France asks for ceasefire!


After several months of siege by German troops...



...food shortages in Paris are forcing the French government to give in during the Franco-Prussian War!

Parisians are already starting to eat rats!



And to the French government under Adolphe Thiers, a hunger riot by the angry population in the French capital (which would inevitably be directed against their own government!) seems far worse than a German occupation!

On January 28, 1871, Thiers and his Foreign Minister Jules Favre met Chancellor Otto von Bismarck in Versailles and asked for an armistice.

Thiers is absolutely overwhelmed by the situation and is on the verge of collapse (guaranteed!), as the next picture shows...:



So Bismarck and Favre continue to negotiate alone...



...and quickly agree...:

The immediate disarmament of the Paris garrison and the temporary occupation of part of Paris until peace is finally concluded are agreed upon.

The occupying troops are coming from the north-west through the Porte de Maillot, marching up the Avenue de la Grande Armée of all places (where I used to live in house No. 22, 5th floor, back building...), straight through the Arc de Triomphe to the Champs Elysées boulevard...:



The German Chief of Staff, Hellmuth von Molkte...



... wanted to go further: he wanted all French troops stationed near and in Paris (about 250,000 men in all) to be taken prisoner and transported to Germany!

But Bismarck, who was absolutely aware of the war-weariness of the French, prevailed.

Incidentally, the armistice negotiated between Favre and Bismarck expressly does not apply to the Doubs, Côte-d'Or and Jura departments!

Because there are still undefeated troops of the French Southern Army...

But Bismarck assessed the situation correctly, the French no longer want to fight!

The conclusion of peace will cost France a lot of money (five billion gold francs!) and the departments of Alsace and Lorraine. In the following caricature, headed "Self-preservation," Prussian King Wilhelm I and Crown Prince Friedrich hold the French wolf while Bismarck cuts off its claws, "Alsace" and "Lorraine."

Below it is: "One have to cut off the beast's claws so that one have peace of mind in the future."




A short triumph for the Germans - but the seeds for the First World War were planted!

Because from now on, the motto coined by the deputy Lèon Gambetta applies to patriotic French people as well as to the entire army: "N'en parlez jamais, souvenez-vous-en toujours!" ("Never talk about it, always remember it!")