Beleiring av Paris franske historie [1870–1871]

Beleiring av Paris, (19. september 1870–28 januar 1871), engasjement av den fransk-tyske (prøyssiske) krigen (1870–71). Etter nederlaget i slaget ved Sedan, der den franske keiseren Napoleon III overga seg, var den nye franske tredje republikk ikke klar til å godta tyske fredsvilkår. For å avslutte den fransk-prøyssiske krigen beleiret tyskerne Paris fra og med 19. september 1870. Beleiringens lengde bidro til å salte fransk stolthet, men etterlot også bitre politiske splittelser.

Franco-tyske krigsarrangementer

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Battles of Mars-la-Tour og Gravelotte

16. august 1870 - 18. august 1870

Slaget om Sedan

1. september 1870

Siege of Paris

19. september 1870 - 28. januar 1871

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The hastily assembled Parisian garrison was of questionable quality, but the city’s walls and outlying fortresses were formidable. Field Marshal Helmuth von Moltke, commanding the German forces, had no intention of wasting lives by storming the city. Instead, the Germans settled down to starve Paris into submission.

The garrison made three sorties to try and break the siege, but they achieved little. Within the city, as food supplies dwindled, "siege cuisine" entered French mythology. Nearly every animal in the zoo was consumed in the course of the siege, and feline and canine butchers appeared. However, the poorest citizens suffered most; few deaths from starvation occurred but infant mortality soared and working-class resentment simmered.

Losing patience, the Germans finally shelled the city, firing 12,000 shells in three weeks, but they had yet to bring up heavy siege guns and killed fewer than one hundred Parisians, which had little impact on Parisian morale. However, morale plummeted when the city stood on the verge of starvation. No relief came, and many Parisians—especially the working classes—were unaware of the guerrilla warfare harrying German communications or the suffering of newly raised French armies and felt deserted by France. In the end, the city capitulated, on 28 January 1871, regular troops were taken prisoner, and the city suffered the humiliation of a triumphal German march through its streets. Such indignities would not be forgotten quickly.

Losses: French, 24,000 dead or wounded, 146,000 captured of 400,000, not including 47,000 civilians dead or wounded; German, 12,000 dead or wounded of 240,000.