‘Announcing Our Withdrawal from the Declaration’ — The Declaration of Paris and the Franco-German War of 1870

Abstract

The Prussian-Austrian War of 1866 and the Franco-German War of 1870–1 have rarely been studied regarding their impact on the relationship between sea power and international law. Both wars were essentially continental affairs, a clash of the world’s most advanced infantries to settle the problem of Germany’s future and its position in the European hierarchy. However, both Prussia and Austria were also aspiring naval powers that had built up small but modern ironclad fleets, and France was at the time challenging British naval supremacy.¹ This chapter will describe the previously unknown ambitions of the Prussians and the Austrians to utilise the continental wars of the 1860s to establish a precedent, facilitating a subsequent reform of international maritime law that suited their interests as second-rate naval powers. In a second part, it will discuss the France’s global naval war against German trade and explore to what extent a blockade under the rules of the declaration was still feasible and effective in the 1870s. The third part will demonstrate how disputes about French violations of maritime law rattled the regime of the Declaration of Paris, leading to the first serious challenge by a great power. Newly discovered letters by Prussian Prime Minister Otto von Bismarck show that this process of escalation marked an important turning point in the history of the regime of the Declaration of Paris, rendering a future reform of the system well-nigh impossible.