FRANCE 1870 BALLOON/par Ballon Monté, RARE Siege of Paris Flight Cover > FRESNAY

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FRANCE 1870 BALLOON/par Ballon Monté, RARE Siege of Paris Flight Cover > FRESNAY:
$299.00

FRANCE 1870 BALLOON/par Ballon Monté, RARE Siege of Paris Flight Cover > FRESNAY a.imagelink {color:#d18d2c;} a:hover.imagelink {color:#d18d2c;} a:visited.imagelink {color:#000000;} a.imagelink img.saleimage { border: 2px solid #d18d2c; } a:visited.imagelink img.saleimage { border: 2px solid #000000; }
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Click to view supersize imageThis is one item out of a collection we just break on Prussian - French War 1870/71

20 Centimes Napoleon on Very RARE and interesting Balloon Flight Cover flown during the Siege of Paris from Paris 9. December 1870 to Fresnay-le-Gilmert !

The Balloon landet in occupied Territory and the passengers were captured by the Prussian Army. Only 1 Bag with Mail survived !!!

Lhéritier Cat = Euro 1500

Very low starting price !
For condition see and enlarge all photos !
Click on the images for big pictures !The Siege of Paris, lasting from 19 September 1870 to 28 January 1871, and the consequent capture of the city by Prussian forces, led to French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War and the establishment of the German Empire as well as the Paris Commune.Mail service by balloon and pigeon

Balloon mail was the only means by which communications from the besieged city could reach the rest of France. The use of balloons to carry mail was first proposed by the photographer and balloonist Felix Nadar, who had established the grandiosely titled No. 1 Compagnie des Aérostatiers, with a single balloon, the Neptune, at its disposal, to perform tethered ascents for observation purposes. However the Prussian encirclement of the city made this pointless, and on 17 September Nadar wrote to the Council for the Defence of Paris proposing the use of balloons for communication with the outside world: a similar proposal had also been made by the balloonist Eugène Godard.

The first balloon launch was carried out on 23 September, using the Neptune, and carried 125 kg (276 lb) of mail in addition to the pilot. After a three-hour flight it landed at Craconville 83 km (52 mi) from Paris. Following this success a regular mail service was established, with a rate of 20 centimes per letter. Two workshops to manufacture balloons were set up, one under the direction of Nadar in the Elysềe-Montmartre dance-hall (later moved to the Gare du Nord), and the other under the direction of Godard in the Gare d\'Orleans. Around 66 balloon flights were made, including one that accidentally set a world distance record by ending up in Norway. The vast majority of these succeeded: only five were captured by the Prussians, and three went missing, presumably coming down in the Atlantic or Irish Sea. The number of letters carried has been estimated at around 2.5 million.

Some balloons also carried passengers in addition to the cargo of mail, most notably Léon Gambetta, the minister for War in the new government, who was flown out of Paris on 7 October. The balloons also carried homing pigeons out of Paris to be used for a pigeon post. This was the only means by which communications from the rest of France could reach the besieged city. A specially laid telegraph cable on the bed of the Seine had been discovered and cut by the Prussians on 27 September, couriers attempting to make their way through the German lines were almost all intercepted and although other methods were tried including attempts to use balloons, dogs and message canisters floated down the Seine, these were all unsuccessful. The pigeons were taken to their base, first at Tours and later at Poitiers, and when they had been fed and rested were ready for the return journey. Tours lies some 200 km from Paris and Poitiers some 300 km. Before release, they were loaded with their dispatches. Initially the pigeon post was only used for official communications but on 4 November the government announced that members of the public could send messages, these being limited to twenty words at a charge of 50 centimes per word.

These were then copied onto sheets of cardboard and photographed by a M. Barreswille, a photographer based in Tours. Each sheet contained 150 messages and was reproduced as a print about 40 x 55 mm (1.5 x 2.25 in) in size: each pigeon could carry nine of these. The photographic process was further refined by René Dagron to allow more to be carried: Dagron, with his equipment, was flown out of Paris on 12 November in the aptly named Niépce, narrowly escaping capture by the Prussians. The photographic process allowed multiple copies of the messages to be sent, so that although only 57 of the 360 pigeons released reached Paris more than 60,000 of the 95,000 messages sent were delivered. (some sources give a considerably higher figure of around 150,000 official and 1 million private communications, but this figure is arrived at by counting all copies of each message.)

Aftermath

After the Prussians had secured victory in war Wilhelm I was proclaimed German Emperor on 18 January 1871 at the Palace of Versailles. The kingdoms of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, the states of Baden and Hesse, and the free cities of Hamburg and Bremen were unified with the North German Confederation to create the German Empire. The preliminary peace treaty was signed at Versailles and the final peace treaty, the Treaty of Frankfurt was signed on 10 May 1871. Otto von Bismarck was able to secure Alsace-Lorraine as part of the German Empire.

The continued presence of German troops outside the city angered Parisian residents. Further resentment arose against the current French government and from April–May 1871 Parisian workers and National Guards rebelled and established the Paris Commune.

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