The Franco-Prussian War: Was It Just?
This is my second action project for my Humanities class called Policy. Policy is the course following up our other Junior humanities classes.We started with Rhetoric, where we studied methods of appealing to an audience. Next we moved to Argument where learned how to make a sound argument using premises and conclusions and the dialectic form. In this class we studied the policies of the US government, what those mean and how they are formulated. This Unit was called Executive, we covered the executive branch of the US government learning about their power and actions. We started covering declarations of war and although the president doesn't have that power they have and can actually do so. An example of this that we discussed in great detail was the Vietnam war. We watched the movie The Post, about the Washington Post covering the pentagon papers and defending the freedom of the press. For this action project we had to choose a war to research and through the lens of the executive branch determine if it was just or unjust. This project was intended to cover an American war and the American government, as that was what we learned about in this class and over the entire Junior curriculum. Despite this I wanted to challenge myself and learn about a government and war that I knew little to nothing about. Eventually I decided to write about the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. As I expected this was quite the challenge, but one that I enjoyed and I most definitely learned more than I would have focusing on a U.S. war.
The Kingdom of Prussia was founded in 1701 when Frederick I has himself crowned establishing the nation is a monarchy. Over time Prussia became a major European power, not through their own military strength but through marrying into and allying with neighboring nations, the most noteworthy being the German Empire. In 1871 Germany united with Prussia to exist under Prussian rule. It wasn’t until 1918 that the monarchy was abolished and the kingdom fell apart during the German Revolution.
Despite Prussia being a kingdom in 1848 Frederick WIlliam IV established a the first constitution of the Prussian Kingdom and one of the first in European history. The constitution, even compared to more modern ones is rather progressive; establishing equal and fair personal rights and freedoms for all citizens. It also makes any and all established classes and segregations illegal. In addition to serving the people it lays out the power structure and limitations of the monarch, government and military.
All Prussians are bound to military service. The extent and character of this duty shall be determined by law.
The king shall be commander-in-chief of the army.
The king shall have power to declare war and make peace, and to conclude other treaties with foreign governments. The latter require for their validity the assent of the chambers in so far as they are commercial treaties, or impose burdens on the State, or obligations on the individual subjects.
The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 was a conflict between France, led by Emperor Napoleon III who delegated Marshal MacMahon to led their army and Prussia. Prussia was lead by William I and the Prince and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who were allied with and backed by the south German states. The war was sparked by the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, for the throne of Spain. The throne had been left vacant without a living heir by the Spanish revolution of 1868. France had long seen Prussia as a threat and the the possibility of a Prusso-Spanish alliance was perceived as an act of aggression.
Prussia thought of france as the sole agresser and the cause of the war even though both sides had been preparing for it for a while. Prussian officials thought of the war as both inevitable and necessary to arouse German nationalism. Many Germans also viewed the French as the traditional destabilizer of Europe, and sought to weaken France to prevent further breaches of the peace.
With the build up of anxiety in France and Prussia continuing to expand and develop France declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870. The war was fought in France and the Rhine Province. The French took nearly 7 times as many casualties as the Germans, deploymenting 2,000,740 soldiers and suffering 756,285 total casualties. This compared to Prussia deploying 1,494,412 Prussians and Prussian allied soldiers and suffering 144,642 deaths throughout the entire war. Because of how Prussian leadership delegated the forces at their disposal a large amount the of soldiers on the ground were from allied nations, mostly southern Germans leading to a disproportionate amount of non-prussian deaths. Although strategically in certain cases that makes sense, when factoring in location, amount of armed forces fit for service and simple timing. Even though it was written in the constitution that the king had full power to conscript and utilize all able Prussians in matters of war. Despite that hundred of thousands of foreigners were left to bleed and die for a war that didn't concern them and had no justifiable reasoning.
After a series of battles and skirmishes the Prussians had taken the French capital, enstating a their own leader, Thiers as chief of the executive power in France. Paris refused to disarm and to submit to the Thiers regime, forming a rebellion, trying but soon failing to take back control and subsequently ending the fighting. The result of the war France was required to sign the Treaty of Frankfurt, forcing them to pay an indemnity of $1 billion within three years. That loss sparked a desire for revenge French policy for the following half-century.
Not only did this war leave a long lasting mark on France but on Europe as a whole. Prussian militarism laid the groundwork for German imperialistic ventures. The Papal States, no longer protected by Napoleon III, were annexed by Italy. All of these things put together served as kindling for the actions that set off World War I.
To simplify, it this war was a culmination of tensions between France and Prussia. It resulted in the death of not only millions of soldiers on both sides but the deaths of 250,000 civilians, some not even connected to the war and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It also lead to the downfall of both France and Germany as they were known forever and Prussia itself, the country that in fact won fell just decades later. With all of that shifting of power, territories and control it isn't entirely a surprise that the stage was set for the first world war, known as one of the deadliest events in human history. If a war started with no clear goal other than aggression from both sides and resulted in little benefit - if any at all - and caused massive death and only lead more war conflict and death in the future that cannot be considered a just war.
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| Prussia in 1786 (2017) Wikicommons |
The Kingdom of Prussia was founded in 1701 when Frederick I has himself crowned establishing the nation is a monarchy. Over time Prussia became a major European power, not through their own military strength but through marrying into and allying with neighboring nations, the most noteworthy being the German Empire. In 1871 Germany united with Prussia to exist under Prussian rule. It wasn’t until 1918 that the monarchy was abolished and the kingdom fell apart during the German Revolution.
Despite Prussia being a kingdom in 1848 Frederick WIlliam IV established a the first constitution of the Prussian Kingdom and one of the first in European history. The constitution, even compared to more modern ones is rather progressive; establishing equal and fair personal rights and freedoms for all citizens. It also makes any and all established classes and segregations illegal. In addition to serving the people it lays out the power structure and limitations of the monarch, government and military.
All Prussians are bound to military service. The extent and character of this duty shall be determined by law.
The king shall be commander-in-chief of the army.
The king shall have power to declare war and make peace, and to conclude other treaties with foreign governments. The latter require for their validity the assent of the chambers in so far as they are commercial treaties, or impose burdens on the State, or obligations on the individual subjects.
The Franco-Prussian war of 1870 was a conflict between France, led by Emperor Napoleon III who delegated Marshal MacMahon to led their army and Prussia. Prussia was lead by William I and the Prince and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, who were allied with and backed by the south German states. The war was sparked by the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, for the throne of Spain. The throne had been left vacant without a living heir by the Spanish revolution of 1868. France had long seen Prussia as a threat and the the possibility of a Prusso-Spanish alliance was perceived as an act of aggression.
Prussia thought of france as the sole agresser and the cause of the war even though both sides had been preparing for it for a while. Prussian officials thought of the war as both inevitable and necessary to arouse German nationalism. Many Germans also viewed the French as the traditional destabilizer of Europe, and sought to weaken France to prevent further breaches of the peace.
With the build up of anxiety in France and Prussia continuing to expand and develop France declared war on Prussia on July 19, 1870. The war was fought in France and the Rhine Province. The French took nearly 7 times as many casualties as the Germans, deploymenting 2,000,740 soldiers and suffering 756,285 total casualties. This compared to Prussia deploying 1,494,412 Prussians and Prussian allied soldiers and suffering 144,642 deaths throughout the entire war. Because of how Prussian leadership delegated the forces at their disposal a large amount the of soldiers on the ground were from allied nations, mostly southern Germans leading to a disproportionate amount of non-prussian deaths. Although strategically in certain cases that makes sense, when factoring in location, amount of armed forces fit for service and simple timing. Even though it was written in the constitution that the king had full power to conscript and utilize all able Prussians in matters of war. Despite that hundred of thousands of foreigners were left to bleed and die for a war that didn't concern them and had no justifiable reasoning.
After a series of battles and skirmishes the Prussians had taken the French capital, enstating a their own leader, Thiers as chief of the executive power in France. Paris refused to disarm and to submit to the Thiers regime, forming a rebellion, trying but soon failing to take back control and subsequently ending the fighting. The result of the war France was required to sign the Treaty of Frankfurt, forcing them to pay an indemnity of $1 billion within three years. That loss sparked a desire for revenge French policy for the following half-century.
Not only did this war leave a long lasting mark on France but on Europe as a whole. Prussian militarism laid the groundwork for German imperialistic ventures. The Papal States, no longer protected by Napoleon III, were annexed by Italy. All of these things put together served as kindling for the actions that set off World War I.
To simplify, it this war was a culmination of tensions between France and Prussia. It resulted in the death of not only millions of soldiers on both sides but the deaths of 250,000 civilians, some not even connected to the war and were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. It also lead to the downfall of both France and Germany as they were known forever and Prussia itself, the country that in fact won fell just decades later. With all of that shifting of power, territories and control it isn't entirely a surprise that the stage was set for the first world war, known as one of the deadliest events in human history. If a war started with no clear goal other than aggression from both sides and resulted in little benefit - if any at all - and caused massive death and only lead more war conflict and death in the future that cannot be considered a just war.
Sources Cited:
- “Franco-Prussian War.” Encyclopedia, The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2016. 17 May 2018.
- “The Franco Prussian War.” Franco-Prussian War, World History International, 2006. 17 May 2018.
- Hagen, Ulrich Vom, and Aakanksha Gaur. “Prussia.” The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica, 25 Apr. 2018. 17 May 2018.
- Cavendish, Richard. “The Kingdom of Prussia Is Founded.” History Today, History Today, 1 Jan. 200. 17 May 2018.
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