The Battle of Sedan took place on September 1, 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War. It pitted the French army, known as the Army of Châlons, 120,000 strong and 564 guns strong, commanded by Emperor Napoleon III, against the Prussian army under the command of the future Kaiser (Wilhelm I of Prussia), 200,000 strong and 774 guns strong. It was a decisive victory for the Prussian forces, with Napoleon III himself having been taken prisoner, ending the war in favor of Prussia and its allies (Bavaria in particular), although fighting continued under the new Republic.
The French army, commanded by Napoleon III and Patrice de MacMahon, tried in vain to lift the siege of Metz but was intercepted by the Prussian army stationed in the Meuse and defeated at the Battle of Beaumont. The Army of the Meuse and the Prussian Third Army of Feld-Marschall Helmuth von Moltke the Elder, accompanied by King William of Prussia and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, joined forces and surrounded the remnants of the French army at Sedan. Auguste-Alexandre Ducrot had taken over command after Patrice de MacMahon sustained injuries during the confrontation.
Preparations for the Battle of Sedan
Following defeats in Alsace at Wissembourg and the Battle of Reichshoffen on August 6, Marshal de MacMahon reconstituted an army of four corps, known as the Army of the Châlons camp, to protect Paris. Marshal Bazaine’s Army of the Rhine also made an effort to enter the Châlons camp and join forces with those of MacMahon. Despite their victory at the Battle of Mars-la-Tour, south of Metz, on August 16, Bazaine did not exploit his advantage over the Prussian IInd Army of Prince Frédéric-Charles, the nephew of the King of Prussia, to deliver the decisive blow or withdraw in an orderly manner to Châlons.
Instead, Bazaine allowed himself to be cut off from Verdun and Châlons, choosing to replenish his forces with food and ammunition on the western flank of the Metz citadel. Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke, the head of the Prussian army’s General Staff, took advantage of this respite and reinforced the 2nd Army with General Steinmetz’s 1st Army. Following the Battle of Saint-Privat on August 18, this forced the Army of the Rhine to withdraw to Metz. The combined actions of the two Prussian armies effectively encircled Bazaine’s army in the citadel of Metz on August 20.
On August 21, MacMahon’s army headed for Reims, setting fire to the Châlons camp to prevent it from falling into German hands. In Reims, at the Courcelles camp, MacMahon completed his manpower, reorganized his army, and prepared to defend the capital. However, he received a directive to free Marshal Bazaine’s army from the First and Second German Armies’ siege of Metz. On August 23, the Regent and the Council of Ministers ordered MacMahon to go and rescue Bazaine. But Helmuth Karl Bernhard von Moltke was tipped off to MacMahon’s objective by the press.
The Prussian Chief of Staff had 200,000 men (3rd and 4th Armies) in addition to the two armies besieging Metz and sent the 3rd Army on a forced march to meet the French troops at Châlons. To avoid the Prussians of the 3rd Army, MacMahon decided to head north towards the Ardennes department and then on to Metz. However, the French strategist underestimated the size of the German forces, their speed, and their overall tactics. In addition to the Prussian 3rd Army, Von Moltke had also positioned the Royal Prince of Saxony’s 4th Army on the right bank of the Meuse, which made MacMahon’s strategy seem ineffective because Saxon troops were blocking the direct route to Metz via Montmédy.
The options for the commander of the Châlons army were as follows: either he headed for Metz, with the prospect of having his road cut off by the Saxons and the Prussian army coming from the vicinity of Châlons, catching him from the rear, or he gave up and came to defend Paris. MacMahon seemed to be procrastinating, and his army corps stalled between August 25 and 28 in the Rethel and Vouziers sectors. Meanwhile, the army of the Royal Prince of Prussia was heading his way.
On August 27, MacMahon decided not to save Bazaine. But in Paris, the Regent and the Council of Ministers still ordered him to rescue Bazaine, claiming that Prussian troops were 48 hours away, even though they were close on his heels. MacMahon resumed the option of moving on Metz and crossing the Meuse towards the Stenay sector, but by dithering under pressure from the authorities and the combined action of the two armies of the German princes, the situation of his corps became more fragile. The French corps was moving further and further north and was in danger of being cornered at the Franco-Belgian border.
Indeed, Châlons’ army began to be harassed by the vanguards of the Prussian 3rd Army at Buzancy on the 27th, at Nouart and Belval-Bois-des-Dames, and at Stonne on the 29th, each of which delayed Châlons’ advance.
Ineffective in his strategy, MacMahon believed that only 60,000 to 70,000 men were pursuing him, while 242,000 Prussians, Bavarians, Saxons, and Württembergians began to encircle him. He also received no precise information from his reconnaissance cavalry on his opponent’s movements. During the Battle of Beaumont, which occurred on August 30 southeast of Sedan, a segment of the German IV Army defeated the French troops (V Corps) responsible for guarding the right flank of MacMahon’s army.
Pursued and harassed by the 3rd and 4th armies, MacMahon decided to take refuge, at least for a few days, in the vicinity of the town of Sedan, a citadel not far from the Belgian border. Sedan is situated on the right bank of the Meuse in a gigantic basin surrounded by hills, with two defiles towards Mézières (west) and Carignan (east), which greatly reduces the possibilities of escape. MacMahon had the choice of retreating to Mézières, 20 km from Sedan, or going on the offensive and forcing his way through to Carignan, where the Prince of Saxony’s 4th Army was heading for Metz.
On the evening of August 30, under threat from the Prince of Prussia’s 3rd Army, MacMahon sent part of his army, the 7th Corps, and part of the 5th Corps, defeated at Beaumont, across the Meuse at Remilly near Sedan. On the same day, the rest of the 5th Corps was defeated at Beaumont, and the 1st and 12th Corps crossed the river near Mouzon. More than a hundred thousand men were heading for Sedan, and the battle was inevitable. The Army of the Châlons camp would have to face significantly larger numbers of troops, as the two German armies were about to unite their forces around Sedan.
Number of French and Prussian Troops
The Battle of Sedan saw some 120,000 men on the side of the French Empire and around 200,000 on the Prussian side. The Kingdom of Prussia had enlisted the support of the Kingdom of Bavaria and the southern German states. The 3rd Army, which Frederick William of Prussia supplied, and the 4th Army, under the command of Albert of Saxony, were its two main divisions. The German states were united in this war. At its head was General Helmuth von Moltke, head of the Grand General Staff of the Prussian army, who had already distinguished himself with his victory over the Austrians at Sadowa.
For their part, the French were under the command of MacMahon, Napoleon’s general, who had already distinguished himself in Algeria and the Crimea. He would later become President of the Republic from 1873 to 1879, after the capitulation of Sedan and the collapse of the Second Empire. Wounded, he was succeeded by Ducrot, then by de Wimpffen. The latter signed the surrender. The French had 564 cannons at their disposal, compared with the Germans’ 774 Krupp models, which were more modern.
While Napoleon III, the French Emperor, took an active part in the battle, King Wilhelm of Prussia and his Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were content to observe it from a hillside near Frénois, southwest of Sedan.
How Many People Died at the Battle of Sedan?
- Prussians: 1,310 killed, 6,443 wounded, 2,107 missing
- France: 3,220 killed, 14,811 wounded, 104,000 captured,
Order of Battle
MacMahon placidly decreed, “Rest for the whole army tomorrow, September 1st.” Without bothering to cut the bridges over the Meuse, he simply concentrated his army on a wooded hill just northeast of Sedan, in the Floing-Illy-Bazeilles triangle, between the Meuse widened by flooding and two streams, the Floing and the Givonne. The French army corps were positioned against the citadel: General Félix Douay’s 7th between Floing and Givonne, General Ducrot’s 1st between Givonne and La Moncelle, General De Failly’s battle-tested 5th near the Sedan citadel at the bottom of Fond-de-Givonne, and the 12th on La Moncelle, Bazeilles, and Balan.
On the afternoon of August 31st, the Germans begin to surround Sedan; the army of the Crown Prince of Prussia occupies Frénois and Donchéry to the west; and the army of the Royal Prince of Saxony attacks through Daigny to reach the Illy plateau and the Garenne forest.
General Ducrot advised the Marshal to concentrate all his troops north of Sedan on the Illy plateau, which would allow him to head for Mézières if the Prussians surrounded Sedan, cutting off any possibility of retreat. But MacMahon, who knew very little about the Prussian forces, listened with a distracted ear: “We are not here to linger.” The Emperor could also retreat to Mézières, as long as the road was clear; he would be safe there and could return to activate the defense of Paris or negotiate peace with the enemy.
An advance party from the 4th Bavarian Chasseur Battalion (part of the 3rd Army) managed to occupy the railroad bridge at Remilly-Aillicourt before the French troops had time to blow it up. The most forward elements of the battalion were able to cross the Meuse and reach the Bazeilles, approximately 5 kilometers southeast of Sedan.
The marine troops of the so-called “Blue Division,” commanded by General de Vassoigne, received orders to retake the village. The 2nd brigade under General Martin des Pallières launched a counterattack, supported by the 1st brigade under General de Reboul. The “marsouins” (marines) recaptured the village after nightfall and even pushed the Bavarians back to the bridge, given the vigorous counterattack. However, by evening, the 1st, 2nd, and 4th Bavarian Corps had crossed the bridge. The Battle of the Bazeilles cost France the lives of 2,655 marines and artillerymen, while Germany lost nearly 4,089 Bavarians.
The battle began before dawn on September 1, when the Bavarians attacked Bazeilles. The two German armies spread northwards, that of the Crown Prince of Prussia on the western flank and that of the Prince of Saxony on the eastern flank, converging on Illy. At seven o’clock, MacMahon, wounded in the buttock by shrapnel, relinquished his command. To replace him, he appointed Ducrot, who immediately ordered the retreat in the direction of Illy and Mézières.
But no sooner had the movement begun than de Wimpffen, displaying a letter from Minister Charles Cousin-Montauban, Comte de Palikao, entrusting him with MacMahon’s interim command in case of impediment, claimed command and rescinded Ducrot’s instructions. Within three hours, the French troops had had three commanders-in-chief, each with a different plan.
On the morning of September 1st, part of the Bavarian First Corps infiltrated Bazeilles on the eastern flank of Sedan Castle. Strong resistance from French marine troops forced the Bavarians to bring in their entire 1st Corps. The battle began to turn in the French favor. Having replaced the wounded MacMahon, General Ducrot, who was in favor of retreating to Mézières, ordered a withdrawal to reorganize forces and concentrate on the western flank, the only way to get out of Sedan without too much fighting. Finally, MacMahon’s commander-in-chief, De Wimpffen, rejected the retreat strategy and ordered the reoccupation of Bazeilles.
Around one o’clock in the afternoon, Wimpffen gave his orders: to counter-attack vigorously on the Bazeilles side, in the direction of Metz. To achieve this, he drew on Douay and Ducrot’s reserves, forcing them to clear the northern front. This wasn’t without challenges: without maps, commanders went in the wrong direction; regiments hesitated to move under artillery fire; others found the road blocked by wagons.
The Bavarians, clearly outnumbered and supported by modern, highly effective artillery, took back the village. Nevertheless, the marsouins excelled in street fighting, twice pushing the Bavarians back from the village. A battalion of the 4th Bavarian Corps advanced as far as the village of Balan, cutting off Bazeilles from Sedan.
In the village, fierce fighting ensued, house by house. Fighting one against ten, the marsouins began to be overwhelmed. They ran out of ammunition and buckled under the impact of the shells and the heat of the fires. Many civilians took part in the fighting. Now cut off from their lines, the French troops gradually surrendered the village, which was almost completely destroyed. Houses were used as defensive bases; the epic, fierce fighting would later be symbolized by the episode of heroic resistance in the Maison de la dernière cartouche (House of the Last Cartridge).
The battle turned into a disaster as the Prussian army of Crown Prince Frederick of Prussia crossed the Meuse at Donchery, south-west of Sedan, to join up with the armed corps of Prince Albert of Saxony, who had come from Beaumont after the battle. Despite all this, Wimpffen had managed to advance a few kilometers when a human tide broke on his rear. At two o’clock on the Illy plateau, on the north-western flank of the Sedan citadel, the two German armies had joined forces; the battle had come full circle. Not only was the hypothetical escape to Mézières or Belgium initiated by Ducrot before Wimpffen’s untimely arrival no longer possible, but the enemy had driven a wedge between Douay’s and Ducrot’s corps.
Deprived of their reserves, the two corps leaders tried to throw everything they could rally into the breach, but to no avail. Despite four charges by General Margueritte’s horsemen, as desperate as they were courageous, the French forces were unable to break the encirclement on the Illy plateau. This was the only way for the French army to escape to Mézières.
Surrounded and completely disorganized, the French army retreated in disorder into the citadel city of Sedan. Then, from all sides, a frightened stream of men, horses, wagons, and cannons poured back towards Sedan, as if salvation lay behind the old ramparts. Infantrymen, cavalrymen, train crews, ambulance carriages, and vans of all kinds converge on the center of Sedan, mingling, choking, and crashing over the drawbridges. German shells fell, bursting and leaving gaps. In seven or eight places, the town went up in flames.
Soldiers fight for shelter and threaten officers. Most of the generals gathered around the Emperor in the sub-prefecture. Their soldiers, exhausted, are no longer in a position to resist. They all tell him that the struggle has become hopeless. All except one, Wimpffen, who was still rallying men on the road to Bazeilles. So Napoleon III pulls himself together. And he was perhaps the only one who could play one last card: meet King William of Prussia face-to-face—whom he had received three years earlier at the Tuileries on the occasion of the Universal Exhibition (World’s fair)—and try to bend him over, stop the bloodshed, and spare the honor of his generals.
Perhaps, by taking himself prisoner, he could obtain safe conduct for his troops to France or Belgium after laying down his arms? And the Emperor gave the order to hoist the white flag over the citadel to request an armistice. General Faure, Chief of Staff, felt he had only to obey Wimpffen and had the flag withdrawn. The Emperor insisted and had it raised again, this time for good.
At 4:30 p.m., the King of Prussia sent an officer to the southern entrance of the citadel (Porte de Torcy). The officer was taken to the Sedan sub-prefecture and presented, much to his surprise, to the Emperor, whose presence in Sedan was unknown to the Germans. Napoleon III wrote a letter to the King of Prussia: “Not having been able to die in the midst of my troops, it only remains for me to place my sword in your Majesty’s hands“.
At 6 p.m., General Reille delivers the Emperor’s letter to William, who is still on the Frénois heights. After deliberation, the victors accepted the surrender of the French army and asked the Emperor to designate one of his officers to deal with the capitulation. The King of Prussia appointed his Commander-in-Chief von Moltke and withdrew to the village of Vendresse, south of Sedan. In the early evening, General de Wimpffen, the plenipotentiary appointed by the Emperor, went to the German headquarters at Donchery, southwest of Sedan. He wanted to negotiate, but von Moltke, accompanied by Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, demanded unconditional surrender.
Capitulation of France
On or around, the Emperor leaves Sedan to confer with the King of Prussia. He heads for the village of Donchery on the imperial road leading to Mézières, believing King William to be there. Warned of this, Bismarck came to meet him at the entrance to the village. A meeting takes place in a roadside weaver’s house. Suspecting that the Emperor wanted to try and soften the terms of the surrender, the King of Prussia’s minister refused to allow Napoleon III to meet William in Vendresse. Bismarck also told him that the King would not see him until after the signing of the surrender deed.
Early in the morning, the Emperor was taken to Frénois, to the Château de Bellevue, overlooking the Meuse and the town of Sedan. Here, an hour later, the generals-in-chief of both sides signed the French army’s act of surrender. The King of Prussia did not arrive until the afternoon. The French Emperor, who had been lying down, got up and welcomed him. The meeting between the two leaders was brief, lasting around 15 minutes, and did not change the terms of the capitulation. The act of surrender specifies that the stronghold, as well as weapons, munitions, equipment, horses, and flags, will be handed over to the victors and that the captured army will be taken to the Iges peninsula, west of Sedan.
The 83,000 surviving French officers and soldiers were subsequently interned in Germany. MacMahon’s army also surrendered its remaining 6,000 horses and 419 cannons. The Germans could then turn them against other French soldiers. General Wimpffen and Emperor Napoleon III did, however, obtain three concessions. Officers who gave their word that they would no longer fight the Germans for the duration of the war were paroled; 550 of them were to take advantage of the windfall; those who, on the other hand, did not want to abandon their men were to keep their weapons and personal effects. Finally, the Emperor was detained in Kassel, at Wilhelmshöhe Castle.
The Consequences of the Battle of Sedan
On September 4, despite the opposition of the legislature and pressure from angry Parisians, Léon Gambetta announced the deposition of the Emperor. A little later, at the Hôtel de Ville, in the company of Jules Ferry, Jules Favre, and other deputies, he proclaimed the Republic. A government of national defense was set up, made up of 11 deputies from Paris. Despite the disaster at Sedan and with Bazaine trapped in Metz, the government refused defeat and reconstituted an army, but by September 20, Paris was under siege.
A few victorious battles by the Orleans army proved the government right, but Bazaine surrendered, freeing German troops to join the forces that had won at Sedan. The French were finally defeated at the end of the Siege of Paris on January 28, 1871. A general armistice was signed at the Château de Versailles. Wilhelm was proclaimed Emperor of the Second German Reich. Otto von Bismarck was able to achieve the union of the German states he had hoped for before the hostilities.
The defeat at Sedan meant the end of an empire and the birth of a nation that was to dominate Europe for a long time to come. A peace treaty signed in Frankfurt on May 10, 1871, cut France off from Alsace (with the exception of Belfort) and parts of Lorraine and the Vosges. A sum of five billion gold francs was demanded as war damages. The German armies gradually withdrew from the 21 departments they had occupied as the payments were made. In September 1873, the Germans completely evacuated the territory after payment of the balance of the debt. This treaty gave rise to a desire for revenge on the part of the French, who were relentless in their pursuit of the lost territories.
The defeat at Sedan was an eye-opener. Although France had embraced the industrial revolution, its military strategists had failed to embrace modern developments. Overconfident, officers relied on past successes: the conquest of Algeria (colonial war), Sebastopol, Solferino, and Magenta. They failed to learn the lessons of Prussia’s victory over Austria at Sadowa.
Admittedly, the French armies had scored a few successes before Sedan, but these were poorly exploited. Although Sedan was followed by a few others, Bazaine’s capitulation allowed the Germans to sweep across the whole of northern France. By precipitating a change of regime and plunging the country into a virtual civil war (Paris Commune), the defeat led to a real awareness of the country’s shortcomings: the Third Republic reorganized its army, modernized it, imposed compulsory military service and stabilized its institutions.
September 2, the day of the French capitulation, became a national holiday (Day of Sedan, “Sedantag”) in the German Empire and was celebrated until 1918. Today, in many German cities, the streets of Sedan (Sedan Strasse) commemorate this victory.
During the next two wars, Sedan was again the site of battles: in August 1914 with the Battle of the Frontiers, but above all on May 13, 1940, when the Wehrmacht succeeded in the decisive breakthrough at Sedan, the prelude to an even more humiliating French defeat.