fellow_human@lemmy.zip
context: This meme is about the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. France thought Prussia was getting too strong and declared war to look tough. But they had no plan, no supplies, and terrible logistics. They got surrounded at Sedan in 14 days and Napoleon III was captured by Bismarck himself. The funny part is that by losing so badly, France accidentally helped Bismarck unify all the German states into one powerful German Empire.
Prior to that Bismarck had conveniently already solved the border dispute with Denmark by allying with Austria to defeat the danes, and the question of who’d lead a german empire by then beating Austria right after
Legianus@programming.dev 2 days ago
This is an oversimplification of the situation. What now follows is oversimplified, too. France sent Prussia a letter telling them off for future expansion. This was rejected, then Bismarck basically interpreted/rewrote the letter wrong on purpose, published it, which infuriated the French public. Napoleon the third had no choice, but to declare war as it was the overwhelming will of the people. Promptly lost as Prussia was prepared in contrast to France and also the ploy by Bismarck to be in a defensive war worked. Most German states joined Prussia and it was seen as a just war, barring outside interference (in contrast to what offensive action would have caused). This then enabled the formation of a German state.