Editing Franco-Prussian War (section)

===Prussians/Germans===
[[File:Troupes allemandes à Torcy en septembre 1870.jpg|thumb|Prussian field artillery column at [[Torcy, Seine-et-Marne|Torcy]] in September 1870]]
The German army comprised that of the North German Confederation led by the [[Kingdom of Prussia]], and the South German states drawn in under the secret clause of the preliminary peace of Nikolsburg, 26 July 1866,{{sfn| Ascoli | 2001 |p=9}} and formalised in the [[Peace of Prague (1866)|Treaty of Prague]], 23 August 1866.{{sfn|Elliot-Wright|Shann| 1993 |p=29}}

Recruitment and organisation of the various armies were almost identical, and based on the concept of conscripting annual classes of men who then served in the regular regiments for a fixed term before being moved to the reserves. This process gave a theoretical peace time strength of 382,000 and a wartime strength of about 1,189,000.{{sfn| Barry | 2009a |p=43}}

German tactics emphasised [[pincer movement|encirclement battles]] like [[Battle of Cannae|Cannae]] and using artillery offensively whenever possible. Rather than advancing in a column or [[Line infantry|line formation]], Prussian infantry [[Skirmish#American Civil War|moved in small groups]] that were harder to target by artillery or French defensive fire.{{sfn|Wawro|2002|p=89}} The sheer number of soldiers available made encirclement ''en masse'' and destruction of French formations relatively easy.{{sfn|Wawro|2002|p=110}}

The army was equipped with the [[Dreyse needle gun]] renowned for its use at the [[Battle of Königgrätz]], which was by this time showing the age of its 25-year-old design.{{sfn|Wawro|2002|p=102}} The rifle had a range of only {{convert|600|m|abbr=on}} and lacked the rubber breech seal that permitted aimed shots.{{sfn|Palmer|2010|p=30}} The deficiencies of the needle gun were more than compensated for by the famous [[C64 (field gun)|Krupp 6-pounder]] (6&nbsp;kg despite the gun being called a 6-pounder, the rifling technology enabled guns to fire twice the weight of projectiles in the same calibre) steel breech-loading cannons being issued to Prussian artillery batteries.{{sfn|Wawro|2002|p=113}} Firing a contact-detonated shell, the [[Krupp gun]] had a longer range and a higher rate of fire than the French bronze [[muzzle loading]] cannon, which relied on time fuses.{{sfn|Wawro|2003|p=58}}

The Prussian army was controlled by the [[German General Staff|General Staff]], under General [[Helmuth Graf von Moltke|Helmuth von Moltke]]. The Prussian army was unique in Europe for having the only such organisation in existence, whose purpose in peacetime was to prepare the overall war strategy, and in wartime to [[operational art|direct operational movement]] and organise logistics and communications.{{sfn|Zabecki|2008|pp=5–7}} The officers of the General Staff were hand-picked from the Prussian ''[[Prussian Military Academy|Kriegsakademie]]'' (War Academy). Moltke embraced new technology, particularly the railroad and telegraph, to coordinate and accelerate mobilisation of large forces.{{sfn|Wawro|2003|p=47}}