The Fall Of Paris: The Siege And The Commune 1870-71 (2007) - Plot & Excerpts
When I think about the Paris Commune, I feel a vague sort of dread. I remember visiting the famous Père Lachaise Cemetery for the first time and seeing the wall—the infamous Communards' Wall—in front of which nearly a hundred fifty insurrectionists were executed by firing squad. I was in awe of how close this distant and horrible chapter in the history of Western civilization had suddenly become—and how prosaic it all seemed: a simple stone wall with an engraved plaque hidden away in this quiet resting place. The foreign tourists who come to visit the graves of Oscar Wilde or Jim Morrison will hardly notice the wall or remember its history—if they ever really knew it to begin with. How is it that such a disturbing interlude in the tug-of-war between established authority and democratic progress has become so obscure?It all began, of course, in 1870 with the Franco-Prussian War. As Alistair Horne suggests, the French populace, much given to that peculiar French affliction known as ennui, had become itchy for a military victory, for an assertion of its national power. The Second Empire, led by Emperor Napoleon III, had grown bloated and decadent: the ruling elite and its hangers-on were given to extravagances, to orgies, to decaying morality, while the working class grew increasingly dissatisfied. On one of the flimsiest pretexts in modern diplomatic history, Napoleon III was pressured into attacking Prussia. Of course a belligerent seeking a point of contention will generally find one—but most will latch onto a better causus belli than a minor breach of diplomatic etiquette. But the drums of war would admit of no turning back, and the Emperor led his forces into a disastrous war with the Germans that would cast its shadow over his nation for decades to come and lead ultimately to the fall of the Second French Empire and the exile of Napoleon III to England.The Prussians, led (figuratively) by Kaiser Wilhelm but in fact by Bismarck, quickly crushed the French and surrounded Paris. This Siege of Paris forms the basis for the first part of Alistair Horne's easy-to-admire, but difficult-to-love book The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 19870-71. Horne details what life was like for the besieged in Paris, which had no access to food, supplies, and—for the most part—the outside world. Horne relies (perhaps excessively) on the journals of a handful of Parisian residents—mainly English-speaking—to flesh out the day-to-day reality of a life with dwindling resources and only intermittent hope. American Elihu Washburne, one of the few diplomats who remained in Paris during the Siege (and, later, during the Commune) provides the most interesting perspective because he seems the least biased and proves an insightful and thorough-going observer. (Another prominent reference is the famous Edmond de Goncourt's journal.)In the Siege section of the book, Horne gets distracted by Paris's use of hot-air balloons to communicate with the outside world and the city's evolving eating habits as the Siege progresses. Eventually, the Parisian bourgeoisie is reduced to eating their dogs and cats, as well as horses, rats, and all the animals of the Paris Zoo except the lions and tigers. Horne's fascination with these details is evident, but it unfortunately drags on the narrative momentum. Meanwhile, Bismarck and Kaiser Wilhelm and the entire Prussian court have made themselves at home in the Sun King's great palace in Versailles. In a bitter historical irony, it would be in the Hall of Mirrors there that the unification of German would be declared. All of the German domains were now a part of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm. The German nation—which would harass France in the first half of the twentieth-century—was actually declared in France itself, precipitated by a war that France initiated. The Second Reich had begun.Eventually, Paris was forced to capitulate in early 1871, inciting the fury of working class arrondissements and the leftist radicals. (Horne discusses this peculiarity in the book: the leftists, who usually disdain imperialist warfare, at least theoretically, were in fact enraged by Paris's surrender.)Radical and working class anger grew until the republican government was forced to flee to Versailles (or else be murdered by the Parisian mobs). A new government, comprised predominantly by Jacobins, Marxists, and other anti-Bonapartists, installed itself in the Hôtel de Ville, and the Paris Commune was declared. Thiers, de facto head of the evacuated government at Versailles, regrouped and rebuilt the army. A short, gruesome civil war would ensue between the Commune and the forces of the government-in-exile at Versailles. Eventually the army of Thiers would march on Paris and brutally crush the Commune—but not before the Communards embarked upon a scorched earth policy, setting fire to the Tuileries Palace, the Hôtel de Ville, and any building whose height or location seemed to hinder their defenses. Only by a stroke of pure luck do the cathedral of Notre-Dame and the Louvre survive today; Notre-Dame was set to be razed by the Communards, but it was adjacent to a hospital which might catch fire, so the plan was scrapped at the last moment. Many parts of Paris were in ruins—destroyed by its own citizens—and the brutal reprisals on both sides were as gruesome as they were sadistic. The Communards executed the Archbishop of Paris in their final days as a pointless act of vengeance. Now victorious, Thiers would avenge himself and his government on all Commune supporters in what can only be called massacres—like the one at the Communards' Wall in Père Lachaise.Clearly, the Siege and the Commune are fascinating and underserved topics, and Horne, a lifelong aficionado of French history, certainly knows his stuff, but overall the book comes across as a little muddled. Horne hops around quite a bit, assuming a general familiarity on the part of his readers, and the book's clarity suffers somewhat for it. He has a great deal invested in the few perspectives he relies heavily upon (through journals), but these too hamper the momentum, situating the material in a hazy middle world between history and memoir. I'm not so sure the journal quotations enrich the history so much as they replace it at times—and some of Horne's selections, quoted at length, aren't always very interesting. I left the book with the impression of Alistair Horne as the addled professor who is always looking for his glasses when they're only just sitting on his forehead. If he focused and clarified a little more, he'd not only be a knowledgeable historian, but an entertaining one as well.
This is old school history, wherein the author tries to give as impartial an account as possible. The subject is the Franco-Prussian war of 1870, and the subsequent rise and fall of the Paris Commune in the first few months of 1871.I'll admit to being fascinated by modern French history, so this was irresistible for me.For everyone else, the story of 1870-1871 is of interest on account of two things: it holds the key to the origin of the Franco-German hatred that tore apart Europe through 1945, and in the Commune, the anatomy of all modern revolutions is on display in miniature. Also, some of the characters, good and bad, are unforgettable: Louis Napoleon, Otto Von Bismarck, Adolph Theirs, Louise Michel, Leon Gambetta, Raul Rigault. Worth the price of admission.
What do You think about The Fall Of Paris: The Siege And The Commune 1870-71 (2007)?
Superb.Good history should read like a good novel. This book certainly does that.It is a long time since I read this exciting book, but little did I know that one day I should make unexpected use of it.One of the characters described in the narrative is Frederick Reitlinger, who escaped from besieged Paris in a hot air balloon. I have discovered that this gentleman, who was sent by Thierry to plead with the English and the Austrians to intercede with the Germans to relieve their grip on Paris, was one of my relatives. For more about this see: http://yameyamey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/...
—Adam
This history of the Siege of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War and the months of the Paris Commune is a fascinating read. I had never heard about the Commune, until I visited Paris last Summer. I was shocked to find out that there had been a Socialist/Anarchist Revolution in Paris in 1871 and had to know more about it. I looked around and this seemed to be the only English-language book I could find on the topic.This history does a good job of making the story as readable as any novel and the events are as riveting as a suspense novel. While it tells two stories, they two are completely interlinked.
—James
The Franco-Prussian War is the Commune which followed is not studied to any extent in the US. And yet our painful involvement in the two subsequent world wars would seem to make this war something that Americans should be interested in since it foreshadows so much of the 20th Century's horrors. Germany's stated need to conquer and dominate Europe is clearly articulated by Bismarck that, in my opinion, no one should have surprised by later German aggression. What struck me, among other things, were the examples of unbelievable stupidity, e.g., the French not realizing that the Germans had a single rail supply line; the French army not bringing horses to Montmartre in order to drag away the captured cannon; the Communards not realizing they had no way of arming said captured cannon---the list goes on and on. I look forward to reading the other volumes in Horne's trilogy.
—Carol
