FRANCO-GERMAN WAR 



2311 



FRANCOLIN 



versities of Erfurt, Kiel and Leipzig. In 1691 

 he was appointed professor of Greek and Ori- 

 ental languages at the University of Halle, and 

 at the same time began his duties as pastor of 

 a suburban church. Four years later he estab- 

 lished a free school for the children of his 

 parish, the beginning of an educational work 

 of far-reaching importance. From this small 

 beginning developed an elementary school for 

 the children of the citizens of Halle, an or- 

 phan asylum, a boarding school for well-to-do 

 boys, a training school for teachers and a Latin 

 school. Many notable educational leaders 

 went out from his institutions, and his meth- 

 ods were followed in various parts of Europe. 

 At the present time the Francke Institutes 

 form in themselves almost a suburb of the city 

 of Halle, and are given government support. 



FRANCO-GERMAN WAR, a momentous 

 struggle which took place between Germany 

 and France in 1870-1871. By its overthrow of 

 Austria in the Seven Weeks' War Prussia had 

 placed itself at the head of the German states, 

 and this position it was determined to main- 

 tain. Napoleon III of France recognized the 

 fact that nothing would so strengthen his gov- 

 ernment as a successful foreign policy, and 

 particularly a defeat of Prussia, the ancient 

 enemy of France. Meanwhile Bismarck, the 

 great German statesman, was equally anxious 

 for a struggle. A cause was not far to seek, 

 and was found in a question as to the succes- 

 sion to the Spanish crown, which had been 

 offered by Marshal Prim to Prince Leopold of 

 Hohenzollern, a German. It was felt in France 

 that this would increase the power of Prussia 

 beyond safe limits, and although Leopold vol- 

 untarily withdrew his name, the French gov- 

 ernment demanded of Prussia a promise that 

 no Prussian prince should ever sit upon the 

 Spanish throne. Naturally Prussia refused to 

 comply with this demand, and the result was 

 a declaration of war on the part of France. 



Both countries went into the struggle with 

 great enthusiasm. In Prussia, where the prob- 

 ability of such a war had long been foreseen, 

 the army was in a state of readiness, and plans 

 had been carefully made by the military genius, 

 Von Moltke. In France, on the contrary, no 

 one seemed to have a correct measure of the 

 forces that might be drawn upon, and they 

 proved vastly inferior in numbers and in or- 

 ganization to what had been hoped. Only 

 about 250,000 men were found to be available, 

 as against 450,000 Germans, who had also a 

 reserve of almost 400,000. The victory was 



with the Germans from the first. At Weissen- 

 burg, at Worth and at Spichern the French 

 armies were defeated, and their numbers were 

 greatly lessened. At length the forces divided 

 into two parts one under MacMahon and one 

 under Bazaine; and these two were separated 

 by the Germans and prevented from effecting 

 a junction. Bazaine was defeated and sur- 

 rounded at Metz, and thus kept from giving 

 any aid to France. MacMahon, ordered to 

 march to the relief of Bazaine, met the Ger- 

 mans near Sedan, and there was fought a 

 great battle which resulted in the total defeat 

 of the French and the surrender of the whole 

 army, with Napoleon (September, 1870). In 

 October of the same year Bazaine was forced 

 to surrender at Metz. 



When the news of the defeat at Sedan 

 reached Paris, . Napoleon was deposed and 

 France was declared a republic. The first task 

 of the new government was to put Paris in 

 condition to withstand a siege. Despite the 

 heroism of the inhabitants, however, and the 

 utmost efforts of the French army, the siege 

 was continued only until February, 1871, when 

 the city was forced to yield. A treaty was 

 drawn up, in accordance with which France 

 gave up Alsace and the German-speaking part 

 of Lorraine and pledged itself to pay a war 

 indemnity amounting to about one billion 

 dollars. This war, which proved the total 

 overthrow of the second empire in France, 

 greatly strengthened the plans for German 

 unity by bringing the various German states 

 together against one enemy. See subtitle His- 

 tory, under FRANCE and GERMANY. A.MC c. 



Consult Maurice's Franco-German War, In 

 "Cambridge Modern History" Series ; Hertslet's 

 The Map of Europe by Treaty. 



FRANCOLIN, jrang'kolin, a game bird re- 

 lated to the partridge. There are forty or 

 more species, 

 most of which 

 are found in 

 Africa. The col- 

 oration of all is 

 rich and varied, 

 and the plumage 

 of the sexes is 

 practically alike; 

 in this francolins 

 differ from most 



other birds. They 



THE FRANCOLIN 



travel in family parties, rather than in coveys, 

 and fly swiftly and heavily. They feed in the 

 morning and at evening, at which times their 



