The sad end of Napoleon III's empire
The Capitulation of Napoleon III at Sedan by an unknown artist
The previous articles told about the origin and youth of Louis Napoleon, his path to power in France, the first successes of the new emperor. Today we will continue and finish this story.
France's entry into the war with Prussia and its allies
Thus, Napoleon III's foreign policy became more and more adventurous with each passing year, and the emperor increasingly lost touch with reality. He traditionally considered Austria to be France's main rival on the European continent, and therefore allowed Prussia to defeat it in a short (2 months and 9 days) the war 1866. But after that, the intentions of Bismarck and the Prussian King Wilhelm I to create a German Empire, which would inevitably take a dominant position in continental Europe, became clear to almost everyone. Napoleon III was categorically not happy with this. At the same time, the King of Prussia Wilhelm was inclined to compromise, but Bismarck, on the contrary, took a belligerent position, setting as his goal to provoke France into a military conflict.
That is why he began to actively promote the candidacy of a relative of the Prussian king, Leopold von Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, for the Spanish throne, which became vacant in 1870. Napoleon III declared the election of this prince a threat to France’s national security – and, it seemed, achieved diplomatic success.
Leopold agreed to renounce the Spanish throne, King Wilhelm I of Prussia was also set on a peace agreement with France, but Napoleon demanded a written refusal to support Leopold even in the event of his hypothetical renewal of his claims. Despite the rather tactless behavior of the French ambassador Benedetti, who demanded an answer from the king right at the Bad Ems train station, Wilhelm was restrained and promised to continue the conversation in Berlin.
This did not suit Bismarck in any way, and on his initiative, on July 13, 1870, a distorted report of the negotiations between the French ambassador and the King of Prussia was given to journalists (the so-called “Ems dispatch”), from which it followed that Wilhelm I refused to receive Benedetti, ordering that it be conveyed to Paris that “he has nothing to report" This publication caused not even indignation, but rage among Napoleon III and the deputies of the Legislative Assembly, who voted on July 19 to declare war. Bavaria, Württemberg, Baden and Hesse, all bound by a defensive alliance, sided with Prussia. But France had no allies in that war.
Franco-German War 1870-1871
Napoleon III had little idea of the true state of affairs in the French armiesAt the last meeting with the generals, War Minister Leboeuf assured him that the troops were ready for a victorious march on Berlin:
"We are ready, we are absolutely ready, everything is in order in our army, down to the last button on the gaiters of the last soldier."
This phrase entered into history as an example of blatant incompetence and arrogance.
Edmond Leboeuf, 1809-1888, Marshall of France and minister of war, illustrated war history, German
Meanwhile, the French army no longer met modern requirements, the actual number of soldiers was only 400 thousand (although on paper its number reached 600 thousand), attempts at reform were stalled, the training of personnel left much to be desired. The term of service was increased from 7 to 9 years, which caused discontent among the population. A "mobile guard" was created, but the training period for these "guardsmen" was only 15 days instead of the planned 3 years. The pride of the French army was the Chassepot rifles of 1866. In addition, they managed to produce 215 25-barrel mitrailleuses, developed by Jean-Baptiste Reffi. These were the prototypes of machine guns, capable (taking into account reloading) of making 100 shots per minute. The aiming range of their fire reached two kilometers. However, the bronze (!) guns of the La Hitte system were significantly inferior to the Prussian artillery guns produced by the Krupp company.
Kaiser Wilhelm and Bismarck at the Krupp gun
Prussia had a system of universal military service: 20-year-old men served for 3 years, then were listed in the reserves for 4 years, after which they transferred to the Landwehr (national guard) for 5 years. As a result, Prussia alone was ready to deploy up to a million soldiers against France, who, thanks to a well-developed railway network, could arrive at the western border within a few days.
It is also worth noting the superiority of the Prussian General Staff, in which Helmuth von Moltke and Albrecht von Roon worked at the time. They developed a long-term war plan, according to which the Prussian army, using its numerical advantage, was to pin down the French forces along the front, bypass them, pressing them to the Franco-Belgian border, where they would force a general battle.
Throughout the second half of July, the opponents carried out mobilization activities, and by the beginning of August, the French had managed to deploy less than 300 thousand people, while their opponents had deployed about 400 thousand.
The beginning of hostilities
On August 6, 1870, the first border battles took place at Spichern and Wörth, after the victory in which the Prussians divided the French army into two groups of troops - the Chalons army under the command of Marshal P. MacMahon and the Rhine army, led by Marshal A. Bazaine.
The Army of the Rhine was defeated at Colombey-Nouilly on August 14, at Mars-la-Tour on August 16, at Saint-Privat-Gravelotte on August 18, after which it was blockaded in Metz and capitulated on October 29, 1870.
In the second half of August, the commander of the Army of Chalon, MacMahon, moved his troops along the Franco-Belgian border to Metz to help Bazaine. However, in the last days of the month, his own army was surrounded in the area of the fortress of Sedan and was defeated in the battle that unfolded on September 1.
2nd Royal Saxon Jäger Battalion at the Battle of Sedan, postcard by Meissen publisher Brück & Sohn
The next day, the decision was made to capitulate. Emperor Napoleon III also surrendered, and he entered into negotiations with the Prussians while his army was still fighting. The note sent to Wilhelm said:
“Since I was not destined to die in the ranks of my troops, all that remains for me now is to hand over my sword into the hands of Your Majesty.”
Lithograph: "Napoleon III and Bismarck after the Battle of Sedan"
Caricature: "Napoleon III and King William"
In Germany, “Sedan Day” (September 2) was later celebrated as the main holiday of the Second Empire.
The New French Republic
As a result, on September 4, the creation of the Government of National Defense was announced in Paris, headed by General Louis Jules Trochu.
Louis Jules Trochu
To the disappointment of the Prussian king and Bismarck, it refused to make peace in exchange for the cession of Alsace and part of Lorraine. As a result, in the second half of September, one of the armies of the Pousse troops approached Paris and besieged it, while other armies were still besieging Metz, which was still defended by Bazaine's Army of the Rhine. And in the unoccupied part of France, under the leadership of the Minister of the Interior, Leon Michel Gambetta, a new army was being formed.
L. M. Gambetta in a portrait by Leon Bonnat
The French even managed to push the Prussians back from Orleans, but after the capitulation of Bazaine's troops at Metz, two German armies were freed, and at the end of November – beginning of December 1870, the Prussians, having defeated the French Loire Army, occupied Orleans.
Following negotiations from 15 to 25 November, Bavaria, Hesse, Baden and Württemberg signed an agreement to join the North German Confederation, and the Bavarian King Ludwig II approached Wilhelm I with an offer to accept the imperial crown. On 18 January 1871, the creation of the German Empire was announced at the Palace of Versailles.
Anton Alexander von Werner. Proclamation of the German Empire at Versailles
Bismarck with his staff officers. Versailles, February 1871.
But Paris had not yet been taken, and Bismarck insisted on shelling it with artillery. Such bombardments began on January 5, and on January 10-12 the Germans routed the Army of the Loire at Le Mans. In the second half of this month, under threat of encirclement, the Eastern Army was forced to withdraw to Switzerland – it was interned and disarmed.
A preliminary armistice was signed on January 28, 1871, and a preliminary peace treaty was concluded on February 26, which became one of the main reasons for the Parisian uprising. The Thiers government and its supporters fled to the protection of the Prussian army, receiving the contemptuous nickname "Versailles". The final agreement was signed before the fall of the Paris Commune - on May 10, 1871 in Frankfurt am Main. France was forced to cede Alsace and a significant part of Lorraine to the newly formed German Empire.
Emmanuel Benner. France bids farewell to Alsace-Lorraine
The face of this statue representing Strasbourg (Strasbourg) on Paris' Place de la Concorde was hidden by a black veil throughout the time the city was German.
France also agreed to pay a contribution of 5 billion francs. German troops were withdrawn from the north-eastern departments of this country only after the entire sum had been paid – in 1873.
The French losses significantly exceeded the Prussians: 140 thousand killed and 145 thousand wounded against 45 thousand and 90 thousand respectively on the Prussian side, in addition, more than 470 thousand French soldiers were captured. When talking about French losses, one must also take into account the victims of the famine of the winter of 1870-1871: when all the animals in the zoo were eaten, the townspeople began to eat pigeons, rats, dogs and cats. And also the victims of the uprising of the Paris Commune (from March 18 to May 28, 1871): according to MacMahon, 15 thousand Communards were shot, General Appert believes that there were at least 30 thousand. Tens of thousands were sent to hard labor, thousands emigrated from the country. The city also suffered greatly, many buildings were damaged during street fighting.
Barricade on the Rue de Rivoli
L. Sabatier and A. Adam. May 24, 1871, fires on the Rue de Rivoli
The banner of one of the battalions of the Paris Commune, transferred to the USSR in 1924
The fall of France and the emergence of the German Empire upset the notorious balance of power, which led to the creation of two new military-political blocs – first the Triple Alliance and then the Triple Entente. Ultimately, this became the cause of World War I.
The end of the life of the last emperor of France
Napoleon III, who surrendered at Sedan, was transferred to the Westphalian castle of Wilhelmsee, and Empress Eugénie and her son left Paris and moved to England. In September 1870, France effectively became a republic, but the official deposition of Napoleon from the post of emperor by the National Assembly took place on March 1, 1871 – until then, apparently, they simply “hadn’t gotten around to it.” It was the emperor who was given the responsibility for “for foreign invasion and dismemberment of France" After the peace was concluded, the Prussians did not interfere with the former emperor's move to England, where he was reunited with his wife and son. Here, at Camden House, he was even visited by Queen Victoria. In England, his chronic urolithiasis worsened. In early January 1873, the famous doctor Henry Thompson performed three operations to remove the stones, but he did not live to see the fourth - his heart stopped on the morning of January 8. They say that his last words were the question:
"We weren't scared back then at Sedan, were we? We weren't scared, were we?"
The End of the Bonaparte Dynasty
After the death of Napoleon III, the French Bonapartists began to consider his son, who upon reaching the age of 18 was officially declared the head of the House of Bonaparte, as the legitimate claimant to the throne.
By the way, at that time there was also a party of legitimists in France who wanted to see Count Henry de Chambord, the grandson of Charles X, on the throne, but in 1873 he foolishly lost his chances for the throne by categorically refusing the “revolutionary” tricolor banner. After that, some legitimists began to advocate the candidacy of Louis Philippe Albert of Orleans, Count of Paris, the grandson of Louis Philippe I, while others supported the Spanish prince Juan Montezon (who also laid claim to the Spanish throne). However, the chances of Napoleon III’s son were rated the highest in Europe; suffice it to say that negotiations were held quite seriously about his marriage to the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice.
Eugene Louis Napoleon, 1878
Meanwhile, in 1878, this prince graduated from the military college in Woolwich and joined the British army as an artillery officer. It was assumed that successful participation in some military campaign would sharply increase his popularity in France. And so he went to the Anglo-Zulu War, which began in 1879. The British commander-in-chief, Lord Chelmsford, was ordered not to let the prince anywhere near the front lines, but to present him with a military award before returning to Europe. The Zulus desperately resisted, defeating Colonel Durnford's detachment in the battle at Isandlwan Hill (1300 Englishmen and up to 3 natives died). Then they won two more victories, but then suffered only defeats. There was still a little month left before the end of the war when the prince was finally allowed to go "for a walk" through the territory where Zulu warriors had never been seen before and therefore considered absolutely safe. He was to be accompanied by eight experienced scouts of Lieutenant Carey. On June 8, 1, this small detachment stopped for a rest at an abandoned kraal on the banks of the Ityotyosi River.
Typical Zulu kraal
Here they were unexpectedly attacked by about 40 Zulus who suddenly appeared. The Englishmen jumped on their horses and tried to break through, but the Prince's frightened horse started galloping before he could get into the saddle - he had to hang on it "circus-style", clinging to the attached holster, the leather strap of which could not bear the weight of his body. Eugene Louis Bonaparte, who fell to the ground, managed to fire a revolver once, after which he was pelted with spears - 18 wounds were later counted on his body, but only one was fatal - in the right eye.
Paul Jamin. The death of Napoleon Eugene Bonaparte, June 1, 1879
The corpse was so mutilated that the prince's mother, Eugenia Montijo, identified her son only by an old scar on his thigh.
It must be said that the British tried to come to the aid of their ward, and in this skirmish Lieutenant Carey and two soldiers were also killed.
The body of Eugene Louis Bonaparte was brought to England, where it was buried in the presence of Queen Victoria and Edward, Prince of Wales. A poem about his death was written by Oskar Wilde: in it, "heir to the imperial family"for some reason he was not struck down by spears, but "fell from the bullet of the dark enemy" (I wonder if this is a figure of speech or a reference to the skin color of the Zulus?).
For the French Bonapartists, this death was a heavy blow.
The forgotten mother of “Prince Lulu”, Eugenia Montijo, lived for another 40 years – she died in 1920. In 1881, she founded St. Michael’s Abbey in Farnborough, Hampshire, where her husband and son were reburied in one of the crypts, and then she herself.
Now the heirs of the imperial House of Bonaparte were the descendants of Napoleon I's younger brother, Jerome. The last of those who laid claim to the French throne (but his claims were not taken seriously by anyone) was Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, who in 1940, under the name Louis Blanchard, joined the Foreign Legion, and after the capitulation of France, he participated in the Resistance movement. On August 28, 1944, he was in a serious car accident - out of seven people, he was the only one to survive. After recovery, he joined the Alpine Division, as part of which he ended the war.
Louis Napoleon Bonaparte
He died in 1997. Since then, not a single descendant of the Bonaparte family has even nominally laid claim to power in France.
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