Franco-Prussian War

American  

[frang-koh pruhsh-uhn] / ˈfræŋ koʊ ˈprʌʃ ən /

noun

1. the war between France and Prussia, 1870–71.

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Franco-Prussian War British  

noun

1. the war of 1870–71 between France and Prussia culminating in the fall of the French Second Empire and the founding of the German empire

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Example Sentences

Civil War and soon after in the Franco-Prussian War.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 16, 2026

Impressionism would not have taken the form it did without the Franco-Prussian War and the civil war inside Paris of 1870-71.

From Washington Post • Feb. 3, 2023

In a sign of his patriotism, he volunteered for the National Guard during the Franco-Prussian War before assuming the directorship of the Paris Conservatory in 1871.

From New York Times • Jan. 24, 2023

It is one of the strongest images we have from the 1870 siege of Paris, which occurred during the Franco-Prussian War.

From Salon • Oct. 11, 2021

Forty-eight years earlier, following Germany’s victory in the Franco-Prussian War, the now-defunct German Empire had been proclaimed in the same ornate hall.

From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman