14. The Ems Dispatch, a misrepresentation of a meeting between Wilhelm I and the French ambassador, resulted in the declaration of the Franco-Prussian War just six days later
The Austro-Prussian War of 1866 saw the enlargement and empowerment of the German Confederation and Prussian domination of the territory. In early 1870, German Prince Leopold, of the House of Hohenzollern which also ruled the Kingdom of Prussia, was offered the Spanish throne. France, a long-term rival and adversary of the German nation, saw this prospect as adversely threatening their security and sought to take action to preclude encirclement. Although Leopold was compelled to withdraw his acceptance of the crown in July after French protests, the French sought assurances that the House of Hohenzollern would make no further overtures towards Spain.
On July 13, 1870, during a walk in the Kurpark in Ems King Wilhelm I of Prussia was stopped by the French ambassador, Count Vincent Benedetti, who pressed the issue. Despite conversing politely, Wilhelm subsequently wrote to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck that he had found Benedetti “annoyingly persistent”. Editing out Wilhelm’s politeness towards the French ambassador, and emphasizing the implicit threat of war given by Benedetti, Bismarck released that evening a highly misleading, arguably erroneous, version of the telegram he had received from the German monarch. The French interpreted the recorded account as insulting towards their diplomat and state, aided by poor translations of the altered telegram, leading swiftly to calls to follow through with the threat and declare war. Concurrently, the Germans, feeling that the telegram demonstrated an insult and threat to their king and country, equally demanded military action. France declared war on July 19, thus starting the Franco-Prussian War. Lasting until 1871, more than 250,000 people would lose their lives as a result of this diplomatic debacle.