Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from The Encyclopaedia Britannica, Vol. 11: A Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and General Information; Franciscans to Gibson
Franco-german war (1870 The victories of Prussia in 1866 over the Austrians and their German allies (see seven weeks' war) rendered it evident to the statesmen and soldiers of France that a struggle between the two nations could only be a question of time. Army reforms were at once under taken, and measures were initiated in France to place the armament and equipment of the t100ps on a level with the requirements of the times. The chassepot, a. New breech loading ri?e, immensely superior to the Prussian needle-gun, was issued; the artillery trains were thoroughly overhauled, and a new machine-gun, the mitrailleuse, from which much was expected, introduced. Wide schemes of reorganization (due mainly to Marshal Niel) were. Set in motion, and, since these required time to mature, recourse was had to foreign alliances in the h0pe of delaying the impending rupture. In the first week of June 1870, General Lebrun, as a confidential agent of the emperor Napoleon III., was sent to Vienna to concert a plan of joint Operations with Austria against Prussia. Italy was also to be included in the alliance, and it was agreed that in case of hostilities the French armies should concentrate in northern Bavaria, where the Austrians and Italians were to join them, and the whole immense army thus formed should march via Jena on Berlin. To what extent Austria and Italy committed themselves to this scheme remains uncertain, but that the emperor Napoleon believed in their bona fides is beyond doubt.
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