"Bismarck's War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe" By Rachel Chrastil (2023).
An excerpt from, "Bismarck's War by Rachel Chrastil" by Steve Donoghue, Open Letters Review, September 5, 2023:
Rachel Chrastil, professor of history at Xavier University in Cincinnati, starts her new book about the Franco-Prussian War by reminding her readers that size isn't everything. Although the war lasted only about seven months, from the summer of 1870 to the beginning of 1871, two million soldiers were mobilized, and over 180,000 died. As Chrastil points out at the beginning of her terrific new book Bismarck's War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe, this was the largest Western military conflict between Waterloo and the First World War, and although it obviously didn't originate the horrors of warfare, much less the mechanized nightmares of the 20th century's world wars, Chrastil argues that the Franco-Prussian War “made them more thinkable.” “During the war,” she writes, “it was possible to imagine civilians as the direct targets of bombardment and to see them as national enemies who must be identified by the state and forcibly removed.”
Bismarck's War retells the story of the men and motives of the conflict, a story that received a definitive military history back in 1961 with Michael Howard's The Franco-Prussian War, and despite it's title, Chrastil's book is mostly only haunted by Prussia's animating spirt, Otto von Bismarck, rather than inhabited by him. French Emperor Napoleon III and Prussia's King Wilhelm I are far more prominent in these pages, as is the elephantine Chief of the Prussian General Staff, Helmuth von Moltke, forever being forced to adapt to the monstrous demands of modern warfare. “The state still required short wars, and short wars required taking the offensive,” Chrastil observes. “Yet increased firepower meant that the defence would prevail. Moltke responded to this challenge with flank attacks at the operational level.”
The quick German victory over the French stunned neutral observers, many of whom had expected a French victory and most of whom had expected a long war. The strategic advantages which the Germans had were not appreciated outside Germany until after hostilities had ceased. Other countries quickly discerned the advantages given to the Germans by their military system, and adopted many of their innovations, particularly the general staff, universal conscription, and highly detailed mobilization systems.
The Prussian General Staff developed by Moltke proved to be extremely effective, in contrast to the traditional French school. This was in large part because the Prussian General Staff was created to study previous Prussian operations and learn to avoid mistakes. The structure also greatly strengthened Moltke's ability to control large formations spread out over significant distances. The Chief of the General Staff, effectively the commander in chief of the Prussian army, was independent of the minister of war and answered only to the monarch. The French General Staff—along with those of every other European military—was little better than a collection of assistants for the line commanders. This disorganization hampered the French commanders' ability to exercise control of their forces.
In addition, the Prussian military education system was superior to the French model; Prussian staff officers were trained to exhibit initiative and independent thinking. Indeed, this was Moltke's expectation. The French, meanwhile, suffered from an education and promotion system that stifled intellectual development.
Video Title: Franco-Prussian War – Bismarck’s German Empire - Rachel Chrastil (Author Interview, 2023). Source: War Books Podcast - by A.J. Woodhams. Date Published: September 13, 2023. Description:
Ep 036 – Nonfiction. Deliberately engineered by Prussian Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the Franco-Prussian War toppled the French Empire, unified Germany, and set Europe on the path to World War I. Historian Rachel Chrastil joins me to discuss her fascinating new book, "Bismarck's War: The Franco-Prussian War and the Making of Modern Europe."
