium . A pre-war plan laid down by the late Marshal Niel called for a strong French offensive from Thionville towards Trier and into the Prussian Rhineland. This plan was discarded in favour of a defensive plan by Generals Charles Frossard and Bartélemy Lebrun , which called for the Army of the Rhine to remain in a defensive posture near
1218-637: A result of the Franco-Austrian War of 1859 . During the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, the Empress Eugénie , Foreign Minister Drouyn de Lhuys and War Minister Jacques Louis Randon were concerned that the power of Prussia might overtake that of France. They unsuccessfully urged Napoleon to mass troops at France's eastern borders while the bulk of the Prussian armies were still engaged in Bohemia as
1305-479: A return to the French borders of 1814, with the annexation of Luxembourg , most of Saarland , and the Bavarian Palatinate . Bismarck flatly refused what he disdainfully termed France's politique des pourboires ("tipping policy"). He then communicated Napoleon III's written territorial demands to Bavaria and the other southern German states of Württemberg , Baden and Hesse-Darmstadt , which hastened
1392-526: A revolutionary uprising which seized and held power for two months before its suppression; the event would influence the politics and policies of the Third Republic . The causes of the Franco-Prussian War are rooted in the events surrounding the lead up to the unification of the German states under Otto von Bismarck . France had gained the status of being the dominant power of continental Europe as
1479-466: A rubber ring seal and a smaller bullet, the Chassepot had a maximum effective range of some 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) with a short reloading time. French tactics emphasised the defensive use of the Chassepot rifle in trench-warfare style fighting—the so-called feu de bataillon . The artillery was equipped with rifled, muzzle-loaded La Hitte guns . The army also possessed a precursor to the machine-gun:
1566-713: A view to assisting to compensate those countries for the cost of repairing the damage done, by making available the services of the Japanese people in production, salvaging and other work for the Allied Powers in question. War reparations made pursuant to the San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan (1951) include: reparations amounting to US$ 550 million (198 billion yen 1956) were made to the Philippines , and US$ 39 million (14.04 billion yen 1959) to South Vietnam ; payment to
1653-521: A war indemnity is a common practice with a long history. Rome imposed large indemnities on Carthage after the First ( Treaty of Lutatius , 241 BC) and Second Punic Wars . There was also the case of 230 million silver taels in reparations imposed on defeated China after the First Sino-Japanese War led Japan to a similar decision. There have been attempts to codify reparations both in
1740-402: A war against France both inevitable and necessary to arouse German nationalism in those states that would allow the unification of a great German empire. This aim was epitomized by Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck's later statement: "I did not doubt that a Franco-German war must take place before the construction of a United Germany could be realised." Bismarck also knew that France should be
1827-541: A warning that no territorial changes could be effected in Germany without consulting France. As a result of Prussia's annexation of several German states which had sided with Austria during the war and the formation of the North German Confederation under Prussia's aegis, French public opinion stiffened and now demanded more firmness as well as territorial compensations. As a result, Napoleon demanded from Prussia
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#17330855295981914-560: The Gulf War , Iraq accepted United Nations Security Council Resolution 687 , which declared Iraq's financial liability for damage caused in its invasion of Kuwait . The United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) was established, and US$ 350 billion in claims were filed by governments, corporations, and individuals. UNCC accepted and awarded compensations claims for $ 52.4 billion to approximately 1.5 million successful claimants; as of July 2019, $ 48.7 billion has been paid and only $ 3.7 billion
2001-662: The Hague Convention of 1907 . Prominent examples of war reparations include Carthage's indemnity paid to Rome following the First Punic War , French reparations following the Napoleonic Wars , Haiti's reparations to France following the Haitian War of Independence (1791–1804), French reparations to Germany following the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871), and German reparations following World War I . Making one party pay
2088-592: The International Committee of the Red Cross to compensate prisoners of war (POW) of 4.5 million pounds sterling (4.54109 billion yen) was made; and Japan relinquished all overseas assets, approximately US$ 23.681 billion (379.499 billion yen). Japan signed the peace treaty with 49 nations in 1952 and concluded 54 bilateral agreements that included those with Burma (US$ 20 million 1954, 1963), South Korea (US$ 300 million 1965), Indonesia (US$ 223.08 million 1958),
2175-804: The Joint Communiqué of the Government of Japan and the Government of the People's Republic of China (1972), the People's Republic of China renounced its demand for war reparations from Japan. In the Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration of 1956 , the Soviet Union waived its rights to reparations from Japan, and both Japan and the Soviet Union waived all reparations claims arising from war. Additionally, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), under President J. R. Jayewardene , declined war reparations from Japan. After
2262-466: The Kalmar Union . The war led to no territorial changes, but Sweden was forced to pay a war indemnity of 1 million silver riksdaler to Denmark, an amount known as the Älvsborg ransom . King Christian used this money to found several towns and fortresses, most notably Glückstadt (founded as a rival to Hamburg ) and Christiania . Following Napoleon 's final loss at the Battle of Waterloo , under
2349-1039: The Potsdam conference held between July 17 and August 2, 1945, Germany was to pay the Allies US$ 23 billion mainly in machinery and manufacturing plants . Dismantling in the West stopped in 1950. Reparations to the Soviet Union stopped in 1953 (only paid by the GDR). Beginning before the German surrender and continuing for the next two years, the United States pursued a vigorous program of harvesting technological and scientific know-how as well as patents and many leading scientists in Germany (known as Operation Paperclip ). Historian John Gimbel , in his book Science Technology and Reparations: Exploitation and Plunder in Postwar Germany , states that
2436-673: The Siege of Metz and the Battle of Sedan , resulted in the capture of the French Emperor Napoleon III and the decisive defeat of the army of the Second Empire ; a Government of National Defense was formed in Paris on 4 September and continued the war for another five months. German forces fought and defeated new French armies in northern France, then besieged Paris for over four months before it fell on 28 January 1871, effectively ending
2523-612: The Treaty of Paris following the Crimean War a precondition for the union. But Imperial France was not ready to do this. "Bonaparte did not dare to encroach on the Paris Treaty: the worse things turned out in the present, the more precious the heritage of the past became". The French Army consisted in peacetime of approximately 426,000 soldiers, some of them regulars, others conscripts who until March 1869 were selected by ballot and served for
2610-456: The Treaty of Paris (1815) , defeated France was ordered to pay 700 million francs in indemnities. France was also to pay additional money to cover the cost of providing additional defensive fortifications to be built by neighbouring Coalition countries. It was the most expensive war reparation ever paid by a country (in proportion to its GDP). After the Franco-Prussian War , according to conditions of Treaty of Frankfurt (May 10, 1871), France
2697-641: The War of 1870 , was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia . Lasting from 19 July 1870 to 28 January 1871, the conflict was caused primarily by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe, which appeared in question following the decisive Prussian victory over Austria in 1866 . According to some historians, Prussian chancellor Otto von Bismarck deliberately provoked
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2784-422: The mitrailleuse , which could unleash significant, concentrated firepower but nevertheless lacked range and was comparatively immobile, and thus prone to being easily overrun. The mitrailleuse was mounted on an artillery gun carriage and grouped in batteries in a similar fashion to cannon. The army was nominally led by Napoleon III, with Marshals François Achille Bazaine and Patrice de MacMahon in command of
2871-509: The "intellectual reparations" (referring to German scientists) taken by the Allies amounted to close to $ 10 billion. German reparations were partly to be in the form of forced labor . By 1947, approximately 4,000,000 German POWs and civilians were used as forced labor (under various headings, such as "reparations labor" or "enforced labor") in Europe, Canada and the United States after the end of
2958-454: The 2nd Army in front and the 1st Army on its left flank, while the 3rd Army closed towards the rear. The aging General von Steinmetz made an overzealous, unplanned move, leading the 1st Army south from his position on the Moselle . He moved straight toward the town of Spicheren, cutting off Prince Frederick Charles from his forward cavalry units in the process. On the French side, planning after
3045-466: The Austro-Prussian War, were treading carefully before stating that they would only side with France if the south Germans viewed the French positively. This did not materialize as the four South German states had come to Prussia's aid and were mobilizing their armies against France. Napoleon III was under substantial domestic pressure to launch an offensive before the full might of Moltke's forces
3132-576: The Entente, according to the Treaty of Neuilly . Germany agreed to pay reparations of 132 billion gold marks to the Triple Entente in the Treaty of Versailles . When Germany stopped making payments in 1932 after the agreement reached at the Lausanne Conference failed to be ratified, Germany had paid only a part of the sum. This still left Germany with debts it had incurred in order to finance
3219-500: The Franco-Prussian War broke out before these reforms could be completely implemented. The mobilisation of reservists was chaotic and resulted in large numbers of stragglers, while the Garde Mobile were generally untrained and often mutinous. French infantry were equipped with the breech-loading Chassepot rifle , one of the most modern mass-produced firearms in the world at the time, with 1,037,555 available in French inventories. With
3306-454: The French defended their position just outside Frœschwiller. By afternoon, the Germans had suffered c. 10,500 killed or wounded and the French had lost a similar number of casualties and another c. 9,200 men taken prisoner, a loss of about 50%. The Germans captured Fröschwiller which sat on a hilltop in the centre of the French line. Having lost any hope for victory and facing
3393-563: The French had a chance to sweep away the key Prussian defense, and to escape. Two Prussian corps had attacked the French advance guard, thinking that it was the rearguard of the retreat of the French Army of the Meuse. Despite this misjudgment the two Prussian corps held the entire French army for the whole day. Outnumbered 5 to 1, the extraordinary élan of the Prussians prevailed over gross indecision by
3480-518: The French into declaring war by releasing an altered summary of the Ems Dispatch , a telegram sent by William I rejecting French demands that Prussia never again support a Hohenzollern candidacy. Bismarck's summary, as mistranslated by the French press Havas , made it sound as if the king had treated the French envoy in a demeaning fashion, which inflamed public opinion in France. French historians François Roth and Pierre Milza argue that Napoleon III
3567-443: The French into declaring war on Prussia in order to induce four independent southern German states— Baden , Württemberg , Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt —to join the North German Confederation ; other historians contend that Bismarck exploited the circumstances as they unfolded. All agree that Bismarck recognized the potential for new German alliances, given the situation as a whole. France mobilised its army on 15 July 1870, leading
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3654-420: The French. The French had lost the opportunity to win a decisive victory. War reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. War reparations can take the form of hard currency, precious metals, natural resources, industrial assets, or intellectual properties. Loss of territory in
3741-734: The General Staff were hand-picked from the Prussian Kriegsakademie (War Academy). Moltke embraced new technology, particularly the railroad and telegraph, to coordinate and accelerate mobilisation of large forces. On 28 July 1870 Napoleon III left Paris for Metz and assumed command of the newly titled Army of the Rhine, some 202,448 strong and expected to grow as the French mobilization progressed. Marshal MacMahon took command of I Corps (4 infantry divisions) near Wissembourg , Marshal François Canrobert brought VI Corps (4 infantry divisions) to Châlons-sur-Marne in northern France as
3828-517: The German border and repel any Prussian offensive. As Austria, along with Bavaria, Württemberg, and Baden were expected to join in a revenge war against Prussia, I Corps would invade the Bavarian Palatinate and proceed to "free" the four South German states in concert with Austro-Hungarian forces. VI Corps would reinforce either army as needed. Unfortunately for Frossard's plan, the Prussian army mobilised far more rapidly than expected. The Austro-Hungarians, still reeling after their defeat by Prussia in
3915-656: The III Corps launched a risky attack. The French were routed and the III Corps captured Vionville, blocking any further escape attempts to the west. Once blocked from retreat, the French in the fortress of Metz had no choice but to engage in a fight that would see the last major cavalry engagement in Western Europe. The battle soon erupted, and III Corps was shattered by incessant cavalry charges , losing over half its soldiers. The German Official History recorded 15,780 casualties and French casualties of 13,761 men. On 16 August,
4002-686: The North German Confederation to respond with its own mobilisation later that day. On 16 July 1870, the French parliament voted to declare war on Prussia; France invaded German territory on 2 August. The German coalition mobilised its troops much more effectively than the French and invaded northeastern France on 4 August. German forces were superior in numbers, training, and leadership and made more effective use of modern technology, particularly railways and artillery. A series of hard-fought Prussian and German victories in eastern France, culminating in
4089-668: The Philippines (US$ 525 million/52.94 billion yen 1967), Malaysia (25 million Malaysian dollars/2.94 billion yen 1967), Thailand (5.4 billion yen 1955), Micronesia (1969), Laos (1958), Cambodia (1959), Mongolia (1977), Spain ($ 5.5 million 1957), Switzerland , the Netherlands ($ 10 million 1956), Sweden and Denmark . Payments of reparations started in 1955, lasted for 23 years and ended in 1977. For countries that renounced any reparations from Japan, it agreed to pay an indemnity and/or grants in accordance with bilateral agreements. In
4176-437: The Prussian 40th Regiment of the 16th Infantry Division from the town of Saarbrücken with a series of direct attacks. The Chassepot rifle proved its worth against the Dreyse rifle , with French riflemen regularly outdistancing their Prussian counterparts in the skirmishing around Saarbrücken. However the Prussians resisted strongly, and the French suffered 86 casualties to the Prussian 83 casualties. Saarbrücken also proved to be
4263-544: The Prussian Army, when potentially 1,000,000 would be required. Under Marshal Adolphe Niel , urgent reforms were made. Universal conscription and a shorter period of service gave increased numbers of reservists, who would swell the army to a planned strength of 800,000 on mobilisation. Those who for any reason were not conscripted were to be enrolled in the Garde Mobile , a militia with a nominal strength of 400,000. However,
4350-502: The Rhine in Saarbrücken back across the river to Spicheren and Forbach. Marshal MacMahon, now closest to Wissembourg, spread his four divisions 20 miles (32 km) to react to any Prussian-Bavarian invasion. This organization was due to a lack of supplies, forcing each division to seek out food and forage from the countryside and from the representatives of the army supply arm that was supposed to furnish them with provisions. What made
4437-534: The Second World War. According to the Treaty of Peace with Italy, 1947 , Italy agreed to pay reparations of about US$ 125 million to Yugoslavia , US$ 105 million to Greece , US$ 100 million to the Soviet Union, US$ 25 million to Ethiopia , and US$ 5 million to Albania . Hungary agreed to pay reparations of US$ 200 million to the Soviet Union, and US$ 100 million apiece to Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. Romania agreed to pay reparations of US$ 300 million to
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#17330855295984524-612: The Soviet Union. Romanian economists estimated that by February 1947 the Romanian economy had suffered further losses due to returning seized goods (US$ 320 million), restoring properties to the United Nations and their nationals (US$ 200 million), renouncing German debts (US$ 200 million), irregular requisitioning (US$ 150 million) and maintenance of the Soviet Army unit on its territory (US$ 75 million). Romania paid $ 5.6 million in 1945 and, in
4611-666: The Statutes of the International Criminal Court and the UN Basic Principles on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims, and some scholars have argued that individuals should have a right to seek compensation for wrongs they sustained during warfare through tort law. King Christian IV of Denmark attacked Sweden in the 1611–1613 Kalmar War but failed to accomplish his main objective of forcing it to return to
4698-400: The aggressor in the conflict to bring the four southern German states to side with Prussia, hence giving Germans numerical superiority. He was convinced that France would not find any allies in her war against Germany for the simple reason that "France, the victor, would be a danger to everybody—Prussia to nobody," and he added, "That is our strong point." Many Germans also viewed the French as
4785-485: The armies of France would take up a defensive position that would protect against every possible attack point, but also left the armies unable to support each other. While the French army under General MacMahon engaged the German 3rd Army at the Battle of Wörth , the German 1st Army under Steinmetz finished their advance west from Saarbrücken. A patrol from the German 2nd Army under Prince Friedrich Karl of Prussia spotted decoy fires nearby and Frossard's army farther off on
4872-516: The assessment of Digi24 , it was coerced to pay through SovRom $ 2 billion. Finland could only negotiate an interim peace deal with Soviet Union by agreeing to extensive reparations, and was eventually the only country to pay settled war reparations in full. The total amount of reparations rose to US$ 500 million, at the value of the dollar in 1953. The Treaty of Shimonoseki , signed on April 17, 1895, obliged China to pay an indemnity of 200 million silver taels (¥3.61 billion) to Japan; and to open
4959-469: The border at Wissembourg. Upon learning from captured Prussian soldiers and a local area police chief that the Prussian Crown Prince's Third Army was just 30 miles (48 km) north from Saarbrücken near the Rhine river town Wissembourg, General Le Bœuf and Napoleon III decided to retreat to defensive positions. General Frossard, without instructions, hastily withdrew his elements of the Army of
5046-415: The border, attacked in overwhelming but uncoordinated fashion by the German 3rd Army. During the day, elements of a Bavarian and two Prussian corps became engaged and were aided by Prussian artillery, which blasted holes in the city defenses. Douay held a very strong position initially, thanks to the accurate long-range rapid fire of the Chassepot rifles, but his force was too thinly stretched to hold it. Douay
5133-564: The comparatively long period of seven years. Some of them were veterans of previous French campaigns in the Crimean War , Algeria , the Franco-Austrian War in Italy, and in the Mexican campaign . However, following the " Seven Weeks War " between Prussia and Austria four years earlier, it had been calculated that, with commitments in Algeria and elsewhere, the French Army could field only 288,000 men to face
5220-401: The conclusion of defensive military alliances with these states. France had been strongly opposed to any further alliance of German states, which would have threatened French continental dominance. The only result of French policy was the consent of Prussia to nominal independence for Saxony, Bavaria, Wurttemberg, Baden, and Hessia-Darmstadt; this was a small victory, and one without appeal to
5307-419: The defeats on the frontier. A retirement from Metz to link up with French forces at Châlons was ordered on 15 August and spotted by a Prussian cavalry patrol under Major Oskar von Blumenthal. Next day a grossly outnumbered Prussian force of 30,000 men of III Corps (of the 2nd Army) under General Constantin von Alvensleben , found the French Army near Vionville, east of Mars-la-Tour. Despite odds of four to one,
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#17330855295985394-399: The disaster at Wissembourg had become essential. General Le Bœuf, flushed with anger, was intent upon going on the offensive over the Saar and countering their loss. However, planning for the next encounter was more based upon the reality of unfolding events rather than emotion or pride, as Intendant General Wolff told him and his staff that supply beyond the Saar would be impossible. Therefore,
5481-418: The dominant European land power. Bismarck maintained great authority in international affairs for two decades, developing a reputation for Realpolitik that raised Germany's global stature and influence. In France, it brought a final end to imperial rule and began the first lasting republican government. Resentment over the French government's handling of the war and its aftermath triggered the Paris Commune ,
5568-417: The effect on French public opinion that Bismarck had intended. "This text produced the effect of a red flag on the Gallic bull", Bismarck later wrote. Gramont, the French foreign minister, declared that he felt "he had just received a slap". The leader of the monarchists in Parliament, Adolphe Thiers , spoke for moderation, arguing that France had won the diplomatic battle and there was no reason for war, but he
5655-472: The field armies. However, there was no previously arranged plan of campaign in place. The only campaign plan prepared between 1866 and 1870 was a defensive one. The German army comprised that of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia , and the South German states drawn in under the secret clause of the preliminary peace of Nikolsburg, 26 July 1866, and formalised in the Treaty of Prague , 23 August 1866. Recruitment and organisation of
5742-465: The heights. The Battle of Wörth began when the two armies clashed again on 6 August near Wörth in the town of Frœschwiller , about 10 miles (16 km) from Wissembourg . The Crown Prince of Prussia's 3rd army had, on the quick reaction of his Chief of Staff General von Blumenthal, drawn reinforcements which brought its strength up to 140,000 troops. The French had been slowly reinforced and their force numbered only 35,000. Although badly outnumbered,
5829-405: The long-term survival of the House of Bonaparte . A national plebiscite held on 8 May 1870, which returned results overwhelmingly in favor of the Emperor's domestic agenda, gave the impression that the regime was politically popular and in a position to confront Prussia. Within days of the plebiscite, France's pacifist Foreign Minister Napoléon, comte Daru , was replaced by Agenor, duc de Gramont ,
5916-400: The menace of the Bavarians is simply bluff" . Even though Ducrot shrugged off the possibility of an attack by the Germans, MacMahon tried to warn his other three division commanders, without success. The first action of the Franco-Prussian War took place on 4 August 1870. This battle saw the unsupported division of General Douay of I Corps, with some attached cavalry, which was posted to watch
6003-442: The ports of Shashi , Chongqing , Suzhou and Hangzhou to Japanese trade. According to Article 14 of the Treaty of San Francisco (1951): It is recognized that Japan should pay reparations to the Allied Powers for the damage and suffering caused by it during the war....Japan will promptly enter into negotiations with Allied Powers so desiring, whose present territories were occupied by Japanese forces and damaged by Japan, with
6090-460: The reparations, and these were revised by the Agreement on German External Debts in 1953. After another pause pending the reunification of Germany, the last installment of these debt repayments was paid on 3 October 2010. During World War II, Germany extracted payments from occupied countries, compelled loans, stole or destroyed property. In addition, countries were obliged to provide resources, and forced labour. After World War II , according to
6177-453: The southeast in addition to the forces to the north and northeast. Moltke had indeed massed three armies in the area—the Prussian First Army with 50,000 men, commanded by General Karl von Steinmetz opposite Saarlouis , the Prussian Second Army with 134,000 men commanded by Prince Friedrich Karl opposite the line Forbach - Spicheren , and the Prussian Third Army with 120,000 men commanded by Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm , poised to cross
6264-400: The time he realized what kind of a force he was opposing, it was too late. Seriously flawed communications between Frossard and those in reserve under Bazaine slowed down so much that by the time the reserves received orders to move out to Spicheren, German soldiers from the 1st and 2nd armies had charged up the heights. Because the reserves had not arrived, Frossard erroneously believed that he
6351-443: The town of Wissembourg finally surrendered to the Germans. The French troops who did not surrender retreated westward, leaving behind 1,000 dead and wounded and another 1,000 prisoners and all of their remaining ammunition. The final attack by the Prussian troops also cost c. 1,000 casualties. The German cavalry then failed to pursue the French and lost touch with them. The attackers had an initial superiority of numbers,
6438-425: The traditional destabilizer of Europe, and sought to weaken France to prevent further breaches of the peace. The immediate cause of the war was the candidacy of Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to the throne of Spain. France feared an encirclement resulting from an alliance between Prussia and Spain. The Hohenzollern prince's candidacy was withdrawn under French diplomatic pressure, but Otto von Bismarck goaded
6525-446: The various armies were almost identical, and based on the concept of conscripting annual classes of men who then served in the regular regiments for a fixed term before being moved to the reserves. This process gave a theoretical peace time strength of 382,000 and a wartime strength of about 1,189,000. German tactics emphasised encirclement battles like Cannae and using artillery offensively whenever possible. Rather than advancing in
6612-557: The war virtually without allies. The calculation was for a victorious offensive, which, as the French Foreign Minister Gramont stated, was "the only way for France to lure the wary Austrians, Italians and Danes into the French alliance". The involvement of Russia on the side of France was not considered by her at all, since Russia made the lifting of restrictions on its naval construction on the Black Sea imposed on Russia by
6699-477: The war. In the final days of the war, with German victory all but assured, the German states proclaimed their union as the German Empire under the Prussian king Wilhelm I and Chancellor Bismarck. With the notable exceptions of Austria and German Switzerland , the vast majority of German-speakers were united under a nation-state for the first time. Following an armistice with France, the Treaty of Frankfurt
6786-410: Was drowned out by cries that he was a traitor and a Prussian. Napoleon's new prime minister, Emile Ollivier , declared that France had done all that it could humanly and honorably do to prevent the war, and that he accepted the responsibility "with a light heart". A crowd of 15,000–20,000 people, carrying flags and patriotic banners, marched through the streets of Paris, demanding war. French mobilization
6873-582: Was forced to pay a large war indemnity to Turkey (£4 million). Greece, which was already in default, was compelled to permit oversight of its public finances by an international financial commission. Russians agreed to pay reparations to the Central Powers when Russia exited the war in the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk (which was repudiated by the Bolshevik government eight months later). Bulgaria paid reparations of 2.25 billion gold francs (90 million pounds) to
6960-511: Was in grave danger of being outflanked, as German soldiers under General von Glume were spotted in Forbach. Instead of continuing to defend the heights, by the close of battle after dusk he retreated to the south. The German casualties were relatively high due to the advance and the effectiveness of the Chassepot rifle. They were quite startled in the morning when they had found out that their efforts were not in vain—Frossard had abandoned his position on
7047-427: Was killed in the late morning when a caisson of the divisional mitrailleuse battery exploded near him; the encirclement of the town by the Prussians then threatened the French avenue of retreat. The fighting within the town had become extremely intense, becoming a door to door battle of survival. Despite an unceasing attack from Prussian infantry, the soldiers of the 2nd Division kept to their positions. The people of
7134-558: Was left to be paid to Kuwait on behalf of the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. The UNCC says that its prioritization of claims by natural people, ahead of claims by governments and entities or corporations (legal persons), "marked a significant step in the evolution of international claims practice". Funds for these payments were to come from a 30% share of Iraq's oil revenues from the oil for food program. Certain groups in Iraq and
7221-525: Was mobilized and deployed. Reconnaissance by Frossard's forces had identified only the Prussian 16th Infantry Division guarding the border town of Saarbrücken , right before the entire Army of the Rhine. Accordingly, on 31 July the Army marched forward toward the Saar River to seize Saarbrücken. General Frossard's II Corps and Marshal Bazaine's III Corps crossed the German border on 2 August, and began to force
7308-527: Was obliged to pay a war indemnity of 5 billion gold francs in five years. The indemnity was proportioned, according to population, to be the exact equivalent to the indemnity imposed by Napoleon on Prussia in 1807 . German troops remained in parts of France until the last installment of the indemnity was paid in September 1873, ahead of schedule. Following the Greco-Turkish War (1897) , defeated Greece
7395-444: Was ordered early on 15 July. Upon receiving news of the French mobilization, the North German Confederation mobilized on the night of 15–16 July, while Bavaria and Baden did likewise on 16 July and Württemberg on 17 July. On 19 July 1870, the French sent a declaration of war to the Prussian government. The southern German states immediately sided with Prussia. Napoleonic France had no documented alliance with other powers and entered
7482-439: Was pressured by a bellicose press and public opinion and thus sought war in response to France's diplomatic failures to obtain any territorial gains following the Austro-Prussian War . Napoleon III believed he would win a conflict with Prussia. Many in his court, such as Empress Eugénie , also wanted a victorious war to resolve growing domestic political problems, restore France as the undisputed leading power in Europe, and ensure
7569-481: Was signed on 10 May 1871, giving Germany billions of francs in war indemnity , as well as most of Alsace and parts of Lorraine , which became the Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine ( Reichsland Elsaß-Lothringen ). The war had a lasting impact on Europe. By hastening German unification , the war significantly altered the balance of power on the continent, with the new German state supplanting France as
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