Once the news of the plague outbreak in Constantinople was confirmed, Pélissier did not dare delay and immediately reported it to the Paris Government.
Palace of Versailles
Napoleon III was in an extremely foul mood. News of the plague outbreak on the Crimean Peninsula had only just arrived when Constantinople, too, was struck by the plague.
Napoleon III had no interest in where the virus had come from. What gave him a headache now was what to do next.
The Crimean Peninsula was manageable enough. With so much land available, the infected areas could be dispersed and isolated, keeping the epidemic from spreading.
But Constantinople was now left with only a palm-sized patch of ground, packed with people, while they still had to fight street battles with the Russians. How was this epidemic supposed to be contained?
Minister of War Arnaud spoke up. "Your Majesty, a plague has broken out in Constantinople. The situation at the front is likely to turn grim.
Sending reinforcements at a time like this would be pushing our young men into a pit of fire. Brave French soldiers can defeat the Russians, but as for the plague, only God can resolve it."
Since the Battle of Constantinople began, the French army had been reinforcing its forces almost every month. Though it could not really be called reinforcement—the main purpose was to replenish frontline losses and, along the way, rotate out units whose formations had been shattered.
In this regard, Napoleon III had done quite well. He had not worked any one unit to death. Even when purging dissidents, he mostly found excuses to transfer them from their posts rather than launching a wholesale massacre.
By this point in the war, the Paris Government had long wanted to stop. Yet for political reasons, Napoleon III could