Not only did Bismarck 'adjust' that publication to vilify the French, he also published it on Bastille day, specifically to incense the French into war and show them as the aggressors he described. The guy was a genius.
Not to mention that the French were on the cusp of modernizing their army, but it was still a long way from having done so, except for its excellent riffles, so France started the war with a cripled artillery, and it turned out to be a very significant issue.
Bismarck was not a good man. He can be just slightly indirectly blamed for both WW1, and by extension WW2. People talk a lot about Mao being responsible for a lot of deaths, but Bismarck has him beat.
Three Germans were sitting on a train in 1946. After a long, awkward silence, the youngest German spoke up. "Stop looking at me like that! I received the Iron Cross for heroics at Hürtgen Forest." The middle-aged German scoffed and replied."So what? I got the Military Merit Cross at Passchendaele for courage and bravery." Then the elderly German looked up and responded; "I was at the Battle of Sedan and Siege of Paris, and I didn't receive any medals. But at least we won the damn war."
The main aim of the war was to unify Germany under the notion of Prussia being their protector against an aggressive and imperial France. Turning into the aggressor and seizing unnecessary French lands would threaten to upset the delicate balance of control Bismarck had worked his whole career to establish for Prussia. There was just no incentive for Prussia at that time when solidifying Germany under their control was a far more important goal.
That was my impression as well, that they sought that territory specifically because they could claim its German population made it a necessary component of the German Empire.
Bismarck agreed with you. The incentive is that Wilhelm told Bismarck he wasn't unifying Germany if Prussia didn't take Alsace Lorraine. And that was that. People forget Wilhelm didn't want to unify Germany he had to constantly be nagged into doing it for decades.
@@nickbell4984 Are you aware that British demands at Versailles were much worse than the France demands? The Brits actually asked Germany to pay for the pensions of British soldiers, something never attempted before and ultimately refused by the President of the USA! So it's a little bit rich to hear about insane French demands! Not to mention that most historians agree that Versailles was a pretext for the Nazis, a myth, a lie weaponized by Hitler, when in fact it had little to do with the second WW happening, but to know this, you would actually have to open an history book...
@@nickbell4984 Not really the problem with Versailles was that it was a compromise between the anglosaxon view, who wanted to take as little possible and rely on the SDN to keep peace, and the french side who wanted to prevent Germany to wage war in the futur. But the treaty acheve neither because the US went into insolation after the war, and Germany wasn't weaken enough. And you can see it, after ww2 where germany was devided and occupied, the territories lost was way more significant, in some way Yalta and Posdam did what France wanted to do after ww1
Small quibble but none of the other great powers were looking at intervention in the Franco Prussian War. The UK still viewed France as their chief rival and was also furious at the French for suggesting the partition of Belgium, a fact Bismarck shared with them just before the war, Austria-Hungary had just been thrashed by the Prussians and told Napoleon III they would not intervene unless France was clearly winning, and Russia was firmly on Prussia’s side even offering to intervene if Austria-Hungary joined. Bismarck isn’t remembered as a foreign policy master for nothing he had effectively isolated France before the war so there would be no intervention.
@@andrewbachman698 Right, which is why they didn’t seize French land because Bismarck had engineered the situation whereby he could have his war with France without being seen as a hostile aggressor by the other powers. HM’s point is that if he had taken French land, it would risk turning the other Great Powers to France’s side due to Prussia being seen as a vengeful conqueror rather than a stalwart defender of the German nation.
@@Longshanks1690^this, Garibaldi in Italy for instance started the war supporting the Germans “death to Bonaparte” but by the end was leading the Vosges and proclaiming the need to rescue the French Republic. Italy wasn’t a major power, but not unrealistic to believe those states were seeing much different.
Yes, but if Germany had been foolish enough to try to annex large portions of France, Britain likely would've stepped in just to keep Germany in its place. 19th century Britain's policy toward Europe revolved around making sure no single nation could ever get powerful enough to rival them.
Since Alsace-Lorraine had been seized by France in the decades after the Thirty Years' War and many of its residents still spoke Alemannic or Moselle Franconian dialects, many Germans also believed that the region was historically German.
Essentially, Kelly Moneymaker purchased the land for James Bisonette, only for it to be rented out by Spinning Three Plates, which returned them to France.
Bismark had another Ace up his sleeve. Napoleon III had met Bismàrk at Biarritz and had murmured that France had no 'real' objection to German unification. As long as France got 'first choice' to several Rhineland city-states, Aachen, Koln, Mainz and Trier. I remember seeing an old French atlas in which these places were spelt Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, Mantes and Treves: all the French spellings. Bismark knew that these were among the places that were not keen on Prussian-dominated unification. So he told Louis that he'd think about it. And as soon as he could, he made careful notes of the conversation. Shortly after the 'Ems Telegram' was released to the press, enraging the French, he published details of Louis' 'conversation. This horrified the German ciry-states, who ac epted Unification rather than be swalloed up in L'Empire Napolienne! Napoleon III was made to look even more of a twit!
Any map will use the names most common in its language. English maps spelling Vienna instead of Wien is not exactly proof of english imperialism in central Europe. Otherwise very interesting additions to the story.
@@MineSqualler yes, since vienna was not part of england or great britain at all. but the french saw the rhine as their "natural borders" back then. also, those lands were held by the franks, who gave their name to france and multiple frankfurts.
@@ultrahigher6739 Those lands are still held by franks, as frankish makes up the central german dialects all the way up to north bavaria (east francia). Another frankish region are the low countries, with dutch as low franconian (middle francia). France in particular is the continuation of only west francia and ironically is the only one where frankish went extinct.
Taking only Alsace-Lorraine had also to do with the fact that many Germans considered this regions to be historically German since they had been annexed by France in the decades following the 30 Years' War, and many of the inhabitants spoke still Alemannic or Moselle Franconian dialects.
@@ajfrostx The region even today is a mix or mishmash of French and Germans but even after the annex in 1871 the people there were not exactly happy about being brought into the German Empire vs being within France. The interesting deal with Germany and France is just how similar the people are and how much they have in common versus how different they are. Yes I know there are a lot of differences... The whole region of France, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Italy (plus everything else that I did not list) sure they are different but they have way more in common than we realize. The fighting they did over the centuries was essentially a civil war of brothers fighting brothers.
The question was why take any at all really bismarck was against the annexation of french territory. Only in favour of incorporating the remaining german principalities
Because Elsass-Lorraine had been a mix of French of German speaking people historically. It was an area that is similar to how the Sudetenland was; a mix of both cultures and languages. The victory in the Franco-Prussian war gave Germany the excuse to annex those lands, as that was something that victors did back then.
Well you see, "French territory" and "German territory" are only cleanly-distinguishable if you define them as "territory currently controlled by France/Germany". Lots of land in the middle was part of prior polities that the French and Germans considered their antecedents, and was occupied by a mixture of French and Germans, and also by people who were individually mixtures of French and German, assuming they bothered to make the decision and didn't call themselves something else.
Because around 80% of the lands taken were ethnically and linguistically German, and as a new nation state (Germany for Germans), at least with the public and monarchy, it only made sense. (Now that doesnt mean that the people there were treated well, see another History Matters video I cannot recall the name of)
Simply put a lot of ethnic Germans were there and there would've been massive public outcry if they Germany just lost soldiers in the name of unification of all Germans but didn't unify the Germans even in a victory as absolute as the one they had.
There's also the fact that NOT taking land in a war that saw a lot of casualties may have been seen as a cop-out by the (very nationalistic) German public. If not, why did they go to war?
I have always been taught in the past, that Bismarck ideally didn't even want Alsace-Lorraine, but since the French collapsed harder and faster than expected, it became politically impossible for him to not take anything. (as in his political enemies at home would have loved to use it to get rid of him) Just like he had already had to fight tooth and nails, for his King to accept the rather mild peace with Austria a few years earlier.
The tragic irony was that they only took Alsace-Lorraine in order to have Prussian-owned lands to build forts, in case of a future war. By preparing for a war, they guaranteed it would happen.
I have read/heard (not sure) that Bismarck initially didn't want any French land but the Southern German states (as part of their ascension into the German Empire) demanded that he acquire a buffer because a possible French retaliation would likely hit their lands first.
@@CarlGerhardt1 What did he have to show for it aside from dead Cambodian children and China that he empowered which now is the only American rival of note.
@@ashutoshtripathi. Cambodia were hosting the enemy VietCong and China were rivals with the Soviets It would be like blaming the British for siding with Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars
@@AureliusLaurentius1099 Doesn't justify the war crimes, that's the whole definition of war crimes. You can't justify them morally. And no, it wouldn't be like blaming British in the Napoleonic wars, rather, it would be like British investments fueling Prussian industrialization after the formation of North German Confederation and even the German empire, thinking that France is still their biggest rival. Kissinger and the US also realized too late that the Soviets were already in a decline. And they created a much stronger rival in China than the Soviets ever were even when they occupied half of Europe. Nothing Kissinger did was a success, China became the biggest threat to American global hegemony. Vietnam ended up in a shitshow. The support for the massacres in Bangladesh resulted in Kissinger's own ally getting cut in two. People think Kissinger was a Machiavellian genius but he was an average diplomat with excellent networking and propaganda skills.
In fact Lorraine was cut in half in the annexation, hence the French refer to the lands as Alsace-Moselle instead. Also, the 1871 border is still materialized in the current administrative units, that is why the departements of Moselle, Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Territory of Belfort have weird shapes, and don't have anymore their old boundaries from the French revolution.
The German term "Elsass-Lothringen" is even less fitting. "Lothringen" is also the German term for Lotharingia/Lotharingie. Moselle is not Lotharingia. 🤓
Bassically, Kelly Moneymaker bought the land for James Bisonette, only for it to be rented out by Spinning Three Plates, which gave them back to France
Also, Alsace-Lorraine was overwhelmingly (about 90%) populated by German speakers, which is what Germany very much wanted because of its strong drive by German nationalism. Including a large French-speaking population isn't what they were looking for
This always bothered me that Alsace-Lorraine is portrayed as something that was taken from France by Prussia - when in fact Prussia reclaimed land that were annexed about 215 years before by the french. The about 90 % german population were there for a reason ^^
@@benxiro4293Except the people who were living were perfectly satisfied being French and didn't see themselves as German. When it was conquered, many of them chose to remain as such or left.
@@LOEKASH And then they were annexed by the French again after most were already at peace being part of Germany enjoying better workers rights. Most Alsacians only cared about the Kulturkampf which ended after Bismarcks sacking, it's voting habbits were pretty much aligned with rest of Germany afterwards. Also there was no option to retain French citezenship without leaving.
@@tutentyp6934 Another example of how the population was divided by the annexation was in relation to compulsory military service. In 1872, only 7,454 of the 33,475 men who signed up did so. 42 years later, up to 20,000 men crossed the border to fight on the French side.
*Fun fact:* Napoleon III called Napoleon I "grandpa" instead of "uncle". That was because Napo III's father Louis was very negligent and his mother Hortense (Napokeon's adoptive daughter) very supportive and caring
Alsace had a German-speaking population, which may be reliable. Loraine was the chief industrial region of France. Taking this region would be crippling for the French economy and thus for its military.
There's also the fact that Alsace-Lorraine contained large German speaking (or German dialect speaking) population (minus some cities, like Metz), which the Prussians, who already had to "tolerate" Poles and Danes, would be fine with incorporating into the empire. Although integrating Alsace-Lorraine would turn out to be much harder for the Prussians to achieve than they thought.
The Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine did contain territories which were not German-speaking. The border drawn in 1871 was not the language border, it was a strategic border. Kind of like the Austrian-Italian border after WWI.
I see some people in the comments thinking Lorraine was mostly a German speaking country, while it's the other way around. I think many people (even in France) don't know the history of Lorraine, especially the most crucial part, during the Thirty Years' War. So, here's some context. The Duchy of Lorraine was a French-speaking region long before it was annexed by France. In fact, Lorraine even fought against both France and the Holy Roman Empire for a long time. During the Thirty Years' War, France (under Richelieu and Louis XIII) decided to "tame" the duchy by killing its inhabitants. They feared that Lorraine would side with the Holy Roman Empire because of the Habsburgs. France financed the Swedish army to maximize civilian casualties-roughly 60% of the population was killed. We can even add the plague and famine of this period, which brought the death toll closer to 80%. Richelieu rejoiced at seeing so much death among them (it's written in his diary, I kid you not!). The Duke of Lorraine sought help from the Holy Roman Empire but received none. Cowards on both sides. And some still pretend, centuries later, that this land and its people "belong to them".
Who left after calling the Spanish people "ungovernable", which led to the previous French-orginated Bourbon dynasty re-entering. It really goes round in circles.
One small error you got wrong in the beginning is that on the map Prussia didn’t control Al of the North. It was known as the North German Confederation at the time made up of several Northern German kingdoms, duchies, etc as well.
Alsace was mostly German linguistically and culturally anyway so it would be much easier to intergrate into the German empire. Also it’s more land west of the Rhine which makes a future war easier in theory offensively or defensively.
My maternal grandmother's parents (Molyet) came from Alsace and I think they left soon after the annexation by Prussia/Germany. The dialect they spoke was similar to German, but perhaps their political loyalty was to France or as Catholics they did not want to live under Protestant dominated Prussia
In the immediate aftermath of the Treaty of Frankfurt, the overwhelming majority of the 1,542,000 people living in Alsace-Moselle were hostile to their new condition. More than 50,000 people left Alsace-Moselle on 30 September 1872, as Article 2 of the Treaty of Frankfurt authorised those who wanted to retain French nationality to go to France from the interior before 1 October of the same year. In all, more than 160,000 Alsatians left their homeland to remain French in the months following the annexation, with a further 110,000 signing a declaration stating that they had become German in spite of themselves and therefore felt deprived of their original homeland. In all, more than 400,000 Alsatians chose to emigrate to France on the eve of the Great War.
I'm actually starting to notice that the historical characters and specifically their uniforms or clothes that he's presenting in his videos seems to be getting more and more accurately detailed. And I'm loving it! 🔥🗺️✨
@@user-rk3yb6nd1n No, it's part of the lore and when there's a major lore change without warning, it makes sense to have a reaction, especially in a long running narrative.
As a professional Hoi4 player i must say this, Germany should have just pressed the annex button and then not do anything while they wait out the world tension.
Funfact(s): The french reparations were so high, that all the additional money led to a bubble in the german economcy which ultimately bursted leading to the "Gründerkrach" of 1873. Fact 2: During the peace negotiations, a petition in Prussia demanded to take Indochina instead of Alsace-Lorraine from France. Bismarck however was not a fan of colonies and declined.
To point out: Wilhelm never outright said no to the demands that a member of his family ever be asked to rule Spain again,he said he'd think it over. Of course, this was France pushing its luck as they'd gotten what they initially wanted when Wilhelm agreed that his cousin wouldn't take the Spanish throne
If you wondered why so much of Bismarck's foreign policy was around appeasing Russia, it was because he needed to isolate France to ensure they couldn't get any allies for round 2. He was certain Germany wouldn't win a war on two fronts and well...look what happened.
I read a book about the Paris commune a few months back and it captures this point brilliantly. The revolutionaries were kinda frightened of Bismarck cause of how anti-socialist he was. But Bismarck was too busy trying not to make an enemy of Russia to spend too much political attention in putting the Paris Commune down. The point being, intelligent as Bismarck was, he wasn't immovable.
I think it was only france that really wanted reparations and land. The usa wanted stable nationstates and the british wanted their naval empire secured
@renaatsenechal I don't think what each individual country wanted is important when the outcome is identical. Germany lost even more land then France ever did, the entirety of Germanies colonial possession was given to France, the UK (and Australia), and Belgium, as well as a significant portion of Germanies eastern states were used to form Poland. on top of that reperations crippled Germanies economy. the Triple Entente original wanted to partion Germany back to how it was before Prussian Unification, America is the reason Germany remained intact, America did alot to rein in the triple ententes wishes.
I would like to see a video about the Italia "Condottieri". Something like "why did the age of Condottieri end?" or "Why Italy passed from being the most militarized country to the least militarized in modern age"?
The last time the Kaiser met Franz Ferdinand he suggested that Franz's morganatic son Max become Grand Duke of an independent Alsace-Lorraine, Franz Ferdinand didn't say yes but agreed to discuss it further at some point in the future (but, you know, Sarajevo). Which suggests the Kaiser may have wanted to turn Alsace-Lorraine into a buffer state between France and Germany in the vein of Belgium and Luxembourg and not keep it as part of Germany
Love your channel, but I cant help thinking that showing the annexed territories as changing from dark blue to dark grey was a way to highlight how little land was taken ... Because of how hard it is to see 😛
Note that the borders of Alsace-Lorraine weren't just drawn based on where the population was majority German. Lorraine has the largest iron ore reserves in Europe (which Germany lacks), so they also included parts of Lorraine with lots of iron ore. Until it was lost in WW1, Alsace-Lorraine produced more iron ore than the rest of Germany combined.
Well, Elsass- Lothringen was German since 870 until France took it end of the 1600s. They spoke and speak German there. And all that hustle because Karl the Great had 3 sons.;)
In 870, Alsace-Lorraine was just Lotharingia and barelly different culturaly from East and West Francia by that point. It would only be rattached to East Francia in the Xth century, through conquest. Germany wasn't a thing back then. There was no German nation, no German State. Only a bunch of Germanic duchies with a king that quickly tried to paint himself as not Frank to rally the other non Frankish lord, only to gain enough power to obtain the title of Roman Emperor. It's only in the XVth century the HRE would start to vaguely consider itself German, which was mostly a dick move by the German nobility to fuck over the Czech and Burgundian nobility. And by that point, the HRE was already nothing even remotly close to a proper State, unlike the res tof Europe and many of it's own subkingdom.
Also Germany just wanted the german people in its border (2:13) as bismarck said after the unification: "Deutschland ist gesättigt" (Germany is saturated)
Annexating Alsace-Lorraine was actually A LOT. At the time the territory's textile industry was bigger than that of the whole Germany. It was one of the most prosperous territories in the world. The loss was severe for France.
So that is four points of view on the Franco-Prussian war on this channel (I've enjoyed them all) The German side, the French side, The Austrian Side (where the Hingarians wouldn't allow the Austrians to play), and the Paris Commune. I think this needs a super edit to combine all of them :D
Yes, it was actually the military, with the support/blessings of Wilhelm,who pushed for the annexation of Alsace/Lorraine. Bismarck was against it as,in his correct assessment of the situation,it was a bridge too far
I love the Zoo information thing. I also like the fact that the credits featured Napoleon Bonaparte who would have pulverised the Germans if there had attempted such a thing.
Napoleon III trying to get himself killed at the battle of Sedan has got to be one of the strangest things of the entire period.
To be fair, this was a period in time where honor was more important than one's life.
The first Napoleon tried killing himself and failed as well.
Napoleon III: "Come at me, frere!"
He was sick and dying at that point
That says a lot, this period was so weird.
Not only did Bismarck 'adjust' that publication to vilify the French, he also published it on Bastille day, specifically to incense the French into war and show them as the aggressors he described. The guy was a genius.
You could say he was a... Master baiter.
Bismarck always had a plan.
Not to mention that the French were on the cusp of modernizing their army, but it was still a long way from having done so, except for its excellent riffles, so France started the war with a cripled artillery, and it turned out to be a very significant issue.
Bismarck was not a good man. He can be just slightly indirectly blamed for both WW1, and by extension WW2. People talk a lot about Mao being responsible for a lot of deaths, but Bismarck has him beat.
@@Toonrick12😂
Three Germans were sitting on a train in 1946. After a long, awkward silence, the youngest German spoke up. "Stop looking at me like that! I received the Iron Cross for heroics at Hürtgen Forest." The middle-aged German scoffed and replied."So what? I got the Military Merit Cross at Passchendaele for courage and bravery." Then the elderly German looked up and responded; "I was at the Battle of Sedan and Siege of Paris, and I didn't receive any medals. But at least we won the damn war."
Nice copypasta dude
@@looinrims Thank you, I made it myself.
@@Mirokuofnite It's good, I like it!
Is the older like 110 years old?
@ it’s not impossible for a 16 year old who lied his way into service to be alive then, he’d be in his 90s
Still can't get used to Kelly Moneymaker not being there
He never should have taken up gambling.
The main aim of the war was to unify Germany under the notion of Prussia being their protector against an aggressive and imperial France. Turning into the aggressor and seizing unnecessary French lands would threaten to upset the delicate balance of control Bismarck had worked his whole career to establish for Prussia.
There was just no incentive for Prussia at that time when solidifying Germany under their control was a far more important goal.
Prussia WAS seizing a lot of land. It was just buffer-state land, not french land
Also the Brits would not have liked the balance of power getting too uneven
perfect comment. I have nothing to add
That was my impression as well, that they sought that territory specifically because they could claim its German population made it a necessary component of the German Empire.
Bismarck agreed with you. The incentive is that Wilhelm told Bismarck he wasn't unifying Germany if Prussia didn't take Alsace Lorraine. And that was that. People forget Wilhelm didn't want to unify Germany he had to constantly be nagged into doing it for decades.
Crippling france in debt backfired? Wow hopefully nobody will EVER try that again in 1918 or anything
Don't you mean Germany?
France is the embodiment of not learning from past mistakes
@@nickbell4984 Are you aware that British demands at Versailles were much worse than the France demands? The Brits actually asked Germany to pay for the pensions of British soldiers, something never attempted before and ultimately refused by the President of the USA! So it's a little bit rich to hear about insane French demands! Not to mention that most historians agree that Versailles was a pretext for the Nazis, a myth, a lie weaponized by Hitler, when in fact it had little to do with the second WW happening, but to know this, you would actually have to open an history book...
We didn't prop up a French Hitler to bail us out of war reparations 🤷♂️
@@nickbell4984 Not really the problem with Versailles was that it was a compromise between the anglosaxon view, who wanted to take as little possible and rely on the SDN to keep peace, and the french side who wanted to prevent Germany to wage war in the futur. But the treaty acheve neither because the US went into insolation after the war, and Germany wasn't weaken enough. And you can see it, after ww2 where germany was devided and occupied, the territories lost was way more significant, in some way Yalta and Posdam did what France wanted to do after ww1
Small quibble but none of the other great powers were looking at intervention in the Franco Prussian War. The UK still viewed France as their chief rival and was also furious at the French for suggesting the partition of Belgium, a fact Bismarck shared with them just before the war, Austria-Hungary had just been thrashed by the Prussians and told Napoleon III they would not intervene unless France was clearly winning, and Russia was firmly on Prussia’s side even offering to intervene if Austria-Hungary joined. Bismarck isn’t remembered as a foreign policy master for nothing he had effectively isolated France before the war so there would be no intervention.
@@andrewbachman698 Right, which is why they didn’t seize French land because Bismarck had engineered the situation whereby he could have his war with France without being seen as a hostile aggressor by the other powers.
HM’s point is that if he had taken French land, it would risk turning the other Great Powers to France’s side due to Prussia being seen as a vengeful conqueror rather than a stalwart defender of the German nation.
@@Longshanks1690^this, Garibaldi in Italy for instance started the war supporting the Germans “death to Bonaparte” but by the end was leading the Vosges and proclaiming the need to rescue the French Republic. Italy wasn’t a major power, but not unrealistic to believe those states were seeing much different.
I'd give you a like, but it's just at 69 ;)
Yes, but if Germany had been foolish enough to try to annex large portions of France, Britain likely would've stepped in just to keep Germany in its place. 19th century Britain's policy toward Europe revolved around making sure no single nation could ever get powerful enough to rival them.
@@RedXlVThey could've invited Italy to the war to reclaim their rightful lands which Napoleon III stole from them.
Since Alsace-Lorraine had been seized by France in the decades after the Thirty Years' War and many of its residents still spoke Alemannic or Moselle Franconian dialects, many Germans also believed that the region was historically German.
Essentially, Kelly Moneymaker purchased the land for James Bisonette, only for it to be rented out by Spinning Three Plates, which returned them to France.
1:36 LMAO that new frockling in the flower fields with "Victory!?" is absolutely hilarious
I also lost it, his confused hands were perfect
Bismark had another Ace up his sleeve. Napoleon III had met Bismàrk at Biarritz and had murmured that France had no 'real' objection to German unification.
As long as France got 'first choice' to several Rhineland city-states, Aachen, Koln, Mainz and Trier.
I remember seeing an old French atlas in which these places were spelt Aix-la-Chapelle, Cologne, Mantes and Treves: all the French spellings. Bismark knew that these were among the places that were not keen on Prussian-dominated unification. So he told Louis that he'd think about it. And as soon as he could, he made careful notes of the conversation.
Shortly after the 'Ems Telegram' was released to the press, enraging the French, he published details of Louis' 'conversation. This horrified the German ciry-states, who ac epted Unification rather than be swalloed up in L'Empire Napolienne!
Napoleon III was made to look even more of a twit!
Any map will use the names most common in its language. English maps spelling Vienna instead of Wien is not exactly proof of english imperialism in central Europe. Otherwise very interesting additions to the story.
@@MineSqualler yes, since vienna was not part of england or great britain at all. but the french saw the rhine as their "natural borders" back then. also, those lands were held by the franks, who gave their name to france and multiple frankfurts.
@@ultrahigher6739 Those lands are still held by franks, as frankish makes up the central german dialects all the way up to north bavaria (east francia). Another frankish region are the low countries, with dutch as low franconian (middle francia).
France in particular is the continuation of only west francia and ironically is the only one where frankish went extinct.
@@theChaosKeyes, that is just the official french justification for the “natural borders of france”
Man I pity Napoleon III. Imagine trying to live up to your predecessor with none of his brilliance.
Taking only Alsace-Lorraine had also to do with the fact that many Germans considered this regions to be historically German since they had been annexed by France in the decades following the 30 Years' War, and many of the inhabitants spoke still Alemannic or Moselle Franconian dialects.
Many still speak the same Germanic dialect today; many people on both sides of the Rhine can understand each other.
Also do not forget the Habsburgs-Lothringen(Lorraine) originated from there...
In fact 90% of the population still spoke German dialects just before WW2.
@@ajfrostx The region even today is a mix or mishmash of French and Germans but even after the annex in 1871 the people there were not exactly happy about being brought into the German Empire vs being within France. The interesting deal with Germany and France is just how similar the people are and how much they have in common versus how different they are. Yes I know there are a lot of differences... The whole region of France, Spain, Germany, Austria, and Italy (plus everything else that I did not list) sure they are different but they have way more in common than we realize. The fighting they did over the centuries was essentially a civil war of brothers fighting brothers.
@@Edge51any war is a war between brothers, we're all human if you think about it
So, aggressive expansion was too high and they didn't want to get coalitioned
Sometimes AE isn't just a number.
so, they started to spam-investing in economic constructions, waiting for the aggressive expansion to reduce
Nah, he wanted to avoid it getting that high in the first place
He did Put His diplomats on auto-improve
Because some land needed to be given to James Bisonette
So he could sell these lands and use the money to fund history matters
What about Kelly Moneymaker?
@@Metfan722 he's got enough money
"James Bissonette" speedrun, go!
...
Ah, found it as the fourth comment from the top.
Get original, kid
Sugestion to video: Why do Brunei exist?/not part of Malaysia?
I think he'll only take suggestions from Patreon members, I mean are you a Patreon member?
Because oil.
this is a really good question.
@@FreddieDowds-dx3juso this is a suggestion to the patreons
brunei remained part of britain until 1983
The question was why take any at all really bismarck was against the annexation of french territory. Only in favour of incorporating the remaining german principalities
Because Elsass-Lorraine had been a mix of French of German speaking people historically. It was an area that is similar to how the Sudetenland was; a mix of both cultures and languages. The victory in the Franco-Prussian war gave Germany the excuse to annex those lands, as that was something that victors did back then.
Well you see, "French territory" and "German territory" are only cleanly-distinguishable if you define them as "territory currently controlled by France/Germany".
Lots of land in the middle was part of prior polities that the French and Germans considered their antecedents, and was occupied by a mixture of French and Germans, and also by people who were individually mixtures of French and German, assuming they bothered to make the decision and didn't call themselves something else.
Because around 80% of the lands taken were ethnically and linguistically German, and as a new nation state (Germany for Germans), at least with the public and monarchy, it only made sense. (Now that doesnt mean that the people there were treated well, see another History Matters video I cannot recall the name of)
Simply put a lot of ethnic Germans were there and there would've been massive public outcry if they Germany just lost soldiers in the name of unification of all Germans but didn't unify the Germans even in a victory as absolute as the one they had.
There's also the fact that NOT taking land in a war that saw a lot of casualties may have been seen as a cop-out by the (very nationalistic) German public. If not, why did they go to war?
History matters may not be pregnant but he never fails to deliver!
I've seen this one before so get a life
🧆
technically we have no evidence of the first statement
🤖
Very stupid joke
I just wrote an entire paper on the Unification of Germany, and this guy was my only source
valid
give us the grade of that paper when you get it, i'm curious
So, no peer-reviewed sources then?
lol
He always lists his own sources in the description if you want to use those
I have always been taught in the past, that Bismarck ideally didn't even want Alsace-Lorraine, but since the French collapsed harder and faster than expected, it became politically impossible for him to not take anything. (as in his political enemies at home would have loved to use it to get rid of him) Just like he had already had to fight tooth and nails, for his King to accept the rather mild peace with Austria a few years earlier.
1:18
*Napoleon III*
Imperator Stultissimus
Conservation Status: Endangered
Diet: Anything and everything
Habitat: Here, right now
Brilliant.
The tragic irony was that they only took Alsace-Lorraine in order to have Prussian-owned lands to build forts, in case of a future war. By preparing for a war, they guaranteed it would happen.
My wife listens to these while I watch them and half pays attention. When it was over, she said "wait, what happened to Kelly Moneymaker?"
At 2:58 the Channel Islands are shown in red (belonging to the UK). I'm always in awe of the attention to detail, even in short frames.
You can also add that the annexed parts were rich in natural resources (coal and iron ore).
I have read/heard (not sure) that Bismarck initially didn't want any French land but the Southern German states (as part of their ascension into the German Empire) demanded that he acquire a buffer because a possible French retaliation would likely hit their lands first.
This sounds pretty plausible
2:59 now I understand the logic of the colors in the two nations flags 😅
The red in French flag is closer to pink than Germany which has a saturated red color
Bismarcks intelligence and sheer intuition is genuinely terrifying.
Looking back, Richard Nixon's grasp of foreign affairs was pretty comparable.
@@CarlGerhardt1 What did he have to show for it aside from dead Cambodian children and China that he empowered which now is the only American rival of note.
@@CarlGerhardt1 Nixon was a fine statesman, but no way can you equate him with Bismarck
@@ashutoshtripathi. Cambodia were hosting the enemy VietCong and China were rivals with the Soviets
It would be like blaming the British for siding with Prussia during the Napoleonic Wars
@@AureliusLaurentius1099 Doesn't justify the war crimes, that's the whole definition of war crimes. You can't justify them morally.
And no, it wouldn't be like blaming British in the Napoleonic wars, rather, it would be like British investments fueling Prussian industrialization after the formation of North German Confederation and even the German empire, thinking that France is still their biggest rival. Kissinger and the US also realized too late that the Soviets were already in a decline. And they created a much stronger rival in China than the Soviets ever were even when they occupied half of Europe.
Nothing Kissinger did was a success, China became the biggest threat to American global hegemony.
Vietnam ended up in a shitshow.
The support for the massacres in Bangladesh resulted in Kissinger's own ally getting cut in two.
People think Kissinger was a Machiavellian genius but he was an average diplomat with excellent networking and propaganda skills.
In fact Lorraine was cut in half in the annexation, hence the French refer to the lands as Alsace-Moselle instead. Also, the 1871 border is still materialized in the current administrative units, that is why the departements of Moselle, Meurthe-et-Moselle and the Territory of Belfort have weird shapes, and don't have anymore their old boundaries from the French revolution.
The German term "Elsass-Lothringen" is even less fitting. "Lothringen" is also the German term for Lotharingia/Lotharingie. Moselle is not Lotharingia. 🤓
Bassically, Kelly Moneymaker bought the land for James Bisonette, only for it to be rented out by Spinning Three Plates, which gave them back to France
Kelly moneymaker wasn't named in the post credits so she's clearly got a long-standing grudge on the sovereignty of Lothringen
Shut up
@@cyphate came looking for kelly moneymaker comments and i was not dissapointed.
Also, Alsace-Lorraine was overwhelmingly (about 90%) populated by German speakers, which is what Germany very much wanted because of its strong drive by German nationalism. Including a large French-speaking population isn't what they were looking for
This always bothered me that Alsace-Lorraine is portrayed as something that was taken from France by Prussia - when in fact Prussia reclaimed land that were annexed about 215 years before by the french. The about 90 % german population were there for a reason ^^
@@benxiro4293Except the people who were living were perfectly satisfied being French and didn't see themselves as German. When it was conquered, many of them chose to remain as such or left.
@@benxiro4293 except that centuries before these lands were part of the kingdom of France. Even Joan of Arc came from Lorraine
@@LOEKASH And then they were annexed by the French again after most were already at peace being part of Germany enjoying better workers rights. Most Alsacians only cared about the Kulturkampf which ended after Bismarcks sacking, it's voting habbits were pretty much aligned with rest of Germany afterwards. Also there was no option to retain French citezenship without leaving.
@@tutentyp6934 Another example of how the population was divided by the annexation was in relation to compulsory military service. In 1872, only 7,454 of the 33,475 men who signed up did so. 42 years later, up to 20,000 men crossed the border to fight on the French side.
*Fun fact:* Napoleon III called Napoleon I "grandpa" instead of "uncle". That was because Napo III's father Louis was very negligent and his mother Hortense (Napokeon's adoptive daughter) very supportive and caring
Praying so James Bisonette don't stop getting mentioned at the the end of videos so history (therefore the world) doesn't end.
1:18
Lovely zoo. I wonder what other specimens are displayed. 🤔
1:33
The irony of the Prussian using *that* exact model of shotgun lol!
"Emperor Most Stupid"
What is it about that model of shotgun? Would like to know.
@@Hyde_Hill It's the "trench sweeper" shotgun the Americans used in WWI, which the Germans tried to claim was a war crime.
I think 1:33 is a reference to “Seven Psychopaths”.
"Never do an enemy a small injury." -Machiavelli
When you do a big one you get 6 million jews dead and a Europe in ruins
Alsace had a German-speaking population, which may be reliable. Loraine was the chief industrial region of France. Taking this region would be crippling for the French economy and thus for its military.
There's also the fact that Alsace-Lorraine contained large German speaking (or German dialect speaking) population (minus some cities, like Metz), which the Prussians, who already had to "tolerate" Poles and Danes, would be fine with incorporating into the empire.
Although integrating Alsace-Lorraine would turn out to be much harder for the Prussians to achieve than they thought.
To be fair, (re) integrating Alsace-Lorraine was much harder for the French than they thought too.
Probably because there was no other german majority area in france? assuming it was any percentage German before annexation
The Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine did contain territories which were not German-speaking. The border drawn in 1871 was not the language border, it was a strategic border. Kind of like the Austrian-Italian border after WWI.
I see some people in the comments thinking Lorraine was mostly a German speaking country, while it's the other way around.
I think many people (even in France) don't know the history of Lorraine, especially the most crucial part, during the Thirty Years' War. So, here's some context.
The Duchy of Lorraine was a French-speaking region long before it was annexed by France. In fact, Lorraine even fought against both France and the Holy Roman Empire for a long time. During the Thirty Years' War, France (under Richelieu and Louis XIII) decided to "tame" the duchy by killing its inhabitants. They feared that Lorraine would side with the Holy Roman Empire because of the Habsburgs.
France financed the Swedish army to maximize civilian casualties-roughly 60% of the population was killed. We can even add the plague and famine of this period, which brought the death toll closer to 80%. Richelieu rejoiced at seeing so much death among them (it's written in his diary, I kid you not!). The Duke of Lorraine sought help from the Holy Roman Empire but received none.
Cowards on both sides. And some still pretend, centuries later, that this land and its people "belong to them".
France and Germany make a war over the Spanish throne. Spain ignores it and chooses an Italian prince to be her king.
Who left after calling the Spanish people "ungovernable", which led to the previous French-orginated Bourbon dynasty re-entering. It really goes round in circles.
One small error you got wrong in the beginning is that on the map Prussia didn’t control Al of the North. It was known as the North German Confederation at the time made up of several Northern German kingdoms, duchies, etc as well.
That dancing through daisies was just XD
The "in captivity" bit was my favorite. 😂
Alsace was mostly German linguistically and culturally anyway so it would be much easier to intergrate into the German empire.
Also it’s more land west of the Rhine which makes a future war easier in theory offensively or defensively.
+ important ores
Technically yes they could but they chose to not do that
2:23 i know this isent a prime example but i still wanna point out bismarcks genius here and how well he forsaw political events
My maternal grandmother's parents (Molyet) came from Alsace and I think they left soon after the annexation by Prussia/Germany. The dialect they spoke was similar to German, but perhaps their political loyalty was to France or as Catholics they did not want to live under Protestant dominated Prussia
In the immediate aftermath of the Treaty of Frankfurt, the overwhelming majority of the 1,542,000 people living in Alsace-Moselle were hostile to their new condition. More than 50,000 people left Alsace-Moselle on 30 September 1872, as Article 2 of the Treaty of Frankfurt authorised those who wanted to retain French nationality to go to France from the interior before 1 October of the same year. In all, more than 160,000 Alsatians left their homeland to remain French in the months following the annexation, with a further 110,000 signing a declaration stating that they had become German in spite of themselves and therefore felt deprived of their original homeland. In all, more than 400,000 Alsatians chose to emigrate to France on the eve of the Great War.
32 seconds ago. Glad i found something to watch while eating
I'm actually starting to notice that the historical characters and specifically their uniforms or clothes that he's presenting in his videos seems to be getting more and more accurately detailed. And I'm loving it! 🔥🗺️✨
Germany thought they could financially cripple France, but France had Kelly, faiseur d'argent on their side.
We miss you Kelly Moneymaker!
Dark times indeed.
Is it weird I'm concerned about someone who's existence I'm only aware of because of their patronship of a TH-cam channel I watch?
@@user-rk3yb6nd1n No, it's part of the lore and when there's a major lore change without warning, it makes sense to have a reaction, especially in a long running narrative.
Good video.
1:18 portraying Napolean III as a zoo animal is one of the most bizarre yet hilarious jokes ever. This channel never gets old!
Imperator Stultissimus
..
I'm glad I looked that one up :)
As a professional Hoi4 player i must say this, Germany should have just pressed the annex button and then not do anything while they wait out the world tension.
Excellent as always
Funfact(s): The french reparations were so high, that all the additional money led to a bubble in the german economcy which ultimately bursted leading to the "Gründerkrach" of 1873. Fact 2: During the peace negotiations, a petition in Prussia demanded to take Indochina instead of Alsace-Lorraine from France. Bismarck however was not a fan of colonies and declined.
To point out:
Wilhelm never outright said no to the demands that a member of his family ever be asked to rule Spain again,he said he'd think it over.
Of course, this was France pushing its luck as they'd gotten what they initially wanted when Wilhelm agreed that his cousin wouldn't take the Spanish throne
imperātor stultissimus hahaha! honestly, i love all of the Latin easter eggs when they appear. just pure gold...
Because Kelly Moneymaker stopped funding them.
Good video idea: Why did Canada and Denmark contest Hans Island?
Bismarck always has a plan
This enraged Otto Von Bismarck, who punished Germany severely
If you wondered why so much of Bismarck's foreign policy was around appeasing Russia, it was because he needed to isolate France to ensure they couldn't get any allies for round 2. He was certain Germany wouldn't win a war on two fronts and well...look what happened.
I read a book about the Paris commune a few months back and it captures this point brilliantly.
The revolutionaries were kinda frightened of Bismarck cause of how anti-socialist he was. But Bismarck was too busy trying not to make an enemy of Russia to spend too much political attention in putting the Paris Commune down.
The point being, intelligent as Bismarck was, he wasn't immovable.
Let's go, a new History Matters video 🗣🗣
I do feel it needs a little Pruessens Gloria in the background.
I don't know if History Matters is the greatest. But they sure are great. Thank you!
This is such an interesting period, I wish we knew more.
Very interesting
2:55 you're telling me that 40 years later the triple entente used this exact strategy thinking it will somehow work this time?
I think it was only france that really wanted reparations and land. The usa wanted stable nationstates and the british wanted their naval empire secured
@renaatsenechal I don't think what each individual country wanted is important when the outcome is identical. Germany lost even more land then France ever did, the entirety of Germanies colonial possession was given to France, the UK (and Australia), and Belgium, as well as a significant portion of Germanies eastern states were used to form Poland. on top of that reperations crippled Germanies economy. the Triple Entente original wanted to partion Germany back to how it was before Prussian Unification, America is the reason Germany remained intact, America did alot to rein in the triple ententes wishes.
I would like to see a video about the Italia "Condottieri". Something like "why did the age of Condottieri end?" or "Why Italy passed from being the most militarized country to the least militarized in modern age"?
I misread the title as "Why didn't Germany annex all of France" and thought History Matters was awake at 3 AM again
I waited for this all day!
Because Kelly Money Maker didn’t want the German Empire to get too big and strong
Great video.
The last time the Kaiser met Franz Ferdinand he suggested that Franz's morganatic son Max become Grand Duke of an independent Alsace-Lorraine, Franz Ferdinand didn't say yes but agreed to discuss it further at some point in the future (but, you know, Sarajevo). Which suggests the Kaiser may have wanted to turn Alsace-Lorraine into a buffer state between France and Germany in the vein of Belgium and Luxembourg and not keep it as part of Germany
Love these history videos!
Fascinating!
I love how little Grant cares about this development very historically accurate
Kelly Moneymaker..?
KELLY MONEYMAKER?!??!!!?? WHERE ARE YOU?!!?!!??!
Love your channel, but I cant help thinking that showing the annexed territories as changing from dark blue to dark grey was a way to highlight how little land was taken ... Because of how hard it is to see 😛
Is this where the History Matters episode of Napoleon III disappeared to??
*VIDEO SUGGESTION:*
Why does San Marino exist?
Next video: Why Kelly Moneymaker stopped appearing at the end credits of History Matters videos
So it is official that Kelly Moneymaker is gone. RIP Kelly Moneymaker, you will be missed.😭
Note that the borders of Alsace-Lorraine weren't just drawn based on where the population was majority German. Lorraine has the largest iron ore reserves in Europe (which Germany lacks), so they also included parts of Lorraine with lots of iron ore. Until it was lost in WW1, Alsace-Lorraine produced more iron ore than the rest of Germany combined.
Taking notes on how to form a German-British alliance for an alternate history project, and this proved quite valuable.
Can you do a video on why Egypt doesn't own Cyrenaica, even though it did historically?
I miss Kelly Moneymaker.
I’ve been asking myself this every day.
Well, Elsass- Lothringen was German since 870 until France took it end of the 1600s.
They spoke and speak German there.
And all that hustle because Karl the Great had 3 sons.;)
And Schleswig was never a part of the HRE. Should Germany give Flensburg back to Denmark? :o
"Charlemagne le Grand" you mean ?
@@dabbasw31 Where exactly did Hans talk about the HRE? The main point was not Elsass-Lothringen being part of the HRE but being culturally germanic.
Only a part of Lorraine (use the correct French word please) was culturally german, the 3/4 of it was romance
In 870, Alsace-Lorraine was just Lotharingia and barelly different culturaly from East and West Francia by that point. It would only be rattached to East Francia in the Xth century, through conquest.
Germany wasn't a thing back then. There was no German nation, no German State. Only a bunch of Germanic duchies with a king that quickly tried to paint himself as not Frank to rally the other non Frankish lord, only to gain enough power to obtain the title of Roman Emperor.
It's only in the XVth century the HRE would start to vaguely consider itself German, which was mostly a dick move by the German nobility to fuck over the Czech and Burgundian nobility. And by that point, the HRE was already nothing even remotly close to a proper State, unlike the res tof Europe and many of it's own subkingdom.
"Imperator stultissimus" as Napoleon III's species name...oh, that's beautiful.
I love these videos
Also Germany just wanted the german people in its border (2:13) as bismarck said after the unification: "Deutschland ist gesättigt" (Germany is saturated)
Thank you + can you make a video about why Scandinavia did not unite as an empire and why the Vikings did not unite
Annexating Alsace-Lorraine was actually A LOT. At the time the territory's textile industry was bigger than that of the whole Germany. It was one of the most prosperous territories in the world. The loss was severe for France.
History matters if you still release 10 minute history videos can you do one on the life of Otto I and his descendants 🙏🏻
So that is four points of view on the Franco-Prussian war on this channel (I've enjoyed them all) The German side, the French side, The Austrian Side (where the Hingarians wouldn't allow the Austrians to play), and the Paris Commune. I think this needs a super edit to combine all of them :D
as some people say AE is just a number
Yes, it was actually the military, with the support/blessings of Wilhelm,who pushed for the annexation of Alsace/Lorraine.
Bismarck was against it as,in his correct assessment of the situation,it was a bridge too far
I love the Zoo information thing.
I also like the fact that the credits featured Napoleon Bonaparte who would have pulverised the Germans if there had attempted such a thing.
Love your videos much love from USA ❤❤