How a desperate, starving Paris survived five months under a brutal Prussian siege
When Prussian forces encircled Paris in 1870, the city’s leaders expected a brief conflict. Instead, they endured a harrowing five-month blockade that forced citizens to eat zoo animals and rats, while the city’s only connection to the outside world became a precarious, makeshift fleet of hot-air balloons.
The Siege of Paris, lasting from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871, marked the final act of the Franco-Prussian War. Following the capture of Emperor Napoleon III at the Battle of Sedan, the newly proclaimed Third French Republic refused to surrender. Prussian forces, led by King William I and Helmuth von Moltke, opted for a strategy of starvation rather than an immediate assault, aiming to break the resolve of the city's republican leadership and prevent France from reconstituting its armies.
Inside the city, the situation grew dire as winter set in. Despite initial stockpiles of grain, the lack of rationing and the presence of a rampant black market left the poor vulnerable. By January 1871, mortality rates reached 3,000 to 4,000 deaths per week due to cold and disease. Parisians were forced to consume horses, cats, dogs, and eventually the residents of the Jardin des plantes zoo, including the city's only pair of elephants. Fuel shortages were so severe that residents felled street trees for warmth.
Communication remained possible only through a daring balloon mail service. Organized by figures like Felix Nadar, roughly 66 flights carried an estimated 2.5 million letters out of the city. While the Prussians eventually bombarded the city with 12,000 shells in January, the physical damage was limited by the city's solid stone architecture. The siege finally concluded with an armistice on 28 January 1871, after which international aid, including 10,000 tons of flour from Britain, began to arrive. The defeat left a lasting mark on French society, contributing to the radicalization of the Parisian population and the eventual formation of the Paris Commune.
Source: Siege of Paris (1870–1871)
