The demand for reforms was answered by a new constitution, which was finally confirmed by a plebiscite on May 8.
Franco-Prussian War.—In the spring of 1870 there were unmistakable manifestations of a hostile spirit on the part of the government against Prussia. The declaration of the candidature of the Hohenzollern prince Leopold for the throne of Spain furnished an immediate cause of war. The voluntary withdrawal of Prince Leopold followed the remonstrances of France, but the latter demanded also of the king of Prussia an explicit promise that no prince of Hohenzollern should ever be a candidate for the Spanish crown. This demand was refused, and war was declared by France, July 19.
On the 28th Napoleon went to Metz, where he personally took command of his forces; and on August 2 the king of Prussia, accompanied by Bismarck and Moltke, joined his army. On the latter day the French bombarded and took Saarbruck. On August 4 the German advance, under the crown prince, defeated the French at Weissenburg, and on the 6th totally defeated MacMahon at Worth.
On the 11th the three German armies under Steinmetz, Prince Frederick Charles, and the crown prince effected a junction on French territory, with headquarters at Saarbruck. By the 14th Steinmetz had advanced to near Metz, where the French army was concentrated under Bazaine, and on the afternoon of the same day won a victory at Courcelles; on the 16th Frederick Charles won a second battle at Mars-la-Tour; and on the 18th the combined forces under King William again defeated the French at Gravelotte.
Bazaine now drew within the fortifications, and the Germans, leaving a portion of their forces to invest the city, marched against MacMahon at Chalons. News reaching them of the advance of MacMahon to relieve Bazaine, they turned northward to intercept him. On the 30th they surprised a corps of General Failly near Beaumont, and fought a battle which resulted in the retreat of the French beyond the Meuse and their final withdrawal to Sedan.
The battle of Sedan was begun by the Germans September 1. After severe fighting they drove the French from all sides to that fortress, where, almost surrounded and without provisions or defenses, they were compelled to capitulate. The emperor surrendered to King William in person, September 2, and was carried a prisoner to Wilhelmshohe. In dead, wounded, and prisoners, the French thus lost in the last few days an army of nearly one hundred and fifty thousand men.
The Third Republic.—The news of Sedan created intense excitement at Paris, and the popular indignation against Napoleon and his party was without bounds. Gambetta proclaimed the republic; and a provisional government of national defense was at once formed, with General Trochu for president and Jules Favre for vice-president. The empress took refuge in England.
The German army entered Rheims on the 5th, and on the 15th they had closely approached Paris. A sortie by General Ducrot on the 19th was repulsed, and a few days later the actual investment of the city was begun. The German headquarters were established at Versailles. A portion of the French government of national defense remained in the capital; another portion, in order to be in communication with the provinces, was established at Tours. Toul surrendered on the 23rd. Strasburg capitulated in the night of September 27-28. Soissons and Schlettstadt capitulated respectively on October 16 and 24, and on the 27th Metz also yielded, Bazaine surrendering one hundred and seventy-three thousand men.
In the meantime the situation of Paris had become hopeless; and on January 28 arrangements for its capitulation had been concluded and provision made for a general armistice. On February 17, 1871, Thiers was chosen chief executive of the republic. On the 26th the preliminary treaty of peace was signed at Versailles, by which France ceded to Germany the greater part of Alsace and Lorraine, and agreed to pay as war indemnity five milliards of francs. The definitive treaty with Germany had been signed at Frankfort on the 10th of May.
In 1873 the Thiers administration was overthrown and replaced by one under Marshal MacMahon. In 1875 a Parliamentary Republic was established, and still remains under the guarantees of the constitution. In 1877 MacMahon was succeeded by Grevy. By this time the republic was fairly firmly established and withstood many attacks. A policy of colonial expansion was adopted, particularly in Egypt, but in spite of the dual control France and England established in 1879, France, in 1882, refused to help England in Egypt, and lost any control she had there.