The war in Europe, its causes and consequences; an authentic narrative of the immediate and remote causes of the war, with a descriptive account of the countries involved, including statistics of armies, navies, aeroplanes, dirigibles, &c., &c . enough in the morning to take any partin it, but that, while all the peaceful citizens had long been roused bythe noise of the guns, they were still sleeping and their regiments wereled into action by the subalterns. The first sign of the defeat of theFrench army was the wounded, riderless horses that rushed back intothe town—first a few, then increasi
The war in Europe, its causes and consequences; an authentic narrative of the immediate and remote causes of the war, with a descriptive account of the countries involved, including statistics of armies, navies, aeroplanes, dirigibles, &c., &c . enough in the morning to take any partin it, but that, while all the peaceful citizens had long been roused bythe noise of the guns, they were still sleeping and their regiments wereled into action by the subalterns. The first sign of the defeat of theFrench army was the wounded, riderless horses that rushed back intothe town—first a few, then increasing chasseurs, lancers, all minglingtogether; horses bearing the trappings of every regiment in the serv-ice, yet still no riders, and their flanks stained with blood. It was longbefore the citizens would believe but that the French had gained thevictory. Surely it was impossible that any nation in the world coulddefeat 80,000 Frenchmen—till at last the fact began to dawn uponthem, and was confirmed by the appearance of the disordered fugi-tives. The French lost at Sedan 39 generals, 2,300 officers, and 84,000men, while 10,000 escaped into Belgium. With the surrender ofSedan ends the first half of the story of the Franco-Prussian -? ti 111 a. tn re u) O CD E CC u 5 Q c 11 uUI nI S 18Q, THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAiN WAR 181 The unfortunate news was concealed in Paris; but as soon as it becameknown, the empire fell and the Empress Eugenie fled to England. During this campaign numbers of French peasants took up armsand formed irregular corps called francs-tireurs. The Germans re-fused to recognize them as forming part of the regular French force,and w^hen members of this corps were captured they w ere immediatelyshot. After the capitulation of JNIetz (October 27, 1870), and de-fensive operations were undertaken by Gambetta, the francs-tireurswere organized, and they proved a most efficient addition to the Frencharmy. One town after another now fell—Nancy, Strassburg, Metz,Rheims
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Keywords: ., boo, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectworldwar19141918
