By the IIIrd Article, the whole territory between the Seine and the Loire, excepting Paris, was to be evacuated with as little delay as possible by the troops of both sides; the right bank of the former river, on the other hand, was only to be cleared on the conclusion of the definitive treaty of peace. Even then the six eastern departments were still to remain in German possession as a pledge for the last three milliards; not, however, to be occupied by more than 50,000 men.

The marching directions were drawn up in the supreme Headquarter, with a view as well to the comfort of the troops as to the reconstitution of the original order of battle, and the possibility of rapid assembly in case of need.

The forces detailed for permanent occupation of the ceded provinces marched thither at once.

The Reserve and Landwehr troops at home were to be disbanded, as well as the Baden Division, which, however, for the present was to remain there as a mobilized force. The Governments-General in Lorraine, Rheims, and Versailles were to be done away with, and their powers taken over by the local Commanding-Generals. In the maintenance of order in the rear of the army, the VIth and XIIth Corps, as well as the WÜrtemberg Field Division, were placed at the direct disposition of the supreme Headquarter.

By March 31st the Army had taken full possession of the new territory assigned to it, bounded on the west by the course of the Seine from its source to its mouth.

The Ist Army was in the departments of Seine-InfÉrieure and Somme, the IInd in front of Paris in the departments of Oise and Seine et Marne, the IIIrd in the departments of Aube and Haute Marne, the Army of the South in the districts most lately hostile. The forts of Paris on the left bank were given up to the French authorities; the siege park and the captured war material had been removed. In consideration of the desire of the French Government that the National Assembly might be allowed as early as possible to sit at Versailles, the supreme Headquarter was removed to FerriÈres, even sooner than had been agreed. On March 15th his Majesty left Nancy for Berlin.

All the troops that were left before Paris were placed under the command of the Crown Prince of Saxony, and General von Manteuffel was nominated Commander of the Army of Occupation.

At the moment when France had freed herself by a heavy sacrifice, an enemy of the most dangerous character appeared from within, in the Commune of Paris.

The 40,000 men left there proved themselves unequal to the task of keeping the rebellious agitation under control; which even during the siege had on several occasions betrayed its existence, and now actually broke out in open civil war. Large masses of people, fraternizing with the National and Mobile Guards, possessed themselves of the guns and set themselves in armed resistance to the Government. M. Thiers had already, by March 18th, summoned to Versailles such regiments as could still be trusted, to withdraw them from the disquieting influence of party impulses, and for the protection of the National Assembly there. The French capital was a prey to revolution, and now became an object of pillage by French troops.

The Germans could easily have put a speedy end to the matter, but what Government could allow its rights to be vindicated by foreign bayonets? The German Commanders consequently limited themselves to forbidding at least within their own districts any movement of disturbance, and to preventing all further ingress into Paris from outside. The disarmament operations which had commenced were interrupted; the troops of the IIIrd Army were drawn closer to the forts, and the outposts were replaced along the line of demarcation, whereon 200,000 men could now be collected within two days. The authorities in Paris were also warned that any attempt to arm the fronts facing the Germans would be followed by the immediate bombardment of the city. The insurgents however, were fully occupied in destroying and burning, and in executing their commanders in the interior of Paris. They did not turn against their foreign enemy, but against the Government chosen by the nation, and prepared for an attack on Versailles.

The high officers of State there, bound by the conditions of the armistice treaty, were almost defenceless; meanwhile the Germans were prepared and willing to allow a reinforcement of 80,000 French troops to be moved up from BesanÇon, Auxerre and Cambrai, the transport of whom would be furthered by the German troops in occupation of the districts through which they would have to pass.

The release of the prisoners on the other hand was temporarily restricted. These were, for the most part, disciplined regulars; but they might not improbably join the hostile party, so in the first instance only 20,000 troops of the line were set free.

On April 4th General MacMahon advanced with the Government troops against Paris, and entered the city on the 21st. As he was then engaged for eight days in barricade fighting, and as great bands of fugitives threatened to break through the German lines, the IIIrd Army was ordered to take closer order. The outposts advanced almost to the gates of the city, and barred all communication through them until, at the end of the month, Paris was again in the control of the French Government.

In the meantime, the negotiations commenced in Brussels and continued in Frankfort were making rapid progress, and on May 10th the definitive treaty of peace based on the preliminaries was signed. The mutual ratification followed within the appointed time of ten days.

Thus a war, carried on with such a vast expenditure of force on both sides, was brought to an end by incessant and restless energy in the short period of seven months.

Even in the first four weeks eight battles were fought, under which the French Empire crumbled, and the French Army was swept from the field.

Fresh forces, numerous but incompetent, equalized the original numerical superiority of the Germans, and twelve more battles needed to be fought, to safeguard the decisive siege of the enemy's capital.

Twenty fortified places were taken, and not a single day passed on which there was not fighting somewhere, on a larger or smaller scale.

The war cost the Germans heavy sacrifice; they lost 6247 officers, 123,453 men, 1 colour, 6 guns.

The total losses of the French were incalculable; in prisoners only they amounted to:—

There were captured 107 colours and eagles, 1915 field-guns, 5526 fortress guns.

Strasburg and Metz, which had been alienated from the Fatherland in a time of weakness, were recovered, and the German Empire had risen anew.