Waging War on Civilians: The Expulsion of Aliens in the Franco-Prussian War

This article analyses the expulsion of more than 40,000 German men, women and children from Paris and the département of the Seine at the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870. The aims of the article are threefold. First, it seeks to read this episode in the frame of the debate on the emergence of policies designed to control migration and to regulate the status of aliens and their rights to admission and hospitality. Secondly, the article explores the emergence of the problem — typical of all liberal and/or democratic constitutional states — of finding a balance between individual liberty and national security. Thirdly, it presents the Franco-Prussian War as a turning point in policies designed to affect civilians, in particular civilians of enemy nationality, in wartime.