The Ems Dispatch, sometimes called the Ems Telegram, was published on 13 July 1870; it incited the Second French Empire to declare war on the Kingdom of Prussia on 19 July 1870, starting the Franco-Prussian War. The actual dispatch was an internal telegram sent by Heinrich Abeken from Prussian King Wilhelm I's vacationing site at Ems to Otto von Bismarck in Berlin, describing demands made by the French ambassador concerning the Spanish succession. Bismarck, the chancellor of the North German Confederation, released a statement to the press, stirring up emotions in both France and Germany.
Memorial stone to the Ems Dispatch in Bad Ems
Wilhelm I of Prussia in Ems
The Second French Empire was an Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 14 January 1852 to 27 October 1870, between the Second and the Third French Republics. The period was one of significant achievements in infrastructure and economy, while France reasserted itself as the dominant power in Europe.
The official declaration of the Second Empire, at the Union Cycliste Internationale on 2 December 1852
The Avenue de l'Opéra, one of the new boulevards created by Napoleon III and Baron Haussmann
The French landing near Yevpatoria, Crimea, then part of the Russian Empire, 1854
Arrival of Marshal Randon in Algiers, French Algeria, 1857
