Germany’s ascent as a primary military power in Europe was cemented during and after the Franco-Prussian War, which began in 1870. This was a war between the Second French Empire under Napoleon III and the North German Confederation under the Kingdom of Prussia. The war was mostly fought in the latter half of 1870, and after the siege of the French city of Metz and the Battle of Sedan, during which the French Emperor Napoleon III was captured by Prussia, the Second French Empire was effectively gone; France formed a “Government of National Defense” and fought on for a few months, but after Paris was besieged by German forces, France surrendered in January of 1871.
The North German Confederation, joined by the states of Baden, Württemberg, Bavaria and Hesse-Darmstadt, formed for the first time a united German nation-state, under Prussia’s king WIlhelm I, who…
