Franco-Prussian War - Mobilization
The French were entirely unprepared, as after events proved ; while Prussia was absolutely ready down to the minutest detail. The Emperor announced his intention of commanding in person, with Marshal Leboeuf as virtual chief of the army. Macmahon was summoned from his government in Algeria, and Marshal Bazaine, together with Generals Frossard, Douay, and de Failly, were given the task of extending the line from Strasburg to Metz and Thionville. The actual plan of campaign consisted of three points. In the first place the main army was to be concentrated on the upper Rhine ; there was to be an invasion pf South Germany ; a couple of tremendous victories were to be gained to win over Austria, the South German States, and the wavering Italians.
According to Leboeuf's calculations there should have been 150,000 men in Lorraine and 100,000 in Alsace within nine days of mobilization. It was in this particular that the French suffered the first check to their hopes. By the end of July there were not more than 35,000 men in Alsace, and 130,000 men in Lorraine together with a corps in reserve at Chalons. The French system was found wanting in those very points in which their opponents were at that moment giving Europe an object lesson ; the details of the mobilization had not been worked out with sufficient care. Reservists rejoining the colors wasted precious days in crossing the country to get their equipment from a regimental dep&t to which they had been allotted, irrespective of the situation of their homes.
The transport, both of troops and of stores, was speedily disorganized. Nor was there, in the rank and file of the officers, the initiative necessary to improvise a system in place of the defective organization of headquarters. The highly centralized General Staff, by usurping the functions of its subordinates, had killed the independence of the regimental officer. At the same time it was obstructed in the discharge of its proper duties, so that the German staff is said to have had more accurate information than the French as to the geography and railway system of France. It became apparent that any offensive movement must be deferred.
Simultaneously French hopes of foreign alliance were dissolved. Bismarck had held his hand till the right moment. He now published the draft of Benedetti's treaty for seizing Luxemburg, which not only caused the alarm of all the smaller States, but forced England to demand a guarantee for the neutrality of Belgium. To the surprise and indignation of France, the Austrian entente cordiale was repudiated by Count Beust, who not only declared France to be entirely in the wrong, but on July 2oth notified the absolute neutrality of Austria in the war. The Austrian action was followed in the next week by a similar declaration of neutrality by Russia on July 23rd, Denmark on July 25th, and Italy on the same day. The long-cherished hopes of a strong coalition against Prussia thus crumbled to the ground.
Unlike the French campaign, which was purely hypothetical, the Prussians had their schemes all cut and dried. Von Moltke had arranged that 300,000 men should immediately mass on the middle Rhine, and so perfect was the organization that within eighteen days of the declaration of war the German army was in its place with everything required. The first army was under the leadership of Steinmetz,* who, with 85,000 men, occupied a position from the Saar to Saarlouis. The second army spread from the latter town to Saargemiind, and was commanded by Prince Frederick Charles ; whilst the third army of no less than 200,000 men lay between Landau and Carlsruhe. It was under the command of the Crown Prince, and consisted mainly of the South German troops. Its function was to link the first and second armies and so to enable a superior force to be concentrated on either of the enemies' forces, which -were separated by the Vosges mountains. The war opened on August 2nd, after King William had arrived at Mainz, and the French under Frossard made a reconnaissance towards Saarbrucken. The small German force at this point very naturally fell back, which was magnified by the French into a " glorious victory." It was here that the Prince Imperial had his " baptism of fire." Napoleon I., in the midst of some glorious campaign, might have indulged in such a flourish ; but coming from Napoleon III. it only caused the Parisians to r1dicule such an ostentatious exposure of the young prince to such unnecessary peril. It was the first and last victory during this war gained by the French empire. The first really serious engagement took place three days later at Weissemberg, where the Crown Prince with a contingent of Bavarians and South Germans defeated decisively General Abel Douay with a force belonging to the left wing of Macmahon's army.
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