It is interesting to see there the statement: "...Large guns can therefore be made in France just as well as in Germany..."
In the 1870 French-Prussian war the Prussian victory was, in large part(not counting the skill of Helmuth von Moltke and the reltive incompetence of the French generals) through the superiority of the Prussian artillery using the Krupp C64 80mm gun. After the war the French put a large efforts to create a better gun and this effort eventually have produced the famous Soixante-Quinze; a 75 mm quick-firing field gun and the prototype of all modern guns.