The Medina sentinel. [volume] (Medina, Ohio) 1888-1961, 1915-06-25
EUROPE in
1870 AND 1915

into the dark days Of the middle
ages.
The French senate was at once as
sembled to take action for the safety
Of the empire and protection of Paris;
the class of III was called to the
colors and the entire national guard
modified. This vast army should have
been sufficient to save France, had it
been possible to place at it's head a
second Bonaparte, but France had no
one able to bring light out of darkness
and order out Of chaos, hence even the
of these vast forces could
not save the nation. The cabinet of
Napoleon was openly charged with
to handle the problem
and the old spirit Of French revolu-
tionary fame was famed into flame.
Thus it was not surprising that more
than a hundred thousand Of the worst
element of the great Metropolis de-
manded the abdication of the Emperor
and dissolution of his cabinet; and
only the timely arrival of the national
guards saved the emperor from per-
sonal violence.
To appease the approaching storm
of aroused public opinion the cabinet
was at once dissolved and new cab
met formed, while the Empress
Eugene, who was acting regent in the
absence of the emperor at the front,
ordered the. general arming of the
people. The former cabinet had re-
fused to sanction such a move for fear
of a revolution. How little the gen
eral people know of the unfetterd and
unbridled passion Of mob; for only
as such can we brand unorganized,
badly-armed bodies of men, when such
men are moved by fahatisism instead
of patriotism. Soon Paris was to see
the great blunder that had been COM
mitted in permitting the arming of
vast bodies of unframed and ignorant
men of the underworld. The new min
lister of war planned for general ad-
vance of Bazaine from Metz and
MacMahon from the west to anihilate
the armies of Germany. This was i'm
possible, for as soon as Moltke under
stood the motive of the new offensive,
he ordered the division of army corps
and marched at once toward Paris to
intercept MacMahon and scatter his
hopes of uniting with the army of
Bazaine for flank movement. It was
Moltke the great German general who
is credited with the statement that
when an army is united into one COM
pact body it is time to take the often.
sive; while an army which is divided
into small parties of fighting units
ought to be marching and spreading
over as much territory as possible un.
til a more favorable moment brings
them together for united action. Thus
his troops were broken up into small
detachments until they had reached
the vicinity of Chalons, where Mac
Mahon had concentrated his arm!
prior to his march to Metz. Here tn,
German divisions were assembled and
making feigned move toward Paris
drew MacMahon into a trap, who un
able to understand the designs O
Moltke, marched in mass formation t,
intercept German troops, before reach
ing paris.
Even at this time it would have beel
possible for MacMahon to defeat tn,
army of the Crown Prince, had it no
been for a message sent from Pari
that Bazaine must be assisted at Met
at any cost in order to avert a revo
luton in Paris. MacMahon at tn,
head of an army of 10000 men O.
all arms was thus led into trap pre-
pared for him by the great German
leader, Gen VonMoltke. Too late h
saw his blunder, or rather the blundel
of his superiors in Paris. Only ont
way was open, that was a march upol
the little fortress of Sedan, and in an
itcipation of escaping the vigilance O.
the opposing armies, he pitched hi
tents at Beaumont, but in some un
accountable manner this position wa!
badly taken and when night fell upol
the army, no pickets had been station
ed to watch the outposts of the enemy
who was known or should have beer
known not to be far in the rear.
No wonder that a large part of tn,
newly organized French army wa
completely taken by surprise and cap
tured on the morning Of August 80
Only one plan remained for MacMahoi
to extricate his troops from the tral
set for him; this was an immediate
advance upon the scattered German
/ troops. Why this attack was delaye,
has never been explained, and all D
\ August 81 passed by without an at
tempt being made to break the cordol