1870-1871: The Franco-Prussian War | A Parisienne's Memoirs of War (Part 1)

A 2020 Three-part Documentary Series narrated by Hans Henrik Wohler. Audio in German with subtitles in; English, German, French, Italian and Spanish (click on CC for subtitles).

The war of 1870-1871, largely forgotten and eclipsed by the two World Wars, was nonetheless a decisive conflict that changed the balance of power in Europe. On the German side, the Treaty of Versailles laid the basis for the unification of a victorious Germany. And on the French side, the disastrous Battle of Sedan accelerated the fall of the Empire and the proclamation of the Third Republic. But it was the loss of Alsace-Lorraine that marked the key turning point in the relations between the two peoples. Losing this border region wounded French patriotism deeply. Over the decades that followed, it would represent a war trophy for some and a dream of revenge for others.

The story is told by 3 contemporary witnesses through their diaries, a 20-year-old Parisienne, a 38-year-old Prussian officer and a 49-year-old British war correspondent reporting on the war. The entries in their diaries form a mosaic with historical photographs, reconstructions of the original scenes, interviews, maps and the narrator's voice to form a panorama of the war that changed Europe 150 years ago. Troop movements, the traumas of Bazeilles and Sedan for the French, the terrible siege of Paris, the coronation of William I in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles: so many crucial events, which, told in the words of these three witnesses, with complementary visuals, provide an illuminating picture of this fratricidal war, which was to shape for several decades the conflicting relations between the resurgent French Republic and the very young German nation. Pictorial material consists of historical photos, interviews with historians and re-shooting of scenes.

Part 1: The siege of Paris by Prussians, Bavarians, Saxons and Wurttembergers in 1870/​71 is not as devastating as the siege of Leningrad in 1941-1944. But in the five months between September 1870 and January 1871 almost two million Paris residents experience that a modern war makes little difference between civilians and soldiers. After the capitulation of Sedan, on September 2, 1870, the Emperor Napoleon III was deposed, and the Second Republic was proclaimed on September 4 by a government of national defense which Leon Gambetta formed. While France decides to continue the war, the Prussian armies and their allies march on Paris. For five months, they besieged the city, condemning the Parisians to starvation.

Part 2: https://rumble.com/v6dnhv1-1870-1871-the-franco-prussian-war-a-british-war-correspondent-part-2.html