Why go
Use this period to connect familiar sites to a decisive break in Parisian history. The siege brought hunger and bombardment, while the Commune ended in street fighting and the destruction of major public buildings. It gives extra meaning to the rebuilt Hôtel de Ville, the vanished Tuileries Palace and the city’s political memory.
The full story
France’s defeat in the Franco-Prussian War brought the Second Empire to an end in 1870. Paris was then besieged through the winter, and shortages became severe enough that animals normally kept as pets or in the zoo were eaten. After the city surrendered, conflict returned in March 1871 when the Paris Commune took power. The national government and army had withdrawn to Versailles, and the Commune tried to govern Paris for two months. The army retook the city during the Semaine sanglante, or Bloody Week, in late May. Barricade fighting spread through neighbourhoods, and fires destroyed the Tuileries Palace, the Hôtel de Ville and other official buildings. Later amnesties allowed many prisoners and exiles to return. This sequence helps explain why restoration, republican symbolism and the memory of revolt are woven into the central city.