The Campaign of Sedan: The Downfall of the Second Empire, August-September 1870

Chapter 2: PREFACE.

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About This Book

The narrative reconstructs the thirty-day military campaign in 1870 that ended in the encirclement and surrender of the French army at Sedan and the collapse of the Second Empire. It traces diplomatic causes, mobilization and contrasting French and German methods, then follows successive battles — Saarbrück, Woerth, Spicheren, Vionville-Mars-la-Tour, Gravelotte and related actions — through maneuver, cavalry operations and high command decisions. Emphasis falls on German operational cohesion, efficient staff organization and troop duty versus French command vacillation and logistical confusion, leading to encirclement, capitulation and the strategic consequences for both armies.

PREFACE.

When it was decided to publish a new and cheaper edition of Mr. George Hooper’s “Sedan,” the question arose whether anything should be added to it. My father had intended, should a new edition be called for, to revise and correct the work, and to furnish it with an index. After due consideration it has been decided to make no additions to the book, except the index, which has been carefully compiled. A few errors that had crept into the text of the original edition have been corrected; but in other respects the volume remains as it was left by its author.

WYNNARD HOOPER.

SOUTH KENSINGTON,
October, 1897.