La Débâcle
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| Author | Émile Zola |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| Language | French |
| Series | Les Rougon-Macquart |
| Genre | Novel |
| Publisher | Charpentier (book form) |
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Publication date
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1892 |
| Media type | Print (Serial, Hardback & Paperback) |
| Preceded by | L'Argent |
| Followed by | Le Docteur Pascal |
La Débâcle is a novel by Émile Zola published in 1892, the in les Rougon-Macquart series. The story is set against the background of the political and military events that ended the reign of Napoléon III and the Second Empire in 1870, in particular the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan and the Paris Commune.
The novel starts in the summer of 1870, when after serious diplomatic tensions, France has declared war on Prussia (the nucleus of Germany which was then emerging as one nation out of a number of disparate cities, regions and principalities). The French hoped to achieve a quick victory by marching their armies east, straight to Berlin. Instead, the Prussian armies crossed the Rhine before the French, beat the French Rhine army into retreat and invaded France.
The novel is by far the longest of the Rougon-Macquart series. Its main character is Jean Macquart, a farmer who after having lost his wife and land (which events are described in the novel La Terre), has joined the army for the campaign of 1870. The main theme is the brutality of war for the common soldier and for the civilian population as it is hit by losses of family and friends and by economic hardship. It is written in three parts.
In the first part, the French army corps in which Jean Macquart is a corporal moves to the southern part of the Rhine valley, only to retreat to Belfort and to be moved by train back to Paris and then to Reims without having seen battle, in a reaction to the news of the crushing defeat of another corps in the Alsace region followed by a Prussian breakthrough, moving west through the Vosges mountains. The growing demoralisation and fatigue of the French soldiers as they are commanded back and forth in time-consuming and irrelevant manoeuvres is poignantly described. A growing disorganisation of the army becomes apparent as it is unable to move food and equipment to where it is needed. The army corps of Jean is then moved to Reims from which it is supposed to march to the eastern French city of Metz, where another French army is besieged by the Prussians. In a reaction to pressure and movements by the Prussians, the march deviates from its original objective to the north and the French army ends up in the neighbourhood of the city of Sedan, in the valley of the Meuse river near the Belgian border. In the meantime, Jean has befriended Maurice, a soldier whose sister Henriette lives in Sedan.
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