Franco Prussian War Memorial Monuments

Fought in 1870 and 1871, the Franco-Prussian war almost resulted in civil war in France. The French were confident they would win, but superior German tactics and artillery resulted in a crushing defeat that forced French Emperor Napoleon III to surrender and abdicate. Following the defeat there was severe unrest in Paris -- many prominent buildings burned to the ground and between 20,000 and 30,000 Parisians died. France also had to transfer the majority of two of its provinces, Alsace and Lorraine, to Germany as part of the peace treaty. French MemorialsThe fact that the French lost the war and was so traumatized afterward made the conflict much more difficult for them to commemorate. The government erected a few memorials in places where its soldiers fought gallant defensive actions. The huge Lion of Belfort, carved into a mountain in Alsace in eastern France, commemorates the resistance of Belfort to the German advance. The city endured a 100-day siege but the Germans never succeeded in capturing it and after the war, Belfast, unlike the rest of the province of Alsace, was permitted to remain part of France. The French government tried to use monuments like this to link a heroic past with an expected glorious future, says author Andrew Eschelbacher. German Battlefield MemorialsThe victorious Germans erected memorials on the former battlefields. These monuments were to both celebrate their victory and commemorate their 28,000 soldiers who died in the war. Since these areas were now part of Germany, the memorials also marked the territory as German. Historiker Geoffrey Wawro bemærker, hvordan udformningen af ??monumenter - fyldt med jern kors og spikes tyske pickelhaub hjelme - foreslår en sikker nation sikkert på sin plads i verden. I dag står disse samme monumenter ignoreret i fransk landbrugsjord. Lokale MemorialsTowns både Tyskland og Frankrig til tider rejst mindesmærker til at mindes de lokale folk, som døde i krigen. Skønt mange ikke har overlevet de mellemliggende år, kan andre stadig ses i dag, ofte i lokale kirkegårde. In Muehlacker i Tyskland er byen kirkegården hjem til en række mindesmærker forskellige krige, herunder en lille sten obelisk toppet med en ørn der viser navnene på 75 mænd, som gjorde tjeneste i krigen. Et andet eksempel er i byen Marburg, hvor en rød sandsten monument i byen kirkegården mindes 25 lokale tyske soldater.