| Day of Sedan | |
|---|---|
 IlluminatedBrandenburg Gate on Sedantag in 1898 | |
| Official name | Sedantag |
| Observed by | Germans |
| Celebrations | Victory Day |
| Begins | 1871 |
| Ends | 1918 |
| Date | 2 September |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Related to | Unification of Germany |
Sedantag (German:[ˈzeːdanˌtaːk]ⓘ,Day of Sedan) was a semi-official memorial holiday in theGerman Empire celebrated on the second day of September to commemorate the victory in the1870 Battle of Sedan. After the outbreak of theFranco-Prussian War a few weeks earlier, French emperorNapoleon III and his army were taken prisoner in the fortress of Sedan by Prussian troops, a major step to eventual victory.
In 1871, the now united Germans could not agree on a commonGerman holiday. While the German Emperor andEmpire were proclaimed on 18 January 1871, the Prussians themselves held the first coronation of a Prussian king on the same day in 1701 in higher esteem. The signing of the final peaceTreaty of Frankfurt, several months later on 10 May 1871, was also not unequivocally welcomed. The southern states ofKingdom of Bavaria, theGrand Duchy of Baden andKingdom of Württemberg preferred to celebrate the victories in battles to which their troops had contributed significantly, such as theBattle of Wörth, which had occurred already on 6 August 1870.
While never proclaimed officially, and participation and official support for Sedantag celebrations varied over time, and working class leaders never really accepting it, Sedantag became ade facto national holiday, last celebrated in 1918.
After theTreaty of Versailles had been signed in mid 1919, on 27 August 1919 the Ministry of the Interior of theWeimar Republic declared that no further Sedantag celebrations should take place.
