FRANCO-GERMAN WAR ante). There has probably never been a_ more frivolous cause given for modern warfare than that alleged by the French nation. for declaring war against Prussia. June 26, 1870, ex-queen Isabella of Spain formally abdicated the throne in favor of her eldest son, prince Alphonso. July 5, the foreign governments were notified of her abdication, and on the same day the fact was made public that prince Leopold of Hohenzollern had consented to become a candidate the vacant throne of Spain. This consent was said to have the approval of the of Prussia. Thereupon the French government, being unable to view the project of placing a Prussian prince on the Spanish throne otherwise than as a menace to the secu rity of French territory, demanded from king William, through count Benedetti, the French ambassador, that not only as the head of the Hohenzollerns, but also as king of Prussia. he should give assurance that he would prevent prince Leopold's acceptance. At the first audience, July 9, the king replied to this request that, as in the whole affair• he had been addressed only as the head of the family, and never as the king of Prussia, and had accordingly given no command for the acceptance of the candidature, he could also give no command for withdrawal. July 12, Leopold's father, the prince Hohen zollern, destroyed all cause or shadow of pretext for war, by withdrawing his son's. name from the candidacy for the Spanish throne; but France made a new demand, pro posing to the king that he should expressly pledge himself never to give his consent in case the question of the candidature should at any time be revived. The king decid edly refused to comply with such demand, and declared to the French ambassador he reserved to himself for that eventuality. as for any other, the right to be guided by circumstances, In consequence, the French government, deeming itself called upon take immediate steps for the defense of its honor and its injured interests, formally declared war against Prussia, July 19. 1870. While the popular enthusiasm in both countries in favor of war either was or soon became about equal, there proved to be a great difference as to military preparations. The French army in 1870 was represented. to number on a peace footing 400,000 men; and the emperor ,Napoleon naturally con jectured that it could be raised in time of war to twice that number, when the national guard and all branches time service were included. But according to the best mili tary authorities the number of troops in the active army at the beginning of the war was, about 427,000, with about 87,000 regular reserve troops in addition to these; and the additional number of men who could.be called upon. lu. case .of 'urgent necessity was vonly 157,000. Although France had been preparing for the war during the months of .May and June, the only section of the active troops ready for marching orders was the "army of the Rhine." This force that marched as rapidly as possible to the Rhenish frontier did not exceed 310,000 men according to the highest estimates. In Germany, however, instead of falling below the estimates, the number of troops was largely increased by the support given to Prussia from the s. German states of Bavaria, Wiirtemberg, Hesse-Darmstadt, and Baden, whose neutrality, if not actual opposition to Prussia, Napoleon had expected. Prussia had on a peace footing 480,000 men, which, in addition to the standing army of the, s. German states of 170,325 men, gave Germany an immense advantage from the beginning of the war. That country had 447,000 troops ready for the first battle, besides a first reserve of 188,000, and a second reserve of 225,000, without including the "landwehr," nearly corresponding to the militia of the United States.
From these forces three armies were formed. The first, under gen. von Steinmetz, was placed near Treves, forming the right wing; the second, under prince Frederick 'Charles, was sent to the Rhenish palatinate; the third, under the crown prince of Prus sia, took its position on the frontier of Baden. The French forces were scattered over .a line of 85 to 90 in. in length. The first corps, under marshal MacMahon, was placed near Strasburg; the fifth corps, under gen. Failly, along the frontier of the palatinate; the third corps, under marshal Bazaine, near Metz; the second corps, under gen. Fros sard, not far from the Prussian frontier, near St. Avoid; the fourth corps, under gen. Ladmirault, near Thionville ; the reserve force, Under gen. Bourbaki and marshal Canro bert, was partly at Nancy and partly at the camp of Chalons; the seventh corps,' under ,gen. Felix Donay, held the fortress of Belfort. These were the positions of the two contending armies towards the end of July, 1870. On the 23d of that month, Napoleon ,appointed the empress regent of France, and ou the 28th left Paris with the prince .imperial to take command of the army at Metz. The king of Prussia left Berlin to Make his place in the field, July 31, accompanied by gen. von Moltke and count Bis marck, and on Aug. 2d established his head-quarters at Mentz. On the same day the French corps made an attack on the Prussian position, at Saarbrtick, in presence of the 'emperor and his son. After protracted firing the Germans retreated, and the French •occupied SaarbriIck. The results of this engagement were unimportant. The first -serious conflict of the war took place Aug. 4, at Weissenburg, where the German -advance-guard was attacked by the French under gen. Abel Donay; it ended after a Tattle of five hours with the French troops retiring in great disorder. Gen. Douay was
'killed, and the Germans took 500 prisoners. The Germans had now 520,000 men and 1170 guns ready for fighting orders, while the entire force of the French (with reserves) :amounted to only 350,000 men. On Aug. 6, a bloody battle was fought at Saarbriick t(Spicheren) between gen. Steinmetz With 120;000 men, and gen. Frossard with 60,000 men. 'The Germans stormed the heights of Spicheren, and the French force was thrown back in disorder on Forbach and Metz. The Germans captured 2,500 prisoners, and each army was estimated to have 4,000 dead and wounded. On the same day, at Werth, the crown prince attacked MacMahon, where he was strengthened by divisions of the corps of Dc Failly and Canrobert. The French suffered a terrible defeat, and lost 6,000 prisoners, including 100 officers; also 6 mitrailleuses, 35 cannon, 200 horses, and a mili tary chest with 220,000 francs. Thus both wings of the French army were completely .defeated; the original position could no longer be held, and all the French corps gath .ered into two large masses to retreat along the line of the Moselle. Two different .armies were thus formed—the army of Metz, commanded by marshal Bazaine from .Aug. 12, on which date the emperor withdrew as commander-in-chief ; and the army -of Chalons, commanded by marshal MacMahon. By Aug. 14, the first German army had advanced to the immediate neighborhood of Metz, and by a successful attack upon the third French corps, baffled the first attempt of the French to retreat to the line of the IVIarne. This developed later into the battle of Courcelles; the Prussian force engaged was about 80,000 men; the French troops numbered about 60,000. The battle was a .mitigation of disaster to the French, and a fearfully bloody success to the Prussians, who lost from 4,000 to 5,000 in killed and wounded. It ended with the retreat of the French troops into the fortifications, and secured to the forces of prince Frederick Charles sufficient time to cut off the French army concentrated at Metz. On Aug. 16, the battle of Mars-la-Tour was fought, at which the entire French army of the Rhine, was repulsed by prince Frederick Charles, and driven back on Gravelotte, though with an immense loss to the Germans. On the 18th, occurred the great battle of Gravelotte, in which 280,000 Germans fought against 160,000 Frenchmen. The French army, occu pying a very strong position to the w. of Metz, was, after nine hours' fighting. corn-, pletely defeated, cut off from its communications with Paris, and driven back towards Metz. The losses were very heavy. The French lost 609 officers and 11,605 men; the 'Germans 904 officers and 19,658 men. The result was that the French army was shut up in the fortress of Metz. On Aug. 30, MacMahon was beaten, and driven from Beau mont across the Meuse to Mouzon; and on Sept. 1st, 1870, was fought the battle of Sedan, the Waterloo of the second empire, at which gen. Wimpffen commanded the French forces, marshal MacMahon having wounded the clay previous in the struggle near Bazeilles. The army of the Meuse and the third army, after a hot contest, drove the French from all sides to the fortress of Sedan,where, surrounded and defeated, the entire French force surrendered, with the emperor, who was carried prisoner to Wilhelmsh6e. By this capitulation, 84,433 men, 39 generals, and 230 officers of the staff and 2,095. subaltern officers became prisoners of war. On Aug. 31st, while MacMahon fighting at Sedan, Bazaine made a sortie from Metz, attempting, during that clay and the following, to break through toward the north, but was driven back into the fortress. In spite of all precautions the news oozed out at Paris, to the dismay of the imperialists. On Sept. 4, 1870, the third republic was proclaimed, with a government of national defense, of which the chief members were Thiers, Jules Favre, Jules Simon, and Gam betta. Gen. Trochu was its military head. Gradually the Germans closed in on Paris, no serious resistance in the field being attempted. The first siege of Paris lasted from Sept. 19, 1870, to Jan. 30, 1871. In Dec., 1870, at Versailles, the king of Prussia was proclaimed emperor of the new empire of Germany. Gambetta, who escaped from Paris in a balloon, used incredible efforts at Tours to raise fresh armies for France. Before the end of Oct. the capitulation of Metz had released•a whole German army, part of which was sent to assist in the siege. At last, Jan. 28, 1871. an armistice was which brought the despairing resistance of Paris to an end. The war elsewhere died out almost at once; the Germans occupied all the forts around Paris. The new republican government of France now had M. Grevy as president, and Thiers chief of the executive power; and it was decided that the assembly should sit at. Versailles. On the 18th of Mar., however, the commune of Paris declared itself in opposition to the Versailles republic, and marshal MacMahon was instructed by the Versailles assembly to reduce the insurgent capital. Then followed the second siege of Paris, from April 2 to May 21, with its accompanying horrors. Meanwhile Thiers,. after great toil, and with journeys from court to court of Europe, had succeeded in getting peace agreed to. The treaty of Frankfort was signed May 10, 1871. By it, Alsace and a large part of Lorraine were ceded back to Germany, while Belfort, which. the Germans had taken, was restored to France; and France engaged to pay five mil liards of francs as a war indemnity.