The road from Sedan
Journal: Cambridge University Press eBooks
Year: 2013

Bugeaud cast a dark shadow over France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. The surrender of Napoleon III and the major French army at Sedan on September 2, barely six weeks after war was declared, was a stunning reversal for French arms. Until this devastating loss, the French armed forces enjoyed the esteem of their countrymen and their counterparts in other national militaries alike. The army that had forged a fearsome reputation under Napoleon I, conquered Algeria, bested Russia