How the Franco-Prussian War changed Europe

General Faidherbe at the Battle of Bapaume, 3 January 1871 – a rare French tactical victory late in the war, but without strategic consequence. The rapid military collapse of the Second Empire reflected the rottenness of Napoleon III’s regime – and the vigour of the new Germany led by Bismarck and Moltke. The Franco-Prussian War overturned the balance of power in Europe. That balance, stable since the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1814-15, had depended on a rough equivalence among five European great powers: Britain, France, Prussia, Austria, and Russia. It helped, too, that all five powers were preoccupied: the British and the French were building overseas empires; the Russian