Template:POTD/2008-01-22

"The War: Fall of Strasbourg — Departure of French Prisoners", from the 15 October 1870 issue of the Illustrated London News. The Siege of Strasbourg was a rather one-sided Franco-Prussian War battle, with the German assault only limited by the amount of ammunition they had and fortresses falling regularly. Napoleon III's capture in the Battle of Sedan on 1 September 1870 (and the fall of the Second French Empire) meant that no relief was coming, and, though the city held on a while after the news reached them, the relentless forward movement of the Prussian lines eventually forced surrender on the 27th of September.

Image credit: William Simpson and Arthur Hopkins
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