I've heard recently that attitudes among the French public in 1870 largely favored an effort to "settle accounts" with Prussia, and that favor for declaring war was high.
There was talk in the salons among the "chattering class"
(1) that the glory produced by a short victorious war - and, of course, any war would be short and victorious

- would provide a domestic political benefit for the Empire. I'd find it hard to believe that viewpoint was held by the populace at large however.
Supposing this is true, and supposing France had made a much more active effort to modernize and enhance militarily, what are the chances of France deliberately goading the Prussians into a conflict?
Goading Prussia/NGC into war while Bismarck is in charge? There's a very slim chance of that
unless Bismarck wants a war for his own purposes. Remember, in the OTL Bismarck maneuvered France into the role of the aggressor and France declared war first. The war fought inside France because Prussia and her German allies, as planned, mobilized faster and not because Germany went to war earlier.
1 - By chattering class I'm referring to the usual collection of politicians, pundits, bureaucrats, sycophants, bribe makers, bribe takers, lobbyists, fund raisers, and other wastrels who make up the permanent political structure of any nation. You can see the direct lineal descendents of the chattering class who fiddled in Parisian salons while the Second Empire burned in the worthless assclowns who daily "debate" the issues on cable TV news programs.
