OPEThe significance of the Franco-Prussian War was that its results effected the entire group of European Countries. This started a domino effect which culminated in World War I. The nation that benefited the most from the Franco-Prussian War was Germany.
The main objective of the Prussians in the Franco-Prussian War was to unite the southern and northern states into one unified Germany. The unification of Germany increased nationalism, and together with the development of industry and commerce resulted in a powerful nation that now had the ability and the power to play a key role in world events. Once Germany saw how much power it had within Europe, it began to look at expanding its borders into a vast empire capable of exerting power and possessing even more lands. To achieve this, Germany increased their naval fleet and military personnel. Thus, what France had feared had occurred. The unification of the Northern and Southern German states has upset the balance of power in Europe.
Germany now was able to create a naval fleet which could have matched that of Britain. Britain saw this as a threat and the tension escalated between Britain and Germany. When war developed between the other countries in Europe Germany and Britain also began to wage war against one another. Germanys fleet of submarines sank an English ship prior to the United States joining in the War. The U.
S. came out of their neutral status in the war so that they could keep the German naval submarines under control. At the same time nationalism began to flourish. in Germany. This nationalism evolved into an ideology of superiority over other races. This ideology claimed that the German race had a special responsibility and objective and that Germans were the purest race of all.
This ideology entailed the control over other races particularly the Slavs of Eastern Europe. This lead to the development of anti-Semitic views which were later incorporated into the ideals of Nazism. All of these events which are the results of the Franco-Prussian War led to World War I and show how the effects of one War can have innumerable ramifications throughout history.
