The Ems Dispatch (sometimes called the Ems Telegram) is the document that instigated the Franco-Prussian War. Bad Ems is a resort spa east of Koblenz on the Lahn river. At the time Bad Ems was in Prussia. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Bad Ems is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. ... Koblenz (also Coblenz in pre-1926 German spellings; French Coblence; from ) is situated on the left bank of the Rhine at its confluence with the Moselle, where the Deutsches Eck (German Corner) and its monument are situated. ... The river Lahn in Limburg The Lahn is a river in Germany. ... The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Prussia, 1701-1918 The word Prussia (Old Prussian: Prūsa, German: Preußen, Polish: Prusy, Lithuanian: Prūsai, Latin: Borussia) has had various (often contradictory) meanings: The land of the Baltic Prussians (in what is now parts of southern Lithuania, the Kaliningrad...

The French concern was that the German prince Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen had been offered the Spanish throne. The French government was concerned over a possible Prusso-Spanish alliance between fellow Hohenzollerns. Leopold had withdrawn his acceptance in July 1870 after French protests, but the French demanded further commitments. Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is the cadet branch of the senior Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty, less known however than the Franconian branch which became Burgraves of Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg, Prussia and ultimately Germany in the centuries to 1918. ... History of Spain series Prehistoric Spain Roman Spain Medieval Spain - Visigoths - Al-Andalus - Age of Reconquest Age of Expansion Age of Enlightenment Reaction and Revolution First Spanish Republic The Restoration Second Spanish Republic Spanish Civil War The Dictatorship Transition to Democracy Modern Spain Topics Economic History Military History Social History...

On July 13, 1870 King Wilhelm of Prussia, on his morning stroll in the Kurpark, was "waylaid" (Edward Crankshaw in Bismarck) at Ems by Count Vincent Benedetti, the French ambassador in Prussia since 1864. Benedetti had been instructed by Antoine Agénor Alfred, the Duc de Gramont, to present the French demand that the king should guarantee that he would never approve the candidacy of a Hohenzollern to the Spanish throne. The meeting was informal and took place on the promenade of the Kursaal with the King’s entourage at a discreet distance. The King refused to agree to the French demand "somewhat severely" but politely and the meeting ended. July 13 is the 194th day (195th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 171 days remaining. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... Wilhelm I of Germany (March 22, 1797 – March 9, 1888), German Emperor (Kaiser), ruled January 18, 1871 – 9 March 1888 and King of Prussia, ruled 2 January 1861 – 9 March 1888. ... Vincent, Count Benedetti (April 29, 1817 - March 28, 1900), was a French diplomat. ... 1864 (MDCCCLXIV) was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar or a leap year starting on Sunday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ...

From the meeting the King wrote an account and it was passed on to Otto von Bismarck. Wilhelm described Benedetti as "very importunate." The King gave permission to Bismarck to release an account of the events. Bismarck took it on himself to sharpen the language. Certainly the edit of the telegram released on July 14 to the media and foreign embassies gave the impression that Benedetti was rather more demanding and the King exceedingly abrupt. It was designed to give the French the impression that King Wilhelm I had insulted Count Benedetti; likewise, the Germans interpreted the modified dispatch as the Count insulting the King. For alternative meanings: See Bismarck (disambiguation). ... July 14 is the 195th day (196th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 170 days remaining. ...

By editing the telegram, Bismarck intended to start a war with France, as part of his plan to unify Germany. Indeed, he remarked "The Ems Telegram should have the desired effect of waving a red cape in front of the face of the Gallic [French] Bull". Apparently it was successful: France declared war on July 19, 1870. July 19 is the 200th day (201st in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 165 days remaining. ... 1870 was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ...

Benedetti published an account of the meeting in Ma Mission en Prusse (1871).

Text of the Ems Telegram

Sent by Heinrich Abeken of the Prussian Foreign Office under King Wilhelm's Instruction to Bismarck.

Unedited Version

His Majesty the King has written to me:

"Count Benedetti intercepted me on the promenade and ended by demanding of me in a very importunate manner that I should authorize him to telegraph at once that I bound myself in perpetuity never again to give my consent if the Hohenzollerns renewed their candidature.

I rejected this demand somewhat sternly as it is neither right nor possible to undertake engagements of this kind [for ever and ever]. Naturally I told him that I had not yet received any news and since he had been better informed via Paris and Madrid than I was, he must surely see that my government was not concerned in the matter."

[The King, on the advice of one of his ministers] "decided in view of the above-mentioned demands not to receive Count Benedetti any more, but to have him informed by an adjutant that His Majesty had now received [from Leopold] confirmation of the news which Benedetti had already had from Paris and had nothing further to say to the ambassador.

His Majesty suggests to Your Excellency that Benedetti's new demand and its rejection might well be communicated both to our ambassadors and to the Press."

Bismarck's Published, Doctored Version

"After the news of the renunciation of the Prince von Hohenzollern had been communicated to the Imperial French government by the Royal Spanish government, the French Ambassador in Ems made a further demand on His Majesty the King that he should authorize him to telegraph to Paris that His Majesty the King undertook for all time never again to give his assent should the Hohenzollerns once more take up their candidature.

His Majesty the King thereupon refused to receive the Ambassador again and had the latter informed by the adjutant of the day that His Majesty had no further communication to make to the Ambassador."