Second Battle of Orleans

Orléans is a city in north-central France, about 130 kilometres southwest of Paris. It is the capital of the Loiret department and of the... Centre region. Orléans is located on the Loire River where the river curves south towards the Massif Central. The city of New Orleans , in the United States is named after the commune of Orléans. Orléans is located in the northern bend of the Loire, which crosses from east to west. Orléans belongs to the vallée de la Loire sector between Sully-sur-Loire and Chalonnes-sur-Loire, which was in 2000 inscribed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. The capital of Orléanais, 120 kilomètres south-south-west of Paris, it is bordered to the north by the Beauce region and the forêt d'Orléans, and the Orléans-la-Source neighbourhood and the Sologne region to the south. Five bridges in the town cross the river : To the south of the Loire is to be found a small hill at the pont Georges-V, 110 m at the place du Martroi which gently rises to 125 m at la Croix Fleury, at the limits of Fleury-les-Aubrais.
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The Franco-Prussian War or Franco-German War, often referred to in France as the 1870 War , was a conflict between the Second French Empire and the... Kingdom of Prussia. Prussia was aided by the North German Confederation, of which it was a member, and the South German states of Baden, Württemberg and Bavaria. The complete Prussian and German victory brought about the final unification of Germany under King Wilhelm I of Prussia. It also marked the downfall of Napoleon III and the end of the Second French Empire, which was replaced by the French Third Republic. As part of the settlement, the territory of Alsace and part of Lorraine was taken by Prussia to become a part of Germany, and it remained so until the end of World War I when it was returned to France in the Treaty of Versailles. The conflict was a culmination of years of tension between the two nations, which finally came to a head over the issue of a Hohenzollern candidate for the vacant Spanish throne, following the deposition of Isabella II in 1868.
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