1. Prussia’s annexations in 1866
The Kingdom of Prussia absorbed the entire Kingdom of Hanover, the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein, 2/5 of Saxony, and a large portion of Hessen. When Germany was unified under a federal constitution in 1871, Prussia comprised 3/5 of all German territory, with 2/3 of the German population. 1

2. THE CONFRONTATION BETWEEN FRANCE AND PRUSSIA
1867
Luxemburg Crisis (February-May)
1868
Bismarck creates parliament for Zollverein
1869
Napoleon III signs treaties with Austria & Italy
Feb 1870
Spanish provisional government offers throne to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen
July 14, 1870
Publication of the Ems Dispatch; France declares war the next day
August 6, 1870
Prussians lose heavily at Spicheren and Froeschweiler but continue to advance
August 16-18, 1870
Battles of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte close the ring around Metz
Sep. 1/2, 1870
Battle of Sedan, surrender by Napoleon III and Marshal MacMahon

3. “Germany’s Future: Will they all be able to were one hat
“Germany’s Future: Will they all be able to were one hat? I fear it will be a spiked helmet!” (German cartoon from the late summer of 1866)
"Germany's Future. Will they all be able to wear one hat? I fear it will be a spiked helmet!" A cartoon commenting on Prussia's dramatic growth at the end of the Seven Weeks' War.
SOURCE: Deutscher Bundestag, ed., _Fragen an die deutsche Geschichte. Historische Ausstellung im Reichstagsgebaeude in Berlin: Katalog_, 7th edn (Bonn, 1981), IV/130.

4. French cartoon of King William as a cannibal, devouring the princes of northern Germany (early 1867)
König Wilhelm I. as a Cannibal
French cartoon, ca. 1867
This French cartoon depicts King William I as a cannibal devouring the small princes of northern Germany.
SOURCE:

5. “The German Pasture” Kladderadatsch, 31 March 1867: A liberal commentary on the Luxemburg Crisis
By now fear of Napoleon III most definitely works in Bismarck’s favor in public opinion. The goddess Germania says to the powerful shepherd, “Protect my flock!” She points to Luxemburg in particular, which is about to be devoured by the French wolf, while the sheep dogs Baden and Wuerttemberg bark furiously from across the Rhine. The caption reads, “A good shepherd does not let any sheep go astray.” During his confrontation with Austria, Bismarck had hinted to Napoleon III that France would be allowed to annex Luxemburg as compensation for Prussia’s growth in northern Germany, but soon after the publication of this cartoon, he announced firmly that German public opinion could not tolerate any such development. SOURCE: Der Teufel in Berlin, p. 474.

6. “The Black Ghost,” Kladderadatsch, 20 June 1869
The caption reads, “Here and there, it is a method to make peoples revere the military and eager to pay taxes.” Germans say that someone “paints the devil on the wall” when they try to frighten us into doing something. This insight was articulated especially by the newly founded “Socialist Workers’ Party,” forerunner of today’s SPD, whose leaders went to prison for opposing the Franco-Prussian War. SOURCE: Der Teufel in Berlin, p. 478.

7. Anti-Prussian sentiment: Election Day in the Bavarian Alps, February 1870, when the clericalist “Patriot Party” won big
Election Day in the Mountains of Bavaria [Wahltag im Bayerischen Gebirge] (c. 1870)
From the early 1870s onward, the Catholic Center Party was the main political vehicle for the representation of Catholic interests in the Reichstag and in the parliaments of federal states where Catholics resided in larger numbers. But to be represented in Berlin or a state capital, Catholics first had to get their Center Party candidate elected, and that required adapting to the advent of mass politics in the age of universal male suffrage. Accordingly, we see a Bavarian Catholic priest campaigning in the foothills of Bavaria in an attempt to solicit support from rural voters on election day. Clearly, the pulpit alone was no longer enough to spread the Center’s message. Woodcut (c. 1870) after a drawing by Julius Noerr.
SOURCE:

8. Count Benedetti presents French demands to King William I at Bad Ems, July 13, 1870
The French ambassador to Prussia, Count Bernadetti, presents the French demands to King William I at Bad Ems.
SOURCE:

9. “Departure of King William for the Army, July 31, 1870” (the king joins the “nation in arms”)
Adolph Menzel, "Departure of King William for the Army, July 31, 1870" (1871); oil on canvas; 63X78 cm; Alte Nationalgalerie, Berlin.
Here the king, riding in his coach toward the Potsdam Railroad Station in a spiked helmet with his tearful wife, is almost lost from view in the detailed depiction of Unter den Linden, filled with a patriotic throng beneath flags waving from every balcony. Menzel had hastened home to Berlin from his summer vacation when he heard that war was about to be declared, and he arrived just in time to witness this scene for himself. The flag display is dominated by the new black-white-red tricolor of the North German Confederation (soon to be adopted by the German Empire), interspersed with Brandenburg's older blue-and-white flag, decorated with the Hohenzollern eagle, and one flag of the Red Cross in the distance, a somber reminder of the victims of war.
SOURCE: Claude Keisch and Marie Ursual Riemann-Reyher, eds, _Adolph Menzel, : Between Romanticism and Impressionism_ (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996), p. 351.

10. Field Marshal Bazaine, conqueror of Puebla
Napoleon III relied on the most experienced army of professional soldiers in Europe
Field Marshal Bazaine, conqueror of Puebla
Field Marshal Mac-Mahon, conqueror of Algeria, Sebastopol, & Lombardy
Jean-Adolphe BEAUCE , Achille-François Bazaine, maréchal de France ( ), painted in 1867; Musée national du Château de Versailles
SOURCE:
Horace VERNET , "Mac-Mahon, Duc de Magenta," 1860; Musée national du Château de Versailles

11. “France [to Britannia]: ‘Pray stand back, Madam
“France [to Britannia]: ‘Pray stand back, Madam. You mean well, but this is an old family quarrel, and we must fight it out!” (Punch, July 23, 1870)
"France: 'Pray stand back Madam. You mean well, but this is an old family quarrel, and we must fight it out!'" Cartoon by John Tenniel published in PUNCH, 23 July 1870.
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 8.

12. “The whole gang: This is what wanted to overrun Germany
“The whole gang: This is what wanted to overrun Germany!” Kladderadatsch, 21 August 1870: Napoleon III, his son Lulu, his whores, African soldiers, monks, & henchmen gather under the Papal crown….
As war with France broke out, Berlin’s foremost satirical journal definitely swung behind those painting devils on the wall. Here Napoleon III is associated with the huge mouths of government-sponsored journalists, who have just published lying reports about French victories that were really defeats, a papal crown labeled “infallible,” a reference both to the French garrison in Rome which then protected the Pope from the Kingdom of Italy, and the recent decision by the Second Lateran Council to proclaim the Pope infallible with regard to matters of faith and morals. Napoleon III is surrounded by his disreputable family, monks peddling their chartreuse, a very young heir, Prince Lulu, who likes to play at soldiering, the hookers of Paris, and Senegalese troops eager to hurl themselves at German women. SOURCE: Der Teufel in Berlin, p. 487.

13. Prussian troops in the field ate “pea sausage” –this Berlin factory employed 1,700 workers to produce 65 tons a day
The Knorr's Factory for the production of "Pea Sausage" (Erbswurst), a sort of dried pea soup that did not spoil. The industrialist Heinrich Grueneberg of Berlin developed the food in 1867, and the patent was purchased by the Prussian army after rigorous testing showed that soldiers could thrive on bread and pea sausage alone. This factory employed 1,700 workers during the Franco-Prussian War and produced 65 tons of Pea Sausage a day.

14. P.-L.-N. Grolleron, “The Charge” (1870): “L’audace, toujours l’audace!”
Paul-Louis-Narcisse GROLLERON, "The Charge" (1870; Musée de l'Armée).
SOURCE:

15. THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE, AUGUST-OCTOBER 1870
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 27.

16. TURNING POINTS IN THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR
August 6, 1870: Steinmetz bungles the attack at Spicheren, but the French are routed anyway; at Froeschwiller MacMahon is overwhelmed by numbers
August 16, Mars-la-Tour: Alvensleben launches foolhardy attack with four divisions against four French corps, but Bazaine is so cautious that he allows the Prussians to seize the highway between Metz and Verdun
August 18, Gravelotte-St. Privat: 200,000 Germans drive Bazaine’s 160,000 French back into Metz, despite losing 16,000 men.
September 2, Sedan: Napoleon III surrenders with 80,000 troops
September 18, 1870—January 28, 1871: Siege of Paris leads to Armistice

17. The German envelopment of Metz, August 14-15, 1870
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 34.

18. The different types of French troops: National Guards, Mobile Guards, Pompiers, and volunteers (cf. Wawro, pp. 42-6, 75-6)
The different categories of French troops: National Guards, Gardes Mobiles, Pompiers, and volunteers. Published in THE ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS, September 3, 1870.
SOURCE:

19. Battle of Mars-la-Tour, August 16, 1870
The Battle of Mars-la-Tour, 16 August 1870.
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 39.

20. General Bredow’s successful cavalry charge at Mars-la-Tour
"Capture of a French Battery by the 7th Prussian Curaisseur Regiment in the Battle of Mars-la-Tour on 16 August 1870," from "Canadian Illustrated News," November 19, 1870; vol. II, #21, p. 336.
SOURCE:

21. BATTLE OF GRAVELOTTE, Morning of August 18: Moltke orders the Saxon XII Corps to wheel to the north
The Battle of Gravelotte-St. Privat, 18 August 1870: The opening moves.
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 42.

22. Battle of Gravelotte: The Climax
The Battle of Gravelotte_St. Privat, 18 August 1870: The main engagement.
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 43.

23. “The Cemetery of Saint-Privat, 18 August 1870” (1881)
Alphonse de Neuville ( ),
"The Cemetery of Saint-Privat, 18 August 1870"
1881 (first exhibited at the Salon des Artistes francais, 1881)
Musee d'Orsay, Paris
SOURCE: Michel Laclotte et al., _Paintings in the Musee d'Orsay_ (Paris: Editions Scala, 1993), p. 129.

24. “King William at the Battlefield at Metz” (i. e
“King William at the Battlefield at Metz” (i.e., Gravelotte, August 18, 1870)
"King William on the Battlefield at Metz," popular German lithograph produced in 1871, which shows the King of Prussia visiting the wounded at the end of the Battle of Gravelotte-St. Privat on 18 August 1870.
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 46.

25. THE GERMAN INVASION OF FRANCE, AUGUST-OCTOBER 1870
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 27.

26. German artillery park at Sedan, September 1870: The new Krupp breech-loading steel cannon
Arsenal at Sedan (1870)
This photograph shows part of the store of artillery pieces and transport wagons that helped the Germans surround and defeat the French armies at the Battle of Sedan on September 1-2, 1870.
SOURCE:

27. THE ENCIRCLEMENT OF THE FRENCH ARMY AT SEDAN, SEPTEMBER 1, 1870 (German units in black)
Climax of the Battle of Sedan, 1 September 1870.
SOURCE: Stephen Badsey, _The Franco-Prussian War, _ (Oxford, 2003), p. 50.

28. “The Last Bullets” (a French view of snipers holding off the Bavarians at Bazeilles, outside Sedan)
Alphonse-Marie-Adolphe de Neuville, "The Last Bullets" (1873), depicting the ambush of Bavarian troops by French snipers who fought to the last bullet in l'Auberge Bourgerie in Bazeilles, just before the Battle of Sedan in September 1870.
Oil on canvas; 109 x 165 cm; Musée de la dernière cartouche
SOURCE:

29. Bismarck accompanies Napoleon III to meet King William I on the morning of September 2, 1870
Wilhelm Camphausen ( ), "Otto von Bismarck Accompanies Napoleon III to Meet King William I on the Morning after the Battle of Sedan" (c. 1877).
Bismarck knew the French emperor personally from his service as ambassador to Paris and made some effort to console him after his humiliating defeat.
SOURCE: Hans Ottomeyer and Hans-Joerg Czech, eds., _Deutsche Geschichte in Bildern und Zeugnissen_ (Berlin: Deutsches Historisches Museum, 2007), p. 154.

30. The Provisional Government of the Third Republic, led by Jules Ferry, Jules Favre, & Leon Gambetta, 4 September 1870
The first cabinet of the provisional government of the Third Republic, 4 September The so-called "cabinet of the Jules" (Ferry, Favre, and Simon) poses with a statue of the Republic that sports a Phrygian bonnet. After the outbreak of fighting with the Paris Commune in 1871, however, the red cap of liberty became completely unacceptable in government circles. From Agulhon & Bonte, MARIANNE, p. 42.

31. Anton von Werner, “A Billet Outside Paris, October 1870” (he is singing Schumann)
Anton von Werner, A Billet outside Paris [Im Etappenquartier vor Paris] (October 24, 1870/1894)
This painting by Anton von Werner ( ) was completed in 1894 and purchased the same year by the National Gallery in Berlin (surprisingly, it was the first Werner painting the National Gallery acquired). The sketch forming the basis of his painting, however, had been executed twenty-four years earlier: on October 24, 1870, when the artist was accompanying Chief of the Prussian General Staff Helmuth von Moltke ( ) and his entourage in occupied France. The finished work shows German troops occupying the Château de Brunoy outside Paris during the Franco-Prussian War. To be sure, Werner documents every detail of the scene and the setting – right down to the inexpertly repaired boot sole at the right. But his principal aim is to emphasize the contrast between the vigorous, ruddy-cheeked troops, with their practical mud-covered footwear, and the sumptuous, effeminate interior they have requisitioned for temporary lodgings. This contrast is conveyed not least by Werner’s palette – the soldiers, dressed in blue uniforms with red piping, are rendered in dark primary colors, thereby standing out against an interior awash in pastels and dominated by the warm yellow of gilded surfaces. In this and other pictorial choices, Werner seems to suggest German cultural superiority over the French. For example, the soldiers have not, as in the age-old manner, destroyed the furniture at hand to light a fire and revenge themselves on the enemy; instead, they have taken the time to gather wood on the villa’s grounds, seen just outside the window at rear. And while the soldiers look dirty and rumpled, they are not necessarily rough-hewn. In fact, they have enough good German Bildung – education and “cultivation” – to play the piano and give voice to song in an impromptu concert. (According to Werner’s notes, they were singing Robert Schumann’s “Das Meer erglänzte weit hinaus” [“The Sea Shone Resplendent far into the Distance”], which, as he added, was very popular with all the military bands at that time). This history lesson would not have been lost on German viewers of the painting in Nevertheless, it would be wrong to portray Werner’s politics as illiberal or chauvinist. He had no need to make the enemy appear despicable: except for the villa’s female concierge and her daughter, who appear to be suffering none of the hardships inflicted upon the Parisian population at the time, the French have simply disappeared from the scene. The mood of good humor is further reinforced by the elaborate clock and vases on the mantle – their very presence suggesting that no looting has been committed by the occupying troops. These choices make the painting even more melodramatic and contrived, undercutting its apparently disinterested virtuosity. What conclusions do we draw from this? On the one hand, the very fact that patriotic painting of this sort had achieved such popularity by the 1890s may indicate that, by the turn-of-the-century, the chauvinism so vehemently criticized by Friedrich Nietzsche after 1871 had evolved into something that was, if not more generous to French victimhood or forgiving of German brutality, then at least more innocuous. Tellingly, when contemporary viewers commented upon Werner’s portrayal of soldiers lounging disrespectfully on the furniture of a beautiful French château, they found this aspect amusing, not offensive. On the other hand, such public reaction may reflect the philistine complacency that Nietzsche also identified as characteristic of post-unification German society.
SOURCE:

32. Anton von Werner, “Helmuth von Moltke in his Office at Versailles” (November 1870)
Anton von Werner, Chief of the Prussian General Staff Helmuth von Moltke in his Office at Versailles (1870)
In October and November 1870 the relatively unknown, 27-year old painter Anton von Werner ( ) was invited to Versailles to sketch military personnel in the headquarters of the Prussian army and general staff. By that point, the outcome of the Franco-Prussian War had already been effectively decided (at Sedan on September 1-2). As mobile operations slowed down, Versailles became the locus of social and diplomatic as well as military activity. With letters of introduction from the Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden in hand, Werner was welcomed into this setting by officers who believed, rightly, that he might chronicle their role in a great victory. Indeed, Werner effectively captures the palace ambiance in this preliminary version of a painting that was completed by the end of Here, we see the 70-year old Chief of the Prussian General Staff Helmuth von Moltke ( ) in his office in the Rue neuve in Versailles. Moltke’s unflappable demeanor and powers of concentration come through as he reads letters and reports taken from the opened envelope on the floor. Werner’s determination to portray the details of the room with near-photographic accuracy gives the canvas a busy effect, which arguably detracts from its aesthetic impact. It is plausible that the military leaders, diplomats, and princes who gathered at Versailles in these months felt that painting was the only medium with enough dignity, tradition, and gravitas to record their esteemed place in history. It is ironic, therefore, that they chose to patronize an artist who insisted on including every detail in his canvases, thereby gesturing towards the newer and less revered medium of photography.
SOURCE:

33. Anton von Werner, “The German Headquarters in Versailles” (December 1870)
Anton von Werner, "The German Headquarters in Versailles," December 1870, painted in The scene includes (from left) Blumenthal, Crown Prince Frederick, Verdy du Vernois, William I, Moltke, Roon, and Bismarck. The artist was not present in Versailles at this time but conveys realistically the tension between the Crown Prince and Bismarck, who wanted to conclude peace as quickly as possible, and the army leaders Moltke and Roon, who demanded that the war be continued until French power was destroyed. The Crown Prince noted with horror in his diary that Moltke seemed to desire a "war of extermination" against the French. Here he appears to be on the verge of a shoving match with the minister of war.
SOURCE: Martin Kitchen, _The Cambridge Illustrated History of Germany_ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1996), p. 203.

34. Ernest Meissonier, “The Siege of Paris” (1870-1884)
Jean-Louis-Ernest MEISSONIER , “Le siège de Paris” ( ; Musée d'Orsay). The artist later explained, “I wanted to create a kind of heroic symphony of France.” The large woman in the center symbolizes courageous Paris, dressed in a lion’s pelt. The specter of famine and the predatory eagle of Prussia loom over her in the sky. The dead and wounded around the feet of Paris include soldiers of the regular army, sailors, and National Guardsmen; several of them are portraits of famous heroes who died in combat in Source:

35. “His Holiness, William the Butcher” (Autumn 1870), who stands for “the law of the sword”
“His Holiness, Wilhelm the Butcher” (1870)
This Parisian caricature of Prussian King Wilhelm I – “S.S. Guillaume-le-Boucher” – is by A. Belloguet and dates from Among other references, it associates Wilhelm with “the law of the sword” and the death of fraternal relations among nations. The dream of a “united states of Europe” mentioned in the text at the bottom has disappeared in the midst of war.
SOURCE:

36. Alphonse Neuville, “Le Bourget” (a failed sortie from Paris on December 21, 1870)
This was the first work painted by Neuville ( ) after the Franco-Prussian war. Wounded and dejected French troops bivouac on a desolate plain marked by destroyed houses, after the bloody defeat of an attempted sortie out of Paris on December 21, Countless scenes like this were painted in the early 1870s, which reflect the wave of depression among patriotic Frenchmen caused by the news of their many defeats by the Germans. Location: Musee d’Orsay (