Franco-Prussian War
2nd Regiment, French Dragoons, 1870
The 2nd Dragoon Regiment traces its lineage to the 16th century as a cavalry regiment, fighting in various wars and engagements across western Europe. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
Wilhelm I, Accidental King of Prussia
By Blaine TaylorIn mid-October 1806, four days after Napoleon had crushed the Royal Prussian Army at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstädt, a distraught Queen Louise sat down with her two sons at the royal castle in Schwedt. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
The Battle of Sedan: Napoleon III’s Empire in the Balance
By Robert HeegeLouis Napoleon Bonaparte, the nephew and namesake of the great Napoleon, once said, “March at the head of the ideas of your century, and these ideas follow you and support you. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
The Siege of Paris
By Louis CiotolaThe final outcome of the Franco-Prussian War was decided on September 2, 1870. On that day, more than 100,000 French troops, including Emperor Napoleon III, surrendered to the Prussian Army at Sedan. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
Snared in a Prussian Trap
By Victor KamenirDriven and energetic in his youth, by the late 1860s French Emperor Napoleon III was a shadow of his former self. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
The National Pigeon Service: Our Fine Feathered Friends
By Flint WhitlockNot long ago, I came across an article about the remains of a carrier pigeon that had been discovered lodged in the chimney of a 17th-century home in the village of Bletchingley, Surrey, some 18 miles due south of London. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
France’s Nightmare in Indochina
By Steven M. JohnsonThe waters of the South China Sea shimmered in the sunlight on the morning of April 15, 1847. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
Bloodbath at Mukden: Imperial Russia and Japan Collide
By Louis CiotolaJanuary and February 1905 were critical months for both the Russian and Japanese empires, which were locked in a war over East Asia that neither of them could sustain. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
France & World War I’s Triple Entente
by Michael HaskewThe French nation was stunned by the catastrophic defeat its army suffered at the hands of a Prussian-led German coalition in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
Russia in WWI’s Triple Entente
by Michael HaskewBy the time Imperial Russia and Great Britain concluded the Anglo-Russian Convention on August 31, 1907, effectively establishing the alliance known as the Triple Entente, the Russian Empire was in the midst of decades of upheaval. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
Great Britain & WWI’s Triple Entente
by Michael HaskewThe old proverb that states, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend,” gained significant meaning for the government and people of Great Britain at the turn of the 20th century. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm & the Triple Alliance
by Michael HaskewWhen Kaiser Wilhelm II acceded to the throne of the German Empire in 1888, the young nation was already an economic and military force with which to be reckoned on the European continent. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
William B. Hazen: The “Best-Hated Man” of the American Civil War
Quarreling With Every Officer… Even The PresidentIn the course of his 30-year military career, Hazen managed to quarrel with various superior officers, up to and including the president of the United States. Read more
Franco-Prussian War
How Otto von Bismarck Started The Franco-Prussian War
By Blaine TaylorIn May 1867, French ruler Napoleon III hosted a gala Great Universal Exposition that proved to be the high-water mark of his ornate but tissue-thin Second Empire. Read more
