THE DOWNFALL
(LA DÉBÂCLE)
A STORY OF THE HORRORS OF WAR
BY
ÉMILE ZOLA
TRANSLATED BY ERNEST A. VIZETELLY
WAR CORRESPONDENT 1870-1
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1893
PREFACE
Before the present translation of M. Zola's novel, 'La Débâcle,'appeared in 'The Weekly Times and Echo,' in which itwas originally issued, the author was interviewed for thatjournal by Mr. Robert H. Sherard, whom he favoured withsome interesting particulars concerning the scope and purportof his narrative. By the courtesy both of Mr. Sherard andof the proprietor of 'The Weekly Times,' the translator ishere able to republish the remarks made by M. Zola on theoccasion referred to. They will be found to supply an appropriatepreface to the story:—
'"La Débâcle" has given me infinitely more trouble thanany of my previous works. When I began writing it, I hadno conception of the immensity of the task which I had imposedon myself. The labour of reading up all that has beenwritten on my subject in general, and on the battle of Sedanin particular, has been enormous, and the work of condensationof all that I have had to read has been all the morelaborious that on no subject has more divergence of opinionbeen expressed ... I have read all that has been writtenabout the battle of Sedan, as well as about the unhappyadventures of the luckless Seventh Army Corps, in which isplaced the fictitious regiment which plays the leading rôle inmy novel. And the digestion has not been an easy task.Each general, for instance, has a different version to give ofthe why and the wherefore of the defeat. Each claims tohave had a plan, which, if it had been followed, would have[Pg vi]averted the disaster. Another difficulty has been that I tookno part in that campaign, not having been a soldier, and thatfor my information on the life and experience of those whowent through the campaign in general, and the battle ofSedan in particular, I have had to depend on outside testimony,often of a conflicting nature. I may say, however,that in this matter I have been greatly helped by the kindnessof persons who are good enough to be interested in my work,and as soon as it became known that I was writing a bookabout the war and about Sedan, I received from all parts ofFrance manuscript relations written by people of all classeswho had been present at the battle, and who sent me theirrecollections. That was most excellent material—indeed, thebest, because not to be found anywhere else. An "AnecdotalAccount of the Battle of Sedan" was sent me by a gentlemanwho is now professor at one of the Universities in the South.A long, ill-spelt letter came to me from a gamekeeper in theNorth, in which he gave me a full account of the battle as itimpressed him, who was a private soldier in the Seventh ArmyCorps at the time. I have masses of such documents, and itwas my duty to go through everything that could throw anylight on my subject.
'The subject was to be War. I had to consider War inits relation to various classes of society—War vis-à-vis thebourgeois, War vis-à-vis the peasant, War vis-à-vis the