Thorbecke's words soon spread throughout Europe alongside the news of France's defeat in Belgium.
Naturally, the strongest reaction came from the French. The French Provisional Government had hoped to add luster to the founding of the French Second Republic.
When news of the defeat reached France, the inauguration of the French Second Republic nearly became its funeral.
An angry crowd stormed the newly renamed Place de la République. To commemorate the founding of the French Second Republic, the French Provisional Government had specifically changed the name of Place de la Concorde to Place de la République.
The leaders of the French Second Republic had gathered there to celebrate its founding.
But the furious crowds didn't care about any of that, especially the families of the fallen soldiers.
If the war had been won, they might have consoled themselves that their loved ones had died for their country. But they couldn't accept losing to Belgium, a mere pushover.
The grand celebration turned into a public execution, and the leaders of the French Second Republic had no choice but to flee in disarray.
In truth, the people's furious reaction was inseparable from the French government's long-standing false propaganda. The government had portrayed the Belgians as savage, ignorant European primitives incapable of thought.
There was another reason, too: the troops sent to Belgium were elite units that had been stationed in Paris for years, and many of their families lived there.
Most of these men had been the breadwinners of their families, leaving behind a whole host of problems. Paris was not a city that took pity on the poor.
Without their main source of income, soldiers' families either had to leave with what dignity they could muster, freeze and starve to death on the streets of Paris, or scrape by there doing