ABSTRACT
On 18 September 1870 the new French Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jules Favre, set out from Paris to meet the Prussian Chancellor, Otto von Bismarck (1815-98), and to discuss the fate of his country. To the surprise of most of Europe, German forces had quickly and decisively defeated the French armies after the outbreak of war in July and were closing in on Paris. Favre had to cross the lines and meet the victorious German forces. He passed
the heart-rending spectacle of devastated dwellings, houses broken up and ransacked, debris of all kinds scattered pell-mell before the doors. . . . At the door of one poor house, three women and a child were in tears. They prayed us, on bended knees to rescue them. It was heart-rending.1
