The Commemorative Medal of the 1870-1871 War

• Time Period: Pre-WW1
• Institution: 9 November 1911
• Country: France

The Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War (or Médaille commémorative de la guerre 1870–1871 in French) is a military campaign medal awarded to those who served during the Franco-Prussian War.

The French Emperor, confident of the strength of his armies declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870.  A 1866 peace agreement between Prussia and Austria greatly enlarged the forces he would face, adding the armies of Bavaria, Württemberg, Saxony, Hanover, Baden, Hesse, Schaumburg-Lippe, Saxe-Meiningen, Nassau and Reus to the already formidable Prussian Army. Soon the French armies were defeated or encircled within the walls of their cities. Over a five-month campaign, German forces defeated newly recruited French armies in a series of battles fought across northern France. Following a prolonged siege, Paris fell on 28 January 1871 and the war ended with the Treaty of Frankfurt of 10 May 1871.

Forty years would have to elapse before the government would agree to a tangible form of recognition for the surviving veterans of the conflict. The Commemorative medal of the 1870–1871 War was finally established by a law of 9 November 1911.

The Commemorative Medal of the 1870-1871 War Design

The medal measures 30-mm in diameter, is circular and struck in bronze. It was engraved by artist Georges Lemaire, his model to represent the effigy of the republic was Miss Fernande Dubois, an artist at the Opéra-Comique.

The obverse bears the relief image of the effigy of the “warrior republic” in the form of the left profile of a helmeted woman’s bust wearing armor. On either side, the relief inscription along the outer medal circumference “RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE“.

The reverse bears, at its lower center, a rectangle with the relief inscription “AUX DÉFENSEURS DE LA PATRIE” (“TO THE NATION’S DEFENDERS”), superimposed over the relief images of military weapons (sabres, lances, cannons), a naval anchor and a flowing banner, at its top, the relief years “1870 1871” bisected by the banner’s mast.

The medal hangs from a ribbon passing through a ring itself passing through a ball shaped suspension loop at the top. The 36-mm-wide green silk moiré ribbon bears four 4-mm-wide equidistant vertical black stripes, the whole forming nine alternating 4 mm stripes. The clasp “ENGAGÉ VOLONTAIRE” (“VOLUNTEER ENLISTEE”) could be worn on the ribbon.