Franco-Prussian War 1870 Battlefield Tours

24 Aug - We spent the day touring 3 battlefields in France from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870/71 that are 1 hr drive and 50 miles from our house. This is a little known war outside Europe and what is generally seen as the first Modern War and led to the creation of the German Empire. After the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 when Prussia crushed the Austrian Army at the Battle of Konegratz (Sadowa) in what is now the Czech Republic, little Prussia became the #2 military power in Europe. France, led by Napolean III, nephew of Napolean, fearing for her national pride wanted to fight and defeat Prussia. Prussia, led by King Wilheim but with Prime minister Bismark as the aggressive head of state, wanted a war with traditional enemy France to create "German Pride" and create a unified German State of all the smaller "Germanic" Kingdoms. After several attempts to start a war from 1866-1870, the final straw was broken in Aug 1870. There is no single reason for the war but many many little reasons that I won't go into here. France declared war and invaded Prussia with the attack on the town of Saarbrucken, about 30 miles East of where we live, on 2 Aug. The "invasion" was short lived. Both militaries had mobilized over the past months and Prussia was ready. The Prussian had better mobilization, equipment, transportation, warrior ethos and generalship. The French had many issues from poor leadership, morale, equipment, transportation, and training. The French did have the advantage in rifles with the Chassepot was FAR superior to the German Dryesse or needle gun. The Prussian Army was led by General Moltke. He sent part of his Army toward Saarbrucken to push the French back and they routed the French at a small town outside Saarbrucken called Spreicheren on 5 Aug. The French killed over 2000 Prussian Soldiers with their rifles but the new Prussian Artillery saved the day and pushed the French in retreat. The day before the victory at Spreicheren, GEN Moltke started his PLANNED invasion of France at the little border town of Wissembourg. The problem with invading France then was two fold - One was Belgium was a neutral nation and Prussia did NOT want to upset any international policies as well as their longstanding ties to Belgique people. The other was Vosgues Mountains near the border with France. These mountains had no roads for an army of 100,000 to march thru and sustain themselves so you have to go around them. This left two avenues of approach into France - thru Saarbrucken and the other to the South side of the Vosgues Mountains. He crossed the border unopposed on 4 Aug and routed a small French division outside the town of Wissembourg. Again, the French Rifle inflected heavy casualties on the Prussians in the initial stages of the day. The Prussians had more killed than the French due to the French Rifle. By the afternoon, the Prussians massed 144 artillery guns and concentrated on the French defensive position and drove the French into full retreat. One account of a Prussian unit states they entered a hotel in the town where the meals were already prepared for the FRENCH military officers for that meal. The French retreated so fast, the Prussian actually lost contact with them. The next afternoon, a Prussian cavalry officer out scouting, found the French under the command of Gen MacMahon located in a very defensable position outside the town of Worth. On 6 Aug, the Prussian attacked and again, the French inflicted heavy casualties on the Prussian soldiers. The Prussians lost 10,000 killed that day and the French, 8000 killed and 12000 captured. The Prussians massed 300 superior artillery pieces against the French 100 outdated guns of US civil war type. The rout was on. After these 3 victories, the Prussians had gained free access into France. They moved quickly and shelled and forced the surrender of Strassbourg. In the Middle section, the Prussian Army had quickly moved on to other victories of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte culminating in the untimate defeat and surrender of the French at the Battle of Sedan on 1 Sep 70 and the capture of French Emporer Napolean III. The reason the war lasted till May 1871 is that the new government in Paris after the capture of Napolean, carried on the fight with the remainign rag-tag Army half of which was surrounded in the fortress of Metz. They did not want to meet Prussia's only demand - the return of Alsace and Lorraine and the German people in these regions. The result of this was thousands more died and civilians suffered while they carried on a futile battle for pride. The famous Communes developed in Paris and several other large cities in this time. Prussia laid seige to Paris but never entered the city until a victory parade at the end of the war. The French carried on mobilizing military reserves and serving as punching bags for the Prussian Army until February 1871. Of the 26 major engagements of the war, Prussia was victorious in 25 - the exception being the First Battle of Orleans where 9,000 Prussians were attacked by 60,000 French and the Prussians did not retreat till very late in the day after inflicting heavy casualties on the untrained and underequipped French reserves. Kaiser Wilheim commented to a French Officer who was a prisoner of war after Sedan, that if he had the French Chassepot Rifle, he would have won the war in 15 days. However, if he had the French Generals, he would done the task in the same time but with different results. The Battle of Worth or Froschweiler (6 Aug) is often called the "Cradle of Germany". This was the first battle where 4 "Germanic" states fought together - Prussia, Baden, Wurttenburg and Bavaria. These were the big kingdoms Bismark was trying to unify into one GERMAN state. Finally, on 10 Jan 1871, after much negotiations and payoffs, Kaiser Wilheim of Prussia was Crowned Emperor Wilhem I of Germany. This ceremony occured at Versailles in France. King ludwig II of Bavaria was paid money to join. He was in need of money to complete his famous castles of Chiemsee and Neuschwanstein in Bavaria. On 18 Jan 1871, all the nations unified to become Germany. A peace treaty was finally signed on 10 May, 1871. Over the course of the war, France suffered 139,000 killed, 144,000 wounded, and 475,000 captured. Prussia suffered 45,000 killed and 89,000 wounded. The end result was that Germany annexed Alsace and Lorraine which were predominately Germanic people and France had to pay 5 billion Francs in fines. This drove the French economy into shambles. The French kept harsh feelings about the war and remembered them at the Peace Treaty after WWI. As for our trip: As we toured the battlefields, there were no markings, no memorials, etc in Wissembourg. At Worth, there is a very nice museum but unfortunately, they did not allow photos or have a book on the exhibits in the museum. At the Worth battlefield, there were several monunents but all but one was German. As the "Cradle" of Germany, the Germans erected many and it was like travelling around Getysburg with all the monuments there to people or units. There was one French monunment that looks fairly new - maybe 1970 at the 100 yr anniversary. There were alot of other monuments to WWI and WWII, the wars where someone else won the war but only Grave stones for unknowns for 1870 War. We had a nice lunch in Wissembourg of "flamm kuchen" or oven backed pizza except they don't put tomato sauce on it. We had bacon, onions, mushrooms and cheese. We had 2 of these, a coke, apple juice, glass of wine, one salad and paid $49...yeah. Also, our French SUCKS!!! French Bakery with Fruit Torts and on the right in the shape of a swan. Jamie and Kim in Wissembourg - very pretty town. Monument to German War Dead in the town of Worth. Battlefield in Worth - Worth the town at the bottom of the hill. In this field and the forest to the front left is where most of the battle took place.

Flamm kuchen - very tasty and cheesey!!!!