EDUCATIONAL QUIZ……History, Paris mail

During the siege

of Paris in 1871, how were large quantities of mail transported?

7 Responses to “EDUCATIONAL QUIZ……History, Paris mail”

  1. Ah, the Franco-Prussian war.

    How about homing pigeons?

  2. We’re talking tons of mail. Not pigeons. Besides, I think they ate all the pigeons during the siege.

  3. #3 by Randalf the Grey

    The Froggies used balloons not only to transport mail, but to get government officials out of Paris. Ah yes, the Franco-Prussian War, when Bismarck unified the German states and began a long tradition of kicking sand in ze Froggies face. The first battle of that war was fought in Sarrbrucken, where, in 1944-45, my dear old dad and his pals in the 70th Infantry Division penetrated the Siegfried Line and kicked some Kraut butt.

  4. Did they actually have “large quantities of mail” floating around in the 1800’s….. I guess I never thought that much about communication way back then…… I don’t remember seeing much about the postal service in any history books about the period. They were too busy writing about boinking each other on the head…. How many people would be writing letters during a siege anyway?….. I would be ducking and passing the ammunition……. In other words, I don’t have a clue….. Maybe house to house – you pick out your mail and pass the rest on……

  5. Another 5 points for Randalf. (Are we all chipping in for his trophy case?)

    Tons of mail was flown by balloon during the siege.

    Individual letters were delivered by little balloons like you get in the grocery store. It was a siege, but a colorful Paris siege.

  6. I read about the use of pigeons during the FP war in some old military history book, but I can’t remember exactly where.

    I’m not petitioning for any points, but check out:
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigeon_post

    They certainly didn’t carry tons of mail, though.

  7. huskysooner,

    Apparently those Parisians didn’t eat all the pigeons and mail was also delivered by bird……..5 points.

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