Siege of Paris
From 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871 the Prussian and German armies encircled Paris, having destroyed France's field armies at Sedan and Metz. Rather than storm the fortified capital, the Germans chose to starve it out, ringing the city and later subjecting it to bombardment. Parisians endured a bitter winter of hunger — eating horses, dogs, cats and even the zoo's animals — while sorties and a relief offensive failed to break the ring. It was from besieged Versailles, in the captured palace's Hall of Mirrors, that the German Empire was proclaimed on 18 January 1871. Paris finally capitulated, and an armistice followed. The humiliation of surrender, the harsh peace, and resentment of the new republican government's terms helped ignite the radical Paris Commune that seized the city that spring, only to be crushed in the bloody 'Semaine Sanglante' — proof that the era's wars could unleash revolution at home even amid national defeat.
- Year: 1870 CE
- Category: Military
