Glory & Defeat

Franco-Prussian War Documentary and Book 

The Franco-Prussian War (War of 1870) was one of the pivotal events of the 19th century. It paved the way for decades of Franco-German rivalry and it led to the creation of the German Empire and a new French Republic. Glory & Defeat tells the story of the Franco Prussian War week by week on YouTube exactly 151 years after the events. 

It’s time for the prequel to The Great War

In the mid-19th century, Europe looked quite different than today. There was the 2nd French Empire under Napoleon III, nephew of the legendary Napoleon who had nearly conquered the continent decades earlier. In central Europe the situation was chaotic with a number of rapidly changing German states. Prussia, under the ambitious King Wilhelm I and his chancellor Otto von Bismarck, was rapidly expanding through multiple wars (against Denmark and Austria) and by 1870 was in control of the North German Confederation. The Confederation encompassed Prussia and multiple other states like Brunswick and Saxony – and it had close ties with the German states in the south like Bavaria and Würtemberg. 

Napoleon III and Wilhelm I had quite different ideas for the future power structure of Europe – to say the least – and in 1870 this came to a head. After Bismarck leaked the infamous Ems Dispatch to the press, France and the German States went to war. And this Franco-Prussian War would change Europe forever. 

Beyond Sedan, beyond Bismarck

Today, Bismarck’s manoeuvring leading up to the war and engagements like the Battle of Sedan or the Siege of Paris are often remembered and sometimes even mystified. But the War of 1870 (as it’s called in French) was much more than that: over 3 million men went to arms and more than 150,000 soldiers died during the months-long campaign. The fighting wasn’t just concentrated around Paris; the ‘Southern Army’ under General von Manteuffel famously drove the French Army of the East, commanded by general Charles-Denis Bourbaki, into the mountains near the Swiss border. With the Battle of Havana and a French naval blockade, the war even had an often-overlooked naval front. 

The ultimate defeat of the French Empire and the French Republic that emerged during the war, the proclamation of the German Empire in Versailles in 1871, and much more, are reasons enough to remember this important part of European history. The use of modern technology like trains and artillery and the rivalry between France and Germany that would fester until 1914 need to be examined to fully understand the lead up to the First World War. 

For its 150th anniversary, the Franco-Prussian War has come back into the spotlight with new research and publications. We want to tell its fascinating story for a new generation using the newest research. In the most detailed documentary series about this war ever made (total run time planned: over 4.5 hours), you will experience the war through the eyes of the people that lived through it. 

We can only tell this story with your direct support. 

Neither the traditional broadcast companies nor TV stations would be suitable for our vision. We can only tell the story of the Franco-Prussian War with your support. Glory & Defeat is the culmination of what we learned from our previous crowdfunded documentaries to better bring you our brand of Real Time History: history with multiple perspectives, easy-to-follow animations and using sources from all sides.  

Direct supporters will not just get access to all episodes of Glory & Defeat ad-free and outside of YouTube. They will also get extended episodes with deep dives on topics that YouTube doesn’t like. 

A free version of the documentary will be uploaded weekly to YouTube. With a more niche topic, we need to attract as wide an audience as possible and there is no way around YouTube when it comes to online video. We hope that the Franco-Prussian War won’t fall victim to YouTube’s algorithm like our World War 1 and World War 2 content in the past. Should YouTube interfere, the documentary will be available for backers regardless. So, only crowdfunding allows us to tell this story as comprehensively and completely unbiased as we possibly can. 

Rewards 

Each reward includes digital access to the documentary. You will get access to all episodes of Glory & Defeat ad-free and outside of YouTube. These will also be extended episodes with deep dives on everything Franco-Prussian War. Every backer will also get access to behind-the-scenes content and be invited to our community Discord server where you can chat with other backers and with the production crew. 

Glory & Defeat Book

Our Official Companion Book will be the ultimate companion to the documentary series. It will contain all extended scripts for the show edited for reading and including the amazing artwork and illustrations featured in the show. Furthermore, there will be a chapter about exploring the Franco-Prussian War battlefields yourselves and much more. 

Virtual Battlefield Tour

In a year where travelling is a bigger challenge than usual, we’re offering an exciting interactive virtual battlefield tour of the Sedan battlefield with Jesse Alexander. In this streamed and guided tour, we will show you the actual battlefield and its intricacies. Also includes streaming the documentary and behind the scenes access.

Goals

125.000€ 

Every pledge allows us to make the documentary series more detailed and give every topic its due time. With this goal we can create a complete documentary series for the entire duration of the war with a total runtime of more than 4.5 hours. 

200.000€

Paris Commune week by week. One of the most dramatic consequences of the Franco-Prussian War was the Paris Commune, an uprising that pitted communards against the French Army in a bloody civil conflict. If we reach this goal, we will cover it week by week as well. 

Meet the Team

We are Real Time History, the team behind the successful YouTube channel The Great War and the groundbreaking documentary series 16 Days in Berlin and Rhineland 45. We have produced well over 100 hours of high-quality history documentaries over the past years and over 225 million views!

Host and researcher Jesse has an MA in history and has been studying early 20th-century history for years. He speaks English, French, German and Russian. For Glory & Defeat, we will be working with some of the most renowned experts of the Franco-Prussian War.

Catherine Pfauth & Prof. Dr Tobias Arand – Script Writing & Research

Cathérine Pfauth BA is a research assistant at the Ludwigsburg University of Education . In 2020/21 as an editor she was responsible for the Twitter project ‘Heute vor 150 Jahren – @Krieg7071’ covering the Franco-Prussian War in real-time. She has already presented the project internationally at several conferences. 

Prof. Dr Tobias Arand teaches history didactics and history science at the Ludwigsburg University of Education. Numerous publications on the Franco-Prussian War, including the 2018 standard work ‘1870/71 – Der Deutsch-Französische Krieg erzählt in Einzelschicksalen’, distinguish him as an expert on the subject.

Battlefield Design 

A small studio with big ideas and a passion for history. Battlefield Design works with publishers, authors, museums, historians and tour operators all over the world and specializes in book cover design and battlefield cartography. The Glory & Defeat Logo, graphical elements and maps were designed by Battlefield Design. 

Christa Hook

Christa Hook is a fine artist and illustrator who specializes in military history. 
Her paintings have attracted commissions from museums, publishers and military organizations around the world. The cover art for Glory & Defeat is just a small taste of her work. 

FLO WITTIG

CEO & Executive Producer

Before founding Real Time History with Toni Steller, Florian produced The Great War YouTube channel since its inception. Flo is a native Berliner and responsible for content planning and community management, both vital to the success of the The Great War. Flo has an MA as Creative Producer from the Zurich University of Arts and a BA as Online-Editor from the University of Applied Sciences Cologne.

TONI STELLER

Director & Production Manager

Toni Steller has been working in the TV and online video industries in Berlin for over ten years. As a trained and state-approved audio-visual media designer, he worked for popular TV productions in Germany as producer and director. Toni has been behind the look and feel of The Great War since the very beginning. Beyond the studio, he successfully transferred the show’s characteristics to the outside world when The Great War was filmed in museums or former battlefields.

JESSE ALEXANDER

Historian & Broadcaster

 Jesse Alexander is a historian, educator and higher education professional based in Vienna, Austria. He holds a BA in History from the University of Ottawa and an MA in Modern History from the University of Vienna. His focus is conflict in the first half of the 20th century. He has worked as a researcher and educator with Canada’s Cold War Museum, the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian War Museum, the National Research Council of Canada, le Centre Juno Beach, le Mémorial national du Canada à Vimy, the Library of Parliament of Canada and more. With his passion for presenting history to a diverse audience, he recently joined The Great War as the new host and lead writer and with his ability to speak English, French, German and Russian, he brings an international perspective to the project.

DAN MORELLE

Crowdfunding Producer

Dan is a creative entrepreneur, producer, and qualified teacher. Dan has produced several hit podcasts including ‘You’re Dead to Me! for the BBC, and his shows have had 10 million downloads combined. Dan has organised events at Downing Street, raised £1M with crowdfunding, and was a co-founder of History Hit with Broadcaster, Dan Snow. In 2017 Dan headed Crowdfunding and Community at Dig Hill 80 – an archaeological excavation of a WW1 battlefield in Wijtschate, Belgium that recovered the remains of 135 soldiers. He has a BA in Communications & Audio Visual Production from London Metropolitan University, a Post Graduate Certificate in Education.

Get Involved

Whether or not you can make a financial pledge at the moment, we’d still really appreciate your help in spreading the word about this campaign. You can do this by sharing this page via social media, or mentioning the documentary and book to your friends. Thank you!

Contact Us

You can reach us at support@realtimehistory.net or on Messenger here. We’ll get back to you within 48 hours.