Chapter 250: The Enemy Is in Paris
The waters of the Rhine continued flowing quietly, as Prussian and German allied forces reinforced their defensive lines on the river's eastern bank.
Yet on the French side, there was still little activity. The French army had not fully assembled, and thus Prussia was in no hurry either. Reinforcements and equipment from the rear kept streaming forward via railways and canals.
In the front-line command center, Moltke personally presented his battle plan to Wilhelm I and the others:
"Here are Alsace and Lorraine, separated by the Vosges Mountains between Metz and Strasbourg. According to the General Staff's calculations, the railroad capacity in Strasbourg cannot handle all of France's troop movements, so Metz to the northwest will share the load. This means the French forces will be split into two groups. If we launch an attack, we too will be affected by the Vosges Mountains and end up dispersing our main force, which obviously puts us at a disadvantage. So I propose waiting along the Rhine for the French to attack, as defending along the river is much easier."
Wilhelm I asked, "How is the assembly of our troops coming along?"
"At present, the standing Prussian army has gathered. We are also recruiting reservists from various locations in the rear. But the forces of the other states need more time—Bavaria's main contingent from the Third Corps in the south hasn't yet arrived," Moltke answered.
The Prussian Army's communication was highly efficient, thanks to its telegraph network. Werner von Siemens—the "Father of German Electricity"—had founded Siemens, which provided Prussia with the most advanced telegraph system of the time. This enabled the General Staff to track the exact positions of corps, divisions, and regiments with hourly precision. After the Austro-Prussian War, Prussia continued expanding the telegraph network across all German lands, and through the Customs Union, southern Germany also gained coverage.
"Strangely, Austria has withdrawn most of its forces from the northern border," Moltke noted with excitement. "So in our preparations against France, we've mobilized more strength from the east. Now all that's left is for the French to walk right into our trap."
From 1868 through the winter of 1869, Moltke had been drafting plans to fight France. On a personal level, he'd waited a long time for this day.
Not long after the founding of the North German Confederation, Moltke had already pushed for a proactive war against France. At the time, France was adopting the new Chassepot breechloader rifle, whose performance far surpassed that of the Dreyse rifle. If France had completed this rearmament, its combat power would have surged. However, Bismarck staunchly opposed provoking a conflict, saying, "If we declare war on France first, we will be seen as an aggressor and war-monger. The French will unite against us, and no other country would support our actions. We might even lose backing within the North German Confederation itself."
That stalled the plan until 1870, when a single telegram from Bismarck humiliated all of France. Enraged, Napoleon III rashly declared war on Prussia. At that moment, Moltke was on vacation. He immediately cut it short, and within 18 days, under his direction, the Prussian Army had mobilized and transported 300,000 troops to the border.
"We still have to watch out for Austria," Wilhelm I noted. "I don't believe they've truly accepted their defeat last time. So far, there's been no clear statement from the Austrian government, so it's hard to guess what they intend."
"It could be that they're wary of German public opinion," another remarked. "They know there's nothing they can do. Whether they back France or not, they can't stop us from unifying southern Germany. Their only hope is to sit out and let France crush us, preventing our unification of all German lands."
It made sense: if Austria took any step to interfere in the Franco-Prussian War and France happened to win, Austria would go down in history as a "traitor to Germany." Meanwhile, if Austria did intervene, it might not defeat Prussia—and then Prussia could ally with Italy to attack Austria from both north and south. Russia might also get involved.
…
In Paris, the gloomy weather mirrored Napoleon III's mood. After declaring war on Prussia, he discovered that his own officials had deceived him.
The French Army's mobilization lagged behind expectations. In contrast to Prussia's conscript system, France relied more on professional soldiers. Under normal conditions, professionals do surpass conscripts in combat ability. French troops were certainly battle-capable, but the country's forces were scattered because of its numerous colonial wars.
From Napoleon III's reign onward, France had adopted an independent neutrality policy in Europe—a reaction to being beset on all sides during the Napoleonic Wars. Unable to freely exert influence in Europe, the French turned to colonial expansion, competing with Britain. Napoleon III also frequently collaborated with Britain, as seen in the Crimean War and the Anglo-French expedition in the Far East—conflicts that hardly advanced France's direct interests.
Besides working with Britain, France had frequently intervened on its own: in Mexico (supporting Maximilian, meddling in local affairs), Southeast Asia, North Africa, and other colonies. Additionally, with Napoleon III micromanaging, the Kingdom of Italy was born, Austria was defeated, and Prussia was left free to challenge Austria. Added to the earlier Crimean War, which badly hurt Russia, two of France's old enemies from the "wars against France" days were now significantly weakened. This was a major triumph, even though forming the Kingdom of Italy cut off one of France's traditional paths for territorial expansion—a modest price to pay.
However, colonial ventures had stretched France thin. Bringing home troops from its overseas territories required time, and now that the war machine had been set in motion, it was too late to fix anything. Beyond that, France had always coveted the lands by the Rhine, so it had maintained large numbers of troops near the Franco-German border. These could be quickly gathered, though not as many as all German forces combined. Nonetheless, French commanders were confident, believing they could take on two enemies at once. Because the top brass said everything was fine, Napoleon III felt no urgency—until the logistics department sparked his fury.
"You worthless bunch!" he roared. "Our front-line troops have been waiting all this time, and you still haven't delivered their supplies? Do you plan on letting them fight Prussia on empty stomachs?"
"Sire, please calm yourself. There is an explanation. The declaration of war was too abrupt, and our system can't go to full capacity overnight. After all, gathering more than a hundred thousand soldiers at the front consumes vast amounts of supplies. Our logistics department is coordinating with the railways, trying to schedule more transport to ship everything forward."
"So you had no contingency plan whatsoever for a war in Germany? You're only now realizing the scope of the problem?" Napoleon III snapped.
Everyone fell silent. Seeing the officials before him as mere freeloaders, the emperor wished he could send them all straight to the front. After a few moments, he collected himself and said, "I don't care how you do it—within ten days, make sure the front lines have everything they need. If you fail, none of you in the logistics department will keep your jobs. You'll all be sent to the front with your own 'supplies' to fight the Germans yourselves."
Finished with the logistics team, Napoleon III turned to the intelligence service: "And you lot—when I asked where our units were, you dared to tell me 'we're not sure,' or 'maybe.' Is that how an intelligence department works?"
"Sire," they replied, "our overseas units are too scattered and far away, so we can only communicate by ship. Just a round trip takes a good deal of time. At least with North Africa and Rome we can coordinate quickly, but for other places, it takes ten days or half a month just to get in touch."
"Then surely you know something about the enemy. Yet here we are, still clueless about the Prussian Army's size and structure?"
"Prussia is unlike other nations. Everyone knows they're capable of mobilizing nearly their entire population. Nothing would surprise us at this point. If we add in the various German states, it's too much for our department. We simply don't have enough manpower."
The intelligence department washed its hands of responsibility, displaying a bureaucratic uniformity that infuriated Napoleon III further. Yet there was little he could do. In truth, he understood that his real enemy was in Paris, not Berlin—the other royal dynasties and the Republicans were all hoping he'd fail somehow.
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