Sedantag (, ''Day of Sedan'') was a semi-official memorial holiday in the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

celebrated on the second day of September to commemorate the victory in the 1870 Battle of Sedan. After the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War a few weeks later, French emperor

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A neph ...

and his army were taken prisoner in the fortress of Sedan by Prussian troops, a major step to eventual victory. In 1871, the now united Germans could not agree on a common ''German'' holiday. While the German Emperor and

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

were proclaimed on 18 January 1871, the Prussians themselves held the first coronation of a Prussian king on the same day in 1701 in higher esteem. The signing of the final peace Treaty of Frankfurt, several months later on 10 May 1871, was also not unequivocally welcomed. The southern states of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

, the

Grand Duchy of Baden The Grand Duchy of Baden (german: Großherzogtum Baden) was a state in the southwest German Empire on the east bank of the Rhine. It existed between 1806 and 1918. It came into existence in the 12th century as the Margraviate of Baden and subs ...

and

Kingdom of Württemberg The Kingdom of Württemberg (german: Königreich Württemberg ) was a German state that existed from 1805 to 1918, located within the area that is now Baden-Württemberg. The kingdom was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which existe ...

preferred to celebrate the victories in battles to which their troops had contributed significantly, such as the

Battle of Wörth The Battle of Wörth, also known as the Battle of Reichshoffen or as the Battle of Frœschwiller, refers to the second battle of Wörth, which took place on 6 August 1870 in the opening stages of the Franco-Prussian War (the first Battle of ...

, which had occurred already on 6 August 1870. While never proclaimed officially, and participation and official support for Sedantag celebrations varied over time, and working class leaders never really accepting it, Sedantag became a ''de facto'' national holiday, last celebrated in 1918. After the

Treaty of Versailles The Treaty of Versailles (french: Traité de Versailles; german: Versailler Vertrag, ) was the most important of the peace treaties of World War I. It ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on 28 June 1 ...

had been signed in mid 1919, on 27 August 1919 the Ministry of the Interior of the

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a Constitutional republic, constitutional federal republic for the first time in ...

declared that no further Sedantag celebrations should take place.

Literature

Prussian War Veteran Silver Medal Day of Sedan 1895

*Florentine Gebhart: ''Erinnerung an das Sedanfest in den 1870er Jahren''. In: ''Blätter aus dem Lebensbilderbuch''. Berlin 1930, S. 51–54 (Nachdruck in Jens Flemmin (Hrsg.): ''Quellen zur Alltagsgeschichte der Deutschen vom Mittelalter bis heute. Band 7. 1871–1914''. Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt 1997, , pp. 61–64; außerdem frei verfügbar al
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* Thomas Rohkrämer: ''Der Militarismus der „kleinen Leute“. Die Kriegervereine im Deutschen Kaiserreich 1871–1914''. (= Beiträge zur Militärgeschichte; Bd. 29). Oldenbourg, München 1990, (zugl. Dissertation, Universität Freiburg im Breisgau, 1989) * Fritz Schellack: ''Nationalfeiertage in Deutschland 1871 bis 1945''. Peter Lang, Frankfurt am Main u. a. 1990, (zugl. Dissertation, Universität Mainz 1989) * Jakob Vogel: ''Nationen im Gleichschritt''. (= Kritische Studien zur Geschichtswissenschaft; Bd. 118). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen 1997, (zugl. Dissertation, FU Berlin, 1995) *Rüdiger Wulf: ''„Hurra, heut ist ein froher Tag, des Kaisers Wiegenfest!“ Schulfeiern zum Kaisergeburtstag und zum Sedantag des Kaiserreichs''. In: Jochen Löher und Rüdiger Wulf (Hrsg.): ''„Furchtbar dräute der Erbfeind!“ Vaterländische Erziehung in den Schulen des Kaiserreichs 1871–1918''. (= Schriftenreihe des Westfälischen Schulmuseums Dortmund; Band 3). Westfälisches Schulmuseum, Dortmund 1998, pp. 57–95 * Landeshauptarchiv Koblenz, Landesarchivverwaltung Rheinland-Pfalz: ''Vor 100 Jahren – Der Sedantag am 2. September 1899''

External links

Kapitel ''Sedanfeier''
in: Wilhelm Heinrich Riehl
''Ein ganzer Mann''
Roman, 1897
O. P.: ''Sedantag oder Nationalfest?''
kritischer Artikel in der Wochenzeitschrift ''Ethische Kultur'', 1. September 1900 {{Authority control Franco-Prussian War German Empire Public holidays in Germany Victory days September observances Former public holidays

Literature

See also

External links