ABSTRACT
Since 19th September the official Government of France had been immured in Paris. It can be well imagined that work on the defences of Paris received a very low priority at the outbreak of a war which was to be fought, according to popular and official expectation, in Germany; but the news of Spicheren and Froeschwiller shocked the authorities into activity. In face of the evident refusal of the Germans to attack, Trochu had to reconsider his plans. He had at his disposal 400,000 men, their armament daily growing with the intensive activities of the city factories, to confront a force of 236,000 thinly spread over a perimeter of fifty miles. The German armies awaited the fall of Paris with growing impatience, but most of them were able to await it in comfort. Ever since the arrival of Royal Headquarters on 5th October Versailles had taken on all the appearance of a capital city.
