Editing Napoleon III (section)

====Aftermath====
The news of the capitulation reached Paris on 3 September, confirming the rumors that were already circulating in the city. When the Empress heard the news that the Emperor and the army had been taken prisoner, she reacted by shouting at the Emperor's personal aide, "No! An Emperor does not capitulate! He is dead!...They are trying to hide it from me. Why didn't he kill himself! Doesn't he know he has dishonored himself?!"{{Sfn|Milza|2006|p=711}} Later, when hostile crowds formed near the palace and the staff began to flee, the Empress slipped out with one of her entourage and sought sanctuary with her American dentist, Thomas Evans, who took her to [[Deauville]]. From there, on 7 September, she took the yacht of a British official to England.

On 4 September, a group of republican deputies, led by [[Léon Gambetta]], gathered at the [[Hôtel de Ville, Paris|Hôtel de Ville]] in Paris and proclaimed the return of the Republic and the creation of a [[Government of National Defence]]. The Second Empire had come to an end.{{Sfn|Milza|2006|pp=711–712}}