Editing Franco-Prussian War (section)

==Subsequent events==

===Prussian reaction and withdrawal===
[[File:S95francoprussian.jpg|thumb|Prussian parade in Paris in 1871]]
[[File:Europe 1871 map en.png|thumb|Europe after the Franco-Prussian War and the unification of Germany]]
The Prussian Army, under the terms of the armistice, held [[German victory parade in Paris (1871)|a brief victory parade]] in Paris on 1 March; the city was silent and draped with black and the Germans quickly withdrew. Bismarck honoured the armistice, by allowing train loads of food into Paris and withdrawing Prussian forces to the east of the city, prior to a full withdrawal once France agreed to pay a [[French indemnity|five billion franc war indemnity]].{{sfn| Taylor |1955|p=133}} The indemnity was proportioned, according to population, to be the exact equivalent to the indemnity imposed by [[Napoleon]] on Prussia in [[Treaties of Tilsit|1807]].{{sfn| Taylor |1955|p=133}} At the same time, Prussian forces were concentrated in the provinces of Alsace and Lorraine. An exodus occurred from Paris as some 200,000 people, predominantly middle-class, went to the countryside.

===Paris Commune===
{{See also|Paris Commune}}
During the war, the [[National Guard (France)|Paris National Guard]], particularly in the working-class neighbourhoods of Paris, had become highly politicised and units elected officers; many refused to wear uniforms or obey commands from the national government. National guard units tried to seize power in Paris on 31 October 1870 and 22 January 1871. On 18 March 1871, when the regular army tried to remove cannons from an artillery park on [[Montmartre]], National Guard units resisted and killed two army generals. The national government and regular army forces retreated to [[Palace of Versailles|Versailles]] and a revolutionary government was proclaimed in Paris. A [[Paris Commune|commune]] was elected, which was dominated by socialists, anarchists and revolutionaries. The [[Red flag (politics)|red flag]] replaced the [[Flag of France|French tricolour]] and a civil war began between the Commune and the regular army, which attacked and recaptured Paris from {{nowrap|21–28 May}} in the {{lang|fr|[[Semaine Sanglante]]}} ("bloody week").{{sfn|Wawro|2003|pp=301, 310}}{{sfn|Baldick|1974|p=209}}<ref>{{cite journal|title=When Germany Occupied France|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25113009|first1=Stephane|last1=Lauzanne|journal=The North American Review |year=1923 |volume=217|issue=810 |pages=594–600|jstor=25113009 }}</ref>

During the fighting, the [[Communards]] killed around 500 people, including [[Georges Darboy]], the [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Paris|Archbishop of Paris]], and burned down many government buildings, including the [[Tuileries Palace]] and the [[Hotel de Ville, Paris|Hotel de Ville]].{{sfn|Horne|1965|p=416}} Communards captured with weapons were routinely shot by the army and Government troops killed between 7,000 and 30,000 Communards, both during the fighting and in massacres of men, women, and children during and after the Commune.{{sfn|Rougerie|1995|p=118}}{{sfn|Baldick|1974|p=209}}{{sfn|Wawro|2000|p=122}}{{sfn|Wawro|2003|p=301}} More recent histories, based on studies of the number buried in Paris cemeteries and in mass graves after the fall of the Commune, put the number killed at between 6,000 and 10,000.{{sfn|Rougerie|2014|p=118}} Twenty-six courts were established to try more than {{nowrap|40,000 people}} who had been arrested, which took until 1875 and imposed {{nowrap|95 death}} sentences, of which {{nowrap|23 were}} inflicted. Forced labour for life was imposed on {{nowrap|251 people,}} {{nowrap|1,160 people}} were transported to "a fortified place" and {{nowrap|3,417 people}} were transported {{where|date=March 2024}}. About {{nowrap|20,000 Communards}} were held in prison hulks until released in 1872 and a great many Communards fled abroad to the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Belgium or the United States. The survivors were amnestied by a bill introduced by Gambetta in 1880 and allowed to return.{{sfn|Horne|1965|pp=422–424}}

===1871 Kabyle revolt===
In 1830, the French army [[Invasion of Algiers in 1830|invaded]] and conquered the [[Ottoman Algeria|Beylik of Algiers]]. Afterwards, France colonized the country, setting up its own administration over Algeria. The withdrawal of a large proportion of the army stationed in [[French Algeria]] to serve in the Franco-Prussian War had weakened France's control of the territory, while reports of defeats undermined French prestige amongst the indigenous population. The most serious native insurrection since the time of [[Emir Abdelkader]] was the 1871 [[Mokrani Revolt]] in the [[Kabylia]], which spread through much of Algeria. By April 1871, 250 tribes had risen, or nearly a third of Algeria's population.<ref>Bernard Droz, « Insurrection de 1871: la révolte de Mokrani », dans Jeannine Verdès-Leroux (dir.), ''L'Algérie et la France'', Paris, Robert Laffont 2009, pp. 474–475 {{isbn|978-2-221-10946-5}}</ref>

===German unification and power===
{{further|Unification of Germany}}

[[File:Wernerprokla.jpg|thumb|Proclamation of the German Empire, painted by [[Anton von Werner]]]]
The creation of a unified [[German Empire]] (which excluded Austria) greatly disturbed the balance of power that had been created with the [[Congress of Vienna]] after the end of the [[Napoleonic Wars]]. Germany had established itself as a major power in continental Europe, boasting one of the most powerful and professional armies in the world.{{sfn| Kennedy |1987}} Although the UK remained the dominant world power overall, British involvement in European affairs during the late 19th century was limited, owing to its focus on colonial empire-building, allowing Germany to exercise great influence over the European mainland.<ref>John Arthur Ransome Marriott, ''The Evolution of Prussia: The Making of an Empire'', OUP 1937, pp.400–402</ref> Anglo-German straining of tensions was somewhat mitigated by several prominent relationships between the two powers, such as the Crown Prince's marriage with the daughter of [[Victoria of the United Kingdom|Queen Victoria]].

''Einheit''—unity—was achieved at the expense of ''Freiheit''—freedom. According to [[Karl Marx]], the German Empire became "a military despotism cloaked in parliamentary forms with a feudal ingredient, influenced by the bourgeoisie, festooned with bureaucrats and guarded by police." Likewise, many historians would see Germany's "escape into war" in 1914 as a flight from all of the internal-political contradictions forged by Bismarck at Versailles in the fall of 1870.{{sfn|Wawro|2003|p=302}}

===French reaction and Revanchism===
[[File:The Geography Lesson or "The Black Spot".jpg|thumb|280x280px|French students being taught about the provinces taken by Germany, painted by [[Albert Bettannier]]]]
The defeat in the Franco-Prussian War led to the birth of [[Revanchism]] (literally, "revenge-ism") in France, characterised by a deep sense of bitterness, hatred and demand for revenge against Germany. This was particularly manifested in loose talk of another war with Germany in order to reclaim Alsace and Lorraine.{{Sfn|Varley|2008a|pp=62–80}}{{Sfn|Varley|2008b}} It also led to the development of nationalist ideologies emphasising "the ideal of the guarded, self-referential nation schooled in the imperative of war", an ideology epitomised by figures such as General [[Georges Ernest Boulanger]] in the 1880s.{{Sfn|Brown|2010}} Paintings that emphasized the humiliation of the defeat became in high demand, such as those by [[Alphonse de Neuville]].{{sfn|Jay|1984|pp=151–162}}

Revanchism was not a major cause of war in 1914 because it faded after 1880. J.F.V. Keiger says, "By the 1880s Franco-German relations were relatively good."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Keiger |first=J.F.V. |title=France and the World since 1870 |date=2001 |pages=112–120}}, quoting p 113.</ref> The French public had very little interest in foreign affairs and elite French opinion was strongly opposed to war with its more powerful neighbor.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Wright |first=Gordon |title=France in Modern Times |date=1995 |edition=5th |pages=288–299}}</ref> The elites were now calm and considered it a minor issue.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Allan Mitchell |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gQZfDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT190 |title=The German Influence in France after 1870: The Formation of the French Republic |date=2018 |isbn=978-1-4696-2292-7 |page=190| publisher=UNC Press Books }}</ref> The Alsace-Lorraine issue remained a minor theme after 1880, and Republicans and Socialists systematically downplayed the issue. Return did not become a French war aim until after [[World War I]] began.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Seager |first=Frederic H. |chapter=The Alsace-Lorraine Question in France, 1871–1914 |date=1969 |title=From the Ancien Régime to the Popular Front: Essays in the History of Modern France |editor-last=Warner |editor-first=Charles K. |pages=111–126}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Carroll |first=E. Malcolm |title=French Public Opinion and Foreign Affairs: 1870–1914 |date=1931 |pages=47–48}}</ref>