May 10, 1871 · Germany Theater
May 10, 1871
The Treaty of Frankfurt, signed on May 10, 1871, formally ended the Franco-Prussian War on terms that Bismarck had deliberately made severe enough to cripple France for a generation. France ceded Alsace (except Belfort) and the northeastern portion of Lorraine — approximately 1.6 million people and the iron-ore deposits of the Lorraine basin — to the new German Empire. France agreed to pay a war indemnity of five billion francs — an unprecedented sum — within three years, with German troops occupying northeastern France as guarantee. Bismarck's advisers had argued against taking Alsace-Lorraine on the grounds that it would make France a permanent enemy; Moltke and the generals insisted. Bismarck, uncharacteristically, yielded to military pressure.
Commanders