Germany and France: a popular history of the Franco-German War. ... Illustrated, etc

Front matter

A Popular History OF THE BY EL I H U RICH. iiRflg. LONDON: JAMES HAGGER, 67, PATERNOSTER ROW GERMANY i FRANCE : A POPULAR HISTORY OF THE FRANCO-GERMAN WAR BY ELIHU RICH, EDITOR OF THE "CYCLOPÆDIA OF BIOGRAPHY," AND NUMEROUS MILITARY AND HISTORICAL WORKS. ILLUSTRATED WITH STEEL-PLATE AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS, Representing Battle-scenes, from the pencils of Artists accompanying the Armies, Maps, Plans of Battle, Views of Remarkable Buildings and Localities, Fortresses, etc., etc.; also a Series of Authentic Portraits of the most Celebrated Personages connected with the War. VOL. I. LONDON: JAMES HAGGER, 67, PATERNOSTER ROW. ■ w n a, il a &. sq a KING or PRUSSIA VJER ROW PBEFACE. This history of the war of 1870-1871 was commenced at the moment when Paris was invested by the German armies. The issue of the struggle could not then be predicted with any certainty.

Two thirds of the Imperial forces which took the field in the latter half of July had been destroyed ; but the Army of Bazaine lay around Metz ana prevented the further advance of the First and Second German Armies. The first Loire Army and the armies of the North and West were in course of formation. If Bazaine should be able to detain the forces under Prince Frederick Charles for a sufficient length of time under the walls of Metz, it was certain the third and fourth armies investing Paris would themselves be invested. As a precaution against this contingency the corps of Werder was being moved down southward and westward from Strasburg ; and the centre of France, in a wide sweep around Paris, was being overrun by the cavalry of the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg. In these circumstances the issue of the struggle depended on several contingencies, any one of which might happen ; and it was necessary in planning a history of these important transactions, to adopt a method which should ensure some measure of literary completeness, whatever might.be the issue of the 'struggle.

Fortunately the method of solving the problem favoured the treatment of the subject from a point of view that was certain to be of more general interest than a mere chronicle of the war : to be independent of the result, it was of the first importance to survey a wider horizon than that commanded by the immediate theatre of war, and to deal with other materials than the records of current events. The struggle of 1870-71 has therefore been treated, in this work, as a grand episode in the drama of modern history. The chapters which summarise the recent history of Italy and Spain ; which refer to the revolutionary principles of 1789, and the rise of the secret societies ; in which the career of Garibaldi and the influence of Mazzini are traced, and much besides in the work which, on a hasty glance, might be thought irrelevant, are on the contrary to be viewed as integral parts of the author's plan.

Chapter I. The Situation

Sudden Destruction of a Great Power— Comparison with theDecline and Fall of other Empires — Paris Encircled with the German Armies — Previous Military Strength and Prosperity of the Country — Surprising Military Growth of Prussia during the last Seven Years — Achilles Armed by Thetis — Peace Exercises ofthe Prussian Armies — The Isthmian Games in Germany — War as a means of Redressing the disturbed Balance of Power — Was the Present War undertaken with that object in view? — Has the War changed its Character since the Capitulation of Sedan? — How to Write History with Impartial Truthfulness. We are about to trace the history of one of the fiercest and most disastrous struggles which this century has witnessed — a struggle in -which, for the first time, all the resources of the applied science of this wonderful age have been systematically prepared, over a course of years, and directed with unerring skill, to the destruction of a great military power.

Ruin so swiftly wrought, and so widely spread, so nearly perfect in its epic completeness, is not recorded. Powerful empires have been sub verted before now; and, like Volney on the shores of the Orontes,1 we might pass them in review until our imaginations were filled with the past glories of Nineveh [and Babylon, the palatial splendours of Persepolis, the mercan tile wealth of Tyre, and the industrial activity of Sidon ; and then sadly ask ourselves where are now those temples, those palaces, those ramparts, those dockyards, those workshops, FALL OF THE FRENCH EMPIRE. "All the lies and hypocrisies, all the lusts and greeds of the world, basked in its smiles, shouted its praises, whetted their swords at its bidding;" 8 while, as truth will hereafter compel the historian to add, one alone, a far-seeing, sad, and disappointed man, its uncrowned king, vainly strove to raise that light-hearted people to the level of his own earnestness.

Now the fair city " sits a widow," to use the language of the Prophet, and none so mean to do her reverence. Isolated from the world of pomp and fashion, in which she was the cynosure of all eyes, and verily wearing sack cloth and ashes, while the ruthless enemy, like a wall of fire and steel, encompasses all her gates and towers,3 she bitterly repents of the past, and revolves the sad future, till her brain is stung to madness. their enemies, and in spite of every adverse sentiment, will know how to appreciate. The facts, we repeat, are unprecedented. Only three months ago the prestige of France was that of the most formidable military power of modem times, as the court of her Emperor and her capital were the most splendid in Europe. Such prosperity as France had not enjoyed for more than a generation previously had rewarded the toils of her ruler and repaid the enterprise of her sons.

We are not here considering the matter deeply, but glancing over the surface of facts. With an active army of 450,000 men, of whom 334,000 were under the colours, and a reserve and Garde Mobile sufficient to raise the entire military force to over 1,000,000, the Emperor boasted of fifty ironclad ships of war, and a marine which numbered over 66,000 men.4 In fifteen years the industrial and commercial population had been reinforced by a transfer of more than four millions of souls from other classes, the result of the Emperor's enlightened commercial policy ; and in every International Exposition of Industry the rapid progress of the country was universally acknowledged. Hereafter these matters will come under our notice in detail. In her political influence France had no rival. The word of her ruler almost gave law to the nations, and the most powerful of her rivals was not deemed powerful enough to profess indifference to his nod.

We need not complete the picture. Who could have dreamt that so much glory was a hollow pretence, that such a centre of light had no sustaining fire, that those mighty legions were as shadowy and unsubstantial as the spectres of Ossian, and that the whole prosperity of the country was at the mercy of the first ruthless invader ? May we not believe there was one at least who doubted the reality of the phantom splendour by which he was surrounded, and, like an un easy sleeper, made a last desperate effort to realize his position — to grasp the substance, if substance there were, or to shake himself free from the nightmare of falsehood, and — awoke disenchanted ! Many who look on this record hereafter, when the painful turmoil is over, and the rapid succession of victories which have brought the German armies beneath the walls of Paris, and devastated the fairest provinces of France, have only an historical interest for them, will be disposed to think we have expressed ourselves with unnecessary warmth at the opening of what should be an unimpassioned and impartial narrative.

Impartial truth, so far as it is immediately attainable, we can promise ; but our task is not that of the critical historian, who contemplates events at a period long subsequent to their occurrence, and with the revelations of time to guide his pen. To write current history without feeling something of the glow of action, and with the dryness of a chronological record, is a task that we, at least, instinctively shrink from. While the air is filled with the shouts of the victors, the cries of the vanquished, and the roar of cannon, as the embattled hosts press forward to fresh fields of carnage, and a gallant though misguided people is in the agony of despair and death, as a passive instrument, is simply impossible. While, therefore, disowning anything approaching to partisanship, we have proposed to write this stoiy of the struggle between the Teuton and the Celt as we feel impressed by it in its progress, and with that sympathy for the brave unfortunate which every generous heart, even amongst If we look on the companion picture, the situation is not less surprising, nor the colours GROWING STRENGTH OF PRUSSIA. 7 less brilliant.

Only seven years ago there was a king striving with his parliament for the possession of the material resources deemed necessary to accomplish what the nation itself desired ; and, after a fierce and protracted struggle, he dared to make illegal seizure of that which had been legally denied him. The quarrel was not unlike that between Charles the First and the Parliament of England about "ship money." Whether the end justified the means will appear in the further progress of this history. People looked on wonderingly, and failed to understand by what magical pro cess the logical and resolute, but long-suffering, Germans were brought under the yoke. The scene had scarcely shifted, when we saw this same Prussian sovereign with his people at bay, with France on one side and Russia on the other, yet daring enough to divide Germany itself by raising one of the greatest issues of modern times with Austria.

The mystery ex plained itself when his drag-net was stretched across the Polish border, and the flying patriots were handed over to their masters. Still, neither the subtle statesmanship of Count Bismarck, nor the growing military strength of Prussia, were yet suspected. Its army was supposed to be antiquated ; its king unconstitutional ; its people disaffected ; its influence upon external relationships apparently at the lowest possible ebb. The Schleswig-Holstein question, during all this period, had grown to dangerous proportions : England and France were known to be hostile to the pretensions of Germany, and Austria was antagonistic to the ambition of Prussia. In a few months the bravest of Denmark's sons had fallen before the heretofore untried needle-gun; and the fact that Prussia, like an Achilles, had been armed in secret by the divine Thetis, if we may so call the motherland, suddenly flashed on men's convictions when Austria herself was hurled back on the field of Sadowa.

Then France, like old Troy, felt ill at ease, and, called from dalliance in the lap of pleasure, her beloved Paris began hastily to arm. To drop metaphor, the astounding success of the Prussians in the campaign of 1866 suggested the measures of Marshal Neil for the reorganization of the French army ; and it was henceforth a visible fact to all the world that these two great powers were preparing for a mortal combat. The military movements on the continent in 1869 drew a number of British officers to Berlin ; aud at length some of the warlike exercises of the Prussians were feebly — but very feebly indeed — imitated in and around our camp at Aldershot. The Prussian armies played at campaigning in grim earnest, not as children play with toy soldiers, but as the old Greeks wrestled in the Isthmian games.

Armies were sent into the field, and pitted against each other with every circumstance of actual warfare, except the slaughter. Corps d'armee of 10,000 men, or even greater numbers, were sent out to feel their way through localities only known to them by maps, in search of the supposed enemy, and were every hour liable to be surprised by other bodies of troops which, unknown to them, had been sent to cross their path. Thus, the exercises of the Prussian troops consisted in manœuvring for victory precisely as if the country had been invaded, and forced marches were made, by night or day, at a moment's warning, when the outposts were driven in, or the scouts arrived with in telligence which called for immediate action. While every soldier and every officer in the Prussian army was thus learning the details of war, and all that it was necessary to do in an emergency, either for attack or defence, the future enemy, though roused for a moment, was wrapped in inglorious ease, and effeminated, if not demoralized, by the luxuries of a capital as full of allurements to every form of intellectual as well as moral dissipation as Alexandria of old.

The result hitherto of the inevitable collision has filled all hearts with dismay, and the world is breathlessly awaiting the final catastrophe. In spite of the teaching of professors of public right, we are continually told that when the equilibrium between nations has been disturbed by the aggrandizement of the power of any one of them, it ought to be restored, even at the cost of war. To be perfectly sincere on this point, we would say, with the celebrated French economist,5 " Let us have a war a outrance, no matter with whom, if DOES WAR SETTLE ANYTHING ? when that war is finished, that precious bloodshed, the men buried, the villages burned, the products of laborious years destroyed, humanity could dry its tears, and say, ' Behold, the world is delivered from this scourge ; for the future there will be peace on earth, good will among men.

Every one shall henceforth sit under his own vine and his own fig tree, and none shall make them afraid ! ' " But, unhappily experience has shown that eveiy war is the seed of future wars ; and so obvious is this fact to statesmen, that the negotiations for peace between France and Germany have failed, not because either nation does not desire peace, but because the conditions which Prussia wishes to exact for defending herself from any future attack from France, and securing the unity she has accomplished, are too humiliating to be accepted. seemed to have reached its limit when the Emperor surrendered himself a prisoner, and the French army was virtually annihilated at Sedan. It was no longer in the power of France to dispute the military supremacy of Germany, or to continue the contest for the equilibrium of forces.

From this moment, therefore, the question arises whether it is possible to view the war as one of self-de fence on the part of Germany, or as a war which resumes the thread of continuous con quest commenced at Dybbol, and tied up into a knot of strength at Langensalza and Sadowa. In either case it is obvious that war leads to war, and the equilibrium of states has been destroyed by the means which were avowedly taken to secure it from the slightest disturbing influence. But the mere shifting of the balance of political and military power need not of necessity lead to the subversion of a dynasty and the abasement of a nation. For the causes of results so tremendous we must look else where than to the military operations in this war ; and here we begin to feel the difficulty of our task. If with all our hatred of brute force, by whomsoever wielded, with all our sympathy for the calamities of France, by whomsoever or whatsoever caused, we desire to be just, how shall we be able to assure our selves that we are so ?

In writing history, by what means are we to arrive at truth ? The answer comes to us from a quarter the reader would least expect. It is the fallen Emperor who advises us to seek truth by following the rules of logic. "Let us first take it for granted that a great effect is always due to a great cause, never to a small one ; in other words, an acci dent, insignificant in appearance, never leads to important results without a pre-existing cause which has permitted this slight accident to produce a great effect. The spark only lights up a vast conflagration when it falls upon combustible matters previously collected. Montesquieu thus confirms this idea : ' It is not fortune,' he says, ' which rules the world. There are general causes, whether moral or physical, which act in every monarchy, raising, maintaining, or overthrowing it ; all accidents are subject to these causes, and if the fortune We shall hereafter have to speak with precision of the motives which have produced this war.

For the present the general state ment will suffice, that France accused Prussia of having, "for the increase of its own influence and dominion, and to the detriment of the honour and interests of France, determined to trouble once more the equilibrium of Europe." 6 In the " Declaration of War " it is more ex plicitly affirmed that the design of raising a Prussian prince to the throne of Spain could only be viewed by the Government of the Emperor as " an enterprise directed against the territorial security of France."7 The Empe ror's Government, therefore, in the words of the Duke de Gramont, "had taken up the cause of equilibrium, that is to say, the in terest of all the popidations menaced, like France herself, by the disproportionate aggran dizement of a royal house."8 The King of Prussia, on the other hand, contented himself with the simple affirmation that he drew the sword "to ward off a wanton attack,"9 an as surance first addressed to his own people, and repeated again in the proclamation from Saarbruck " to the inhabitants of the French territories occupied by the German armies," accompanied by the statement that in entering the territories of France he was waging war " against soldiers, not against French ci tizens."

But the " war against soldiers " CATJSE OF THE RUIN OF STATES. 9 of a battle — that is to say, a particular cause — has ruined a state, there was a general cause which made it necessary that that state should perish through a single battle ; in a word, the principal cause drags with it all the particular accidents.' " 10 The rapid succession of battles which have destroyed the French army in a few weeks, and placed the country, for a time, at the mercy of the conqueror, may be regarded as a single battle from this point of view. Notes to Chapter I. 1 In his well-known book, £&? Unities, Volney, who has been properly characterised as the historian ot the encyclopædist school, writes wildly about the causes which have led to the fall of empires, and treats all priests as impostors, and religion itself as a political institution.

He was a better philologist. 1 R. M. Ludlow: Ccmtemporary Review. 3 Paris was completely invested by the Prussian armies on the 19th September (1870). 4 According to the Expose de la Situation de V Empire, the actual army of France counted in December, 1808, 448,711 men, of whom 378,852 were in France, 64,531 in Algeria, and 5,328 in Italy. The reserve, or second portion of the contingent for the year, amounted to 198,548 men, making in all 047,259 exclusive of the Garde Mobile, which numbered 381,723. The Emperor, therefore, was supposed to have at his command a total force of 1,028,982 men. The number oi soldiers in the other European States was as follows : — ■ PEACE WAR FOOTINO. TOOTING. Prussia and the Confederation . . . 312,000 . . . 900,000 Bavaria . . . . ■ 77,000 . . . 160,000 Wurtemburg 10,000 . . . 20,000 Baden 8,000 . . . 18,000 Belgium 37,000 . . . 97,000 Austria 240,000 . . . 800,000 Russia 072,000 . . . 977,000 Denmark 18,000 . . . 04,000 Sweden 10,000 . . . 210,000 Norway 10,000 . . . 60,000 Great Britain 213,000 . . . 497,000 Holland 26,000 . . . 73,000 Italy .... 227,000 . . . 476,000 Spain'. '. ' 102,000 . . . 206,000 Portugal 28,000 . . . 42,000 Switzerland • ■ ■ 202>000 To these must be added Turkey, with 148,000 men on a peace footing, augmented to 484,000 in time of war, and the smaller forces of Greece, the States of the Church, etc.

The sum total oi armed men in Europe will thus be found to have amounted, in 1868-9, to 2,700,000; or, on a war footing, which recent events have shown is not a paper estimate in all cases, but a fearfully real one to 6,552,000. With what reason we may repeat now what the author of the Esprit des Lois said more than a century ago: "A new epidemic is spreading over Europe; it has seized on our princes, and its symptom is the vast number of troops they gather about them. The disease is not only con tagious, but it increases as it spread* in geometrical progression; because if one state augments what it calls its troops the others suddenly augment theirs ; so that no one makes any relative gam but all are involved in common ruin."

Yet;the aiTn.es of which this enlightened author wrote were trivial in comparison with the above figures; and yet the augmentation and the mutual mistrust goes on The marvellous thing is, not that the unbearable tension of the chain should at last have caused it to snap, but that the occurrence should have caused any astonishment, and have been visited as a crime upon the head of one of the rival powers. s Maurice Block : " V Europe Politique et Sociale. « Address of M. Rouher, as President of the Senate, at St. has the honour to make known to His Excellency the Minister 01 Foreign Affairs of His Majesty the King of Prussia, the following communication : ' The Government of His Majesty the Emperor of the French not being able to regard the design of raising a Prussian Prince to the throne of Spain as anything but an enterprise directed against the territorial security of France, found herself under the necessity of requiring from His Majesty the King of Prussia an assurance that such a combination should not be earned into effect with his consent.' His Majesty the King of Prussia refused to give this assurance, and stated, on the contrary, to the Ambassador of His Majesty the Emperor, that he reserved to himself for that eventuality, as in all others, the power of taking account of circumstances.

The Imperial Government could not but perceive in that declaration on the part of the King reservations (arricres pensees) which were threatening for France and the general balance of power in Europe. A second fact gave still more gravity to that declaration — the announcement made to all the Cabinets of the refusal to receive the Emperor's Ambas sador, or to enter into further conferences with him. In consequence the French Government felt it to be a duty to take steps for the immediate defence of its injured honour and interests, and to adopt all the measures required by the position of affairs. Con sequently, from this time it considers itself in a state of war with Prussia." 8 Circular addressed by the Duke de Gramont to the French Representatives abroad, dated Julv 21st. 9 The King of Prussia's proclamation to his people was pub lished in the Prussian Stoats Anzeiger of July 21st, and was to the following effect : — " I am compelled to draw the sword to war! off a wanton at tack, with all the forces at Germany's disposal.

It is a great con solation to me before God and man that I have in no way given a pretext for it. My conscience acquits me of having provoked this war, and I am certain of the righteousness of our cause in the sight of God. The struggle before us is serious, and it will demand heavy sacrifices from my people and from all Germany. But 1 go forth to it looking to the omniscient God, and imploring His almighty support. I have already cause to thank God that on the first news of the war one only feeling animated all German hearts, and proclaimed aloud the indignation felt at the attack, and the joyful confidence that God will bestow victory on the righteous cause. My people will also stand by me in this struggle as they stood by my father, who now rests with God. They will, with me, make all sacrifices to conquer peace again for the nations.

From my youth upwards I have learnt to believe that all depends upon the help of a gracious God. In Him is my trust, and I beg my people to rest in the same assurance. I bow myself before God in acknowledgment of His mercy, and I am sure that my subjects and fellow-countrymen do so with me. Therefore I decree that Wednesday, the 27th of July, shall be set apart for an extraordinary solemn day of prayer and Divine service in all our churches, with abstention from all public occupations and labour so far as may comport with the pressing necessities of this time. I also decree that while the war lasts prayers shall be offered in all Divine services, that in this struggle God may lead us to victory, that He may give us grace to bear ourselves as Christian men even unto our enemies, and that it may please Him to allow us to obtain a lasting peace, founded on the honour and independence oi Germany.

TTT (Signed) "William. „t, v t i oi » "Von Muiiler." " Berlin, July 21. 'o Tie Emperor Napoleon : Vie de Cæsar. o Cloud. _ . _, , *The Declaration of War, as delivered to the Prussian Govern ment was published by the Cologne Gazette. The foUowing is a translation : " I" fulfilment of the orders which he has received from his Government, the undersigned Charge d' Affaires of France THE ANCIENT GERMAN TRIBES. Sclavonians, and the degradation of the word (to slave) is a standing proof of the martial superiority of the Germans; so the word fiend suggests that the Finns were far from being an amiable people either in their personal appearance or their manners.

Chapter II. The Growth Of Prussia

The Germans always a Fighting Race— Overflow ot the Population and Migration southward — The Vandals or Wends— Internecine Warfare and Anarchy — Henry the Fowler at Brandenburg — Institution of Markgraffs— The Markgrave of Brandenburg — Commencement of the Electoral System — Albert the Bear, and the Ascanian line of Electors — The Houses of Bavaria and Luxembourg — The Cradle of the Hohenzollerns— Frederick leaves the Nest of tlie Black Eagle to seek his Fortune — Service with the Emperor Barbarossa — Becomes Burggraf of Nuremburg — How his Descendants throve in Franconia — The Emperor Sigismund — Acquisition of Brandenburg by the Sixth Burggraf — Revolt of the Nobles—" Heavy Peg " — Beginning of the Prussian Sovereignty — Pomerania — Preussen and the Teutonic Knights — Acquisition of Territory eastward to the border of Russia — Frederick William the Grand Elector — Treaty of Westphalia and Acquisitions westward — Title of King assumed — Order of the Black Eagle — Territories a?quired by Frederick the First — Frederick the Great and his Conquests — Dismemberment of Poland and large Additions to Prussian Territory — Acquisitions since the Revolution.

As the populations of northern Germany overflowed southward, and the countries along the Baltic coast were comparatively deserted, another population, likewise of eastern origin, closed in behind them to continue the same strife with nature, and live, if they could, by the Darwinian process of Natural Selection. These spread westward, and are supposed to have been of the same race, or related to the same race, as the Sclaves. They were strangers or " wanderers " in the eyes of the old Germans, and therefore called "Wends," from the old verb to wend, or go about. We shall probably describe them with sufficient accuracy if we call them the roving border tribes of ancient Germany." Between them and the older in habitants of the country, upon whose heels they were so closely pressing, there was no doubt perpetual warfare of a desultory kind, in spite of which they gradually established themselves in the wilder and more inhospitable parts of the territory.

The institutions of a country are the necessary product of the character of its people, acted on by the character of its rulers, and influenced by the material circumstances of their lot. The German tribes were always a fighting race, according to the description of them in Tacitus, who speaks of their strength of bone and mu.cle, and of something besides mere sternness of look.1 In the fierce struggle for existence which they had to maintain with the boars and wolves of the primeval forest and the rude forces of nature in her wildest moods, it was only those who had stern stuff and resisting power in them that could survive at all. They were first known as inhabitants of that portion of the southern coast of the Baltic which now forms the northern boundary of Prussia. In the name of Prussia (Preussen) some authors find the Sclavonic preposition, po, "by,"2 namely, By-Reussen, a river, or By- Russia, the two countries being conterminous.

So Pomem, or Pomerania, is understood to signify " by the sea." 3 At the period which may properly be called the beginning of Euro pean history, we find the Saxons first, and afterwards the Goths and Vandals, leading the warlike emigration southwards,4 and pushing into the heart of France ; as some tyrannic tree, in its struggle for existence, pushes forward its root stems, and makes it impossible for any weaker nature to maintain a position in the soil. Eastward they came into contact with the In the year 928 Henry the Fowler, marching across the frozen bogs, took Branniber, a chief fortress of the Wends ; " first mention in human spsech," says Carlyle, " of the place now called Brandenburg : Bor or " Burg of the Brenns, (if there ever was any tribe of Brenns ; Brennus, there as elsewhere, being name for King or Leader) ; Burg of the Woods, say others, who as little know.