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Abstract. In June 1870, the throne of Spain was offered to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (1835–1905), a relative of King Wilhelm I of Prussia. Leopold accepted the candidacy, which was ultimately withdrawn on July 2 after the French government protested.
The Ems Dispatch was a diplomatic communication sent in July 1870 by German Emperor Wilhelm I from his summer residence in Ems, which played a pivotal role in escalating tensions between France and Prussia.
The Ems dispatch (French: Dépêche d'Ems, German: Emser Depesche), 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.
This is a facsimile of the original coded telegram sent from Bad Ems by Heinrich Abeken, a member of the North German Confederation’s legation in Paris, to Bismarck (then in Berlin) in the middle of the afternoon on July 13, 1870. The Abeken text reads [Page 1]: “Ems, July 13, 1870.
Ems dispatch, 1870, communication between King William of Prussia (later German Emperor William I) and his premier, Otto von Bismarck. In June, 1870, the throne of Spain was offered to Prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, a relative of King William.
The Ems Dispatch History was about the take a dramatic turn. The evening of his encounter with Benedetti, Wilhelm sent a telegram to Bismarck through Heinrich Abeken (a Prussian politician and close confidant of the king and Bismarck) to report the new demands made by the French.
Bismarck succeeded in his plan to make Prussia appear the victim of French aggression; this, in turn, contributed substantially to the decision of all the German states to join the conflict and then later, in January 1871, to join the new German Empire.
