The Franco-Prussian War was the beginning of the end for France; World War I was the event that sealed its fate; and World War II was the end of it's power. When they talked about Turkey in 1860, they meant the Ottoman Empire, which included a large part of southeast Europe. Their public attention was on the unification of Italy and the Russian influence over the Ottoman Empire, however, France and England were threatening Mexico over debts, and by November of 1860 the U.S. Navy had to keep a fleet off of Vera Cruz to watch what the "great powers' were doing.