Chapter 43: France Has Had Another Coup (Please Follow)

By the time Primo finished wrapping up his work and led the army back to Madrid, it was already mid-March 1870.

This civil war in Spain did not attract much attention from the great powers, because in northern Spain, the war between the Kingdom of Prussia and the French Empire had already entered its final stages.

Luo Si was also paying attention to this war between the two great European powers.

The French Emperor Napoleon III used his own fate and the future of France to teach Luo Si a truth: it is best not to micromanage a war on the front lines, and one should trust the generals and soldiers under one's command.

Before the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War, if anyone had revealed to the high-ranking officials of any European country that Prussia would win the war against France, they would likely have been met with eye-rolls and ridicule.

Why? Because at this time, France was still bathed in the afterglow of the Napoleonic Empire, and the empire created by Napoleon III remained the most powerful land hegemon on the entire European continent.

Looking at it from the perspective of paper strength, there should have been no reason for the Prussian army to defeat the French army.

But the powerful Second French Empire failed just like that—it failed because of the large number of line infantry maintained out of excessive admiration for Napoleon's afterglow, it failed because of the constant micromanagement by the overly confident Napoleon III, and it also failed because of insufficient preparation in the early stages of the war and the lack of meticulous planning and response from high-level commanders.

On March 21, 1870, news that shocked the world was born.

The Emperor of the Second French Empire, the nephew of the awe-inspiring Napoleon, Napoleon III, officially announced his surrender to the Prussian army.

The once-mighty French Empire had been defeated; this was something no European country had expected.

After France's defeat, it was bound to trigger a series of changes in the policies of various European countries, and the importance placed on the country of Prussia would increase infinitely.

But what no one expected was that before their own foreign policies could even change, the French had created another major piece of news.

On March 23, 1870, the third day after Napoleon III announced his surrender, a coup broke out in Paris, France. Taking advantage of the fact that the army and the Emperor were both on the front lines, they overthrew the imperial government and established the Third French Republic.

Now it was Prussia and Bismarck's turn to be dumbfounded.

The Prussian army had only just captured Napoleon III and intended to make heavy demands on the French government through him, requiring massive reparations and territory.

But they never expected the French to turn around and launch a coup to establish a republican government, rendering Napoleon III useless in just a few short days.

It is just that Europeans are not very familiar with the history of the Ming Dynasty; otherwise, Bismarck would have exclaimed, "Isn't this the script of the 'Gate-Knocking Emperor'?"

Of course, compared to the Eastern ideology of imperial supremacy, the power of kings and emperors in Europe was not quite as absolute.

What supported Napoleon III as Emperor was the massive military power in his hands, an advantage that ceased to exist after the French army was defeated.

If they had let Napoleon III be a "gate-knocking emperor" at this time, the French who launched the coup would have turned their cannons around without the slightest hesitation.

What emperor? Sorry, the current France is in the era of the National Defense Government led by General Louis-Jules Trochu.

There was no choice; the war with France had to continue. What Bismarck wanted was absolutely not the surrender of a Napoleon III who had lost his title; he wanted the surrender of the entire French government, as well as massive reparations and territory, to declare that the entire German region had broken free from French control.

Only by soundly defeating France and making the French sign agreements for reparations and land cessions could the vassal states of Southern Germany understand that the German region could only be controlled by Germans, and that Prussia was the chosen one of the German region, destined to unify all of Germany.

But the French also had their own pride. The French were unwilling to see the once-powerful France bullied by Prussia, a country that France hadn't even bothered to look at a few decades ago.

The French demanded one after another that the new National Defense Government strengthen the defensive forces of Paris and reorganize the national army to fight the Prussians to the death in Paris.

But for the current French National Defense Government, the wishes of the French people became a tight hoop around their heads, forcing them to want to reach a peace agreement with Germany as quickly as possible.

As everyone knows, launching revolutions and coups is a French tradition.

Although the current National Defense Government was established through a coup, this did not mean that the officials of the National Defense Government, or the grand bourgeoisie behind them, were willing to hand over control of the government to others again.

Actively preparing for war could indeed conform to public opinion, but one also had to consider the current situation in France.

The previous war had already consumed a massive amount of funds, and on top of that, the French army on the front lines had been defeated multiple times, with Napoleon III even surrendering with tens of thousands of French troops.

If they wanted to fight the Prussian army with a newly formed army now, wouldn't that just be repeating the same old mistakes of Napoleon III?

Compared to the foreign enemy of Prussia, the National Defense Government was actually more worried about the intense emotions of the French people inside Paris and the increasingly fierce waves of revolution.

Faced with the choice between preserving France's territory and dignity or preserving their own power, the French National Defense Government chose the latter without the slightest hesitation.

While appeasing the emotions of the public and strengthening the defenses of Paris, they conducted secret negotiations with the commander of the German army, Bismarck.

The diplomatic representative sent by the French government was named Favre.

When Favre secretly found Bismarck to request peace negotiations, Bismarck was planning the offensive against Paris with his army.

As soon as he saw Bismarck, Favre spoke incessantly about the French National Defense Government's condemnation and protest against Napoleon III, and thanked Prussia for helping France overthrow the rule of Napoleon III.

Bismarck had no expression on his face, waiting for Favre's next main point.

Favre also knew that simple words could not move Bismarck, so he immediately presented the sincerity of the French National Defense Government this time.

"Respected Chancellor Bismarck, I represent our National Defense Government in conveying the opinions of all the French people to you."

"We acknowledge France's defeat in this war and are willing to pay reparations to the best of our ability to mend our relationship with Prussia."

"But at the same time, our government will never accept the cession of any territory, and all French people will never accept it either."

"If you are willing, we can sign a peace treaty at any time to end this war that should never have happened."

What Favre said, or rather the opinion of the current French National Defense Government, was that they would pay as much in reparations as requested, but would absolutely not accept land cessions.

Ceding territory is a huge humiliation for any country, and it would also incite domestic public anger and a massive amount of opposition.

Let alone France, which was considered the European hegemon just a year ago; even for some backward and corrupt countries, ceding territory would lead to boiling public resentment.

The French National Defense Government wanted to keep its power, so it absolutely could not back down on the issue of land.

But to Bismarck, this was somewhat laughable.

The concessions in terms of funds and the firmness regarding territory expressed by the French government might have moved others, but they absolutely could not move Bismarck.

For the "Iron Chancellor" Bismarck, if a country expressed a tough attitude in front of him, the best way to respond was with an even tougher attitude.

Second update, please follow!

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(End of chapter)