ABSTRACT
SINCE 19th September the official Government of France had been immured in Paris. For its members the conduct of the war therefore consisted of measures for the defence and relief of the capital, and this conception had been with them since they first assumed office. The defence of the city, in Trochu's words, was to be "our great and final effort. Nobody then considered", he admitted, "what the provinces might be able to do." In a proclamation of 6th September the Journal Officiel asserted that" power must be where the fighting is .... It is on Paris that the invading army is now marching: it is on Paris that the hopes of the country are concentrated." This proclamation determined the course of the remainder of the war.
