Europe 1870: Siege of Paris

With the French defeat at Sedan, Napoleon III was forced to surrender. The Prussians now moved to besiege Paris, where the Empire had been overthrown and a republic declared. Meanwhile the Italians took advantage of the French defeat to seize Rome.

This map has in-depth notes in the Journal, exclusive to Patrons on Classical Tier and above. Find them in the events descriptions, marked with the Journal icon .

Main Events

2 Sep 1870 Surrender of the Army of Châlons

By the end of the first day (1 September 1870) of the Battle of Sedan, the French position seemed hopeless, prompting Emperor Napoleon III to raise a white flag and send General Reille out to deliver a letter of surrender to the Prussians. When the arranged truce expired the following morning, the Prussians briefly renewed their attacks before General Emmanuel Félix de Wimpffen formally agreed to surrender the remaining 104,000 men of the Army of Châlons to Generalfeldmarschall Helmut von Moltke and the Prussian king William I. Napoleon himself spent the rest of the war in captivity in Schloss Wilhelmshöhe, Kassel, after which he lived out the remaining two years of his life in exile in England. in wikipedia

4 Sep 1870 French Third Republic

On 4 September 1870, when news reached Paris of Emperor Napoleon III’s capture at Sedan, the French government proclaimed the end of the Second Empire and the formation of a republic (the French Third Republic). Under the leadership of Léon Gambetta, the provisional Government of National Defense was established to continue the war against Prussia and its German allies, but was disbanded in January 1871 following the fall of Paris. Even so, the Third Republic would ultimately survive under successive governments until July 1940, when it was defeated by another German invasion. in wikipedia

19 Sep 1870–28 Jan 1871 Siege of Paris

Following their victory at Sedan, Prussia and its allies advanced rapidly west towards Paris, which they encircled and besieged on 19 September 1870. The siege—which pitted 240,000 German troops against 200,000 French regulars and another 200,000 militia—lasted for four months until January 1871, when the French, facing both starvation and heavy bombardment, agreed to surrender. in wikipedia

20 Sep 1870 Capture of Rome

In September 1870, encouraged by Prussia’s defeat of France, the Kingdom of Italy invaded the Papal States and on the 20th began a bombardment of the Aurelian Walls surrounding Rome. That evening the Papal Army signed a capitulation at Villa Albani, after which the Italian Army proceeded to occupy all of Rome except for the Vatican Hill, where Pope Pius IX resided. Despite almost immediate international acceptance of the Italian gains, the Pope refused to acknowledge the new status quo and instead declared himself a “prisoner in the Vatican”, initiating a dispute between the Italian government and the Holy See which would not be resolved until 1929. in wikipedia