"The Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871 changed the course of European History. Alarmed by Bismarck's territorial ambitions and the Prussian army's crushing defeats of Denmark in 1864 and Austria in 1866, French Emperor Napoleon III vowed to bring Prussia to heel. Digging into many European and American archives for the first time, Geoffrey Wawro's The Franco-Prussian War describes the war that followed in detail. While the armies mobilized in July 1870, the conflict appeared "too close to call." Prussia and its German allies had twice as many troops as the French. But Marshall Achille Bazaine's grognards ("old grumblers") were the stuff of legend, the most resourceful, battle-hardened, sharp-shooting troops in Europe, and they carried the Chassepot, one of the world's best rifles. From the political intrigues that began and ended the war to the bloody battles of Gravelotte and Sedan and the last murderous fights on the Loire and in Paris, this is an authoritative history of the Franco-Prussian War."--Jacket.

Some copies are : Cambridge University Press, NY, 1st paperback edition (reprints) 2005 ; with same pagination, 23 cm.

Causes of the Franco-Prussian War -- The armies in 1870 -- Mobilization for war -- Wissembourg and Spicheren -- Froeschwiller -- Mars-la-Tour -- Gravelotte -- The road to Sedan -- Sedan -- France on the brink -- France falls -- The Peace.