Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. While the causes of the war are many and complicated, the immediate cause arose when the crown of a European nation was offered to Prince Leopold von Hohenzollern, a member of the Prussian royal family. Which nation made this offer?
2. Eventually, Prince Leopold refused the offer, but the French government was not satisfied with this. The French Ambassador to Prussia, Benedetti, visited King Wilhelm, who at this time was absent from Berlin, to request a guarantee that no similar offer would ever be accepted in future. The King refused to give such a guarantee, and the Ambassador then left. The King's staff then telegraphed an account of the meeting to Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in Berlin. This telegram was known as the ... ?
3. Shortly before the French declaration of war on 19 July 1870, the Minister for War, General Leboeuf, assured the French government that the army was ready for war 'down to the last ...'
4. What, respectively, were the standard issue French and German infantry rifles?
5. Which town or city marked the furthest advance of the brief French invasion of Prussian territory at the beginning of the war?
6. In general, the early battles of the war were marked by heavy French casualties and comparatively light German losses.
7. Which battle of the Franco-Prussian War is notable for containing the last major cavalry charge in Western Europe?
8. A veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, this Prussian general was given command of the German First Army. Although he won most of his battles against the French, his unimaginative tactics led to high casualties. He was relieved of command of First Army after the Battle of Gravelotte. He is Karl von ...?
9. This French general, who had a distinguished record in Algeria, the Crimea, Italy, and Mexico, was appointed to the command of the Army of the Rhine at the beginning of the war. Although he had distinguished himself in relatively junior positions, he proved unsuitable for higher command. After suffering a number of defeats, he was surrounded with his army by German forces, and eventually surrendered on receiving news of the French defeat at Sedan. He is Marshal Achille ...?
10. Following its defeat at the battle of Gravelotte, and hence its failure to break out towards Verdun, the French Army of the Rhine was compelled to fall back on which of the following cities?
11. Roughly how many French prisoners were taken at the Battle of Sedan?
12. In a rare French victory, what French city which had earlier been captured by the Germans was recaptured on 9 November 1870?
13. To which city did the French provisional government flee in order to avoid being trapped in Paris by the German army?
14. After a bloody and destructive siege, an armistice was eventually concluded with the Germans on 28 January 1871. Following the end of the war and the withdrawal of German troops from Paris, but before the new French republican government could establish control of the city, an attempt was made to establish an insurrectionist régime in Paris. What was the name given to this new régime?
15. Which two French provinces were handed over to the newly established German Empire by the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt, signed in May 1871?
Source: Author
Harry Wise
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bloomsby before going online.
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