ABSTRACT
By the middle of January 1871 the armies of the National Defence, both in Paris and in the Provinces, had been routed and to a large extent destroyed. The civil population of France, except only for a handful of iron-willed commanders and unreasoning enthusiasts, were ready for any sort of peace. On 29th October Russia, not entirely unexpectedly, had denounced the clauses of the Treaty of Paris of 1856 which declared the Black Sea to be neutralised in perpetuity and limited the number and type of naval forces which the Czar might maintain on its waters. Bismarck had some reason to consider that the renewal of peace negotiations immediately after the fall of Paris would stand a good chance of success. For Moltke the fall of Paris would be an opportunity, not for making peace, but for prosecuting the war in the provinces with greater vehemence.
