Sedan 1870- The Eclipse of France

by Douglas Fermer

  24. Bismarck to Werthern, 26 February 1869, GW, vol. 6B, no. 1327, p. 2.

  Chapter 4

  1. Antonmattei, p. 69.

  2. Williams, Henri Rochefort, p. 52.

  3. La Gorce, vol. 6, p. 118; Antonmattei, p. 73.

  4. La Gorce, vol. 5, p. 516; vol. 6, p. 177.

  5. Vitzhum to Beust, 7 October 1869, Oncken, pp. 203–4.

  6. Lebrun, Souvenirs, p. 141.

  7. Moniteur Universel, 2 July 1870, p. 962.

  8. Benedetti, p. 307.

  9. Benedetti to La Valette, 31 March 1869, OD, vol. XXIV, no. 7363, pp. 118–20; Benedetti to Rouher, 11 May 1869, ibid., no. 7466, pp. 285–9.

  10. Karl Anton to Bismarck, 25 February 1870, Bonnin, doc. 5, p. 63.

  11. Bismarck to Rudolph Delbrück, 13 May 1870, GW, vol. 14 (2), no. 1299, p. 776.

  12. King Wilhelm to Leopold, 21 June 1870, Bonnin, doc. 203, p. 198.

  13. Mercier to Gramont, 3 July 1870, OD, vol. XXVIII, no. 8243, pp. 23–7.

  14. Karl Anton to Bismarck, 25 February 1870, Bonnin, doc. 5, p. 64.

  15. Bismarck, Reflections and Reminiscences, vol. 2, pp. 86–7.

  16. Bismarck to Foreign Office, 3 October 1868, GW, vol. 6A, no. 1186, p. 412.

  17. Versen’s diary entry for 19 June 1870, Bonnin, p. 278.

  18. Bismarck to Reuss, 22 March 1868, GW, vol. 6A, no. 1108, p. 321.

  19. Oubril to Gorchakov, February 12/24 1869, in Chester W. Clark, pp. 197–9.

  20. Bismarck to Reuss, 9 March 1869, GW, vol. 6B, no. 1334, p. 11.

  21. Busch, Bismarck: Some Secret Pages from His History, vol. 1, p. 8.

  22. Le Pays, 21 July 1870, quoted in Dupuy, p. 43.

  23. The Times, 8 July 1870.

  24. Gladstone to Granville, 8 July 1870, quoted in Millman, p. 183.

  25. Lyons to Granville, 5 July 1870, quoted in Steefel, p. 121.

  26. Baron Werther, quoted in Lord, p. 40.

  27. Gramont to Benedetti, 10 July 1870, OD, vol. XXVIII, no. 8378, p. 190.

  28. Lyons to Clarendon, 30 January 1870, quoted in Steefel, p. 227.

  29. Moniteur Universel, 8 July 1870, p. 998.

  30. Quoted in Lehautcourt, La Candidature Hohenzollern, p. 250.

  31. Metternich to Beust, 8 July 1870, quoted in Salomon, p. 241.

  32. Gramont to Benedetti, 7 July 1870, OD, vol. XXVIII, no. 8298, pp. 90–1.

  33. Quoted in Steefel, p. 120.

  34. Lehautcourt, La Candidature Hohenzollern, pp. 375–6.

  35. Text in Steefel, p. 187; on Bismarck’s stoking of the press, Busch, Bismarck: Some Secret Pages from His History, vol. 1, pp. 35–48.

  36. Bismarck, Reflections and Reminiscences, vol. 2, p. 100.

  37. Garets, p. 187; Metternich to Beust, 8 July 1870, quoted in Salomon, p. 215.

  38. At this time 15 August (Napoleon I’s birthday) rather than 14 July was the national holiday.

  39. Ollivier, Histoire et philosophie d’une guerre, pp. 170–1.

  40. Moniteur Universel, 17 July 1870, pp. 1067–71.

  41. M. Dréolle in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 1, p. 230.

  42. Allinson, p. 6.

  43. Quoted in Rousset, vol. 1, p. 31.

  44. Oubril to Westmann, July 17/29 1870, in Chester W. Clark, p. 208.

  45. Rousset, vol. 1, p. 419.

  46. Cobban, vol. 3, p. 234.

  47. Ollivier, Histoire et philosophie d’une guerre, p. 166.

  48. Beust to Metternich, 11 July 1870, OD, vol. XXVIII, pp. 229–30.

  49. The Times, 16 and 18 July 1870.

  Chapter 5

  1. Allinson, pp. 8, 10.

  2. Ibid., p. 9.

  3. Moltke, The Franco-German War, p.8.

  4. Darimon, Notes, p. 73.

  5. Reuss, Siège de Strasbourg, p. 32.

  6. Piton, p. 10.

  7. Lehautcourt, Histoire de la Guerre de 1870–1871 (hereafter HG), vol. 2, p. 135.

  8. Reproduced in Fay, pp. 325–7.

  9. [France], Commission chargée de réunir, classer et publier les papiers saisis aux Tuileries, Papiers et Correspondance de la famille impériale, pp. 437–51.

  10. Text in Rousset, vol. 1, pp. 137–8.

  11. Yves-Charles Quentel and François Aubriot, quoted in Lecaillon, pp. 38–40.

  12. Filon, p. 99.

  Chapter 6

  1. Beaunis, pp. 10–11.

  2. Sarazin, p. 11.

  3. MacMahon, Souvenirs inédits, quoted in Picard, 1870: La Perte de l’Alsace, pp. 125–7.

  4. Ducrot, Vie militaire, vol. 2, p. 321.

  5. Ibid., pp. 333–6; Du Barail, vol. 3, p. 135.

  6. Ducrot, Vie militaire, vol. 2, p. 330.

  7. Revue d’Histoire, La Guerre de 1870–71 (hereafter Guerre), vol. 2: Les Opérations en Alsace et sur la Sarre: Journées des 3, 4, et 5 août, p. 10, n. 1.

  8. Ibid., p. 44, n. 1.

  9. Picard, 1870: La Perte de l’Alsace, p. 193.

  10. Allinson, p. 28; Lonlay, Français et Allemands: Niederbronn-Sedan, p. 34.

  11. Narcy, p. 54.

  12. Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 3, p. 85.

  13. Klein, p. 111.

  14. Ducrot, Vie militaire, vol. 2, pp. 374–5.

  15. Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 3, p. 329.

  16. Allinson, p. 31.

  17. German General Staff (hereafter GGS), vol. 1, p. 159.

  18. Saint-Genest, p. 44.

  19. Lieutenant Colonel Lardeur, 8th Cuirassiers, quoted in Massa, p. 299.

  20. Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 3, Annexe 7.

  21. GGS, vol. 1, Appendix XII.

  22. Saint-Genest, p. 46.

  23. Quoted in Lecaillon, pp. 60–3.

  24. Narcy, pp. 81–4.

  25. Sarazin, pp. 13–14.

  26. Ibid., p. 36.

  27. Ibid., pp. 42–3.

  28. Guerre, vol. 7: Bataille de Frœschwiller: documents annexés, p.13.

  29. Klein, pp. 174–8; Sabatier and Stroh, pp. 140–8.

  30. Delmas, pp. 57, 95.

  31. Klein, p. 314.

  32. Delmas, p. 97.

  33. Sarazin, pp. 54–5.

  34. Beaunis, p. 290.

  35. Delmas, p. 62.

  36. [Officier du 1er Corps], De Freschwiller [sic] à Sedan, p. 26.

  37. Journal of Commandant Jean Alfred David, 45th Line Regiment, in Fay, p. 367.

  38. Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 6, p. 10.

  39. Narcy, pp. 104–5.

  40. [Officier du 1er Corps], De Freschwiller à Sedan, p.37.

  41. David, in Fay, p. 370.

  42. Narcy, p. 106.

  43. Allinson, p. 43.

  44. David, in Fay, p. 369.

  45. [Officier du 1er Corps], De Freschwiller à Sedan, pp. 42–3.

  46. Jacqmin, p. 137.

  47. [Officier du 1er Corps], De Freschwiller à Sedan, p.30.

  48. Bibesco, p. 29.

  49. Ibid., p. 34.

  Chapter 7

  1. Goncourt, vol. 2, pp. 265–6.

  2. Quoted in La Gorce, vol. 7, p. 5.

  3. Goncourt, vol. 2, p. 266.

  4. Darimon, Notes, p. 171.

  5. La Gorce, vol. 7, pp. 23, 24.

  6. Richard Metternich to Mensdorff, 26 July 1866, quoted in Barker, p. 153.

  7. Lebrun, Souvenirs, pp. 280–1.

  8. Quoted in Girard, Napoléon III, p. 479.

  9. Bazaine, p. 71; Baumont, Bazaine, p. 113.

  10. Andlau, p. 66.

  11. Trochu, vol. 1, pp. 110–11.

  12. General Schmitz in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 2, p. 278.

  13. Trochu, vol. 1, p. 122.

  14. Ibid., pp. 143–5.

  15. War Minister to Emperor, 10.27 p.m., 17 August, [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 426.

  16. Emperor to War Minister, 7.55 a.m., 18 August, Guerre: Armée de Châlons (hereafter AdC): documents annexés, I, p. 38.

  17. Bazaine
to MacMahon, 12 noon, 18 August, ibid., p. 39.

  18. MacMahon to War Minister, 19 August, [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 427; MacMahon in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 1, p. 30.

  19. Bazaine to Emperor, 8.20 p.m., 18 August, Guerre: Metz, III: documents annexés, pp. 85–6; Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 6, p. 122.

  20. Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 2, p. 162.

  21. GGS, vol. 1, Appendices XV and XXI; vol. 2, Appendix XXIV.

  22. Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 4, Annexe 9; vol. 5, Annexes 1 and 4.

  23. Hoenig, pp. 63, 168.

  24. Sarcey, p. 16.

  25. Bitteau, pp. 47–50.

  26. Claretie, Histoire de la Révolution, p. 154.

  Chapter 8

  1. Bonnal, p. 462.

  2. Narcy, p. 161.

  3. Lebrun, Bazeilles-Sedan, p. 11.

  4. Guerre: AdC, I, pp. 4–10: documents annexés, I, pp. 118–19; Bastard, Sanglants Combats, p.8.

  5. Narcy, pp. 157–8.

  6. David, in Fay, p. 373; Narcy, p. 158.

  7. Stoffel, Dépêche, pp. 19–20.

  8. Colonel de Ponchalon, quoted in Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 6, p. 172.

  9. MacMahon to Palikao, 4.45 p.m., 20 August, [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 428.

  10. Lehautcourt, La Candidature Hohenzollern, pp. 595–6.

  11. Trochu, vol. 1, p. 125.

  12. Rouher in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 1, p. 239.

  13. Bazaine to Emperor, 19 August, [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, pp. 46–7.

  14. MacMahon to Bazaine, 10.45 a.m., 22 August, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, I, p. 136.

  15. War Minister to Emperor, 1.05 p.m., 22 August, [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 47.

  16. Stoffel, Dépêche, p. 67.

  17. Caro, p. 99.

  18. Sarazin, pp. 80–1.

  19. Second Lieutenant Louis Lebeau, 68th Infantry, quoted in Lecaillon, p. 183.

  20. Bibesco, p. 57.

  21. Stoffel, Dépêche, pp. 83–4.

  22. MacMahon to War Minister, 8.30 p.m., 27 August, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, I, p. 278.

  23. Thoumas, Paris, Tours, Bordeaux, pp. 29–31.

  24. War Minister to Emperor, 11 p.m., 27 August, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, I, pp. 278–9.

  25. MacMahon, Souvenirs inédits, ibid., p. 279.

  26. General Broye, 28 February 1904, quoted in Picard, Sedan, vol. 1, p. 161; Massa, p. 308.

  27. MacMahon in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 1, p. 33.

  28. Palikao to MacMahon, 1.30 p.m., 28 August, Guerre: AdC, II, p. 199.

  29. Moniteur Universel, 25 August 1870, p. 1241.

  30. Bibesco, p. 80.

  Chapter 9

  1. Bismarck to Bernstorff, 21 August, GW, vol. 6B, no. 1755, p. 455; Busch, Bismarck in the Franco-German War, vol. 1, pp. 40–2, 69–72.

  2. Text in Rousset, vol. 1, p. 423.

  3. Sorel, vol. 1, pp. 206–10.

  4. Reuss, Histoire de Strasbourg, pp. 413–14.

  5. Quoted in Pflanze, vol. 1, p. 478.

  6. GGS, vol. 2, Appendix XXXI.

  7. Lonlay, Français et Allemands: Niederbronn-Sedan, pp. 294–5.

  8. Allinson, p. 75: entry for 28 August.

  9. Busch, Bismarck in the Franco-German War, vol. 1, p. 59; GGS, vol. 2, pp. 200–01; Lehautcourt, HG, vol. 6, pp. 228–30.

  10. Busch, Bismarck in the Franco-German War, vol. 1, p. 61.

  11. Sorel, vol. 1, p. 261n.

  12. Busch, Bismarck in the Franco-German War, vol. 1, p. 59.

  13. Text in Rousset, vol. 2, p. 54.

  14. Roon, vol. 3, p. 196.

  15. Bronsart, p. 49: entry for 24 August.

  16. Moltke, The Franco-German War, pp. 70–1.

  17. Verdy, p. 113.

  18. Ibid., p. 111.

  19. Allinson, p. 73: entry for 26 August.

  20. Hohenlohe, Letters on Strategy, vol. 2, p. 208.

  21. Russell, pp. 143–44.

  Chapter 10

  1. Bibesco, pp. 82–3.

  2. Caro, p. 114; Sarazin, p. 93; Narcy, pp. 187–9; GGS, vol. 2, p. 222; ‘Mémoire sur l’incendie de Vonq (Ardennes)’, in Ducrot, Vie militaire, vol. 2, pp. 391–9.

  3. Caro, pp. 117–18.

  4. MacMahon to Failly, 28 August, Failly, p. 39.

  5. Sarazin, p. 95.

  6. Narcy, pp. 193–5.

  7. Journal Clémeur, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, II, p. 100.

  8. Defourny, pp. 91–7; Canonge, p. 96.

  9. Moynac, Souvenirs d’un chirurgien d’ambulance 1870, Bayonne, 1911, quoted in Lecaillon, pp. 190–91.

  10. Bibesco, pp. 96–7, 104–5.

  11. GGS, vol. 2, Appendix XL.

  12. Bronsart, p. 54.

  13. Defourny, p. 134.

  14. Bibesco, p. 115.

  15. [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 436.

  16. Ducrot, Journée, p. 10; Pajol; Castelnau, pp. 518–19; Massa, pp. 311–12; Ryan, pp. 33–4.

  17. MacMahon, Souvenirs inédits, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, I, p. 115; Darimon, Notes, p. 259.

  18. Unsent letter from Eugénie to Captain Charles Duperré, Filon, p. 134.

  19. Empress to Emperor, 7.05 a.m., 31 August, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, II, p. 280.

  20. Yriarte, pp. 19–20, 28–9.

  21. [Officier du 1er Corps], De Freschwiller à Sedan, p. 59, entry for 23 August.

  22. Massa, pp. 275–9, 304.

  23. Monod, p. 22n.

  24. Castelnau, p. 520; Rousset, vol. 2, pp. 296–7.

  25. Wimpffen (1871), pp. 3, 10; Broglie, pp. 127, 153–4.

  26. Wimpffen (1871), p. 124.

  27. MacMahon to War Minister, 1.15 a.m., 31 August, [France], Commission …, Papiers et Correspondance, vol. 1, p. 431.

  28. Ducrot, Journée, p. 14.

  29. Douay’s statement to the Court of Enquiry quoted in Guerre: AdC, II, p. 236; Bibesco, p. 124.

  30. Lebrun, Bazeilles-Sedan, p. 74; Yriarte, p. 28.

  31. Vinoy, p. 36.

  32. MacMahon in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 1, p. 37; Army Order, 31 August, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, II, p. 279.

  33. Bibesco, p. 127.

  34. Douay’s statement to the Court of Enquiry quoted in Guerre: AdC, II, p. 236. Bibesco, p. 124, gives ‘vous’ (you) rather than ‘nous’ (us).

  35. Bibesco, p. 132n.

  36. Ducrot, Vie militaire, vol. 2, p. 406.

  37. Sarazin, p. 115.

  38. Army Order, 11 p.m., 30 August, GGS, vol. 2, Appendix XLII.

  39. Bismarck to Balan, 30 August, GW, vol. 6B, no. 1771, p. 465.

  40. Army Order, 11 p.m., 30 August, GGS, vol. 2, Appendix XLII.

  41. Banning, p. 250; Order for the Army of the Meuse, 6 a.m., 31 August, GGS, vol. 2, Appendix XLII.

  42. Monod, pp. 27–31, 35–6.

  43. Russell, pp. 174–5.

  44. Ibid., pp. 175–9.

  45. Blumenthal, p. 110.

  46. Moltke to Blumenthal, 7.45 p.m., 31 August, Moltke’s Military Correspondence, no. 243, p. 125.

  47. Allinson, p. 82.

  Chapter 11

  1. Lieutenant E. S. Buisson d’Armandy, 4th Marine Regiment, Guerre: AdC, III, p. 30.

  2. Louis Rocheron, 1st Marine Regiment, quoted in Lecaillon, p. 220.

  3. Tanera, p. 65.

  4. Ibid., p. 66.

  5. MacMahon in [France] Assemblée Nationale, Enquête parlementaire: Dépositions, vol. 1, p. 38.

  6. Sarazin, p. 120.

  7. Ibid., p. 121; Aragonnès d’Orcet, p. 165; Ducrot, Journée, p. 22.

  8. Lebrun’s report in Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, III, pp. 305–6; Ducrot, Journée, pp. 23–4 and Colonel Robert’s account, ibid., pp. 123–4; Gue
rre: AdC, III, pp. 56–9.

  9. Ducrot, Journée, pp. 28–9.

  10. Sarazin, p. 123; Ducrot, Journée, p. 31.

  11. Wimpffen (1871), pp. 165, 212; Lebrun’s report loc. cit., and his Bazeilles-Sedan, pp. 111–13.

  12. Sarazin, p. 119 (2nd edn).

  13. Colonel Robert, quoted in Guerre: AdC, III, p. 55; Aragonnès d’Orcet, p. 165.

  14. General Castelnau, quoted in Pajol.

  15. Déroulède, pp. 189–91.

  16. Reports of Generals de Vassoigne and Reboul, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, III, pp. 336–9.

  17. Cogniet, pp. 74–5.

  18. Report of Captain Bourgey, 2 September, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, III, pp. 339–41.

  19. Letter of Chaplain Emmanuel Domenech, 21 July 1871, in Claretie, Histoire de la Révolution, pp. 223–4; Lavenue and Sériot, quoted in Lecaillon, pp. 219–21.

  20. The Times, 15 September, p. 10; Busch, Bismarck: Some Secret Pages from His History, vol. 1, pp. 198–200.

  21. Letter of 20 June 1871 to the Augsburg Allgemeine Zeitung, Helvig, p. 95; Claretie, Histoire de la Révolution, p. 223.

  22. GGS, vol. 2, p. 316.

  23. Domenech, p. 221.

  24. Ryan, pp. 55–6.

  25. Mayor Bellomet, Liste des habitants de Bazeilles tués, blessés ou disparus lors des combats des 31 août et 1 septembre 1870, 23 April 1871, in Gollnisch, pp. 19–20. Further (though occasionally inconsistent) details of victims in Fouquet, Bazeilles, pp. 50–5, and Bastard, Défense de Bazeilles, pp. 93–149, which includes survivor testimony.

  26. Mayor of Bazeilles to General Lebrun in Lebrun, Bazeilles-Sedan, pp. 325–6; Letter of Dr Frank, Pall Mall Gazette, 30 September, p. 11; François-Franquet, pp. 132–3.

  27. Kühnhauser, Kriegserinnerungen, quoted by Stoneman, p. 282.

  28. Proclamation of Richard Gœlch in François-Franquet, p. 143.

  29. Tanera, p. 71.

  30. Narcy, p. 220.

  31. Ibid., pp. 220–32.

  32. Wimpffen (1887), p. 148.

  33. Allinson, p. 85; Blumenthal, p. 111.

  34. Wimpffen (1871), pp. 165–6; Bibesco, p. 146, and Douay’s report ibid., pp. 196–7.

  35. Narcy, p. 148.

  36. Sarazin, p. 126.

  37. Vinoy, pp. 54–6.

  38. Sarazin, pp. 126–8.

  39. Ducrot, Journée, p. 33.

  40. Russell, p. 187.

  41. Bronsart, p. 57; Busch, Bismarck: Some Secret Pages from His History, vol.1, p. 144.

  42. Busch, Bismarck: Some Secret Pages from His History, vol. 1, p. 171.

  43. Russell, p. 191.

  44. Faverot, p. 71.

  45. Russell, p. 203.

  46. GGS, vol. 2, p. 375.

  47. Liébert’s report, Guerre: AdC: documents annexés, III, p. 241; Douay’s report, Bibesco, p. 198.