1871 CAPITULATION OF PARIS Silesia. The fight, called by the French the battle of Mont Valérien, lasted a whole day. It ended with another retreat into the city. The casualties of the French were disproportionately heavy. Among the fallen was Alexandre Georges Henri Regnault, the well-known artist. Regnault, who was but twentyeight years old when he was killed, had already won the Prix de Rome, and had achieved renown by his celebrated pictures, "Judith and Holofernes," "Salome," and "An Execution under the Moors at Granada," now at the Luxembourg. Most famous of all his pictures is his portrait of General Prim, painted in Spain during the revolutionary war of 1868, and subsequently acquired by the Luxembourg Gallery. No one in Paris now cared to take upon himself the responsibility of another attack. There was barely food enough to last until February. Having sworn that he would not surrender, Trochu resigned his command. Vinoy took his place. Harassed by the German cannon without, by famine and disease within; crippled by the dissensions among the people; without any prospect of relief from the provincesParisians saw that resistance must soon end. Jules Favre received the commission of saving Paris from utter ruin. On January 23 he proposed terms to Bismarck which were rejected. Unconditional surrender was demanded. In a second conference, on the following day, Favre, in dejection of spirit, came to an agreement with Bismarck. Firing on both sides was to cease on January 27, at midnight. On the morrow a "Convention" was signed, by the terms of which Paris virtually capitulated. A three weeks' armistice was declared, during which a National Assembly at Bordeaux was to decide whether or no the war should be continued. The forts of Paris, with all their war material, were surrendered. The 450,000 men comprising the army, it was agreed, were to be considered prisoners of war, but were not BATTLE OF THE LISAINE 1871 to be deported to Germany; the National Guard were allowed to keep their arms, despite the warning words of Bismarck to the Parisian authorities; and a division of 12,000 men was to preserve order within the city. It was an honorable surrender. For 132 days the people had resisted manfully. When they yielded there was not enough food left for another fortnight. Bourbaki's force was still in the field. With this army Gambetta hoped to retrieve some of the French losses. Belfort, which had been besieged since the beginning of November, was to be relieved; Alsace was to be invaded; the German lines of retreat were to be cut off. In a strong position on the Lisaine, Werder, with his 50,000 Germans, awaited Bourbaki's attack. In a three days' battle (January 15, 16, 17), the Germans held off the enemy. The dead bodies of German soldiers covered the frozen stream. Bourbaki failed to break through Werder's lines. On the 18th he began his retreat. It was Bourbaki's intention to fall back on Lyons. But it was too late. Manteuffel, with two army corps (led respectively by Fransecky and Zastrow), rushed to Werder's aid by way of Auxerre and Avallon. At Dijon, General Kettler was left behind with two regiments to watch the movements of Garibaldi, the confederate of the French Republic, who had gathered together an army of 20,000 volunteers. The main body of the German troops wedged itself between Garibaldi and Bourbaki, pressed forward by way of Gray and Pesme to Dôle, the junction of three railroads, and intercepted the provisions and clothes which had been sent to the starving, freezing men of Bourbaki. While Garibaldi, who had placed his volunteers on the heights about Dijon, fought with Kettler's detachment, under the impression that he was opposed by the entire German army, the troops under Zastrow and Fransecky, in a series of admirable forced 1871 CAPITULATION OF BELFORT marches, proceeded to cut off Bourbaki from Lyons and to surround him in very much the same manner as MacMahon had been trapped at Sedan. The French could escape only by retiring southward over the Swiss frontier. Bourbaki, severely censured by Gambetta, attempted to kill himself. His place was taken by Clinchant. On February 1 the French were attacked at Pontarlier on three sides. At twelve o'clock the town was taken; and in the afternoon, near La Cluse in the Jura, the last shot of the war was fired. The French army of 83,000 men marched into the neutral territory of Switzerland and were disarmed. In the middle of February the self-constituted National Assembly of France met at Bordeaux, placed Thiers at the head of the French Republic, and, on February 17, authorized him to conclude peace. Thiers surrounded himself with a Ministry in which were included Favre, Simon, Picard, and other members of the former Government of National Defence. Time for negotiations could be gained only after the surrender of Belfort, which had held out bravely for four months. A few weeks before, in the night of January 26-27, Colonel Denfert, the commandant, had succeeded in repelling an attack and in taking several hundred German prisoners. With the defeat of Bourbaki, however, there was no further hope of relief. Belfort was therefore ordered to capitulate by Jules Favre. In consideration of its gallant defence, the garrison of 12,000 men was allowed to march out with all the honors of war on February 16. Peace negotiations were now begun. The Prussian Chancellor demanded Alsace and German Lorraine, together with Metz and Diedhofen (Thionville), and insisted upon the German troops entering Paris. Thiers pleaded in vain for easier terms. He succeeded in saving only Belfort. It was finally agreed that Alsace and Lorraine were to be ceded, and that France was to pay a war indemnity of five milliards of TREATY OF FRANKFORT 1871 francs ($1,000,000,000). The preliminary treaty of peace was signed at Versailles on February 26. Despite the frantic efforts of the opposition, headed by Victor Hugo, the Assembly accepted the terms on the first day of March. On March 2 the Germans entered Paris. They marched out again on the following day; for it had been agreed in the treaty that no German soldiers were to remain in the city after the preliminary treaty had been ratified. The final treaty of peace was signed at Frankfort, May 10. An important consequence of the Franco-Prussian war was that Russia, supported by Bismarck, repudiated the clause of the treaty of 1856, which forbade her keeping a fleet in the Black Sea. A conference of the great Powers at London, while releasing Russia from that engagement, placed on record, as an essential principle of the law of nations, that no Power can liberate itself from the engagements of a treaty, nor modify its stipulations, without the consent of the contracting parties. The provisional government of France, after terms of peace were under way, determined to remove the seat of the National Assembly from Bordeaux to Versailles. This excited the distrust of the Paris populace. "Why not Paris?" was the cry. The Parisians believed it to be a plan to establish a reactionary monarchy. The Communists, who had twice attempted an insurrection since the siege (October 31, 1870, and January 22, 1871), succeeded in their third attempt in the middle of March. The Government troops were driven out of Paris and the Commune was declared. Then came the second siege of Paris-this time by a French army. On Sunday morning, April 2, the Communists outside of Paris were worsted by the Government troops. After one or two rallies they withdrew into Paris by the Pont de Neuilly and shut the gates. The prisoners were shot on both sides. The result of this first encounter was to intensify the hatred with which Thiers's government was regarded by the Republican fanatics. At Thiers's request, Marshal MacMahon had consented to take command of the troops for the National Assembly. He arrived at Versailles and assumed charge, after the first week in April. MacMahon was resolved to undertake no decisive movement till he had amassed the 150,000 fighting men which the German authorities had now consented to allow to Thiers's government. The former prisoners of war were still pouring into France, and had to be mustered in and organized anew. Several minor demonstrations were made in the second half of April. By the first week in May, at length, 128 batteries had been mounted over the beleaguered city. Fire was opened on the Communists' defences on the Pont du Jour. Fort Issy was taken, with 109 guns, the insurgents evacuating it under cover of night. Fort Vauves was set on fire, and had also to be evacuated for a time, but was subsequently reentered by the forces of the Commune, to be held by them until the middle of May. Then it was recaptured and garrisoned by MacMahon's troops, the Communists making their escape by a subterranean passage. The siege had reached its last stage. To the north and east stood the grim barrier of the German forces, ready to bar any attempt at egress on the part of the pent-up insurgents. French regular troops lay encamped outside in the Bois de Boulogne. On May 21 it was discovered that the gate of St. Cloud had been left almost defenceless, and MacMahon's troops rushed in. Simultaneously the gate of Auteuil was stormed, and Marshal MacMahon, with all his forces, entered Paris. The city had to be taken street by street. The Communists murdered most of their remaining prisoners. No sooner had Paris been conquered than the victorious soldiers slaughtered their late foes in droves. Women were shot as well as men, for female incendiaries, known as pétroleuses, had helped to set fire to the publie |