The Franco-Prussian War

[Yui108]

In 1870, Napeleon III declared war on the weak and perfidious state of Prussia over the Ems telegram, resulting several months later in the declaration of the German Empire in Palace of Versailles. How do you think the world was impacted by this war?

 

[Mowque]

Rise of Germany really screwed up the Balance of Power in Europe that had been set up after Waterloo. For Germany to grow it had to take from other Great Powers. I would say, on the whole, the Rise of Germany was a negative impact on 'the world'.

 

[Knight-Dragon]

It's hard to say. Even without Germany, I think Europe will still be a powderkeg. Britain vs Russia or France etc.

It was this military competition that made the European powers the masters of the world after all (for a short period anyways). I don't think it will go away just because there isn't a unified Germany.

 

[Cheezy the Wiz]

German unification was more or less complete after the Seven Weeks' War; while it is true that victory over France in 1871 convinced those remaining principalities to cede to Prussia, I don't think it was the only thing that could have done so. Even without the thorough embarassment set upon the French by that war - or the desire for revenge after losing Alsace and Lorraine, a unified Germany would have been the beginning of many problems for Europe. Germany before 1870 was already the most populous and most industrialized nation in Europe; the former a spot France had held for hundreds of years, and the latter formerly being awarded to Belgium or Britain. That Germany was able to combine these would have most likely still kicked off the arms race in the 1890s-1900s, though perhaps with less Franco-Prussian animosity.

 

[Dachs]

German unification was more or less complete after the Seven Weeks' War; while it is true that victory over France in 1871 convinced those remaining principalities to cede to Prussia, I don't think it was the only thing that could have done so. Even without the thorough embarassment set upon the French by that war - or the desire for revenge after losing Alsace and Lorraine, a unified Germany would have been the beginning of many problems for Europe. [...] That Germany was able to combine these would have most likely still kicked off the arms race in the 1890s-1900s, though perhaps with less Franco-Prussian animosity.

Yeah, what he said. The War was less important for its effect on German unification than it was for the effects it had on France, specifically French government, diplomacy, military theory, social thought, and economics. It's worth noting that von Bismarck managed to conclude alliances with most of the south German states that remained outside the NGC almost immediately after the Seven Weeks' War, and thus had strong ties with them even before mini-Boney and von Bismarck stirred up the stew with that idiocy over the Hohenzollern Candidature and the subsequent Ems telegram.

The Franco-Prussian War also really shook up ultra-left-wing thinking for a few decades with the first mild success (in some areas) of the Paris Commune and then its utter destruction, leading to a lot of mixed conclusions. (Frankly I don't know enough about the Paris Commune and communist thought around this time period to give exact answers, sorry.)