The title is a reference to the Battle of Sedan, which effectively ended the Franco-Prussian War of 1870. 2 September 1870 - the date on which the surrender of Napoleon III was signed - became an official holiday in the newly created German Empire. However, this famous battle is only an episode of the play, which in fact begins in a small nameless town near Strasbourg. The Prussian army’s advance can be heard from there.

The play deals with one of the consequences of the war of 1870 – that is, the unification of Germany. The Bavarian Kasperl fights alongside the Prussians. However, his superiority is evident. The author was likely from Southern Germany, since the play features an antisemitic representation of a Jewish merchant, suspected of being a spy: in the plays of the Catholic South of Germany, the role of the traitor was generally assigned to Jewish characters (contrary to the plays of Northern or Central Germany, where, at the time, the spy was always a Jesuit or a Bavarian soldier).

Prisoners form another major element of the play, as rows of them cross the stage at the end. After the war, enemy soldiers were brought to German towns far from the front, so that the local population could witness the army’s victory.

The manuscript is kept in the Theaterwissenschaftliche Sammlung, at the University of Cologne (Schloss Wahn). It was transcribed and uploaded online in the Kasperl-Bibliothek, managed by Beatrix Müller-Kampel, which is currently (June 2023) inaccessible.

Rosa – the keeper of the “Zum Golden Stern” inn – wants her daughter Analies to marry Kasper, the waiter, so that he does not go to war and can protect the inn. But Analies hesitates. She A Zouave, who promises her a rich life after the war, courts her.

Kasperl is disappointed and enlists in the Prussian army. After arresting a Jewish spy, he receives a bonus and finds favour with his major who makes him his Fourierschütz (a soldier assigned to an officer for protection and personal service).

Kasperl follows his regiment and arrives near Sedan, where he meets Analies again. She has been abandoned in the middle of a battlefield by the Zouave, who was sick of her. She wants to go back to Kasperl. The major forces them to marry. Analies agrees on the spot, but Kasperl has reservations about it: what if she leaves him again? Analies promises to be faithful and Kasperl agrees to marry her.

Kasperl’s major must escort prisoners to Strasbourg. Kasperl and Analies go back to the inn. Rosa was worried about her daughter’s and her waiter’s fates. The wedding is celebrated with dances, while rows of prisoners parade outside the inn.