The surrender of Napoleon III and the Battle of Sedan
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- Опубліковано 9 чер 2024
- Part of the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan took place in early September 1870. It was a decisive battle of that conflict. The History Guy remembers the surrender of an Emperor, which brought down one empire and gave rise to another.
The episode discusses events and shows some artwork and photographs depicting a period of war, which some viewers may find disturbing. All events are described for educational purposes and are presented in historical context.
The History Guy uses images that are in the Public Domain. As photographs of actual events are often not available, I will sometimes use photographs of similar events or objects for illustration.
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The episode is intended for educational purposes. All events are presented in historical context.
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I have just binge watched The History Guy. All of them.
Susan Wahl awesome! I hope you enjoyed them!
I have not, but will catch up with you. This is good stuff.
I'm finding myself doing the same when on free wi-fi.Good stories and well explained.Good,informative channel.
Someone needs to nominate The History Guy for an award of the Organization of American Historians. I don't know which one would qualify and I'm not an American but I truly appreciate his service to education and history itself. If you're a historian and you're reading this then i think you know what to do.
I'm the same way, Susan. Binge-watch The History Guy
Really appreciate this channel. Most history taught(what little there actually is) focuses on big overarching events. Reality is that history is a continous parade of small interconnecting events.
Thanks History Guy for sharing some of these with us.
"The Arms of Krupp" by William Manchester is an excellent book that covers this time period in great detail. It emphasizes the importance of the German artillery during the Franco-Prussian war.
I wish you could of been my history teacher in high school.
*have
A good English teacher would have served you well, too.
One of the best YT-channels. Keep up the good work!
This guy is pretty awesome. Showing a genuine passion and interest in history, without judgement or bias. Well done! An easy Sub!
I'm not sure what you mean by "no judgement". In his conclusion THG opines, among other things, that the war between the French and the Prussians left Europe coiled for the first World War. Isn't this a judgement? The study of history would be pointless if it did not lead to judgements about things that worked, or didn't, who was right or wrong, and other lessons. Some of the conclusions may be obvious and others argued over. Judgement must always come into play if we are going to learn. Should we just note the facts and not analyze them to determine what was good or bad? Analysis is the application of judgement upon the facts.
Major Prussian advantage overlooked here. French using muzzle-loading bronze cannon. Germans using Krupp 4 & 6 pounder breech-loading steel artillery. No contest. Prussian artillery fired faster, from further away, with better accuracy. Huge French losses done at a distance. All learned earlier when Prussia fought Austria for Germanic supremacy.
Well the French had a much better infantry rifle, the Chassepot which had a smaller a significantly higher velocity 11mm bullet vs the 15.4mm german Dreyse giving the french a significant range and accuracy advantage so in by that logic it would have more or less evened the battlefield. Most historians agree the germans won by far superior tactics and excellent supply system
yes, I thought to write about the Krupp's devastating cannons----that was the deciding factor at Sedan
zenengineer I just said the same thing, that and the French forces, having no doctrine, deployed the mitrailluese as if it were field artillery as opposed to a close support weapon. 🤦🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️. An early case of the Dien Bien Phlu.
Legitpenguins69 you forget Krupp steel canon substantially outranging both French rifle’s and French artillery.
@@taggartlawfirm - you(and zenengineer) overlook, I think, what the History Guy said about the Germans new General Staff. Add to it the Prussian tradition of military excellence - including the often overlooked concept of ausfragtaktik, the practice of encouragement of initiative and not needing to rely on officers, which made the Germans formidable foes in any numbers. It was AFTER the 1870-71 war that France, used to being strong and influential(after the 1848 civil strife, France began to acquire an empire, including Morocco, Libya, Algeria, Vietnam, and many other places), seethed with humiliation and anger. They seemed willing, if not ready, to fight the Germans again at any moment. This anger certainly caused the Dreyfuss Affair, and also led France to make treaties to provide allies just in case they had to fight the Germans again. It was one of those treaties, with Russia, which was certainly one of the reasons why World War I started.
But the Germans learned from the 1870-71 war. The Mitrailleuse, a French proto-machine gun mounted on a 2-wheel carriage resembling a cannon, caused numerous casualties in battles the Germans won. This caused the Germans to eagerly adapt the Maxim machine gun as soon as it was licensed for foreign manufacture. And, after the same thing happened to the Japanese in 1904-5, courtesy of Russian troops armed with machine guns, the Germans lavishly equipped their army units with machine guns - lots of them. And the French invention, around 1895 or so, of their famed 75mm cannon, which was equipped with a recoil damper which returned the gun mechanically to the same attitude(barrel elevation and direction) as before it fired, gave the French a cannon that could be fired rapidly, limited only by how fast the artillery men could reload it. This alarmed the Germans, and caused them to copy the French cannon and have bigger, better ones ready before 1914.
The German General Staff really did make a difference; from the French army performance, one might have thought that the French hadn't studied war. The Germans, on the other hand, certainly "Got It." They knew that the secret to modern war is artillery, and for infantry, it was volume of fire. They proved it on the bodies of the troops of every nation that they fought in WW1.
The Germans fought - in ground combat - mostly in France and Belgium. They never had to defend their country against invaders. The Germans were basically fighting like modern armies. The overwhelming onslaught that we call "Blitz kreig" is basically an improved version of their infantry attack, using the mobility conferred by the internal combustion engine. We call it "Combined Arms" and it includes aircraft and the British breakthrough machine, the tank. It's all connected by radios and to the soldiers who learned in the 19th century, it really WAS overwhelming.
But the short, disastrous war in 1870-71 really WAS an epochal event, which had enormous influence on the history of Europe up to this present day. It's worth further study, along with the lead-up to the Great War - the one that we call World War One. Fortune passes everywhere.
Currently reading "The Guns of August". Thank you for illuminating this battle that greatly influenced WWI.
My wife's GGGGrandfather left what is now Ilawa, Poland, immediately after serving in what was then the victorious Prussian Army. In 1872 he bid adieu to being cannon-fodder/peasant-farmer and wound up in Michigan.
Mr. History Guy, I love the your narrative, the passionate still calm way you talk about history. Thank you for your content, keep up the good work!
Interesting how small things lead to big events. WWI became one of the most expensive wars in history in both men and money. Another great job HG!
The arthritis in my neck frequently wakes me at 1 AM..So I make sure I click thumps up before watching so I don't forget..I've never been disappointed
Medical science needs to get you better pain care! Hope it works.
i feel for you. the arthritis in my shoulders and neck limit me to 2 or 3 hours of sleep at a time.
Glucosamine sulfate! I had miserable neck pain from arthritis for years. It went away after I started this and only came back when I made the mistake of switching to glucosamine HCl. It's basically harmless and worth a try.
@@neilwilson5785 the "opioid epidemic" (read into it, big pharma is doing alot of shady shit with the numbers) is making it much, much harder for people that desperately need medication to get any
Eat Sabah snake grass.you will cure
Really enjoyed your clear, well narrated account, including the background, of the short but decisive Franco-Prussian War, & it's subsequent future consequences, which lead their way into the outbreak of WW 1.
thank you for these sir i have watched most if not all of them and find them very enjoyable
I am hooked on this channel, just found it a few days ago. The things I never learned in history, with all of the classes.
Your lessons and teaching style are fantastic, but the reader comments are also great. Lots of knowledge and different opinions to look at. It's an overall great experience.
I love how you capture the details that are never covered in history classes!
Well done. An insightful look into WWI’s beginning.
The History Guy......Always good to listen too if you have a few spare minutes,I really enjoy his historic cameos.
Until 1870 France used the whole of Europe as a war playground!
With Napoleon III's uncle as the biggest player.
Truth !
France had sacked and burnt a lot of Germany during the 30 Years War in the 17th century.
@@Ozymandias1 Germans was sacking and burning Europe long before that, there is a reason why name of your capital is Slavic not German... btw. "Berlin" = "swamp". ;)
@Alan Thomas - So did many other European powers, they were just envious of how the French so often bested them at doing so.
I enjoy your channel and this vid in particular since it describes events within my family history. My ancestors lived in the border region you mentioned. They left and came to Australia, refugees from the conflict. Others went to USA. The echoes are still ringing...
very best youtube has to offer to anyone who seriously wants to learn a bit more. Thanks guy, you are one of the best teacher I ever had, still learning at the age of 40!
Great channel Sir. Reminds me of my favorite lecturer who passed away. RIP Paul Gaffney
Great lesson to remember. “Those who fail to learn from history, are doomed to relive it”. Tom😁
France and Germany evolved into war by railroad timetable for rapid mobilization. The French developed the repeater bolt action 8x50 rimmed Lebel rifle. The Lebel rifle fired smokeless powder, a major innovation for an infantry service rifle. The Lebel had an eight shot tubular magazine. The French also developed the 75mm hydraulic/pneumatic recoil system for rapid fire up to 30 rounds or more per minute. The French also introduced several machine guns per infantry battalion. The French also had five years of service in the reserves with active duty time too. Some modern officers, like Petain, believed in artillery firepower over the elan of the bayonet. France became one vast armed camp by 1914. The Prussian success in the 1871 war meant a much better, some say too prepared, French army in 1914. The Schlieffen plan ran into French infantry with good Lebel bolt action rifles, machime guns in every battalion, and 75mm field guns. The railroad timetable war doomed an entire generation of men for scheduled death on time.
Rex fromMN as it was meant to
@@darthminty3648 The leaders of the major powers and much of their population were so jazzed up on nationalism that they wanted war. But the war they sought would have been a quick, decisive, and low cost victory for their side. If they could have foreseen the short summer campaign was actually going to turn into a four year grinding match that lead to the fall of the German, Austro-Hungarian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires, and to the weakening of the barely victorious French and British Empires, maybe most of them would have sat on the sidelines as they did in 1870.
@@dpeasehead Have you ever asked yourself what it is that the history guy SHOULD say but never does? Starting with the two most important things he never says a peep about, the blood relations trail & the money trail. If he did, he would be forced to tell us that WWII was carefully staged by an international industrial cartel owned by the predatory aristocracy. Let me emphasize that: WW2 was STAGED! And technically it wasn't 2, it was 4, the 4th world war.
I always enjoy your channel.
Love your videos!
Interesting that this truly is all but forgotten history... this is the first time that I've heard of this war and battle at Sedan. Thank you once again THG for an interesting and informative video.
Great video, thanks for posting.
Well done, very interesting! Thanks!
I'm a new French citizen and didn't realise how early in the war Napoleon III was captured. Thanks 🌹.
Fascinating how events of so long ago still reverberate in our modern world today.
As always, first class stuff - thank you.👍
The southern German countries (Bavaria, Baden, Württemberg and Hesse-Darmstadt) which had secret defensive treaties with Prussia also mobilized their armies and fought alongside Prussia and the other northern German countries.
They also participated with strong forces in the Battle of Sedan, thus it’s a lil bit odd that they hardly get mentioned in this video.
The Third Army which was one of the two armies fighting at Sedan consisted first and foremost out of troops from the southern German countries e.g. two Bavarian Army Corps.
The fighting mentioned in the village of Bazeilles was between Bavarian troops and French troops supported by civilians.
Gee. You thought there were different Germans. ...
Great video, as always.
Great job, this vid reminds me of James Burke's "Connection" series.
Nice and concise.
I love your channel. Thank you
Dear History Guy, thank you so much for the channel and all excellent videos! This is really first class content! On this episode, didn't Krupp Steel cannons play a major role in this war, out-ranging French bronze cannons? Also, wasn't at the end of this war that the German (brand new) Emperor, Wilhelm I, was crowned in Versailles, which drove the French to sign the (humiliating, to the Germans) Peace Treaty at the end of the Great War (WWI) in the same place?
Excellent choice of topic! Not enough info on UA-cam about this war!
Sadly you said nothing more than what the other videos have to offer on the subject... most of the time you offer up some nice little tidbits, this was the first let down from your channel.
Another very worthy episode.
I've forgotten a lot of the details but what I remember is:
The French Army did not have good leadership - including Napoleon III
The French Needle Gun was a breach loading weapon that allowed it's soldiers to lay down to fire it. It was only a single shot weapon but used cartridges and had a much higher rate of fire than the muzzle loaders the Germans were using and had to be standing up to reload. Because of this the Germans in some of the earlier battles lost a lot of men.
The war was really won by the Germans in the earlier battles though with Sedan finishing off an already defeated France.
While the French had the better rifle - the Germans had steel, breech loading artillery and - artillery shoots farther than rifles ...
France didn't want to quit though and engaged in a military mobilization which essentially called up a LOT of people. Paris was surrounded with the French holding down around Orleans. The French levies couldn't break through to relieve the German siege of the Capital though so eventually it fell.
The German Empire was created at Versailles during the siege of Paris.
One thing about the war was that it, and the war between Prussia and Austria in 1866 demonstrated the importance of rail roads in supplying armies - and the consequent need to plan your strategy around the existing rail lines.
The French were in such bad shape during the Siege of Paris - that they bought a lot of surplus weapons from the Americans, that were left over from the American Civil War. Unfortunately - they didn't get ammunition for them - so these ended up being used as short pikes.
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Prussian_War
.
same mess in ww1 and ww2
@@jimvolk9911 I really don't know all that much about it - but the impression I've gotten is that while the junior officers were fine - they had a lot of senior officers in the French Army - that were really a lot older than they should have been. Again though - this is just an impression I've gotten - I don't really know.
.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw both Germany and France were armed with needle guns in the Franco Prussian war. Germany the Dreyse needle gun adopted in 1841. France had the Chassepot needle gun adopted in 1866. So in rifles both sides should have been fairly equally armed. Both were single shot bolt action rifles that fired paper cartridges. The primer was on the base of the bullet and they had long firing pins like needles to penetrate the cartridge and strike the primer to fire the bullet. The weakness of needle guns was they wore out a lot of firing pin because the firing pin was inside the cartridge when they fired. But still they were way better than muzzle loading rifles. I think the Prussians invented the needle gun. They used them in the Austro Prussian war in 1866 to defeat the Austrians that were armed with muzzle loading rifkes
@@barbarahunter5463
Ah! Thank you! That's what I get for not fact checking all my posts ...
Yes - the *_Needle Gun_*
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreyse_needle_gun
was used by the Germans - though (iirc) not all of their troops had them and some were still using muzzle loaders.
However - what I was thinking of - was the *_Chassepot_*
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chassepot
which was not only better than the German Muzzle loaders but also much better than the _Needle Guns_ .
This was however before Sedan ... after the French Army surrendered ... the weapons the French levees had were of a decidedly mixed order including large shipments of ex-US Civil War rifles - that did not come with ammunition(!!). The French were desperate though and took whatever they could get - fixing bayonets on these weapons and basically using them as short pikes. I don't remember if they ever got any ammunition for them but they may have. At least - if they'd been sold the Enfields the Confederates used - they'd have had a close potential supplier of ammunition. But, I don't know if these rifles were all Springfields, Enfields or a mix of both. In any case - as these were unmodified muzzle loaders - yes the Needle Guns would have been much better.
.
@@BobSmith-dk8nw yes I edited my post because I didn't fact check until after I posted. The Franch did indeed have a needle gun also the Chassepot. I was probably thinking of the Austrian army that fought the Prussians with muzzle loading rifles in 1866. The American Springfield Civil War rifle fired a 58 caliber bullet the British Enfield fired a 57.7 caliber bullet. The Civil armies found the bullets were close enough in size that they could be fired interchangeably without harm to the rifles
So much right there in the last 1:00 min. Thank you
Such a great channel
Love your channel! Have you done an episode on the Battle of Dyboll and the circumstances that compelled Denmark to declare war on Germany?
Wow! I never knew this. Thank you Mr. History Guy.
I really love you show
Strangely, I used to walk past N III's gravestone in Chislehurst, Kent (where he died) but I gather his body is interred in Farnborough, Hants.
I'm having to like every video I watch just so I can confirm which ones I've seen. Luckily every one deserves a thumbs up.
god, I love your channel.
May I suggest that you do a video on The Battle of Solferino.
my professor is going to discuss the battle of sedan in tomorrow's class. thanks for this great video sir ♡
It is odd how generals seemed to go into the next war like they fought the last one.
The French, you mean?
Yes, except in Europe France never seemed to learn anything from the American Civil War
france was good at doing that
Good work as always.
I think you've really got the right idea re the topic of the roots of the two World Wars, as a complex mix of factors. There ought to be lots of possibilities for videos there!
Maybe the relationship of Huston Stewart Chamberlain, and Kaiser Wilhelm II, or the little-discussed occult aspects of Nazism: Blavatsky, Jorg Lanz, the Ahnenerbe...
Contributing to the French defeat of 1870 was the fact that the Prussians employed breech-loading artillery, and the French muzzle loaders.
While the Prussian guns were, as breech-loaders go, primitive, they were markedly better than even the best muzzle loaders, such as the French employed. The higher rate of fire and flatter trajectory of the Prussian guns told heavily on the French.
Interestingly, the French seemed to learn little from their defeat, and the Prussians, unfortunately, learned well. French doctrine still held in 1914 that the bravery of the man, and a good rifle in his hands, were the key, while the artillery became the premiere arm of the the German Army - with general staff recruited heavily from it. French hideboundness can be seen as late as 1939 - with their headquarters having no radio equipment in May, 1940, relying instead on messengers, and their "updated" WWI artillery inferior to the German. Of course, the innovations of German arms of the time are well known.
History guy rocks
Napoleon’s last words kinda choked me up. A dying soldier worried he’d hadn’t done enough. I don’t know much about him, but I savvy that.
Great tutorial
Considering I had no idea that there was a Napoleon the 3rd, I found this fascinating. It’s amazing how tightly bound the major conflicts of the 20th and 21st century are to 18 and 19th century issues. Middle East conflicts now as a result of the Great War, ww2 as a result of ww1, all of those as a result of Franco Prussian, etc. Crazy.
Puts a new perspective on the world wars to come
I'm only 1 minute 10 seconds into this one. And I am already. Fascinated let's hear it history guy. Because war is something we've always done. People these days complain about it. It will never stop. Until we are all gone.
The "Wildflowers" back THANKS!!
Really enjoy your snippets of history. I would like to see a story about ancient Israels migration from Babylon to present day Ireland.
The conscription enacted by the North German Confederation is why my great great grandfather fled Germany to the United States.
I disagree with some of this analysis. Bismarck hated France (with reason - Napoleon I), and saw the Spanish Succession as a means of plucking a feather or two from the French cockerel. NOBODY anticipated that the French (actually, the Parisians and newspapers) would over-react as they did, and then prosecute a war so incompetently. Having lost the war so badly, a part of the French establishment maintained a vendetta against Germany, which they sought to exorcise in 1914.
After the war, France had to pay reparations, and as these were paid, the Germans troops withdrew from occupied lands. Germany took only a thin sliver of land on the border, where German was the majority language. The rest of Alsace Lorraine was intended as a buffer zone (zone of observation) intended to keep French armies away from the borders of German lands. Bismarck was explicit about this, as he was certain that the French would try again. They did exactly that in 1914.
thanks
Hello History Guy, thanks for all the interesting videos. I think your channel deserves a lot more subscribers.
A few comments regarding the Franco-Prussian War:
1. It always puzzles me how Prussia was the one being declared war on but immediately after mentioning that it is postulated that ist was masterminded by Bismarck (Ems Telegram). If the former is valid, could the same reasoning be applied on the start of WW1, now the the other way around?
2. What reason could Bismarck really have to draw France in an open war? As Realpolitiker, should he not rather have the same perspective as all the other European powers that France has the advantages on there side and a war will at least be very costly (and it was if you read the casualty numbers)? Would France declare war on Prussia if it had not felt very confident it could be victorious?
3. Further, was it set in stone that the francophile southern German states would would support Prussia if the war had dragged on?
(Full disclosure, I am from Germany)
Daniel Helgenberger those are fair points, everyone else seemed to think the French would prevail, so why would Bismarck be so confident? But he did have to know that even pushing for unification would provoke the French. The most common opinion is that he deliberately provoked Napoleon, knowing that if he could goad France into attacking first, that would guarantee the Southern states would join with Prussia. That would give the numerical superiority that gave him confidence that he would win the war. This really might be post-war rationalization, but, in any case, it certainly worked out as if he’d planned it that way. In fact, the war occurred during a complex period in Europe, and you are correct that it is unfair, and certainly overly simplistic, to describe the war as some deliberate machination of Bismarck.
History Guy, love your videos, if I'm not careful, I will end up being better educated because of them. I would like to ask you to keep the audio levels of your intro, lesson and exit at equal levels. Some of your videos have a very loud intro, then low volume for the "meat" ( for this one my volume was at max and yet had difficulty hearing it) and then loud again on the exit, a bit annoying for an otherwise great YT video.
I am sorry- video production has been a learning experience for me. Those issue have been corrected in the more recent episodes.
I must apologize to you History Guy, after viewing another YT video, I realized that the volume on to computer was set quite low, so I own that one for sure, sorry. Thanks for the prompt reply, carry on with the history videos, most enjoyable.
Have you done the battle of Ramree island? I'm not sure if the horror stories have any truth to them?
I love your channel!!!
Can we play a bit of “what if”. What if, Kaiser Fredrick hadn’t died a month into his reign? How would the 20th century look?
Almost 100k subscribers!
I love these most interesting “snacks” !
When I was in high school I saw a film narrated by a WWI veteran, who said that he had studied the Franco- Prussian War as part of his World History studies, and that these roots led to both world wars.
My wife’s great grand mom shared stories of that war from her parents
my Rossow ancestor fled Prussiain that era, likely dodging the draft
on the ship to Ellis Island he met a woman from Alsace, they planned to marry, and he claimed to also be from Alsace when he saw the immigration officials
North of Berlin there is a town of Rossow. During the Cold War there was a missile test range, so East German maps had the town deliberately mislocated
While I got into E. Berlin one day in August 1988, of course we couldn't drive around the country-side... .
I some years ago remember reading Michael Howard's book on the Franco Prussian War and I was stuck by the utter mess the French had gotten themselves into with their mobilisation. Despite the fact that they were at war it was decided that civilians could travel be train as normal which meant the military had work their way around the civilians. Soldiers had to make their own way to their units, often finding that the regiment was no longer where they thought it was. They would then set off to the regiments next known location. Many men never did reach their regiments and ended up in ad hoc units cobbled together from whoever was on hand.
The French cavalry attacks you mentioned were a complete disaster as the Germans were inside the buildings while the French were out on the roads. Result was that many of the French were simply shot off their horses. And both sides were using rifles so this added to the folly of sending cavalry into urban areas.
You would think that soldiers would learn lessons from all this, but no. There was a cavalry charge against a unit of artillery. I forget the details but I think it was Prussians cavalry and French artillery. The charge was over 800 yards and as far as the Prussians were concerned it was successful as they took the guns. Proof, said many cavalrymen, that cavalry still had a place on the battlefield. Details omitted were that though the cavalry had to attack the guns which were 800 yards away, 400 of those yards were in dead ground. In other words they were only under fire for the last 400 yards. And the other detail missed was that half the cavalry died in the attack. You have to think that if not for the dead ground the rest of the regiment would have suffered the same fate.
@Big Blue: Cavalry did have a place on the battlefield, as expensive, moving targets for infantry and artillerymen.
The photo up on the wall to the left of History guy looks like one from Pampa Texas Base, is it?
The long company pic.
You cant understand the catastrophe of 1914 without understanding the obsession with swift national mobilisation that occurred after Prussia's great victories in the 19th century. With all of Europe posed to mobilise instantly the moment anything occurred, it was like all Europe was wandering around with a gun strapped pointing to their forehead.
This showed up. Anyway, what small arms were used by the sides? Muzzle loaders? Or breech loaders and Gatling guns?
Any ideas on doing abit on the 1978 Beagle Channel Conflict between Chile and Argentina? I have some information on this topic.
Could you do The War of Jenkins Ear?
It was a sideshow of the Franco-Prussian War but the story of the ragtag Armee de L'est is interesting. Comprising many bits and pieces of the French army that remained after several lost battles, the "Army of the East" put up some resistance but was finally pushed up against the Swiss border. It was February and very cold. Rather than surrender, the army requested and received asylum from Switzerland, where they were interred by the Swiss for the remainder of the war, all 87,000 of them! It was quite a logistical feat for the Swiss who had to distribute the interred troops around Switzerland, house and feed them, and treat the many wounded. The six weeks of internment created many friendships and helped build Switzerland's reputation for humanitarianism.
The siege of Paris also struck fear in peoples minds leading up to world war one. Residents were eating rats for months while surrounded by the Germans before the city finally fell
Was this the War in which the Decisive Weapon was the New Krupp Cannons? Thank You.
yes, on one side, prussian artilley outranged french artillery and also has more breech loading cannons (faster reloading), on the other side french Chassepot rifles outranged Dreyse rifle. But a this time individual weapons were no more decisive.
What an excellent summary! An interesting footnote. In fact, the French army was better armed then the Prussian. The French used the first modern bolt action rifle, the Chessepot firing up to 15 rounds per minute while the Prussians employed the Dryse Needle rifle, a breehloader firing no more than 6 to 8 rounds per minute. The French also employed the mitraileuse an upgraded gatling style gun. With their two advanced weapons, it is fair to adk: why did the French not sweep the Prussians from the field as the Prussians had at Koniggratz in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866? One reason is that they did not use these weapons effectively. The French battle plan was to mass men in a defensive position and deliver a withering wall of fire - the feu de bataillon . French commanders were not given much leeway in the battlefields as the Prussian officers had, who could improvise better. The Prussians swarmed the French with attacks of smaller groups of men from many different positions seeking to outflank the enemy . The Prussians also negated the French superiority of their rifles with their superior breech-loading steel Krupp cannons. The French artillery could not be re-equipped as the money was not approved by the Assembly, and so the French army remained equipped with muzzle-loading, although rifled, Lahitte '4-pounder' (actual weight of shot: 4 kg / 8.4 lb) guns, with an effective range of 2,800 meters. The French also tended to mass their artillery in the field, while the Prussians were much more mobile with their artillery. Use of the mitraileuse was negated by poorly trained men and their use as artillery rather than machine guns.
Again I greatly enjoyed this indeed incorrectly forgotten oh so important history in this point in time. We are on the verge of repeating this horrid history. If you look too close history never repeats itself. Look from too far and you also don't spot the thin red line of history repeating itself. I was 14 when I went along with my dad on a business trip, as I usualy did. He dropt me off in Versailles and told me turn left after the gate. In the morning mist the Palace loomed up. I couldn't understand French and wonderd why Bismarck was in the mirror hall of Versailles. Later I asked my dad. He didn't know either. Well, 1918 1919 history repeated itself: repayments and the Elzas went back. The seads of WW2 an economic crises and political instability the breeding ground for demagoges blundering into war. In 1940 again via Sedan. Hope humanity learns the lesson in time, yet doubt it. You the history guy can't be blamed. Great job!
What about a piece on the infamous “ Battle of Dogger Bank” ?
This must be why Germany expected WW1 to be quick
From France : excellent historic review. Hard to pronounce Bazeilles, hey ? ;)
RemzofFrance it is. Please forgive the American accent.
Ba-the-eee-zhels? Hi from Britain!
More like Bazeh-ye.
How does the Paris Commune fit into this? I think it was a direct result of war mentioned here
It came as a result of the capture of Napoleon III and the collapse of the Second French Empire. As the episode was following Napoleon's story, I didn't go down that path of discussion.
My girlfriend just gave me the same haircut, from a razor she bought at a garage sale. Still trying to get used to it. At least I'll save on shampoo. BTW, one of those pics reminded me - is there an upload about the Paris Commune?
It's a sad thing that nations forget that friendship and free trade bring about much more prosperity than expansion and plunder.
@Nobody Knows ,
I do. As a MARINE it is me and mein that will doing the fighting and dying.
And that $2k over ten years,
Has a lot less hidden expenses.
Ie: medical for the survivors, burials and care for the died.
Not even all the others(expenses).....
When the cost of war hits you directly, and I pray it never does. You will not see any humor in it.
That's actually false, just look at all history ever. Any peaceful nations focusing on just trade either crashed themselves or got invaded. War is an essential part of humanity, in curious of how things will go in the 21st century without war. A big one is coming for sure
As other people have said, in the long run your correct. But greedy politicians don't care about the long game. They want instant money because they will be long out if office when the country reaps the benefits of peace.
Fair trade not free trade
Most wars have been fought to gain resources i e. Precious metals and real estate. But EGO has played as at least as much a factor since the very first conflict between tribes. As the conquerers brought back with them the spoils and were cheered by their peoples. From when one small tribe attacked another small tribe and the spoils was food and weapons. The individual or group that organized these early raids usually recieved a large share of the booty.
So it's no real surprise that insults can easily start a war.
Crazy how two countries when to war over insults that's like starting a war over a diss track.
Is it true that after the Eire of Leningrad that the first thing the soviets sent to the city was a train full of cats because they were so many rats that foodstuffs were at risk of being contaminated by them I know it's not related to this video but I heard this years ago and I've been curious ever since if is true could you or any of the others please help it'd mean a lot
A few comments : Germany didn't take "Alsace and Lorraine", but "Alsace and Moselle". Lorraine is currently made of 4 "départements" : Meuse, Meurthe et Moselle, Vosges and Moselle, only Moselle was occupied by the germans. This is a common mistake.
One of the consequence of the french defeat in Sedan was the parisian "Commune", which was the seed for "communism", and that had also quite large consequences in the 20th century.
Wonderful channel.
True. France called the lost territories Alsace-Lorraine nonetheless
this war was the first for antiaircraft used to shoot down pidgins and in orbit the cannons fired so high up they were in orbit
this fella is pretty good :)
The Paris commune was a key component during this time that was to have repercussions with the rise of Hitler.
Hello History Guy. Happy 4th july.
I think it's woth remembering when and why France began the tradition of a big military parade on the Bastille Day.
1880 was shortly after the crushing french defeat in the Franco Prussian war of 1871. The defeat was immediately followed by riots in Paris, and when the government tried to use the army against the rioters, many of the soldiers refused to follow orders. Emperor Napoleon III was captured, the Second French Empire collapsed, The Third Republic was declared, but its capital was moved to Tours. The Paris Commune was finally crushed by the french army in *The Bloody Week* beginning on 21 may 1871.
The humiliation of France, the supposed great power, was total.
And that was the stain the military parade was supposed to wash off. It was to show that France was back in shape. France had something to prove. France was afraid to be seen as weak.
Very well done, but s bit misleading, that both sides had modern armies. Germany had a huge technological advantage over the French forces, as the German army was equipped with the "needle gun" a firing pin cartridge rifle. French forces still used front loading muskets. Hence the tragic French losses. The breech loading German artillery from Krupp could fire more rounds per minute, but their metallurgy was so bad, Krupp gun breach explosions killed more German gun crews than the French. These were critical elements in the French defeat.
WOW!! 2 montths !! I never knew this, so this is what actually caused WW1!!