Notes:

The Franco-Prussian War was a very short, but highly important war fought from 19 July 1870 – 28 January 1871.

Within six months, it saw the fall of the Second French empire, the birth of the German Empire (The first time all of the German States, barring Austria, had ever been united under one banner) and saw the newly formed German Empire acquiring large parts of the French states of Alsace and Lorraine.

It was shortly after the end of the war that saw radicalised members of the National Guard who were defending Paris at the time occupying the Capital and refusing to acknowledge the legitimacy of the new government of the Third French Republic in what came to be known as the Paris Commune.

Although the French started the war in an attempt to re-establish itself as the dominant power in Europe; the utter thrashing it received at the hands of the Germans utterly crushed these dreams and set the groundwork for the World War 1.

This apprehension of growing German power also played a strong part in the creation of the Entente Cordiale which ended of 1000 years of hostilities between England and France in order to counter-act growing German power.