3-043-863 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Military Triumph at Berlin: the Sedan Trophy at the Potsdam Gate, 1871. German troops return from the Franco-Prussian War. 'The triumphal entry into Berlin...of the choicest troops of the German army, and representatives of all engaged in the late war...was a grand military and national festivity...The way of the troops into the city lay first through the street called La Belle Alliance (which is the Prussian designation for Waterloo), through Konigratz-street (this being another name for Sadowa), round the line of the old town wall, past the Halle Gate and the Anhalt Gate of the city, across the Ascanische-Platz and the Potsdamer-Platz, thence entering through the Brandenburg Gate, crossing the Pariser-Platz, traversing the avenue of the Linden, and coming at length into the Opern-Platz, where, in front of Marshal Blucher's statue, was held the concluding parade. A statue of Berlin was erected at the Halle Gate; and in the Potsdamer-Platz was a trophy of the battle of Sedan, with a colossal group of statues, representing Strasbourg and Metz, seated at the feet of Victory, who looked upon them from a battery of cannon'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.