Episode 2 of 2
France Declares War on Prussia
- When
- 19 July 1870
- Where
- Paris, France
France sent a declaration of war to the Prussian government on 19 July 1870, formally opening the Franco-Prussian War.
On 19 July 1870, the French government sent a declaration of war to Prussia. This action started the Franco-Prussian War, a conflict between France and the North German Confederation. The declaration was driven by France's determination to reassert its dominant position in continental Europe following the Prussian victory over Austria in 1866.
Sources
- Franco-Prussian War Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
- Ems dispatch Wikipedia, revision of 2026-06-16
Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.