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====Aftermath of the war====
[[File:512px-BismarckundNapoleonIII.jpg|thumbnail|left|Napoleon III and Bismarck after Napoleon was captured at the Battle of Sedan 1870]]
The Franco-Prussian war was a resounding victory for the new German Empire. Germany was united under Prussia, after the war and was the largest and most populous state, apart from Russia. Eventually, Germany withdrew from most of France, although they annexed the French provinces of Alsace-Lorraine. France was also expected to pay reparations to the new German state. Germany’s emergence as the most powerful state in Europe was to change the balance of power in Europe in the decades that followed. Germany had replaced France as the leading nation in continental Europe and, under Bismarck, established good diplomatic relations with Russia and Great Britain, to secure its position.<ref>Rich, p. 167.</ref>
