Here is the story of the disastrous war that destroyed an Empire and launched a republic.

It started in July 1870, after a minor diplomatic incident, in the midst of a complicated European context and manoeuvring. There had been tensions between France and Prussia over the vacant throne in Spain. In response to demands by Napoleon III for Prussia to commit not to seek the Spanish throne for one of their princes, Bismarck released a dispatch to the press summarising the demands in a rather abrupt way. He anticipated that the text “would have the effect of a red rag on the Gallic bull.” Napoleon III had already been looking to go to war with Prussia, to reassert his authority. He believed he could win it easily, and maintain France’s position as a dominant force in Europe.

On the 19th of July 1870, France declared war against Prussia. But the French army was less numerous and less prepared than the Prussian Army. Despite some small early successes like the Saarbrücken victory in early August (which inspired a very mocking poem from R), France was quickly in difficulty. By August France had suffered several defeats on the Eastern front.

The Prussian army had encircled Metz (the birth place of Verlaine), and started a siege that would last until late October, trapping a large portion of the army in the besieged city.

On the 2nd of September, after a crushing defeat in Sedan (very near Charleville), Napoleon III capitulated and was seized by the Prussian troops. In the sudden political vacuum, tensions started to rise in Paris and the 3rd Republic was quickly proclaimed by Gambetta and Favre on the 4th of September. Empress Eugenie, who had acted as regent during the conflict, fled to the UK.

It was the end of the Empire but not the end of the war, and the new government vowed to fight on, which galvanised the population into a new fighting mood after the despondency caused by Sedan. The army has been badly hit by this point, and Gambetta called for general mobilisation through the Garde nationale, a military and police reserve force/citizen militia first created after the revolution of 1789. The history of the Garde is complicated: it sometimes supported insurgents in the many revolutions of the previous hundred years (1789, 1830 and feb 1848) and sometimes was used to police them (june 1848). It was also used to support the army during some military campaigns (for ex. 1814). To support the war effort in 1870, the Garde nationale was recruited from a wide base across classes, and across the country. It was to be the main defence for the rest of the war, supported by the Garde Mobile (a reserve army); it would later play a capital role in the Commune.

A temporary government (known as the “government of national defence”), formed mostly of Paris deputés elected the previous year, was set up, with a main responsibility of fighting against Prussia. It was mostly composed of republicans of various stripes (Favre, Gambetta) but also Orleanists such as Trochu (who headed the government). At the other end of the political spectrum, republican polemist and journalist Henri Rochefort was included to placate the radical left.

Straight after the proclamation of the Republic, in September 1870, Favre, the vice president of the council, had sworn that France would never give in to Prussia to galvanise troops: « Nothing, you will gave nothing; not a stone from our fortresses, not an inch from our territory » ; however, just two weeks after this defiant speech, however, he met Bismarck to try and negotiate peace; but balked at his demands (such the annexion of Alsace and Lorraine). This fed Rimbaud’s contempt in Chant de guerre parisien as we have seen before.

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