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Franco-Prussian War

 Summary of structures 

Causes
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Opposing forces
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Germans
This section describes the Prussian Army. Expand to cover differences with the North German Confederation and Southern German States?

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Composition and tactics
The Prussian Army was composed not of regulars but of conscripts. Service was compulsory for all men of military age, and thus Prussia and its North and South German allies could mobilise and field some 1,000,000 soldiers in time of war.

The German army comprised that of the North German Confederation led by the Kingdom of Prussia, and the South German states drawn in under the secret clause of the preliminary peace of Nikolsburg, 26 July 1866. Treaty of Prague. Recruitment and organisation of the various armies were almost identical, and based on the concept of conscripting annual classes of men who then served in the regular regiments for a fixed term before being moved to the reserves. This process gave a theoretical peace time strength of 382,000 and a wartime strength of about 1,189,000.

German tactics emphasised encirclement battles like Cannae and using artillery offensively whenever possible. Rather than advancing in a column or line formation, Prussian infantry moved in small groups that were harder to target by artillery or French defensive fire. The sheer number of soldiers available made encirclement en masse and destruction of French formations relatively easy.

German operations emphasised attacking the enemy in the flank, having pinned it from the front, while on the tactical level the army was noted for its aggressive attacks. This extended to the use of guns to a much greater degree than was common in previous wars.

Equipment
The army was equipped with the Dreyse needle gun renowned for its use at the Battle of Königgrätz, which was by this time showing the age of its 25-year-old design. The rifle had a range of only 600 m and lacked the rubber breech seal that permitted aimed shots. The deficiencies of the needle gun were more than compensated for by the famous Krupp 6-pounder (3 kg) steel breech-loading cannons being issued to Prussian artillery batteries. Firing a contact-detonated shell, the Krupp gun had a longer range and a higher rate of fire than the French bronze muzzle loading cannon, which relied on faulty time fuses.

General staff
The Prussian army was controlled by the General Staff, under Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke. The Prussian army was unique in Europe for having the only such organisation in existence, whose purpose in peacetime was to prepare the overall war strategy, and in wartime to direct operational movement and organise logistics and communications. The officers of the General Staff were hand-picked from the Prussian Kriegsakademie (War Academy). Moltke embraced new technology, particularly the railroad and telegraph, to coordinate and accelerate mobilisation of large forces.

The war of the Second French Empire
Describe the action as a series of campaigns, with references to battles.

Battle of Wissembourg
All of this section has been included in Battle of Wissembourg (1870). There are minor wording differences.

Battle of Spicheren
All of this section has been included in Battle of Spicheren. There are minor wording differences, small but significant wording differences, and differences in citations. The second half of the final paragraph will need to be checked for transfer to the battle page.

Battle of Wörth
The contents of this section need to be checked against Battle of Wörth.

Battle of Mars-La-Tour
Check contents against Battle of Mars-La-Tour.

Battle of Gravelotte
Information in Battle of Gravelotte appears to be more up-to-date Check edit history. First paragraph: move French army composition details. Dubious claims, poor spelling and grammar exist in Battle of Gravelotte.

Siege of Metz
This section appears to conflate the siege of Metz, Battle of Beaumont, and the surrounding of the Army of Châlons in Sedan.

The war of the Government of National Defence
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The war at sea
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Aftermath
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Subsequent events
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