The collapse of France in 1870 had an overwhelming impact - on Paris, on France and on the open-mouthed world. People everywhere saw Paris as the center of Europe and the hub of culture, fashion and invention. Suddenly France, not least to the disbelief of her own citizens, was in the vise of Prussian armies and forced to surrender on humiliating terms. Politics and nature abhorring a vacuum, Paris was convulsed by the savagery of the Commune. In this brilliant study of the Siege and its aftermath, Horne evokes the high drama of those ten fantastic months and the spiritual and physical agony which Paris and the Parisians suffered. Woven into his masterly text are many first-hand accounts left by official observers, diarists and correspondents.
