An equally important asset was the Prussian army’s general staff, which planned the rapid, orderly movement of large numbers of troops to the battle zones. As a member of NATO, Germany and France have fought side-by-side as allies in such conflicts as the Kosovo War (1999), The War in Afghanistan (beginning in 2001), and Libyan War of 2011, not to mention the Cold War. At the battle of Austerlitz (1805), Napoleon I put an end to the millennium-old Holy Roman Empire the next year. Both France and Germany track their history back to the time of Charlemagne, whose vast empire included most of the area of both modern-day France and Germany – as well as the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, and northern Italy. The Second Hundred Years War: A Series of Anglo-French Wars, Assassination Attempts on U.S. Presidential Candidates, Captain America Retcon History: An explanation of Captain America's retcon history since Avengers #4, Avengers #1: Comic Book Review and Analysis, Avengers Lineups Through the Years: Avengers #1-76, Justice League: Early Justice League Villains, X-Men: History of X-Men Reprint Issues (X-Men #67-93), A Resource on History, Military History, Politics, and Biography. The Battle of France, also known as the Fall of France, was the German invasion of France and the Low Countries during the Second World War.September 3, 1939, France had declared war on Germany, following the German invasion of Poland.In early September 1939, France began the limited Saar Offensive.By mid-October, the French had withdrawn to their start lines. Germany lay farther from the Roman domain and was well-protected by the strong natural barriers of the Alps, the Rhine and Danube rivers, and the dense forests. This time the prize was the province of Alsace and part of Lorraine and agreement with the southern German states to form a single German empire under the Prussian ruler. Also, the French-dominated International Olympic Committee banned Germany from the Olympic Games of 1920 and 1924, which illustrates the French desire to isolate Germany. Allied forces followed, invading France, culminating in Prussian and Russian armies marching into Paris. [5] However elite French opinion changed after about five years. Romans, Carthaginians and many other cultures frequently employed Gaul tribesmen as guides and translators. French cuirassiers charging Prussian infantrymen at the Battle of Wörth (also called the Battle of Reichshoffen), August 6, 1870. Its northern Lotharingia part on both sides of the language border became a bone of contention between the western and eastern kingdoms that developed into the modern nations of France and Germany. This is a list of wars involving Germany since unification in 1871. Western Germany, known to the Romans as Germania, was not integrated into the Empire until the 1st century AD, and the Romans gave up trying to conquer and Romanize the eastern half of Germany after the disastrous Battle of Teutoburg Forest. Get kids back-to-school ready with Expedition: Learn! Shortly thereafter, in 1661, there was a diplomatic dispute in London concerning whether the French ambassador’s carriage would precede that of his Spanish rival. As a result of this war, all of the German states united into a new German Empire, led by the Prussian king. How does France compare to Germany? Ultimately the French were allowed to participate and from 1945 to 1955, French troops were stationed in the Rhineland, Baden-Württemberg, and part of Berlin, and these areas were put under a French military governor. Nachkriegsalltag in Leonberg, Leonberg 1998, S. 7–12], Learn how and when to remove this template message, International relations of the Great Powers (1814–1919), North part of metropolitan France is occupied by Germany, Anglo-American landing in French North Africa, Hitler's Home Front: Württemberg under the Nazis, France–Germany relations § Further reading, Aide-mémoire concerning the separation of Germany’s industrial regions, France, Germany and the Struggle for the War-making Natural Resources of the Rhineland, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=French–German_enmity&oldid=981670473, Articles with unsourced statements from October 2014, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License, 1794: Holy Roman Empire and France, French occupation of Austrian Netherlands (1795–1806, 1945: The defeat of Germany during World War II led to the French occupation of parts of western Germany (and, Scheck, Raffael. France raised huge citizen armies to battle the relatively small, professional armies of the invading powers. How Many Wars Were Fought Between France and Germany Before World War One? For example, they jointly opposed the US invasion of Iraq in 2003, leading U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to lump them together as "Old Europe.". The desire for revenge (esprit de revanche) against Germany, particularly for the recovery of the "lost provinces" of Alsace and Lorraine (whose importance was summed up by the French politician Léon Gambetta in the phrase: "Never speak of them; never forget them!") Since the end of the Second World War, the Federal Republic of Germany (known as West Germany from 1949 to 1990), has been allied with France and the other Western allies as a member of NATO and the European Union. Bismarck edited William’s telegraphed description of this interview, and on July 14 he published this provocative message (the Ems telegram), which accomplished his purposes of infuriating the French government and provoking it into a declaration of war. Napoleon, aware that he faced a severe challenge, set out to strengthen…, A final war with France, in 1870–71, again resulted in Prussian victory. This argument was aided by demographic changes: since the Middle Ages, France had had the largest population in Western Europe, but in the 19th century, its population stagnated (a trend that continued until the second half of the 20th century), and the population of the German states overtook it and continued to rapidly increase. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. The Franco-German War had far-reaching consequences. The short-term French reaction was Revanchism: a sense of bitterness, hatred and demand for revenge against Germany, especially because of the loss of Alsace and Lorraine. Proclamation of the German Empire in Versailles (1871). The united German forces defeated the French and occupied much of France. The forces of Prussian and the other German states (excluding Austria) crushed the French armies at the Battle of Sedan. France maintained a much more outward-looking geopolitical role through the Middle Ages, fighting wars against the Spanish and English that ultimately defined the nation's identity as a politically integrated and discrete unit, and occupying an important role as Europe's largest, most powerful and most populous Christian nation. These engaged but could not defeat the German forces. The elites were now calm and considered it a minor issue. This article was most recently revised and updated by, The French collapse and the siege of Paris, Marie-Edme-Patrice-Maurice, count de Mac-Mahon, Florida Museum of Natural History - Roughskin Dogfish, Franco-Prussian War - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up). But the French had not progressed beyond the defensive mentality inherited from World War I, and they relied primarily on their Maginot Line for protection against a German offensive. French troops assaulting a barricade during the Paris Commune. The immediate cause of the Franco-German War, however, was the candidacy of Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (who was related to the Prussian royal house) for the Spanish throne, which had been left vacant when Queen Isabella II had been deposed in 1868.