Paris Citizens' Divine Assist (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

Bismarck slowly walked up to Fabre, his face betraying no emotion, and said word by word: "This war was started by France, and the responsibility should be borne by the French government.

Prussia has paid too much for this war. Mere monetary compensation cannot heal the wounds in the hearts of the Prussian army and its people.

If your government is unwilling to cede territory as compensation, that's fine. We can negotiate further in Paris."

Fabre was all too aware of the hidden threat in Bismarck's words. To put it nicely, it was "negotiate further in Paris"; to put it bluntly, if the French government refused to cede territory, the Prussian army would continue its advance on Paris.

Once the French capital fell, it would no longer be so easy for the French government to reject territorial cessions and reparations.

Seeing that Bismarck was completely unmoved by a hardline approach, Fabre had no choice but to change his strategy.

"Prime Minister Bismarck, ceding territory will anger tens of millions of French citizens and bring endless calamity to the French government.

Please, for the sake of those tens of millions of French people, do not force us to cede land. We are willing to meet any demands your government makes regarding reparations and will do our utmost to pay them all off."

Faced with Fabre's shift from hard to soft tactics, Bismarck remained utterly unyielding, smiling as he replied: "Mr. Fabre, what do the French people have to do with me?

Please don't forget, I am the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Prussia. The only people I care about are the Prussians.

If your country still refuses to cede territory, I would be delighted to go to Paris and negotiate with your government in person."

Seeing that all his strategies were useless against Bismarck, Fabre pulled out his last resort: stalling for time.

He handed Bismarck a thick French document and said with great sincerity: "Please take a look at these documents first, then give us fifteen days to consider. We will give you our answer in fifteen days. Please trust our sincerity."

Bismarck shook his head, then took out a document written in German and handed it to Fabre, saying: "No need for all that trouble, Mr. Fabre. This is our document, and this is our answer."

The surprise and worry in Fabre's eyes could no longer be concealed.

Presenting a German document was uncommon in European diplomatic conventions. Because France had long been the hegemon of Europe, diplomatic exchanges between European countries were almost always conducted in French.

This was also why French had become the common language among European nobility—any European noble learned French, including Carlo, who had studied it before and could handle everyday conversation.

Bismarck's break with convention was also a reminder to Fabre that France's days as the continental hegemon of Europe were over.

Now that Prussia had defeated France, it naturally became the new hegemon of the European continent, so using German for diplomatic documents was no surprise.

This left Fabre stumped. Although he was a diplomat sent by the French government, he wasn't particularly skilled in diplomacy.

More importantly, because all previous diplomatic exchanges had been conducted in French, Fabre's German wasn't actually that good.

Faced with a document entirely written in German, one question surfaced in Fabre's mind: What the hell is this?

Seeing Fabre's clueless expression, Bismarck completely lost his patience. He waved his hand and said: "Alright, Mr. Fabre, go back.

I hope you will take this document back to Paris. Before our army reaches Paris, I hope your government will give us an answer that satisfies us."

The peace talks ultimately broke down, and Fabre could only slink back to Paris in disgrace.

On Bismarck's side, after ending this meaningless peace negotiation, he ordered the Prussian army to continue its march to Paris and to force the French government to sign a peace treaty that satisfied him.

Since the army led by Napoleon III had already surrendered, Bismarck's path to Paris was completely unobstructed.

However, the French government in Paris still clung to hope, believing that the Prussian army wouldn't be insane enough to directly bombard Paris.

After all, Paris was one of the largest cities in Europe, home to countless French citizens and foreign tourists.

As the capital of France, Paris also housed the diplomatic ambassadors of many European nations. Unless Prussia was willing to risk offending every European country, they wouldn't have the nerve to bombard Paris.

It was with this mindset that, after the Prussian army approached Paris, the French government not only refused to back down but even sent a letter to Bismarck.

The letter read: "When do you plan to bombard Paris, sir? If you have a plan, please inform us in advance so we can notify the foreign ambassadors to evacuate."

This was a blatant reminder for Bismarck to consider the opinions of other European nations. Prussia could indeed bombard Paris, but would other countries welcome a Prussia that could so easily humiliate the former hegemon of Europe?

Though that was the conventional logic, French politicians had clearly underestimated Bismarck's audacity.

Bismarck immediately sent a reply to the French government, writing: "The matter you inquire about is Prussia's highest military secret and cannot be disclosed for now. If you need to evacuate foreign ambassadors in advance, you may proceed now."

If it were just a reply to the French government, this would have been another meaningless threat.

But for the seasoned Bismarck, he naturally wouldn't let the delicate situation within Paris go to waste.

This letter was not only sent directly to the French government but also made public by Bismarck, delivered to multiple newspapers in Paris.

This immediately sparked heated discussion among the Paris Citizens.

So the new Government of National Defense, after all these days of negotiation with Prussia, had only come up with the result of bombarding Paris? Wasn't this a betrayal of the former glory of France?

The enraged Paris Citizens once again rose up in revolt, intending to overthrow the capitalist-controlled Government of National Defense and establish a French government bold enough to resist the Germans.

This uprising was a spontaneous rebellion by radical nationalists against the government. Because it lacked widespread support, it was quickly suppressed by the Government of National Defense.

But at the same time, the fierce opposition from the citizens within Paris also threw the French Government of National Defense into panic.

The French government knew that the peace talks could no longer be delayed; a result had to be reached as soon as possible so they could free up their hands to stabilize the situation in Paris.

On April 5, 1870, the French Government of National Defense signed the surrender treaty. On April 7, the French government and Bismarck jointly signed the armistice treaty, and France finally experienced a brief period of peace.

Perhaps the Paris citizens never expected that their pressure on the government would instead make the French government even more concessionary toward Prussia.

The armistice agreement, which would have otherwise been haggled over for a long time, was signed just like that, and the French government forgot the bottom line of no territorial cessions they had held just days before.

According to the treaty signed by both sides, the French government was to hand over most of the fortifications and ammunition of the Paris Fortress to the Prussian army, and pay reparations of 200 Million Francs.

Bismarck also added an additional clause: German troops could enter Paris in a triumphal march and pass through the Arc de Triomphe in the city center.

Speaking of the history of the Arc de Triomphe, it dates back to the early 19th century during Napoleon's time. Napoleon ordered its construction to celebrate the victory over the Russo-Austrian coalition, creating a monument for returning soldiers to pass through, and thus the Arc de Triomphe was born.

But because the construction plan for the Arc de Triomphe had once been overturned by Napoleon, the arch was not completed until 1836.

Why did Bismarck want the Prussian army to march triumphantly through the Arc de Triomphe?

Because decades earlier, during Napoleon's glorious conquest of Europe, he had repeatedly defeated Prussia—which was also why the French looked down on Prussia before the war began.

As Prussia's prime minister, Bismarck naturally wanted to use this method to wash away Prussia's humiliation, while at the same time returning that same humiliation to France and the French people.

First chapter update, asking for support!