1870
Franco-Prussian War Declared
Bismarck, by editing a telegram from the baths at Ems to sound insulting, baited Napoleon III into declaring war on Prussia. Within six weeks the French emperor was a prisoner at Sedan with a hundred thousand men. The Second Empire collapsed; Paris proclaimed a republic; the siege began. Bismarck had his war, and Europe had a new German state.
Dogali Falls in Japan's Reforms
The Meiji government abolished the daimyo system of feudal domains and replaced them with prefectures under central control. Within two years the samurai class would be abolished, conscription introduced, and the whole edifice of Tokugawa Japan dismantled from the top down. It was revolution by imperial decree, carried out at astonishing speed.
Sedan
Trapped in the little fortress town of Sedan with his army ruined, Napoleon III surrendered his sword and eighty-three thousand men to Wilhelm I of Prussia. The Second Empire had two more days to live. The republic that was proclaimed in Paris on the 4th would lose the war and be born again out of the wreckage.
Rome Taken by Italy
With French troops withdrawn to fight Prussia, Italian bersaglieri breached the Aurelian walls at Porta Pia and entered Rome. A plebiscite ratified annexation within weeks. The Pope retired behind the Vatican walls and refused to recognize the Italian state for nearly sixty years. Italian unification was, at last, essentially complete.
Metz Capitulates
Marshal Bazaine surrendered the great fortress of Metz and the last intact French field army - 180,000 men - without a serious battle. It was one of the largest surrenders in military history. France, already reeling, now had only citizen volunteers and national guards to defend Paris against German siege guns.