FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 



3313 



FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR 



and Metz were important fort- 

 resses, which should have been 

 well supplied for a siege. 



The crown prince's army was S. 

 of Landau, assembled for the march 

 which carried it over the frontier. 

 The second army was marching 

 through the Haardt Wald by 

 Kaiserslautern. The first army, 

 held back by von Moltke, was 

 cantoned between Neunkirchen, 

 Tholey, and Lebach, making alto- 

 gether a total of some 450,000 men. 

 On Aug. 6 came the first real 

 clash of arms. To the S. the crown 

 prince's army, which had driven in 

 MacMahon's outposts from Wis- 

 sembourg on Aug. 4, defeated him 

 severely on this day at Worth, and 

 drove his force headlong from the 

 field. On the same day there was 

 an important battle near Spicheren, 

 where the advanced guards of the 

 first and second armies forced back 

 Frossard. So severe were these 

 blows that nothing remained for 

 Napoleon but to form " the army 

 of the Rhine " round Metz, under 

 Bazaine, while MacMahon gathered 

 together fragments into another 

 army at Chalons ; thus abandoning 

 the whole of Alsace-Lorraine, ex- 

 cept the fortresses, to the enemy. 



Disaster of Sedan 



The Germans, not entirely un- 

 touched by the two battles, for the 

 French soldiers had fought well, 

 and confronted by the new situa- 

 tion, paused for a moment before 

 they pressed forward in overwhelm- 

 ing strength. By Aug. 14 the 

 German advanced guards inter- 

 rupted a commencing retreat of 

 Bazaine's troops from the E. of 

 Metz, and brought about the battle 

 of Colombey-Nouilly, which seri- 

 ously interfered with French plans. 

 Two days later the second army, 

 which had crossed the Meuse S. of 

 Metz, again interfered with the pro- 

 posed retreat on Verdun, by the 

 battle of Vionville-Mars-la-Tour, 

 and compelled Bazaine, on Aug. 

 18, to fight the battle of Gravelotte. 

 Unsuccessful in this, he was driven 

 inside the Metz fortifications. 



With these reverses the second 

 empire was tottering to its fall. 

 The moral of the French troops 

 was infected by the cry of " We 

 are betrayed," and this feeling had 

 its reflection, or its origin, in Paris. 

 The emperor was with the army, 

 doing little to save the situation ; 

 while the empress Eugenie in Paris 

 was doing her best in a falling cause. 

 MacMahon was now directed to 

 effect the relief of Metz, and com- 

 menced the desperate march N. 

 and E. which ended at Sedan. 



The Germans, well informed of 

 French movements, had left a 

 sufficient investing force to hold 

 Bazaine, and so liberated a for- 



midable army to deal with Mac- 

 Mahon. Caught up at Beaumont 

 on Aug. 28, and forced back on 

 Sedan with the Belgian frontier 

 behind him, MacMahon fought a 

 desperate losing action on Aug. 31 

 and Sept. 1. MacMahon was 

 wounded, and on Sept. 2 de 

 Wimpffen signed the surrender of 

 the last imperial army in the field. 

 Napoleon was present and became 

 a prisoner of war. On Aug. 31 

 Bazaine made a desperate attempt 

 to break out of Metz, but was 

 driven back under the guns of the 

 place, where he remained until the 

 surrender of his whole army on 

 Oct. 27. Strasbourg, after a fero- 

 cious bombardment, had undergone 

 a regular siege. Its commander, 

 General Uhrich, held out until the 

 inhabitants were in a state of star- 

 vation and his defences were 

 pierced. He surrendered to General 

 Werder on Sept. 27. 



On Sunday, Sept. 4, the empress 

 fled from the Tuileries, and on the 

 5th a republic was proclaimed, 

 with General Trochu as president 

 and governor of Paris, with full 

 military powers for national de- 

 fence ; Jules Favre became min- 

 ister of foreign affairs and Gam- 

 betta minister of the interior. 

 Energetic measures were taken for 

 the defence of the capital and for 

 the formation of a national army, 

 but there were enormous diffi- 

 culties to contend with. The 

 German forces were moving for- 

 ward practically unresisted to in- 

 vest Paris, and probably at this 

 time an opportunity was lost 

 which would have saved both 

 nations a vast amount of suffering 

 and expense. On. Sept. 19 nego- 

 tiations for an armistice were 

 almost concluded by Bismarck 

 and Jules Favre, but the chancellor 

 demanded the surrender of Stras- 

 bourg, Toul, and Verdun ; and 

 these conditions the provisional 

 government would not accept. 



The Siege of Paris 

 The French position was practi- 



it is no easy task hastily to impro- 

 vise armies, however many high- 

 spirited men may be available. 

 There were no great generals, no 

 trained officer corps ; arms and 

 stores were lacking. An army of 

 the north was formed about 

 Soissons and Amiens under Faid- 

 herbe, and a numerically stronger 

 Loire army about Orleans. By the 

 beginning of December the Ger- 

 mans had the northern half of 

 France in their grasp. They had 

 taken the large and important 

 fortified towns of Nancy, Stras- 

 bourg, Metz, Reims, Dijon, Laon, 

 Soissons, Orleans, and Rouen, and 

 were operating under the able di- 

 rection of von Moltkewith well- 

 found armies in every direction. 

 The army of the Loire was driven 

 from Orleans on Dec. 3, and from 

 that time became a negligible 

 factor for the relief of Paris. 



An army had been formed in the 

 Vosges under the leadership of 

 Garibaldi, and fighting in the 

 neighbourhood of Dijon afforded a 

 little distraction, but no real effect. 

 The army of the north was severely 

 defeated early in Jan., 1871. In the 

 S.E. General Bourbaki had col- 

 lected a considerable force to raise 

 the siege of Belfort, but equal 

 failure attended its efforts ; and 

 early in Feb. his army was com- 

 pelled to retreat over the Swiss 

 frontier and give up its arms. 



Germany's Peace Terms 

 It was a terribly severe winter 

 and the sufferings of the ill-found 

 French soldiers were appalling, 

 while the Germans were able to 

 fight in comparative comfort. Paris 

 during January was being regularly 

 bombarded, and in addition was 

 enduring the pangs of hunger. 

 Disease and death were rampant, 

 and the necessity for capitulation 

 had become evident. General 

 Trochu resigned, and Jules Favre 

 was sent to arrange terms of sur- 

 render at Versailles, where William, 

 now crowned as German emperor, 

 taken up his headquarters. 



s 





might to hold out for a long siege. 

 The fortifications were formidable, 

 but so were the German forces. The 

 defence of a large town is no easy 

 problem, since starvation is such 

 an invaluable ally to the besiegers, 

 yet Paris had a great spirit, and 

 hoped greatly for relief from 

 newly formed armies. 



Gambetta escaped from Paris 

 in a balloon, apd from Tours 

 roused the country to arms ; but 



. !,ng. tra 

 1874-84 ; French Official Account, 

 1901, etc. ; The Campaign of Sedan, 

 G. Hooper (1887), repr. 1914; La 

 Guerre, 1870-71, A. Chuquet, 1895 ; 

 Bibliographie G6nerale de la Guerre 

 de 1870-71, B. E. Palat, 1896; 

 Saarbruck to Paris, 1870, a strate- 

 gical sketch, S. C. Pratt, 1904 ; 

 The Franco -German War, 1870-71, 

 F. B. Maurice, 1909 (in Camb. 

 Modem History, vol. 11). 



IB 4 



