The first French death of the war of 1870 was an intellectual.
Prévost-Paradol, essayist of Orleanist sensitivity, author of a landmark work,
La France nouvelle
(1868), rallied to the Liberal Empire and appointed by Napoleon III ambassador of France to the United States, committed suicide on July 20, 1870 in Washington, at the age of 41, the day after France declared war on Prussia.
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The possibility of such a war, whose 150 years we are currently commemorating, occupied the most lucid French minds since Prussia had crushed Austria at Sadowa in 1866. Two years later, in
La France nouvelle
, Prévost-Paradol warned:
"Will the invading march of Prussia into Germany continue in peace, or will we try to stop it or at least suspend it by force of arms?"
We will easily admit that there is no other alternative.
Let us therefore quickly examine one of these two hypotheses, and start with that of a war between France
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