The defeat of the French troops at Sedan during the Franco-Prussian War was an especially humiliating sore spot for the ruling class of France. During the fighting, the French ruler Napoleon III surrendered and was captured, leaving the French troops of the losing side of the battle with no leadership. The Prussians therefore took advantage and besieged Paris and effectively won the war. Although the French remained fighting under a new government, they were not able to keep away the unified Prussian front. This caricature, The Capitulation of Sedan, depicts the hat of Napoleon III, sitting atop a castle guard, ass if he simply took if off and place it there, leaving the French people to fend for themselves. It is a perfect representation of the simple satire that Daumier was able to employ in his quick-witted political cartoons.
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