The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1917-02-26
WHY FRANCE
WANTS "REvANCHE"

TeOtOns will celebrate today the IOr-
ty-Exth anniversary of that peace
pact by which Bismarck wrung from
tho vanquished French the greater
Paris, crushed the French armies. and
demnity which staggered the world by
its size. / The helmeted soldiers Of the
Iron Chancellor had captured starving
Paris, crushed tn eFsrench armies. and
overturned the imperial throne.
aPeace without victory" was not a
theory that appealed to Bismarck.
Mercy was word for which he had
no Teuton synonym. To beat France
into the earth, to leave her friendless,
to burden her with a load Of debt for
generations to come, these were the
purposes OF Bismarck. And when he
signed the preliminary treaty OF peace
on Feb 26, 1871, he thought he had
succeeded, He believed that France
would be unable to pay the tremen-
dous indemnity he had imposed, and
that much coveted French soil, be-
sides the provinces Of Alsace and Lor-
raine, would remain in Germany's
possession
It was in the palace of Versailles.
where William OF Prussia had been
crowned German emperor only a few
weeks previously, that the preliminar-
les Of peace were agreed upon. Paris
after a. gallant siege, had been taken,
and the forts commanding the city
were held by Teutons, as a condition
OF the armistice. The Third Republic
had risen from the ruins Of the en-
pire, and Louis Adolphe Theirs, the
famous historian and statesman, was
its chief spokesman. The commission
to negotiate with Bismarck included,
besides Theirs, Jules Favre, the new
Minister for Foreign Affairs, and M.
Picard, Minister for the Interior. Bis
lnarck was hesitant abut accepting the
slalidity Of this government, but he
sad no choice, since the empire was
one.
The preliminary treaty, signed on
Feb. 18th at Versailles. was practical
ly the same as the final treaty, signed
at Frankfort the following May, 1871.
Theirs and his associates contested at
each point with Count Bismarck, but
the German statesman was adamant
In his demands. He insisted that parts
OF Lorraine, including Metz and Thu
onville. and all Of Alsace, except Bel
: fort, be coded to the new German en-
pire. He further demanded that the
indemnity Of one billion dollars, the
largest ever existed, should De paid
within the space of three years, the
evacuation Of territory to take place
proportionately a. the indemnity was
paid. Bismarck doubtless surmised
that this would prove impossible, but
he was mistaken. for within less than
the allotted time France was free
from the invaders. Gen. Won Kluck,
who led the dash toward Paris and
the subsequent reatreat in the present
war, was a young sub-lieutenant in
that retreat OF the '70s. when the Ger
man forces marched back toward Ger
many twenty miles on the payment Of
each portion of the indemnity, and
then waited until another portion was
paid.
While It Is the lost provinces OF AL
SAGE and Lorraine that iFrenchmen
chiefly regret, and which fires in them
the spirit Of "revanche," they have
not forgotten the terrible sacrifices
which their parents endured In rails
ing the money to free French soil Of
the Teutons
France also celebrates the anniver-
sary OF that hard treaty of Versailles
celebrates 1t with the grim deter
snination to win back the lost prov