ARTICLE: The Fall of France, 1870

Today, I wanted to zip back to the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 and let a participant describe what miserable defeat looked like from on the ground. It had taken mere weeks for the Prussians to completely Napoleon III’s ill-prepared army. The narrator for this one is one Lieutenant-Colonel Meyret, of Third Corps. He found himself in and around Metz, and to enhance his agony even more, it was his hometown…

A view of Fort St. Julien at Metz about the time war was declared in July. (Gallica)