Prince August of Württemberg were the two south German princes who were foremost in securing the union of the Northern and Southern German states. On 22 September 1868, Wilhelm announced his resignation from the command of the troops of the Grand Duchy of Baden and was replaced by General Beza. Franco-Prussian War In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, Wilhelm commanded the 1st Baden Brigade in the XIV Corps. On 30 October 1870, Wilhelm and General Gustav Friedrich von Beyer assailed Dijon. The French had transported 10,000 men by rail and the citizens of Dijon, including women, joined in the defense of the city against the Germans. The resistance was not easily subdued and the Germans suffered heavy losses, however according to historian Gustave Louis Maurice Strauss, "[Wilhelm] carried the heights of St. Apollinari in gallant style and occupied the suburbs from which the Germans ultimately forced their way into the city where fierce fights from barricade to barricade from house to house lasted till midnight." Dijon was occupied by 24,000 Prussians on 18 January 1870, but was reoccupied by the French after a severe battle, and subsequently retaken by the Prussians on 19 January, during which Wilhelm was shot in his cheek at Nuits-Saint-Georges. Post-war career In 1895, Kaiser Wilhelm II promoted him à la suite to the Grenadier Regiment () in honor of the 25th anniversary of the Battle of Nuits-Saint-Georges. At the same time, Wilhelm II made him knight of the Order of Pour le Mérite, the Kingdom of Prussia's highest military order. Wilhelm's final military rank was General of the Infantry. Political career From a young age, Wilhelm held a seat in the First Chamber of the Diet of the Grand Duchy of Baden. From 1871 to 1873, Wilhelm was a representative of Baden in the Reichstag of the German Empire in which he was a member of the German Imperial Party () (also known as the Free Conservative Party). Marriage and children Wilhelm married Princess Maria Maximilianovna of Leuchtenberg, Princess Romanovskaja on 11 February 1863 in Saint Petersburg. She was the eldest surviving daughter of Maximilian de Beauharnais, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg and his wife Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia, Russian Empire. Upon learning of the marriage, United States President Abraham Lincoln sent a letter to Wilhelm's elder brother Frederick I, Grand Duke of Baden in which Lincoln stated: "I participate in the satisfaction afforded