France Medaille Militaire 1870

[Guest Darrell]

Merci guys :cheers:

[Bison]

one question. I once sold this miniature via ebay (12 Euro). was it the monobloc aux cannons-typ? or am I wrong?

Yes Josef, it was .

But the most rare one is the full scale model. Yours was a reduction, and is far more easy to find. The ring was missing, but could be easily restaured. However, for 12 Euros, it was a good bargain, for the buyer I mean.

Regards

Bison

[Hendrik]

Hello Veteran,

Thank you for clearing up the finer points on the dates of the various "r?gimes" as well as for your too kind words !

I am quite surprised to learn that the 3rd Republic only started officially in 1875. Does that mean the 2nd Empire (officially) lasted till that year or was there some sort of interim government form set up at the end of the Franco-Prussian War ?

Cheers,

Hendrik

[Veteran]

Hendrik

You are quite right. The IInd Empire was declared terminated on September 4 1870 after the capture of Napoleon III in Sedan by the Prussians.

A "Gouvernement de la D?fense nationale" was formed at that date which took over and tried to organise the war against Prussia and its Allies, as well as the crushing of the Commune de Paris revolt. This was followed by a "Gouvernement provisoire de la Republique" headed by Thiers and later Marshall MacMahon as President.

The IIIrd Republic was only formally established by Parlement (with a 1 vote majority !) in January 1875 (Constitution de 1875).

A very difficult political period to understand.... even for the Frenchmen who lived through it.

A rather comparable state of confusion existed between 1944 and 1947.

I have tried to make it as simple as possible. Cheers

Veteran

[Christophe]

Hi Veteran,

... And you really made it, with the maximum accuracy!!! Congratulations , as most of the French (except you and a few others... ) are lost in dates...

Cheers.

Ch.

[Hendrik]

Hello Veteran,

Excellent !!! Many thanks for clearing the 1870-75 period up governmentwise ... MacMahon, of course, I recall reading his name before.

I'm a wiser man today than I was before - thanks to you

Regards,

Hendrik

[Ed_Haynes]

Fascinating, comrades. This important award (and its surrounding history) deserves better treatment that it has received. And thanks to you it is getting it. At some stage I'll have some stupid questions on post-WWII awards.

But that will be in another thread.

[PKeating]

This group is in another thread here but it is relevant to the M?daille Militaire. This is a posthumous award, along with the Croix de Guerre, to an early casualty. I will scan the MM front and rear in due course as it seems to be a particularly nice example, possibly bought privately by the family at some point.

4,060 French soldiers died in street-fighting in the streets of the Belgian town of Roselies on 22.8.1914. It is actually known as The Battle of the Sambre. Most of the casualties were, like Gaston Blanchard, from the town of Rouen, serving in the 74th Infantry Regiment. Those of you familiar with my interest in the German Army's prewar Fallschirm-Infanterie-Kompanie/Bataillon, which assumed the traditions of the WW1 Sturm-Btl 7, may have seen references in my posts to the FIK's first barracks, the Roselies-Kaserne.

Anyway, living as we do in a world where the loss of, say, ten of our soldiers in some engagement in Iraq is treated with the same horror that greeted the casualty figures on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, for instance, just take a moment to think about 4,000-plus KIA in a day in a small town in Belgium just a week after the commencement of hostilities. It was a taste of things to come.

PK