pe became temperamental. Prince Leopold had accepted candidacy of the Spanish throne after being persuaded by Bismarck. And as a result, the French government became alarmed at the possibility of a Prussian-Spanish alliance; threatening Bismarck with war if Leopold's candidacy was not withdrawn. Scarcely a year passed before France declared war, allowing Bismarck to rally the Germans together; thus unifying Germany and defeating France (Franco-Prussian War, 2004). In short, France's interference with Prussian affairs allowed Prussia to rally Germans in a unifying cause. This war resulted in the expansion of Prussian borders into Alsace-Lorraine, creating an extremely delicate political relationship between Germany and France. For decades after 1871, recovery of Alsace-Lorraine was a major political goal of French diplomacy, and one of the roots for World War One (Franco-Prussian War, 2004).
             The German defeat of France, and the humiliating terms of which they imposed onto the French provoked many new political bonds. Because of the F
             ...