Bismarck, The Hohenzollern Candidacy, And The Origins Of The Franco-german War Of 1870 -

Prussian side nothing attempted which the power of the State was not able to carry to a conclusion; on the one hand, evidence of intellectual design, on the other, of vague, ill-calculated and inconsistent policies. 2 The victory of Prussia over Austria changed the relations of France and Prussia. Before and during the war of 1866, the attitude of Emperor Napoleon III was of fundamental importance for Otto von Bismarck's policy. If Napoleon had concentrated troops in eastern France, his armed neutrality would have hampered the Prussian campaign in Bohemia just as the Prussian mobilization of 1859 had checked Napoleon in Italy. It would probably have been necessary for the Prussian chief of staff, Helmuth von Moltke, to leave important forces to cover the western frontier, and they could hardly have been spared on the decisive day of Königgrätz. The emperor of the French, however, seems to have expected the two sides in the war to be evenly matched. He thought it possible that Austria might win and took care to insure, by formal treaty with that power, a settlement that would take account It is known that the plan to elect a Prussian prince to the Spanish throne was the proximate, and Bismarck’s “Ems telegram” an immediate cause of the war of 1870; but much has remained obscure about the roles of the principal figures. Lawrence Steefel fills in the lacunae with secret German documents available only after World War II, including the correspondence between Bismarck and Marshal Prim of Spain. It becomes clear that Bismarck did not initiate the Hohenzollern candidacy and that one of his most important reasons for adopting it was his fear of an anti-Prussian coalition of Catholic powers. Preface Contents Abbreviations Used in the Footnotes Introduction I. Spain in Search of a King II. The Candidate is Found III. The Candidate is Lost IV. The Demand for Guarantees V. The Ems Telegram VI. The Declaration of War VII. Conclusion and Reflections Appendices. Bibliography. Index Appendix A. Genealogical Tables Appendix Β. Bismarck's Letters to Prim Appendix C. The "Ems Telegram" Bibliography Index