Timeline September 1870

Events in September 1870 8

• 1803 – 1870 Prosper Merimee (1803-1870) Died 23 September 1870, aged 67 Prosper Merimee, the French writer best known for the novella Carmen, later adapted into Bizet's opera, died in Cannes on 23 September 1870. He was also a noted historian and one of France's pioneering advocates for the preservation of historic monuments. He served as a senator during the Second Empire.
• 1870 Deported as an enemy alien Paris to London to Augsburg, aged twelve The Franco-Prussian War breaks out and the Diesels, like thousands of other Germans in Paris, are given days to leave. They go to London. Within months his mother sends him alone to his aunt and uncle in Augsburg to learn German properly. He arrives barely speaking it and enrols at the Royal County Trade School.
• 1870 Battle of Sedan Napoleon III captured, French army destroyed Prussian and German forces decisively defeated the French Army of Chalons at Sedan on 1-2 September 1870. Emperor Napoleon III surrendered and was taken prisoner along with over 100,000 troops. The defeat triggered the collapse of the French Second Empire two days later.
• 1870 Proclamation of the Third French Republic Napoleon III's empire falls, republic declared in Paris Following the capture of Napoleon III at Sedan, republicans in Paris declared the end of the Second Empire and proclaimed the Third Republic on 4 September 1870. A Government of National Defense took power to continue the war against Prussia. The new republic would endure until 1940.
• 1870 HMS Captain Capsizes Experimental Royal Navy warship sinks with heavy loss of life The Royal Navy turret ship HMS Captain capsized in a gale off Cape Finisterre on 7 September 1870, killing nearly 480 officers and crew. The disaster exposed a fatal design flaw: the ship's low freeboard left it dangerously unstable under sail. It prompted a rethink of Royal Navy ship design.
• 1870 Siege of Paris Begins Prussian forces encircle the French capital German forces surrounded Paris on 19 September 1870, beginning a siege that would last over four months. Parisians endured food shortages, resorting to eating zoo animals, while the city attempted to communicate by hot air balloon. The siege ended with France's surrender in January 1871.
• 1870 Capture of Rome Rome as Capital Italian troops entered Rome, ending the temporal power of the Pope and making Rome the capital of a unified Italy.
• 1870 – 1947 Christian X The Resistance King Became a symbol of national unity during the Nazi occupation by riding his horse through Copenhagen daily.