Description

The Downfall (La Débâcle, 1892) is the penultimate novel of Émile Zola’s Les Rougon-Macquart series.

The story is set against the background of the political and military tumults that ended the reign of Napoléon III and the Second Empire in 1870, in particular the Franco-Prussian War, the Battle of Sedan, and the Paris Commune.

Despite the hostility with which it was initially received by Bonapartists, monarchists, and in particular by veterans of the French army, The Downfall was Zola’s greatest commercial success, selling one hundred fifty thousand copies within five months of its release.