Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
later when his forces were defeated at Waterloo in Belgium. Napoléon was exiled again, this
time to St Helena in the South Atlantic, where he died in 1821. In 1840 his remains were
moved to Paris' Église du Dôme.
The Second Republic was established and elections in 1848 brought in Napoléon's inept
nephew, the German-reared (and -accented) Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, as president. In
1851 he staged a coup d'état and proclaimed himself Emperor Napoléon III of the Second
Empire, which lasted until 1870.
France enjoyed significant economic growth at this time, and Paris was transformed by
town planner Baron Haussmann (1809-91) into the modern city it is today. Huge swaths of
the city were completely rebuilt (demolishing much of medieval Paris in the process), its
chaotic narrow streets replaced with the handsome, arrow-straight and wide thoroughfares
for which the city is now celebrated.
From 1784 to 1836, the duke of Chartres turned the now dignified Palais Royal into one of
Europe's foremost pleasure gardens - 'the capital of Paris' - home to theatres, casinos,
shops, cafes and an estimated 2000 prostitutes.
Haussmann revolutionised Paris' water-supply and sewage systems, and created some of
the city's loveliest parks. The city's first department stores were built, as were Paris' de-
lightful shop-strewn passages couverts.
The Belle Époque
Though it would usher in the glittering belle époque (beautiful age), there was nothing par-
ticularly attractive about the start of the Third Republic. Born as a provisional government
of national defence in September 1870, it was quickly besieged by the Prussians, who laid
siege to Paris and demanded National Assembly elections be held. Unfortunately, the first
move made by the resultant monarchist-controlled assembly was to ratify the Treaty of
Frankfurt, the harsh terms of which - a huge war indemnity and surrender of the provinces
of Alsace and Lorraine - helped instigate a civil war between radical Parisians (known as
Communards) and the national government. The Communards took control of the city, es-
tablishing the Paris Commune, but the French Army eventually regained the capital several
months later. It was a chaotic period, with mass executions on both sides, exiles and
rampant destruction (both the Palais des Tuileries and the Hôtel de Ville were burned
down). The Wall of the Federalists in Cimetière du Père Lachaise is a deathly reminder of
the bloodshed.
