Ems dispatch

The actual dispatch was an internal telegram sent by Heinrich Abeken from Prussian King Wilhelm I's vacationing site at Ems to Otto von Bismarck in Berlin, describing demands made by the French ambassador concerning the Spanish succession.

The Austro-Prussian War, from 16 June to 23 August 1866, which involved south and north German states on both sides as well as the emerging Italy, increased Prussia's power.

[1] In early 1870, the German Prince Leopold, of the Roman Catholic cadet branch Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen,[a] had been offered the vacant Spanish throne.

[2] The French were still not satisfied and demanded further commitments, especially a guarantee by the Prussian king that no member of any branch of his Hohenzollern family would ever be a candidate for the Spanish throne.

[3] Benedetti had been instructed by his superior, Foreign Minister Agenor, duc de Gramont, to present the French demand that the king should guarantee that he would never again permit the candidacy of a Hohenzollern prince to the Spanish throne.

In addition, the Prussian envoy in Paris, Baron von Werther, was asked for King Wilhelm to send a letter to Napoleon III that would amount to a personal apology for the matter.

"[5] Heinrich Abeken, Privy Legation Councillor of the North German Confederation's Foreign Office, wrote an account of the event for Otto von Bismarck in Berlin.

[7] Certainly, Bismarck's text, released on the evening of the same day to the media and foreign embassies, gave the impression both that Benedetti was rather more demanding and that the King was exceedingly abrupt.

[7] His Majesty the King writes to me: Count Benedetti intercepted me on the promenade to demand of me, finally 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.

[10] Further improper translations and misinterpretations of the dispatch in the press made excited crowds in Paris demand war, just as Bismarck had anticipated.

[13][14] Benedetti, the messenger for the Duc de Gramont's demands for pointless guarantees (the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen family had withdrawn Prince Leopold's candidature on 11 July 1870 with Wilhelm's "entire and unreserved approval"[5]), became an unseen bit-player; his own dispatches to Paris no longer mattered.