Combined British and Prussian military forces defeated the French, but Wellington himself said that the battle was ‘the nearest-run thing you ever saw in your life’.
The refusal of the Communards to accept the authority of the French government led to the Commune being brutally suppressed by the regular French army in May during ‘The Bloody Week’.
The Declaration of Olmütz was signed between Prussia and Austria, in which Prussia submitted to Austrian dominance.
In the early 1860s, with Prussia facing a crisis over King Wilhelm I’s attempts to expand and modernize the Prussian army, he appointed Otto von Bismarck as Minister-President in an attempt to break a budgetary deadline.
The Seven Years’ War is widely regarded as the first truly global conflict as the declaration of war marked the start of full-scale hostilities between the major European powers and their colonies across the world.
Under Bismarck’s leadership, domestic policies sought to consolidate German unity and reduce opposition to the new state while foreign policy focused on maintaining stability in Europe and preventing conflicts that could threaten the new empire, by establishing a system of alliances that isolated France.
Wilhelm was formally declared the German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles on 18 January.
In his proclamation he also released all the states and princes of the Empire from their oaths of loyalty to him but continued to rule as Francis I, Emperor of Austria.
The Franco-Prussian War began with a declaration of war by the French emperor, Napoleon III.
The German forces reached the outskirts of the French capital on 15 September and General Helmuth von Moltke, the commander of the Prussian army, gave the order to begin surrounding the city.
28th June 2015
11th November 2025
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9th November 2019
