Why would prussia seek a war with France?

Answer 1

Prussia, led by Otto Von Bismarck, was anxious to go to war with France in an effort to unify Germany. The Franco-Prussian war was used to unite the nation states of Germany against a common enemy and show their strength as a unified group.

Answer 2

Prussia was a small but increasingly important and ever larger power in Europe from the 1700's onwards, the latest in a string of German mid-range powers.

Prussia fought various wars against and alongside France over time - Prussia was establishing itself as an alternative to Austria as the main power in the Holy Roman Empire (Germany) - After getting a bit of a kicking from Napoleon in the early 1800's Prussia sent troops with the Grand Army into Russia in 1812 but switched sides again after the destruction of that army in the winter, coming to the aid of Wellington's British army at Waterloo and helping finally defeat Napoleon.

After this Prussia finally knocked out Austria and continued to gobble up the small states of the HRE. By the late 1860's having crushed the Austrians and south German states in 1866, Prussia was finally the major power in Germany and began assembling a new state "The German Empire"

France was a major threat to the new Germany and so Prussia began to seek a fight to remove them - France was still viewed as the major land power in Europe and wasn't shy of another round against whoever the dominant German power of the day was.

This leads to the Franco-Prussian war of 1870 - Prussian (German) victory leading to the total destruction of the French armies and collapse of the French Imperial Government, making Germany the new Top European Land Power, this in turn fueled French anti-German feeling and leads to the German Naval Arms race with the British since a major land power ought to have an empire and that required a fleet.... which leads to WW1 which continues the French/German feud and the settlement of which helps lead to WW2 which leads to the Cold War and the EU which has at it's heart the simple idea of stopping the French and Germans having a massive war every Fifty years or so forever.

Answer 3

Bismarck's ultimate task was to create a united Germany under the leadership of Prussia. In other word the German Empire.

The first step on this way was to get rid of Danish sovereignty upon the German Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, what he did in alliance and with active participation of Austrian Fleet and Army. It was a real war of aggression disguised as a war of liberation, in order to obtain the consent of the other German States.

The second step was to annihilate the Austrian political predominance in Germany, what he did by provoking Austria to the war of 1866.

The third step was that of promoting a political union between the many States in which Germany was still divided in that time. But those States were somewhat suspicious of Prussia fearing that they would be simply be "absorbed" had they agreed with Bismarck's proposals.

France played a certain role in nourishing their suspicion, because a strong, united German nation wouldn't have suited its interests.

So, in order to raise the German national patriotic spirit and popular indignation against the common age-old enemy, Bismarck managed France to declare war on Prussia.

That led to an immediate military alliance of all the German States with Prussia to fight the "aggressor".

The German Empire was proclaimed on Dec. 10, 1870 and the King of Prussia was acclaimed German Emperor on Jan. 18, 1871 in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.

Answer 4

Austria declared war because the French queen was related to the ruler of Austria. The king of Prussia believed that the cause of keeping a king in power in Europe was his cause as a king himself. A successful revolution against a king in one country can inspire it in another, and Prussia' king was afraid that would happen in Prussia.

Answer 5

In 1870, Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck released an altered version of the Ems Dispatch to the public, where the alteration made it sound as if Prussian King Wilhelm I had treated the French envoy in a demeaning fashion during the negotiations over the succession of the Spanish throne, which inflamed public opinion in France. This led to calls in the streets of France to declare war on Germany. Additionally, Emperor Napoleon III of France sought a war with Prussia in order to rebuild his prestige and reputation.