Defeated commanders are frequently blamed for the decisions which they made, sometimes with serious or even fatal consequences. The case of the unfortunate Admiral Byng is an example from British naval history. In France in 1870, Marshal Francois-Achille Bazaine, the commander of the French army that surrendered at Metz during the Franco-Prussian war, was held responsible not only for what was alleged to be a breach of military discipline, but also, by many in France, was believed to have been guilty of treason. When the war ended with France’s crushing defeat, national pride demanded a scapegoat, and it was Bazaine who was blamed for just about everything that had gone so very wrong. He was the victim not only of a wholly unjustified accusation of treason by the Government of National Defence, which had seized power with the fall of the Second Empire, but of a number of books written to attack him for his military decisions and his motives in surrendering his army and the fortress of Metz after an extended siege. Chief among his persecutors was Colonel Gaston d'Andlau, who nourished a bitter personal grievance against the Marshal, who had refused to find a place for him on his personal staff on the grounds of his unreliability. Popular resentment against Bazaine was fanned by the French Press, which gleefully reported many of the most ludicrous allegations which were being made against him. Ultimately, after a lengthy public enquiry which did not exonerate him, he demanded a court martial, and he was put on trial under the French military code, facing charges which arose from a decree of the first Napoleon; he was not charged with treason, though allegations of this hung over the proceedings even though demonstrated to be wholly false. AUTHOR: Quintin Barry is a solicitor and retired Employment Judge. He has also held a wide varirty of offices in both the public sectors, including the NHS and local radio. Following a lifelong interest in military and naval history, he is the author of a number of books in both fields. These include an acclaimed two volume history of the Franco Prussian War of 1870-1871; a history of the Austro Prussian War of 1866; and the first modern history of the Russo Turkish War of 1877-1878. He has also written a number of books of naval history, including a well reviewed account of the war in the North Sea in 1914-1918.
50 b/w illustrations, 8 maps