Prussian - Franco War info or sites? 1870's

General WWII era German military discussion that doesn't fit someplace more specific.
Post Reply
Wilhelm
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2003 8:23 pm

Prussian - Franco War info or sites? 1870's

Post by Wilhelm »

Does anyone have any info on the 1870's Prussian - Franco war?
Are there sites devoted to it? Forums? Any info from Germany?
User avatar
Stefan
Banned
Posts: 433
Joined: Fri Sep 27, 2002 3:54 am
Location: Deutschland

Post by Stefan »

Correctly, it is the Franco-German war or "der Deutsch-Französische Krieg." I wonder why the Anglo-Saxons created this incorrect term and usually omit the participation of the other german states.
Wilhelm
New Member
Posts: 3
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2003 8:23 pm

Prussian - Franco War

Post by Wilhelm »

I know it's incorrectly called the Franco-Prussian War, but the French should not have top billing if they lost it. I merely wanted to point that out in a tongue-in-cheek way.
I own several books on the subject, including a very nice one published in Germany right after the war as a souvenir.
I have no idea why the other states were omitted; perhaps it was the negative stereotype of Prussia, "the army with a state attached". I can't put my hands on my book right now, so I can't check the perception at the time. I do believe that Prussia dominated the German war machine, though. They were extremely good at what they did, probably reflecting the depth of training they got, as well as the saturation of militarism in Prussian culture. Virtually everyone was in the Prussian army.
I have been told that there are no D-F war records from that era, but no is a big word, and maybe there are some sort remaining; including a list of locations of regiments which I understand were made up of local enlistments. So it may be that there are one to several regiments that came from a certain locality at perhaps different times during the war. This could narrow the record search considerably.
Thanks for the response,
Wilhelm
Yves
Member
Posts: 27
Joined: Mon Nov 04, 2002 11:26 am

Post by Yves »

Hi, Though this is somewhat off topic on a WWII site here are my comments
In France it's either called "Guerre Franco Prussienne" or "Guerre Franco Allemande" Franco-Prussian war Franco-german War. Both may be right as initially France declared war on Prussia, and the other German states joined in support of Prussia. The initial dispute was between France and Prussia over the Spanish succession, not between France and Germany. Incidentally no one seems to know who became King of Spain eventually :!:
The situation looks a lot like the war between France and Prussian in 1806 with the roles reversed.

I own a few books on the subject but I lack solid information on the organisation of the German Landwehr, I just have general info on its overall organisation but no precise order of battle. The only detailed information I have is about the reserve divisions that were involved in the operations. If someone could point me to online sources on the subject I'd be most grateful. There was a huge amount of litterature produced in France and in Germany just after the war but second line troops are not often covered in detail.

Cheers,

Yves.
Post Reply