en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franco-Pr…
In 1851, the elected President, a nephew of Napoleon, seized power in a coup when his term was up, and declared himself Emperor Napoleon III.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Napoleon_…
This did not always go well, such as when France got its butt kicked by Mexico.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Fr…
Prussia was the strongest German state, and was famous for having a well-organized army. It wasn't as industrialized, though.
(How did he do it? Basically, with mean tweets: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ems_Dispa…)
amazon.com/Franco-Prussia…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of…
When the Germans put Paris under siege, the Parisians did what they had been doing for a century: They launched a REVOLUTION!
A communist revolution, in this case.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Com…
But this time, Germany was a nation in arms as well...
United, Germany had even more people than France, and they didn't spend all day fighting each other.
Revolutionary fervor did not avail this time.
bradford-delong.com/2015/07/todays…
In fact, nothing made France great again, ever.
France's time as continental Europe's most powerful nation was over.
1. Leadership matters. Just because a bloviating idiot promises to restore national greatness doesn't mean he has any ability to do so. In fact, he'll probably just lead the country to ruin.
(But as Germany's overreach 44 years later shows, this approach can get you into big trouble, because it pushes you to keep fighting wars and to think you're invincible.)
(end)
gutenberg.org/files/4362/436…