276 



THE CENTURY BOOK OF FACTS. 



other members of the Left in the Legislative 

 Assembly. A government of defense "was pro- 

 claimed, with General Trochu as President, 

 M. Gambetta as Minister of the Interior, M. 

 Jules Favre (Foreign), General Le Flo (War). 

 The Empress Eugenie fled from Paris (Septem- 

 ber 4), and settled at Chiselhurst. Negotia- 

 tions for peace between M. Favre and Count 

 Bismarck ended in failure (September 24), and 

 a proclamation from the Government at Tours 

 was issued calling upon the people " to fight 

 to the bitter end." 



The siege of Paris was commenced by the 

 Germans (September 15), and five days later 

 the troops at Versailles surrendered, and the 

 Crown Prince of Prussia occupied the place. 

 A levee en masse of all under twenty-five years 

 of age was ordered by the Government (Sep- 

 tember 23), and all Frenchmen between twenty 

 and twenty-five years were prohibited (Septem- 

 ber 26) leaving France, those between twenty- 

 one and forty years being organized as a na- 

 tional garde mobile. M. Gambetta, escaping 

 by means of a balloon from the beleaguered city 

 (October 7), was appointed by the government 

 at Tours, Minister of War. 



An attempt on the part of the Red Repub- 

 licans at Paris, headed by Blanqui, L6dru-Rol- 

 lin, and others to establish a Commune in that 

 city, was successfully defeated (October 14). 

 The news of the capitulation of Metz caused 

 riots at Paris' (October 31). As the result of 

 a plebiscite to confirm the powers of the Gov- 

 ernment of Defense, the votes recorded were 

 557,976 for, 62,638 against. The successes of 

 the German arms continued, the army of the 

 Loire was defeated by the Grand Duke of 

 Mecklenburg (November 17), the fortresses of 

 Verdun (November 8) and Thionville (Novem- 

 ber 27) capitulated. The army of the Loire un- 

 der General Chanzy was again attacked and de- 

 feated at Beaugency (December 8). After 

 various battles, the army of the Loire, fighting 

 and retreating, was defeated by Prince Fred- 

 erick Charles at Le Mans (January 11, 1871), 

 and near Vosges (January 15, 16). 



The army under General de Paladines, in- 

 trenched at Orleans, suffered defeat by Prince 

 Frederick Charles (December 4), and Orleans 

 surrendered, Rouen being two days later oc- 

 cupied by General Manteuffel, who engaged 

 the army of the North under General Faid- 

 herbe atPointe a Noyelles (December 23), and 

 at Bapaume (January 2, 3, 1871), the French 

 retreating in each case. General Bourbaki 

 was also defeated by the German general Von 

 Werder, near Belfort (January 15-17), and 

 General Von Goeben gained a victory over the 

 French under Faidherbe at St. Quentin (Janu- 

 ary 19) . After gallant but unsuccessful sorties 



from Paris by Generals Trochu and Ducrot 

 (November 20 and January 21), the city, 

 which had been bombarded, capitulated (Jan- 

 uary 28) . Following the fall of Paris, General 

 Bourbaki's army was defeated (January 30- 

 February 1) by the Germans under Genera. 

 Manteuffel, and driven across the frontier into 

 Switzerland. The fortress of Belfort capitu- 

 lated (February 16) with military honors after 

 a long defense. An armistice took place pre- 

 paratory to negotiations for peace. On the res- 

 ignation of M. Gambetta a National Assembly 

 was elected (February 8) of which M. Gre>y 

 was chosen president, M. Thiers becoming head 

 of the executive power. The French Govern- 

 ment was recognized by the chief European 

 powers (February 18), and (February 26) 

 preliminaries of peace were signed by MM. 

 Thiers and Favre and fifteen delegates of the 

 National Assembly on the part of France, and 

 Count Bismarck on the part of Germany. By 

 this France was to cede certain parts of Lor- 

 raine, including Metz and Thionville and 

 Alsace, excluding Belfort. Tn addition, five 

 milliards of francs ($1,000,000,000) were to 

 be paid as war indemnity to Germany ; certain 

 departments to be occupied by German troops 

 until this was fully discharged. The treaty, 

 signed February 26, was accepted by the 

 National Assembly sitting at Bordeaux (March 

 1), by 546 votes to 107, at the same time 

 unanimously confirming the fall of the Em- 

 ! pire. The Germans, after occupying Paris for 

 | forty-eight hours (March 1-3), withdrew from 

 Versailles (March 12). A Peace Conference 

 met at Brussels (March 28), and at Frankfort 

 I a definite treaty of peace was signed (May 10), 

 and ratified by the French Assembly (May 21). 

 ' The last installment of the indemnity was paid 

 j September 5, 1873, and the last of the German 

 troops quitted French soil (September 16). 

 The Red Republicans under the lead of Blan- 

 qui, Gustav Flourens, and Felix Pyat rose 

 in revolt (March 18, 1871) against the Gov- 

 ernment, held Paris and established the Com- 

 mune, which was not suppressed until the insur- 

 gents had committed many outrages and de- 

 stroyed much property, after holding possession 

 of Paris until May 28, when the troops under 

 Marshal MacMahon captured the city ; some 

 eight hundred troops were killed, the Com- 

 munist forces losing fifty thousand. One 

 fourth of Paris was destroyed, the loss to prop- 

 erty being estimated at $160,000,000. Great 

 numbers of the Communists were subsequently 

 tried, some executed, and the remainder trans- 

 ported. Since this period France has enjoyed 

 a respite from martial dissensions, though the 

 temper of the people is a continual menace to 

 stability of rule. 



