Locals and tourists alike gawked at the remains of the Paris city hall, built beginning in 1532 and completed nearly a century later. Along with treasured paintings and sculptural decoration, historically precious archives of the City of Paris were forever lost when the building was set ablaze in Ma
Photograph by Auguste Hippolyte Collard
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working class radicalism grew among its soldiers. Following the establishment of the French Third Republic in September 1870 and the complete defeat of the French Army by the Germans by March 1871, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city on 18 March. The Communards killed two French Army generals and refused to accept the authority of the Third Republic; instead, the radicals set about establishing their own independent government.
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