[1] The war, declared by Emperor Napoleon III on Prussia on 19 July 1870, ended in defeat for France and terminated in the Treaty of Frankfurt of 10 May 1871.

Forty years would have to elapse before the government would agree to a tangible form of recognition for the surviving veterans of the conflict.

[1] The Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War was awarded to veterans of the Franco-Prussian War who could prove with an official document, their service under French colours in France or Algeria, or on board armed naval vessels, between the months of July 1870 and February 1871, in:[1] The law of 27 March 1912 enlarged this list of potential recipients to include doctors, medics, nurses and chaplains able to prove their presence on the battlefield, in ambulances and hospitals, as well as to balloon pilots who escaped from besieged Paris to carry out a public service.

[4] A decree of 17 September 1921 added all veterans of the war of 1870-1871 that were wounded or maimed in combat, or that particularly distinguished themselves in the face of the enemy, as potential recipients of the Military Medal.

Its obverse bore the relief image of the effigy of the "warrior republic" in the form of the left profile of a helmeted woman's bust wearing armour.