The historical background of the Peace Treaties

The war of 1870–71 between France and Germany did not last long. Hostilities began after France had declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870. Two months later, an all-German military force had already defeated the main French armies. A truce was agreed on 28 January 1871, six months after the outbreak of the armed conflict. On 26 February 1871, the two parties signed a preliminary peace treaty. Thereafter, negotiations for a definitive treaty of peace were opened in Brussels. These negotiations dragged on for a while without making any significant headway. As a consequence, Bismarck convened a new conference in Frankfurt, which started on 6 May 1871. Four days later, on 10 May 1871, the final peace treaty was signed, and the exchange of instruments of ratification took place on 20 May 1871. Thus, less than four months after the end of the armed hostilities normalcy in the French–German relationship had been formally restored.

It should be recalled that the French–German war of 1870–71 was a bilateral war in which no other European power intervened. This fact certainly facilitated the conclusion of a peace treaty. It also contributed to the relatively modest dimensions of the two instruments. The Preliminary Peace Treaty consisted of ten articles, while the Frankfurt Peace Treaty encompassed seventeen articles. The conditions imposed on France were simple and straightforward.