 Bartholdi served in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 as a squadron leader of the National Guard, and as a liaison officer to Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi, representing the French government and the Army of the Vosges.As an officer, he took part in the defense of Colmar from Germany.Distraught over his region's defeat, over the following years he constructed a number of monuments celebrating French heroism in the defense against Germany.