History of the North Sea the North Sea though they saw little action. The Austro-Prussian War (1866) resulted in Prussia's gaining full control of the Kiel Canal, allowing their Baltic ports access to the North Sea. France declared war on Prussia 19 July 1870 which initiated the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). The French Navy was, at the time far larger and superior to the North German Federal Navy, the Navy of the North German Confederation. Though the French did take a number of merchant ships bound to and from North Germany, shortages of manpower and coal, as well as conflicting orders, made the attempted blockade of
Baltic Sea Division of Brest-Litovsk with Soviet Russia, signed on 3 March 1918. Germany aimed to establish a chain of satellite states in eastern Europe in order to provide raw materials for German industry and food products for the German people. The Finnish Senate of Vaasa had requested German military aid for the Whites. The Finnish Senate paid all the financial costs of the military intervention of the Baltic Sea Division and urged the Finnish people to provide food, shelter, and any other aid needed by the Baltic Sea Division. During the Finnish Civil War, on 3 April 1918, it landed at Hanko