The Siege of Paris took place from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871 and ended in the capture of the city by forces of the various states of the North German Confederation, led by the Kingdom of Prussia. The siege was the culmination of the Franco-Prussian War, which saw the Second French Empire attempt to reassert its dominance over continental Europe by declaring war on the North German Confederation. The Prussian-dominated North German Confederation had recently emerged victorious in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866, which led to the questioning of France's status as the dominant power of continental Europe. With a declaration of war by the French parliament on 16 July 1870, Imperial France soon faced a series of defeats at German hands over the following months, leading to the Battle of Sedan, which, on 2 September 1870, saw a decisive defeat of French forces and the capture of the French emperor, Napoleon III.
Following the capture of Napoleon III, the Second French Empire collapsed and the Third French Republic was proclaimed under the provisional Government of National Defense. Despite German forces besieging Paris from 19 September 1870, the new government continued the war, resulting in over four months of further fighting and three failed breakout attempts by the Paris garrison. After an initially ineffective artillery campaign, the Prussians deployed heavy Krupp siege artillery from 25 January 1871. Facing intensified bombardment, starvation, and disease, the Government of National Defense concluded an armistice with the North German Confederation on 28 January 1871. While the armistice led to food shipments being immediately permitted into the city, the capture of their capital city and the disaster of the war itself would have a long-lasting impact on the French populace, Franco-German relations, and Europe as a whole. French defeat in the war would directly lead to a victorious North German Confederation unifying with still-independent South German states and declaring the German Empire as well as a disgruntled and radicalized Parisian population taking control of Paris and forming the Paris Commune.
Background
As early as August 1870, the Prussian 3rd Army led by Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia (the future Frederick III, German Emperor), had been marching towards Paris. A French force accompanied by Napoleon III was deployed to aid the army encircled by Prussians at the Siege of Metz. This force was crushed at the Battle of Sedan, and the road to Paris was left open. Personally leading the Prussian forces, King William I of Prussia, along with his chief of staff Helmuth von Moltke, took the 3rd Army and the new Prussian Army of the Meuse under Albert, Crown Prince of Saxony, and marched on Paris virtually unopposed. In Paris, the governor and commander-in-chief of the city's defenses, General Louis Jules Trochu, assembled a force of 60,000 regular soldiers who had managed to escape from Sedan under Joseph Vinoy or who were gathered from depot troops. Together with 90,000 Mobiles (Territorials), a brigade of 13,000 naval seamen and 350,000 National Guards, the potential defenders of Paris totaled around 513,000. The compulsorily enrolled National Guards were, however, untrained. They had 2,150 cannon plus 350 in reserve, and 8,000,000 kg of gunpowder.
The French had expected the war to be fought mainly on German soil; it was not until the defeats at Spicheren and Frœschwiller that the authorities began to take serious action in organizing the defenses of Paris. A committee under the leadership of Marshal Vaillant was formed and given a budget of 12 million francs to strengthen the defenses. Barriers were put up around the city, 12,000 workers employed to dig earthworks, a barrage placed across the Seine, and select approaches to the city laid with electrically-triggered mines. Forests and houses were cleared to improve the firing sight lines, roads were torn up, and railroad and road entrances to the city blocked. The Paris Catacombs were sealed off, along with certain quarries and excavations outside the city to deny an entry-point to the Prussians.
The authorities in Paris also attended to provisions and took steps to stockpile cereals, salted meat, and preserves for the population. Much of this was stored in the Opéra Garnier. The Bois de Boulogne and Luxembourg Gardens were packed with livestock – the former received some 250,000 sheep and 40,000 oxen. The government believed it had enough flour and wheat to last for 80 days, more than enough based on the assumption, then prevalent, that the siege would be relatively brief.
Siege
The Prussian armies quickly reached Paris, and on 15 September Moltke issued orders for the investment of the city. Crown Prince Albert's army closed in on Paris from the north unopposed, while Crown Prince Frederick moved in from the south. On 17 September a force under Vinoy attacked Frederick's army near Villeneuve-Saint-Georges in an effort to save a supply depot there, but it was eventually driven back by artillery fire. The railroad to Orléans was cut, and on the 18th Versailles was taken, and then served as the 3rd Army's and eventually Wilhelm's headquarters. By 19 September the encirclement was complete, and the siege officially began. Responsible for the direction of the siege was General (later Field Marshal) Leonhard von Blumenthal.
Prussia's chancellor Otto von Bismarck suggested shelling Paris to ensure the city's quick surrender and render all French efforts to free the city pointless, but the German high command, headed by the king of Prussia, turned down the proposal on the insistence of General von Blumenthal, on the grounds that a bombardment would affect civilians, violate the rules of engagement, and turn the opinion of third parties against the Germans, without speeding up the final victory.
It was also contended that a quick French surrender would leave the new French armies undefeated and allow France to renew the war shortly after. The new French armies would have to be annihilated first, and Paris would have to be starved into surrender.
Trochu had little faith in the ability of the National Guards, which made up half the force defending the city. So instead of making any significant attempt to prevent the investment by the Germans, Trochu hoped that Moltke would attempt to take the city by storm, and the French could then rely on the city's defenses. These consisted of the 33 km (21 mi) Thiers wall and a ring of sixteen detached forts, all of which had been built in the 1840s. Moltke never had any intention of attacking the city and this became clear shortly after the siege began. Trochu changed his plan and allowed Vinoy to make a demonstration against the Prussians west of the Seine. On 30 September, Vinoy attacked Chevilly with 20,000 soldiers and was soundly repulsed by the 3rd Army. Then, on 13 October, the II Royal Bavarian Corps was driven from Châtillon but the French were forced to retire in face of Prussian artillery.
General Carey de Bellemare commanded the strongest fortress north of Paris at Saint Denis.
On 29 October, de Bellemare attacked the Prussian Guard at Le Bourget without orders, and took the town. The Guard actually had little interest in recapturing their positions at Le Bourget, but Crown Prince Albert ordered the city retaken anyway. In the Battle of Le Bourget the Prussian Guards succeeded in retaking the city and captured 1,200 French soldiers. Upon hearing of the French surrender at Metz and the defeat at Le Bourget, morale in Paris began to sink. The people of Paris were beginning to suffer from the effects of the German blockade. On 31 October, the day the government confirmed the surrender of Metz and one day after Le Bourget's recapture was announced, an angry mob besieged and invaded the Hôtel de Ville, taking Trochu and his cabinet hostage. The insurgent leaders (Gustave Flourens, Louis Charles Delescluze, Louis Auguste Blanqui among them) attempted to depose Trochu's government and form a new one led by themselves, but they could not come to an agreement. In the meantime, battalions of loyal National Guards led by Jules Ferry and a detachment of Mobiles headed by the Prefect of Police, Edmond Adam, prepared to retake the building. Negotiations between the two sides concluded with a peaceful evacuation of the building by the insurgents early in the morning of November 1, and the release of the hostages. Despite promising no reprisals against the revolutionaries, the Government was swift to arrest and imprison 22 of the leaders, which further embittered the left-wing of Paris.
Hoping to boost morale on 30 November Trochu launched the largest attack from Paris even though he had little hope of achieving a breakthrough. Nevertheless, he sent Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot with 80,000 soldiers against the Prussians at Champigny, Créteil and Villiers. In what became known as the Battle of Villiers the French succeeded in capturing and holding a position at Créteil and Champigny. By 2 December the XIII (Royal Württemberg) Corps had driven Ducrot back into the defenses and the battle was over by 3 December.
On 21 December, French forces attempted another breakout at Le Bourget, in the hopes of meeting up with General Louis Faidherbe's army. Trochu and Ducrot had been encouraged by Faidherbe's capture on 9 December of Ham, around 65 miles from Paris. The weather was extremely cold, and the well-installed, well-concealed Prussian artillery inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing French. Soldiers camped overnight with no fuel for warmth, as the temperature fell to 7°F (−14°C). There were over 900 cases of frostbite, and 2,000 casualties on the French side. On the Prussian side, there were less than 500 dead.
On 19 January, a final breakout attempt was aimed at the Château of Buzenval in Rueil-Malmaison near the Prussian Headquarters, west of Paris. The crown prince easily repulsed the attack inflicting over 4,000 casualties while suffering just over 600. Trochu resigned as governor and left General Joseph Vinoy with 146,000 defenders.
During the winter, tensions began to arise in the Prussian high command. Field-Marshal Helmuth von Moltke and General Leonhard, Count von Blumenthal, who commanded the siege, were primarily concerned with a methodical siege that would destroy the detached forts around the city and slowly strangle the defending forces with a minimum of German casualties.
But as time wore on, there was growing concern that a prolonged war was placing too much strain on the German economy and that an extended siege would convince the French Government of National Defense that Prussia could still be beaten. A prolonged campaign would also allow France time to reconstitute a new army and convince neutral powers to enter the war against Prussia. To Bismarck, Paris was the key to breaking the power of the intransigent republican leaders of France, ending the war in a timely manner, and securing peace terms favourable to Prussia. Moltke was also worried that insufficient winter supplies were reaching the German armies investing the city, as diseases such as tuberculosis were breaking out amongst the besieging soldiers. In addition, the siege operations competed with the demands of the ongoing Loire Campaign against the remaining French field armies.
Air medical transport is often stated to have first occurred in 1870 during the siege of Paris when 160 wounded French soldiers were evacuated from the city by hot-air balloon, but this myth has been definitively disproven by full review of the crew and passenger records of each balloon which left Paris during the siege.
During the siege, the only head of diplomatic mission from a major power who remained in Paris was United States Minister to France, Elihu B. Washburne. As a representative of a neutral country, Washburne was able to play a unique role in the conflict, becoming one of the few channels of communication into and out of the city for much of the siege. He also led the way in providing humanitarian relief to foreign nationals, including ethnic Germans.
Food & fuel shortages
As the siege wore on, food supplies dwindled, and prices skyrocketed. The authorities instituted price controls on certain staple foods at the beginning of the siege, but these were rendered ineffective by a lack of enforcement and the rampant black market in the city. Until mid-October there was no rationing of any kind, and afterwards only meat was subject to rationing (bread was rationed at the very end of the siege). There were also no attempts to limit hoarding and speculation. Many of the wealthier residents were well-placed to weather the siege since they had put aside stores of food before it began. Infant mortality soared because of the lack of fresh milk. Poor women and their children suffered the most of anybody. Their husbands had the relative advantage of their 1.50 francs per day National Guard pay, "little enough of which reached their wives", and the fact that they were occupied, because "anyone who was occupied – even the National Guardsman warming himself in the bistro while his wife queued for food – had a better chance of survival."
Parisians turned first to horses in early-October to supplement their dwindling supplies of fresh meat. By mid-November, fresh meat had truly run out in the city, and butchers began offering dog and cat meat. People also turned to rats for meat, although the numbers of rats consumed was relatively low due to fear of disease, and the expense of preparing rat meat in order to make it edible. Once the supply of those animals ran low, the citizens of Paris turned on the zoo animals residing at Jardin des plantes. Even Castor and Pollux, the only pair of elephants in Paris, were slaughtered for their meat.
A contemporary Latin Quarter menu reads in part: