of the Empire would simplify the cruel position of France
towards the enemy. The Dynasty which had declared war being
reversed, and the men now in power having been throughout
opposed to war and in favour of German unity, and now
demanding nothing but peace, what motive could the King of
Prussia have to continue the invasion of France? It was
further to be considered that free France would defend her
integrity to the last drop of her blood; that she would
voluntarily give up neither an inch of her territory nor a
stone of her fortresses. Such were the ideas which the new
Minister of Foreign Affairs, M. Jules Favre, expressed on the
6th of September, in a circular addressed to the French agents
in foreign countries. The Cabinet of Berlin was not slow in
disabusing him of these convictions. Far from accepting the
view that the Emperor Napoleon was the sole promoter of war,
Count Bismarck, in two despatches of the 13th and of the 16th
of September, threw the responsibility of the conflict on the
French nation. He stated that the vast majority of the
Chambers had voted for war, and that the Emperor was justified
in assuring the King that he had been forced into a war to
which he was personally averse. ... In order to be secure
against future aggression, Germany would ask for guarantees
from the French nation itself, and not from a transitory
Government. ... In any case, Germany would require Strasburg
and Metz. Thus the accession to power of the Republican
Government did not modify the reciprocal positions of the two
belligerents. Nevertheless, hope was entertained in Paris that
the friendly intervention of the great powers might induce the
victor to soften his rigour;" but intervention was declined by
the Berlin Cabinet and not undertaken. "On the 19th of
September the investment of Paris was completed. At the desire
of the French Government, the English Cabinet applied to the
German head-quarters, with the object of obtaining for M.
Jules Favre an interview with Count Bismarck. This request
having been granted, the two statesmen held conferences, on
the 19th and 20th of September, at Ferrières, a castle of
Baron Rothschild near Meaux. During these interviews the
French Minister was sentimental and the German Minister coldly
logical. They could not come to an agreement on any single
point. ... The Government of Paris ... again proclaimed that
France would not cede an inch of her territory. Meanwhile, in
consequence of the investment of Paris, the Government of
National Defence was divided into two parts; some of its
Delegates withdrew to Tours, forming a delegation of the
central Government which remained in Paris. The German armies
had continued their onward march, as well as their operations
against the fortresses. Toul capitulated on the 23rd and
Strasburg on the 28th of September. On the 5th of October,
King William had established his headquarters at Versailles."
Meantime "the Government of National Defence made a last
attempt to secure allies, or at least the help of powerful
mediators. With this object M. Thiers, who had placed himself
at the disposal of the Administration of the 4th of September,
was sent on a mission to the European Courts. From the 12th of
September till the 20th of October, the old statesman visited
in succession London, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Florence. In
none of these cities were his measures attended with happy
results." At St. Petersburg and at London he was told--and he
was himself convinced--"that the King of Prussia was
compelled to consider the public opinion of Germany, and that
France would have to resign herself to territorial
sacrifices." He returned to France to advise, and to procure
authority for, a conference with the German Chancellor. But
events had already occurred which aggravated the forlorn
condition of France. "The youngest and most enterprising
member of the Government of Paris, M. Gambetta, had left the
Capital on the 8th of October in a balloon for Tours. It was
his intention to organise national defence in the Provinces.
The day after his arrival at Tours, he issued a fiery
Proclamation to the French people. ... With an energy that
called forth universal admiration, the Government of Tours,
over which Gambetta presided as Dictator, organised
resistance, formed a new army, and gathered together every
possible resource for defence both in men and in materials.
All these efforts could not arrest the progress of the
invasion. From the 11th to the 31st of October, the Germans
took successively Orleans, Soissons, Schlestadt and Dijon.
Round Paris they repulsed the sallies of Malmaison, Champigny,
and le Bourget. But all these defeats of heroic soldiers waned
when compared to the appalling and decisive catastrophe of
Metz. After the battle of Gravelotte, Marshal Bazaine had
unsuccessfully attempted several sallies. ... On the 7th of
October, after an unfortunate battle at Woippy, lasting nine
hours, Bazaine considered the situation desperate. His only
thought was to obtain the most favourable conditions he could,
and with this object he sent General Boyer to the headquarters
at Versailles." After two weeks of negotiation, "on the 21st
of October, the army encamped within the walls of Metz found
itself without provisions. ... Negotiations with Prince
Frederick Charles, nephew of the King and Commander-in-chief
of the besieging Army, were opened on the 25th, and terminated
on the 27th of October. The conditions were identical with
those of Sedan: capitulation of the town and its forts with
all the material of war, all the army of the Rhine to be
prisoners and the officers to be liberated on parole."
_E. Simon,
The Emperor William and his Reign,
chapter 13 (volume 2)._
"The French Army of the Rhine at the time of the surrender
still numbered 173,000 men, inclusive of 6,000 officers and
20,000 men remaining temporarily in Metz as sick or
convalescent."
_The Franco-German War: German Official Account,
part 2, volume 1, page 201._
ALSO IN:
_A. Forbes,
My Experiences of the War between France and Germany,
part 2 (volume 1)._
FRANCE: A. D. 1870-1871.
The war in the provinces.
Unsuccessful attempts to relieve the capital.
Distress in Paris.
Capitulation and armistice.
"The surrender of Metz and the release of the great army of
Prince Frederick Charles by which it was besieged fatally
changed the conditions of the French war of national defence.
Two hundred thousand of the victorious troops of Germany under
some of their ablest generals were set free to attack the
still untrained levies on the Loire and in the north of
France, which, with more time for organisation, might well
have forced the Germans to raise the siege of Paris. The army
once commanded by Steinmetz was now reconstituted, and
despatched under General Manteuffel towards Amiens; Prince
Frederick Charles moved with the remainder of his troops
towards the Loire. Aware that his approach could not long be
delayed, Gambetta insisted that Aurelle de Paladines should
begin the march on Paris.
{1388}
The general attacked Tann at Coulmiers on the 9th of November,
defeated him, and re-occupied Orleans, the first real success
that the French had gained in the war. There was great alarm
at the German headquarters at Versailles; the possibility of a
failure of the siege was discussed; and 40,000 troops were
sent southwards in haste to the support of the Bavarian
general. Aurelle, however, did not move upon the capital: his
troops were still unfit for the enterprise; and he remained
stationary on the north of Orleans, in order to improve his
organisation, to await reinforcements, and to meet the attack
of Frederick Charles in a strong position. In the third week
of November the leading divisions of the army of Metz
approached, and took post between Orleans and Paris. Gambetta
now insisted that the effort should be made to relieve the
capital. Aurelle resisted, but was forced to obey. The
garrison of Paris had already made several unsuccessful
attacks upon the lines of their besiegers, the most vigorous
being that of Le Bourget on the 30th of October, in which
bayonets were crossed. It was arranged that in the last days
of November General Trochu should endeavour to break out on
the southern side, and that simultaneously the army of the
Loire should fall upon the enemy in front of it and endeavour
to force its way to the capital. On the 28th the attack upon
the Germans on the north of Orleans began. For several days
the struggle was renewed by one division after another of the
armies of Aurelle and Prince Frederick Charles. Victory
remained at last with the Germans; the centre of the French
position was carried; the right and left wings of the army
were severed from one another and forced to retreat, the one
up the Loire, the other towards the west. Orleans on the 5th
of December passed back into the hands of the Germans. The
sortie from Paris, which began with a successful attack by
General Ducrot upon Champigny beyond the Marne, ended after
some days of combat in the recovery by the Germans of the
positions which they had lost, and in the retreat of Ducrot
into Paris. In the same week Manteuffel, moving against the
relieving army of the north, encountered it near Amiens,
defeated it after a hard struggle, and gained possession of
Amiens itself. After the fall of Amiens, Manteuffel moved upon
Rouen. This city fell into his hands without resistance. ...
But the Republican armies, unlike those which the Germans had
first encountered, were not to be crushed at a single blow.
Under the energetic command of Faidherbe the army of the north
advanced again upon Amiens. Goeben, who was left to defend the
line of the Somme, went out to meet him, defeated him on the
23rd of December, and drove him back to Arras. But again,
after a week's interval, Faidherbe pushed forward. On the 3rd
of January he fell upon Goeben's weak division at Bapaume, and
handled it so severely that the Germans would on the following
day have abandoned their position, if the French had not
themselves been the first to retire. Faidherbe, however, had
only fallen back to receive reinforcements. After some days'
rest he once more sought to gain the road to Paris, advancing
this time by the eastward line through St. Quentin. In front
of this town Goeben attacked him. The last battle of the army
of the North was fought on the 19th of January. The French
general endeavoured to disguise his defeat, but the German
commander had won all that he desired. Faidherbe's army was
compelled to retreat northwards in disorder; its part in the
war was at an end. During the last three weeks of December
there was a pause in the operations of the Germans on the
Loire. ... Gambetta ... had ... determined to throw the army
of Bourbaki, strengthened by reinforcements from the south,
upon Germany itself. The design was a daring one, and had the
... French armies been capable of performing the work which
Gambetta required of them, an inroad into Baden, or even the
reconquest of Alsace, would most seriously have affected the
position of the Germans before Paris. But Gambetta
miscalculated the power of young, untrained troops,
imperfectly armed, badly fed, against a veteran army. In a
series of hard-fought struggles the army of the Loire under
General Chanzy was driven back at the beginning of January
from Vendôme to Le Mans. On the 12th, Chanzy took post before
this city and fought his last battle. While he was making a
vigorous resistance in the centre of the line, the Breton
regiments stationed on his right gave way; the Germans pressed
round him, and gained possession of the town. Chanzy retreated
towards Laval, leaving thousands of prisoners in the hands of the
enemy, and saving only the debris of an army. Bourbaki in the
meantime, with a numerous but miserably equipped force, had
almost reached Belfort. ... Werder had evacuated Dijon and
fallen back upon Vesoul; part of his army was still occupied
in the siege of Belfort. As Bourbaki approached he fell back
with the greater part of his troops in order to cover the
besieging force, leaving one of his lieutenants to make a
flank attack upon Bourbaki at Villersexel. This attack, one of
the fiercest in the war, delayed the French for two days, and
gave Werder time to occupy the strong positions that he had
chosen about Montbéliard. Here, on the 15th of January, began
a struggle which lasted for three days. The French, starving
and perishing with cold, though far superior in number to
their enemy, were led with little effect against the German
entrenchments. On the 18th Bourbaki began his retreat. Werder
was unable to follow him; Manteuffel with a weak force was
still at some distance, and for a moment it seemed possible
that Bourbaki, by a rapid movement westwards, might crush this
isolated foe. Gambetta ordered Bourbaki to make the attempt:
the commander refused to court further disaster with troops
who were not fit to face an enemy, and retreated towards
Pontarlier in the hope of making his way to Lyons. But
Manteuffel now descended in front of him; divisions of
Werder's army pressed down from the north; the retreat was cut
off; and the unfortunate French general, whom a telegram from
Gambetta removed from his command, attempted to take his own
life. On the 1st of February, the wreck of his army, still
numbering 85,000 men, but reduced to the extremity of weakness
and misery, sought refuge beyond the Swiss frontier. The war
was now over. Two days after Bourbaki's repulse at Montbéliard
the last unsuccessful sortie was made from Paris. There now
remained provisions only for another fortnight; above 40,000
of the inhabitants had succumbed to the privations of the
siege; all hope of assistance from the relieving armies before
actual famine should begin disappeared.
{1389}
On the 23rd of January Favre sought the German Chancellor at
Versailles in order to discuss the conditions of a general
armistice and of the capitulation of Paris. The negotiations
lasted for several days; on the 28th an armistice was signed
with the declared object that elections might at once be
freely held for a National Assembly, which should decide
whether the war should be continued, or on what conditions
peace should be made. The conditions of the armistice were
that the forts of Paris and all their material of war should
be handed over to the German army; that the artillery of the
enceinte should be dismounted; and that the regular troops in
Paris should, as prisoners of war, surrender their arms. The
National Guard were permitted to retain their weapons and
their artillery. Immediately upon the fulfilment of the first
two conditions all facilities were to be given for the entry
of supplies of food into Paris. The articles of the armistice
were duly executed, and on the 30th of January the Prussian
flag waved over the forts of the French capital."
_C. A. Fyffe,
History of Modern Europe,
volume 3, chapter 6._
ALSO IN:
_H. Murdock,
The Reconstruction of Europe,
chapters 29-30._
_Daily News Correspondence of the War
chapters 13-21._
_Cassell's History of the War,
volume 1, chapter 36,
volume 2; chapters 1-18._
_Comte d'Herrison,
Journal of a Staff Officer in Paris._
_E. B. Washburne,
Recollections of a Minister to France,
volume 1, chapters 5-10._
_J. A. O'Shea,
An Iron-bound City._
_F. T. Marzials,
Life of Gambetta,
chapter 5._
_H. von Moltke,
The Franco-German War of 1870-71,
sections 3-7._
_T. G. Bowles,
The Defence of Paris._
_W. Rüstow,
The War for the Rhine Frontier, 1870,
volume 3._
FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (January-May).
Preliminaries of Peace signed at Versailles.
The Treaty of Frankfort.
Cession of Alsace and one-fifth of Lorraine.
Five milliards of indemnity.
"On the afternoon of January 28 [1871] the capitulation of
Paris was signed, and an armistice agreed upon to expire on
February 19 at noon. The provinces occupied by the armies of
Bourbaki and Munteuffel were alone excluded from this
agreement. On January 29 the German troops quietly took
possession of the Paris forts. The regulars and mobiles became
prisoners of war, with the exception of 12,000 men who were
left under arms to preserve order. At the earnest request of
Favre the National Guard were allowed to retain their arms. If
Favre urged this as a measure to counteract the imperialistic
ideas supposed to be still cherished by the prisoners
returning from Germany, it was a political crime as well as a
military folly. The National Guard became the armed Commune.
... While the armies withdrew to the lines stipulated in the
armistice, the elections went quietly forward. The assembly
convened at Bordeaux, and manifested a spirit that won for it
universal respect. On February 17 M. Thiers was appointed
chief of the executive power, and having named his ministry,
he repaired to Versailles to arrange the preliminaries of
peace. The conferences that followed with the German
chancellor were perhaps the most trying ordeals to which the
Frenchman had ever been subjected. No peace was possible save
on the basis of the cession of miles of territory and the
strongest of fortresses. France must also pay a war indemnity
of no less than five milliards of francs. Bismarck, it is
true, thought Thiers 'too sentimental for business, ... hardly
fit indeed to buy or sell a horse,' but no diplomatist,
however astute, could have made better terms for stricken
France. So thought the assembly at Bordeaux; and when Thiers
announced the result of his mission with a quivering lip, he
had its sympathy and support. On the 2d of March the assembly
formally ratified the peace preliminaries by a vote of 546 to
107. It had been stipulated in the armistice that the German
troops should not occupy Paris. The extension of time granted
by the Germans entitled them to some compensation, and the
entry of Paris was the compensation claimed. The troops
detailed for this purpose were not chosen at random. To the
Frenchman who on the 1st day of March beheld them pass along
the Avenue de Malakoff or the Champs Elysées it was an ominous
pageant. It was a German and not a Prussian army that he
beheld. ... That night the Hessians smoked their pipes on the
Trocadéro, and the Bavarians stacked their arms in the Place
de la Concorde, while the lights blazing from the palace of
the Elysée announced the German military headquarters. On the
third day of the month, the Bordeaux Assembly having ratified
the peace preliminaries, the German troops marched out, and
Paris was left to herself again. The war was over. Beyond the
Rhineland, in Bavaria and Würtemberg as well as in the north,
all was joy and enthusiasm over the return of the army that
had answered before the world the question, 'What is the
German Fatherland?' On the 10th of May the definite treaty of
peace was signed at Frankfort by which France ceded Alsace and
a portion of Lorraine, including the fortresses of Metz and
Strasburg, to her conqueror."
_H. Murdock,
The Reconstruction of Europe,
chapter 30._
The following are the heads of the Preliminary Treaty
concluded at Versailles, to which the final Treaty of
Frankfort conformed:
"1. France renounces in favour of the German Empire the
following rights: the fifth part of Lorraine including Metz
and Thionville, and Alsace less Belfort.
2. France will pay the sum of five milliards of francs, of
which one milliard is to be paid in 1871 and the remaining
four milliards by instalments extending over three years.
3. The German troops will begin to evacuate the French
territory as soon as the Treaty is ratified. They will then
evacuate the interior of Paris and some departments lying in
the western region. The evacuation of the other departments
will take place gradually after payment of the first milliard,
and proportionately to the payment of the other four
milliards. Interest at the rate of five per cent. per annum
will be paid on the amount remaining due from the date of the
ratification of the Treaty.
4. The German troops will not levy any requisitions in the
departments occupied by them, but will be maintained at the
cost of France. A delay will be granted to the inhabitants of
the territories annexed to choose between the two
nationalities.
6. Prisoners of war will be immediately set at liberty.
7. Negotiations for a definitive Treaty of Peace will be
opened at Brussels after the ratification of this Treaty.
8. The administration of the departments occupied by the
German troops will be entrusted to French officials, but under
the control of the chiefs of the German Corps of occupation.
9. The present Treaty confers upon the Germans no rights
whatever in the portions of territories not occupied.
10. This Treaty will have to be ratified by the
National Assembly of France."
_C. Lowe,
Prince Bismarck,
volume 1, chapter 9._
ALSO IN:
_E. Hertslet,
The Map of Europe by Treaty,
volume 3, numbers 438 and 446._
{1390}
FRANCE: A. D. 1871 (March-May).
Insurrection of the Communists of Paris.
Second siege and reduction of the capital.