Background
After its defeat at Gravelotte, Marshal Bazaine's Army of the Rhine retreated to Metz where it was besieged by over 150,000 Prussian troops of the First and Second Armies (Siege of Metz). Emperor Napoleon III, along with Marshal MacMahon, formed the new French Army of Châlons to march on to Metz to rescue Bazaine. With Napoleon III personally leading the army, with Marshal MacMahon in attendance, they led the Army of Châlons in a left-flanking march northeast towards the Belgian border in an attempt to avoid the Prussians before striking south to link up with Bazaine.
The Prussians had repeatedly outmaneuvered the French in the string of victories through August 1870, and the march both depleted the French forces and left both flanks exposed. The Prussians, under the command of von Moltke, took advantage of this maneuver to catch the French in a pincer grip. Leaving the Prussian First and Second Armies besieging Metz, Moltke took the Prussian Third Army and the Army of the Meuse northward where they caught up with the French at Beaumont-en-Argonne on 30 August. After a hard-fought battle with the French losing 5,000 men and 40 cannons in a sharp fight, the French withdrew towards Sedan. Their intention was to rest the army, which had been involved in a long series of marches, resupply them with ammunition and then retreat, rather than giving battle in the town.
Having reformed in Sedan, the Army of Châlons deployed the First Corps to check the Prussian advance, but was immediately isolated by the converging Prussian armies. They could not retreat owing to the exhaustion of their troops, and they were short on ammunition. The French rear was protected by the Fortress of Sedan, and offered a defensive position at Calvaire d'Illy, which had both hills and woods to provide cover for any defense. Moltke divided his forces into three groups: one to detain the French where they were, another to race forward and catch them if they retreated, and a third (the smallest force) to hold the river bank. The French were unable to move and had to fight "where they stood". The Prussians thus encircled the French.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Sedan (1870)
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