CHAPTER XXVI SEDAN DAY AND A MONTH OF .WAR ON September i, 1870, German armies along the Meuse surrounded Napoleon III, and the last field army of France. On hillsides which were now being freshly fought over they had forged the " ring of steel," which one day later was tightened to crush the beaten French. Surrender on Septem- ber 2, 1870, settled the fate of the Third Empire, laid the solid foundation of the new German Em- pire, gave Alsace-Lorraine and supremacy on the Continent to Germany. • Forty-four years later two millions of Germans In arms in France, in Belgium, in Russia and in Germany were endeavoring to celebrate the anni- versary by achievements which should make the day memorable anew. In the nineteenth century it was the birthday of German unity and military great- ness. In the twentieth, for every German, the words of General von Bernhardi, " our next war means world power or downfall," had a particular meaning. And on this German holiday, on which also the first month of war terminated, it was impossible to deny that Germany had marched far upon the road 140