[PAR35]

I remember reading a diary from the siege. One of the fancy dinner parties featured as a main course a large rat surrounded by mice on the platter.

Napoleon III missed the siege - he had taken the army east to Sedan, and was defeated and captured by the Prussians there. The Germans were led militarily by von Moltke and Wilhelm.

[Old Teufel Hunden]

"The Germans were led militarily by von Moltke and Wilhelm."

That would be von Moltke the senior. Junior botched the Schifflen plan rather terribly and so Europe got a 4 year world war instead of a quick German victory and the quickening of the European Union by about 75 years.

On a side note, after the 1870 Franco Prussian war we got the first and only true communist government. The Parisian anarchist formed the Parisian commune that ruled Paris for a couple of months until the French Army came in and took it back by force. If you ever go to Paris, visit Montmarte and you can see the wall where most of the leaders where lined up and shot.