Empire Rising: Spain

Chapter 44: Chapter 43: Parisians’ Divine Intervention

Bismarck slowly approached Fabre, his face devoid of any emotion, and said word by word: “This war was started by France, and the responsibility should be borne by the French government.

Prussia has paid too much for this war, and mere financial compensation cannot alleviate the pain in the hearts of the Prussian army and people.

If your government is unwilling to cede territory as compensation, that’s fine, we can discuss this again in Paris.”

Fabre, of course, understood the hidden threat in Bismarck’s words. Pleasantly phrased as discussing in Paris again, but bluntly, it meant that if the French government did not agree to cede territory, the Prussian army would continue its attack on Paris.

Once the French capital falls, it will be much harder for the French government to refuse to cede territory and pay reparations.

Seeing that Bismarck was not swayed by hard tactics, Fabre could only change his strategy.

“Prime Minister Bismarck, ceding territory would dissatisfy tens of millions of French people and bring endless troubles to the French government.

Please, for the sake of these millions of French people, do not force us to cede territory. We are willing to meet any demands your government has regarding reparations and will exert every effort to pay them in full.”

Unmoved by Fabre’s soft strategy, Bismarck smiled and said, “Mr. Fabre, what do the French have to do with me?

Do not forget, I am the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia, and my concern is only for the Prussian people.

If your country still refuses to cede territory, I am more than willing to travel to Paris and negotiate personally with your government.”

Seeing that all his tactics had failed against Bismarck, Fabre resorted to his last move, which was to delay time.

He handed Bismarck a thick document in French and said quite earnestly: “Please review these documents first, and then grant us 15 days to consider. We will reply to you in 15 days, please trust our sincerity.”

Bismarck shook his head, also took out a document written in German, handed it to Fabre, and said, “No need to make it so complicated, Mr. Fabre. This is our document, and it is also our response.”

The surprise and worry in Fabre’s eyes were impossible to hide.

Submitting a document in German was not common in the diplomatic practices among European countries. Due to France’s long-standing dominant position, diplomatic exchanges between European countries were conducted primarily in French.

This was why French became the lingua franca among European nobility; every European noble learned French, including Carlo, who had learned French and had no problem with daily communication.

Bismarck’s break from usual protocol was also a reminder to Fabre that France’s days as the dominant power on the European continent were over.

With Prussia’s victory over France, it naturally became the new dominant power in Europe, making the use of German in diplomatic documents reasonable.

This put Fabre in a difficult position. Although he was the diplomat sent by the French government, diplomacy was not his strong suit.

More importantly, because all previous diplomatic exchanges had been conducted in French, Fabre’s German was not very proficient.

Faced with a document entirely in German, Fabre’s mind was filled with a single question: What is all this gibberish?

Seeing Fabre’s perplexed expression, Bismarck lost all patience and waved him off, saying: “Alright, Mr. Fabre, go back.

I hope you can take this document back to Paris. Before our army arrives in Paris, I hope your government can give us an answer that satisfies us.”

This peace negotiation ultimately collapsed, and Fabre could only return to Paris in despair.

On Bismarck’s side, after ending this pointless peace negotiation, he ordered the Prussian army to continue its advance to Paris and forced the French government to sign a peace treaty that satisfied him.

With Napoleon III’s army already surrendered, Bismarck’s road to Paris was unimpeded.

However, at this moment, the French government in Paris still harbored some illusion, not believing that the Prussian army would be so reckless as to directly bombard Paris.

After all, Paris was one of the largest cities in Europe, full of French people and tourists from other countries.

As the capital of France, Paris also housed diplomats from many European countries. Unless Prussia was willing to risk offending every European country, they wouldn’t have the guts to bombard Paris.

With this mindset, after the Prussian army approached Paris, the French government not only did not soften but also sent Bismarck a letter.

The letter read: “When does your Excellency plan to bombard Paris? If planned, please inform us in advance so we can notify diplomats from various countries to evacuate.”

This was a blatant reminder for Bismarck to consider the opinions of other European countries. While Prussia could bombard Paris, was a Prussia capable of easily humiliating the once-dominant France something other countries wanted?

Though common sense suggested this was true, the French politicians clearly underestimated Bismarck’s audacity.

Bismarck immediately replied to the French government with a letter stating: “What your country inquired about is Prussia’s highest military secret, and it’s not available for disclosure. If there’s a need to evacuate foreign diplomats in advance, your country can go ahead now.”

If Bismarck had only replied to the French government, it would have been another meaningless threat.

For the seasoned Bismarck, he naturally wouldn’t miss the subtle situation within Paris.

This letter was not only delivered directly to the French government but was also made public and sent to several newspapers in Paris.

This immediately sparked heated discussions among the citizens of Paris.

The sentiment was that the new Defense Government’s negotiations with Prussia only produced a result of Paris being bombarded, essentially betraying the glory of former France!

The enraged citizens of Paris once again staged an uprising, intending to overthrow the capitalist-controlled Defense Government and establish a French government bold enough to resist the Germans.

This uprising was a spontaneous act of resistance by some radical nationalists against the government. Due to the limited number of supporters, it was quickly suppressed by the Defense Government.

At the same time, the intense opposition within Paris also alarmed the French Defense Government.

The French government realized that they could no longer delay the negotiation and needed an outcome promptly to stabilize the situation in Paris.

On April 5, 1870, the French Defense Government signed a surrender treaty. On April 7, the French government and Bismarck jointly signed a ceasefire treaty, granting France a brief peace.

Perhaps the citizens of Paris did not expect that their pressure on the government would cause it to yield even more to Prussia.

The armistice agreement, which was expected to drag on for much longer, was signed just like that, and the French government abandoned the previously held baseline of not ceding territory.

According to the treaty signed by both parties, the French government was to hand over the majority of the fortifications and ammunition of Paris to the Prussian army and pay a compensation of 200 million francs.

Bismarck also added an additional clause allowing the German army to march into Paris triumphantly and pass through the Arc de Triomphe in the city center.

Speaking of the history of the Arc de Triomphe, it dates back to the early 19th century during the time of Napoleon. To celebrate the victory over the Russian-Austrian alliance, Napoleon ordered the construction of a monument for the returning soldiers to pass through, resulting in the birth of the Arc de Triomphe.

However, because the construction plans for the Arc de Triomphe were once overturned by Napoleon, it was not completed until 1836.

Why did Bismarck want the Prussian army to pass through the Arc de Triomphe in triumph?

Because decades earlier, during Napoleon’s glorious military campaigns across Europe, he had defeated Prussia multiple times, which was also why France looked down on Prussia before the war.

As the Prime Minister of Prussia, Bismarck naturally wanted to cleanse the shame that Prussia had suffered and return the same humiliation to France and the French people through such a gesture.