The Franco-German War of 1870-71 Part 41

The evacuation of the districts in occupation of the German armies was to begin immediately on the ratification of the treaty, and be continued by degrees in proportion as the money was paid. While the German troops remained on French soil they were to be maintained at the charge of the country. On the other hand all requisitioning on the part of the Germans was to cease. Immediately on the first instalment of evacuation the French forces were to retire behind the Loire, with the exception of 20,000 men in Paris and the necessary garrisons in the fortresses.

After the ratification of these preliminaries, further terms were to be discussed in Brussels, and the return of the French prisoners would begin. The armistice was prolonged to March 12th; but it was in the option of either of the belligerent powers to end it after March 3rd by giving three days' notice.

Finally, it was stipulated that the German Army should have the satisfaction of marching into Paris, and remaining there till the ratification of the treaty; but would be restricted to the section of the city from Point du Jour to the Rue du Faubourg St. Honore. The entry was made on March 1st, after a parade at Longchamps before his Majesty of 30,000 men, consisting of 11,000 of the VIth, 11,000 of the IInd Bavarian, and 8000 of the XIth Army Corps. On the 3rd and 5th of March this force was to have been relieved by successive bodies of the same strength, but M. Thiers succeeded by March 1st in getting the National a.s.sembly at Bordeaux to accept the treaty, after the deposition of the Napoleonic dynasty had been decreed. The exchange of ratifications took place in the afternoon of the 2nd, and on the 3rd the first instalment of troops of occupation marched out of Paris back into its quarters.

THE HOMEWARD MARCH OF THE GERMAN ARMY.

By the IIIrd Article, the whole territory between the Seine and the Loire, excepting Paris, was to be evacuated with as little delay as possible by the troops of both sides; the right bank of the former river, on the other hand, was only to be cleared on the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace. Even then the six eastern departments were still to remain in German possession as a pledge for the last three milliards; not, however, to be occupied by more than 50,000 men.

The marching directions were drawn up in the supreme Headquarter, with a view as well to the comfort of the troops as to the reconst.i.tution of the original order of battle, and the possibility of rapid a.s.sembly in case of need.

The forces detailed for permanent occupation of the ceded provinces marched thither at once.

The Reserve and Landwehr troops at home were to be disbanded, as well as the Baden Division, which, however, for the present was to remain there as a mobilized force. The Governments-General in Lorraine, Rheims, and Versailles were to be done away with, and their powers taken over by the local Commanding-Generals. In the maintenance of order in the rear of the army, the VIth and XIIth Corps, as well as the Wurtemberg Field Division, were placed at the direct disposition of the supreme Headquarter.

By March 31st the Army had taken full possession of the new territory a.s.signed to it, bounded on the west by the course of the Seine from its source to its mouth.

The Ist Army was in the departments of Seine-Inferieure and Somme, the IInd in front of Paris in the departments of Oise and Seine et Marne, the IIIrd in the departments of Aube and Haute Marne, the Army of the South in the districts most lately hostile. The forts of Paris on the left bank were given up to the French authorities; the siege park and the captured war material had been removed. In consideration of the desire of the French Government that the National a.s.sembly might be allowed as early as possible to sit at Versailles, the supreme Headquarter was removed to Ferrieres, even sooner than had been agreed.

On March 15th his Majesty left Nancy for Berlin.

All the troops that were left before Paris were placed under the command of the Crown Prince of Saxony, and General von Manteuffel was nominated Commander of the Army of Occupation.

At the moment when France had freed herself by a heavy sacrifice, an enemy of the most dangerous character appeared from within, in the Commune of Paris.

The 40,000 men left there proved themselves unequal to the task of keeping the rebellious agitation under control; which even during the siege had on several occasions betrayed its existence, and now actually broke out in open civil war. Large ma.s.ses of people, fraternizing with the National and Mobile Guards, possessed themselves of the guns and set themselves in armed resistance to the Government. M. Thiers had already, by March 18th, summoned to Versailles such regiments as could still be trusted, to withdraw them from the disquieting influence of party impulses, and for the protection of the National a.s.sembly there. The French capital was a prey to revolution, and now became an object of pillage by French troops.

The Germans could easily have put a speedy end to the matter, but what Government could allow its rights to be vindicated by foreign bayonets?

The German Commanders consequently limited themselves to forbidding at least within their own districts any movement of disturbance, and to preventing all further ingress into Paris from outside. The disarmament operations which had commenced were interrupted; the troops of the IIIrd Army were drawn closer to the forts, and the outposts were replaced along the line of demarcation, whereon 200,000 men could now be collected within two days. The authorities in Paris were also warned that any attempt to arm the fronts facing the Germans would be followed by the immediate bombardment of the city. The insurgents however, were fully occupied in destroying and burning, and in executing their commanders in the interior of Paris. They did not turn against their foreign enemy, but against the Government chosen by the nation, and prepared for an attack on Versailles.

The high officers of State there, bound by the conditions of the armistice treaty, were almost defenceless; meanwhile the Germans were prepared and willing to allow a reinforcement of 80,000 French troops to be moved up from Besancon, Auxerre and Cambrai, the transport of whom would be furthered by the German troops in occupation of the districts through which they would have to pa.s.s.

The release of the prisoners on the other hand was temporarily restricted. These were, for the most part, disciplined regulars; but they might not improbably join the hostile party, so in the first instance only 20,000 troops of the line were set free.

On April 4th General MacMahon advanced with the Government troops against Paris, and entered the city on the 21st. As he was then engaged for eight days in barricade fighting, and as great bands of fugitives threatened to break through the German lines, the IIIrd Army was ordered to take closer order. The outposts advanced almost to the gates of the city, and barred all communication through them until, at the end of the month, Paris was again in the control of the French Government.

In the meantime, the negotiations commenced in Brussels and continued in Frankfort were making rapid progress, and on May 10th the definitive treaty of peace based on the preliminaries was signed. The mutual ratification followed within the appointed time of ten days.

Thus a war, carried on with such a vast expenditure of force on both sides, was brought to an end by incessant and restless energy in the short period of seven months.

Even in the first four weeks eight battles were fought, under which the French Empire crumbled, and the French Army was swept from the field.

Fresh forces, numerous but incompetent, equalized the original numerical superiority of the Germans, and twelve more battles needed to be fought, to safeguard the decisive siege of the enemy's capital.

Twenty fortified places were taken, and not a single day pa.s.sed on which there was not fighting somewhere, on a larger or smaller scale.

The war cost the Germans heavy sacrifice; they lost 6247 officers, 123,453 men, 1 colour, 6 guns.

The total losses of the French were incalculable; in prisoners only they amounted to:--

In Germany 11,860 officers, 371,981 men.

In Paris 7,456 " 241,686 "

Disarmed in Switzerland. 2,192 " 88,381 "

------ ------- 21,508 officers, 702,048 men.

There were captured 107 colours and eagles, 1915 field-guns, 5526 fortress guns.

Strasburg and Metz, which had been alienated from the Fatherland in a time of weakness, were recovered, and the German Empire had risen anew.

THE END.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

MEMORANDUM ON THE PRETENDED COUNCIL OF WAR IN THE WARS OF KING WILLIAM I.

In the accounts of historical events, as they are handed down to posterity, mistakes a.s.sume the form of legends which it is not always easy subsequently to disprove.

Among others is the fable which ascribes, with particular zest and as a matter of regular custom, the great decisions taken in the course of our latest campaigns, to the deliberations of a council of war previously convened.

For instance, the battle of Koniggratz.

I can relate in a few lines the circ.u.mstances under which an event of such far-reaching importance had birth.

Feldzeugmeister Benedek had, in his advance to the northward, to secure himself against the IInd Prussian Army marching on the east over the mountains of Silesia. To this end four of his Corps had one after another been pushed forward on his right flank, and had all been beaten within three days. They now joined the main body of the Austrian Army, which had meanwhile reached the vicinity of Dubenetz.

Here, then, on June 30th, almost the whole of the Austrian forces were standing actually inside the line of operations between the two Prussian armies; of which the Ist was already fighting its way to Gitschin, designated from Berlin as the common point of concentration, and the IInd had also advanced close on the Upper Elbe; thus they were both so near that the enemy could not attack the one without the other falling on his rear. The strategic advantage was nullified by the tactical disadvantage.

In these circ.u.mstances, and having already lost 40,000 men in previous battles, General Benedek gave up the advance, and during the night of June 30th began his retreat on Koniggratz.

The movement of six Army Corps and four Cavalry Divisions, marching in only four columns, which were necessarily very deep, could not be accomplished in the course of a single day. They halted very closely concentrated between Trotina and Lipa; but when on July 2nd they still remained there, it was owing to the extreme fatigue of the troops, and the difficulty, nay, impossibility, of withdrawing so large a body of men beyond the Elbe, under the eyes of an active enemy and by a limited number of pa.s.sages. In fact, the Austrian general could no longer manoeuvre; he had no alternative but to fight.

It is a noteworthy fact that neither his advance on Dubenetz nor his retreat on Lipa was known to the Prussians. These movements were concealed from the IInd Army by the Elbe, and the cavalry of the Ist was a ma.s.s of more than 8000 horse collected in one unwieldy Corps. The four squadrons attached to each Infantry Division were of course not able to undertake reconnoissances, as subsequently was later done in 1870 by a more advantageous plan of formation.

Thus in the Royal head-quarters at Gitschin nothing certain was known.

It was supposed that the main body of the hostile army was still advancing, and that it would take up a position with the Elbe in its front and its flanks resting on the fortresses of Josephstadt and Koniggratz. There were, then, these alternatives--either to turn this extremely strong position, or attack it in front.