city
Sedan
The fortified city on the Meuse where Napoleon III surrendered to the Prussians on 2 September 1870 — the catastrophic defeat that shattered the Second Empire and traumatised France for a generation. La Débâcle follows Jean Macquart and his friend Maurice Levasseur through the chaos of the encirclement, the battle, and the capitulation, then through the Paris Commune that followed. Zola visited Sedan in 1892 to research the novel, walking the battlefields and interviewing survivors. No other novel in the cycle captures collective catastrophe on this scale.
La ville fortifiée de la Meuse où Napoléon III capitula le 2 septembre 1870. Décor de La Débâcle, qui suit Jean Macquart à travers la déroute et la Commune de Paris.