Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ished the monarchy and declared the First Republic. The Assemblée Nationale was replaced
by an elected Revolutionary Convention.
Louis XVI was convicted of 'conspiring against the liberty of the nation' in January 1793
and guillotined at place de la Révolution, today's place de la Concorde. Two months later
the Jacobins set up the notorious Committee of Public Safety to deal with national defence
and try 'traitors'. The subsequent Reign of Terror (September 1793 to July 1794) saw reli-
gious freedoms revoked, churches closed and desecrated, cathedrals turned into 'Temples of
Reason' and thousands incarcerated in dungeons in La Conciergerie before being beheaded.
After the Reign of Terror faded, a five-man delegation of moderate republicans set itself
up to rule the republic as the Directory.
In 1774 a 100ft section of the rue d'Enfer (today's ave Denfert-Rochereau) disappeared in-
to a sinkhole, revealing an inconceivably precarious network of mining tunnels upon
which southern Paris had been built.
Napoléon & Empire
The post-Revolutionary government was far from stable and when Napoléon returned to
Paris in 1799, he found a chaotic republic in which few citizens had any faith. In November,
when it appeared that the Jacobins were again on the ascendancy in the legislature, Na-
poléon tricked the delegates into leaving Paris for St-Cloud to the southwest ('for their own
protection'), overthrew the discredited Directory and assumed power.
At first, Napoléon took the post of First Consul. In a referendum three years later he was
named 'Consul for Life' and his birthday became a national holiday. By December 1804,
when he crowned himself 'Emperor of the French' in the presence of Pope Pius VII at Notre
Dame, the scope and nature of Napoléon's ambitions were obvious to all. But to consolidate
and legitimise his authority, Napoléon needed more victories on the battlefield. So began a
seemingly endless series of wars and victories by which France would come to control most
of Europe.
In 1812 Napoléon invaded Russia and captured Moscow, only for his army to be quickly
wiped out by the brutal Russian winter. Two years later, Allied armies entered Paris, exiled
Napoléon to Elba and restored the House of Bourbon to the French throne at the Congress
of Vienna (1814-15).
But in early 1815 Napoléon escaped the Mediterranean island, landed in southern France
and gathered a large army as he marched towards Paris. On 1 June he reclaimed the throne
at celebrations held at the Champs de Mars. But his reign came to an end just three weeks
