Retour A Paris 2017

As my Facebook posts gave away, I managed to visit Paris again, albeit for a week.   Thanks to our friend Jean, ASP Class of ’86, we had a place to stay, and managed lunch at the US Embassy.  Thank you Jean, thank you Loni, and thank you Matt.

Background.  In January 1979 our family moved to Paris.  Our father was with the US Dept of Commerce and had a post at the Embassy which allowed us to remain there until 1990.  From February 1979 to April 1984 we lived at the US Embassy compound in Neuilly, then in April 1984 we moved into Paris itself, on Blvd. Malesherbes just up the street from St. Augustin.  In August 1990 we moved back to the US.  I had never had a chance to get back since then, so this was also my first visit as a tourist.  As my GF-companion Loni had never been, I also had the opportunity to play tour guide to an extent.  Fortunately the changes from 1990 are less significant than all the things which are pretty much the same.

Mandatory Sightseeing:  Eiffel Tower, for the first time since spring 1979; Versailles (again); the Louvre (first time since summer 1987); Notre Dame; Montmartre.  We did pass through Pigalle, Paris' red light district, without doing much more than observe its nature - the circumstances of our lodging prevented any subsequent appropriate activities in the same spirit.    

Charles De Gaulle Airport.  Terminal 1 still has its tubes.  Awesome.  Plus now it’s connected by the RER, which wasn’t the case back when I lived there.  Jean and I joked that Petain doesn’t have an airport named after him.

Fun stuff.  FNAC.  The Wagram location is gone, but now there’s one on Ternes down the street, on the Champs Elysees itself, and another at Passage du Havre near Gare St. Lazare and Galeries Lafayette.  The store’s music selection pisses all over Best Buy and Barnes & Noble, giving an in-store selection comparable to Amazon.  Brant Bjork?  Kadavar?   Awesome.  If I lived in Paris – again – I’d be there nonstop.

Metro.   I love the Metro.  Flat rate tickets.   Stops mere blocks from each other.   A comprehensive network.  Actually, we didn’t take cabs or Uber at all on our visit. The Metro and RER got the job done, plus our own feet.   Now the #1 line, La Defense (formerly Pont de Neuilly) to Chateau de Vincennes, has doors on the platforms themselves and automatic, driverless trains which presumably do not go on strike.  [To be fair, though, no strikes occurred during our visit.]

Food.   Convenience alone forced us to visit Evil Clown (McD) at least once.   I didn’t see Chipotle around.  The Burger King on the Champs seems to be gone.  KFC in Versailles was good.   No free refills, though, and what passes for “LARGE” in Paris would be “MEDIUM” back in the US.   We did enjoy Hippo and Relais de Venise, though.

Notre Dame.  As my readers know, I’ve been visiting the local cathedrals in the US.  By nature, they are recent additions, almost all built during the twentieth century.   Here was a big thing actually built in the Middle Ages, in fact taking about 200 years to build thanks to constant CGT strikes.  It’s big.  It’s dark.  It’s actually THE cathedral of the archdiocese of Paris and has two statues of St. Denis carrying his own head (which is pretty badass).   Now they have a cute electronic pen thing you can point to items on the map and it will tell you what they are.  Also, the crypt is good, as you see the Roman stuff that was there underneath.   What I didn’t realize was that even in Roman times, there was a substantial Left Bank development of Lutetia, so it wasn’t just on the Island. 

Left Bank vs. Right Bank.  We did not visit the Latin Quarter, so our sole Left Bank fun was the Eiffel Tower.   I also missed out on the Franco-Prussian War exhibit at the Musee de L’Armee – odd, as it was the only Franco-German war the Germans won.  We also missed out on The Bones, as Loni calls the Catacombs.  Well, put them down for next time along with Aquaboulevard and the full Versailles gardens. 

Napoleon III and Haussmann.  Now I know what role they had in redeveloping Paris from 1848-1870, so I saw much of the city with new eyes.  The current 20 arrondissement size, an absorption of the immediate suburbs, dates from their partnership.  Nowadays N3 is better known for his unsuccessful adventure in Mexico, colonizing Vietnam, and losing to Prussia in 1870, but his legacy in Paris itself is far more substantial in real terms today.  I also recognized Louis Phillippe, the last French King (1830-48) in many of the paintings.  

Innocents Abroad

I finally finished Mark Twain’s travel diary, written in 1867.   Original name Samuel Clemens, and best known for Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn, Twain went on an extended tour of Europe and the Middle East, then came back to write about it.  It was his best selling work during his lifetime.

By the way, this is not his ONLY travelogue.  Roughing It covers 1861-67 but was published after Innocents.  It covers his travels in the American Wild West.  A Tramp Abroad (1880) covers travels in Germany, Switzerland, France, and Italy.  Life on the Mississippi (1883) covers… life on the Mississippi.  This guy was on a river boat, it seems.  Who knew.  Following the Equator (1897) covers… the British Empire.

The trip left from New York City, traveled across the Atlantic to the Azores, to Gibraltar, and to Marseille.  From Marseille they took the train north to Paris.

Paris, France.  He attended Napoleon III’s Exhibition which was the French Emperor’s formal unveiling, as it were, of the new Paris he and Baron Haussmann had spent the last 15 years or so renovating.  He seemed impressed with N3 but less so with the Ottoman Emperor who accompanied his French counterpart.  Mind you, the Eiffel Tower was still 20 years away (1889 exhibition). 

England, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Scandinavia?  Nope – at least not in this book.  

Italy.   Venice, Florence, Rome, Naples and Pompeii (no Pink Floyd).  Lots of art, lots of museums, etc.  He enjoyed messing with the guides by professing ignorance of Christopher Columbus.  Also, they called all the guides “Ferguson” regardless of actual name or nationality.  He did find it odd that many churches all claimed to have relics of saints, sometimes the SAME relics.  Guides tried to tell tourists what they wanted to hear – imagine that.

Greece.  The ship was quarantined off the coast at Athens.  Fortunately, at night, he and a small group succeeded at sneaking ashore to visit the Acropolis.  So his tour of Athens, as it was, ended up being a sneakfest in the dead of night. 

Russia.  He actually met Tsar Alexander II in Odessa.   Since no one in the tour group was a celebrity, aside from him, and he didn’t consider himself important enough to merit the personal attention of a reigning monarch, this impressed the hell out of him.  He had a highly favorable impression of the Tsar.

Turkey.  Constantinople, as Istanbul was called back then.  They sampled the famous Turkish baths.  Smyrna, Ephesus and other places also got the Twain Treatment.

Holy Land.  Damascus.  Jerusalem.   The biggest thing which struck Twain was how small it was.  I’ve heard Israel described as being the size of New Jersey (i.e. not that big) and sure enough everything seems close by.  For my part, I was struck at how pious and believing Twain was.  For a guy as acidic and cynical about everything, he displayed none of that on the substantive issues of Jesus, Mary, and basic tenets of Christianity.  He seemed to shine his beam of cynicism on the pilgrims who accompanied the group:  overworking the animals to make a three day journey take two days, and knocking off bits of masonry as souvenirs.  Also, the guides threatened that the local Bedouins were hostile to pilgrims, so that guards were necessary for protection, but they never seemed to be in any danger – he suspected it was overstated to spread the wealth to guards personally related or acquainted with the guides.  Twain got a major kick out of visiting all the places mentioned in the Bible – for real.  WOW.  Mind blown.  Etc. 

Egypt. The Sphinx and the Pyramids.  Remarkably similar to what I saw in Egypt on a class trip during high school (1985).  As usual the locals try to fleece the tourists.

Back home.   By way of Tanger.   By that time everyone was so burnt out they just wanted to get home again.  Nothing much would faze or impress them – least of all Twain himself. 

I read it on Kindle – itself a swindle, as despite being described as “illustrated” there were NO illustrations included; I had to observe them online. 

It took me awhile to read and wasn’t nonstop action, fun, or wit.  He stops short of being completely full of himself, so I never lost patience, but it was somewhat of a lengthy digestion, not a book to be quickly devoured over a single weekend.  Nonetheless, being personally familiar with much of the area he was covering, and vicariously familiar with the rest, I certainly enjoyed the journey. 

The most important element is – as I’ve noted – his delicious cynicism and skepticism.  He frequently quoted contemporary guide books, all of which put the places in improbably positive lights.  “I’m not sure we visited the same place,” muses Twain.  If he saw shit, he’d tell us – and not totally ignore it.  I found Bucharest (which he didn’t see) to be extremely dirty.  Hell, aside from Barra da Tijuca and some parts of Ipanema and Leblon, Rio de Janeiro is very dirty.  And I’m not even talking about the favelas.  But he has such a clever way of knocking things that it’s entertaining in its own right.  So enjoy the travel diary of a man who wasn’t afraid to tell it like it was.   

Trouble in Paris

Yet again, the Islamobastards are causing trouble in Paris.   I’ll use this as a catch-all for these issues, though I can’t claim to be an expert on French politics.  My colleague, teaching history down in Boone, North Carolina, deserves that distinction. 

Charlie Hebdo.   From growing up in Paris I seem to recall several of these highly provocative political publications staring at me from the newsstands.  They had poorly drawn cartoons which poked fun at all sorts of targets.  I ignored them, mainly because the cartoons were so crude I couldn’t even be bothered to ascertain their message to even be offended by them.

            The Mohammed depictions I saw seemed to be less targeting Mohammed himself than his followers here on Earth among the living – and killing – mortals.  I’ve noticed in the US that while many offensive depictions are made of Jesus (e.g. Jesus having sex with himself, aka Jesus f**n Christ) others are more targeted at the Modern Day Pharisees who invoke Jesus’ name for all sorts of moronics of which Jesus Himself would never have approved.   A Brazilian cartoon shows Jesus complaining, “I NEVER told you to crucify homosexuals!” and an angry crowd ignores His disclaimer, accusing Him of being a “maconheiro” (doper).

            I’m aware that Muslims consider even depicting Mohammed – no matter what the intent or context – as per se blasphemy.  Of course, that doesn’t give them the right to kill the offender.  As Bill Maher might point out, when Jesus or the Church are unfavorably described or depicted, we don’t see the Pope’s Swiss Guard show up (“No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!”), halberds blazing, getting medieval on asses, at the scene of the crime.  

            “They had it coming.”  Did they?  If you piss someone off, they’re entitled to kill you?  Survey says…”[X]!”

Action Directe.   Back when I lived in Paris (1979-1990) the terrorists we were concerned about were these home-grown Marxists, Action Directe.  They threatened my high school, the American School of Paris, even to the point where I had to take some IB exams elsewhere; this was in 1986.  Shortly afterwards, the authorities arrested and imprisoned the leaders of the group and it fell apart, which is why we haven’t heard of these clowns since 1987.

Front National.  They’re still around, and thanks to these recent events may pick up more political steam in the next elections.  They’re France’s most prominent and strident far-right party, with the symbol of a tricolor (red/white/blue) flame.  The current leader is Marine Le Pen, the daughter of founder Jean Marie Le Pen.  It seems Marine is more telegenic, media-savvy, and David Duke-y than her father.   In recent years the FN has edged out the PS to become the second most powerful party in France, and although they haven’t yet translated this into absolute numbers of Assembly seats or a Presidency, the FN candidate made it to the run-off in one of the more recent presidential elections. 

Fifth Republic.   Some people complained, “why didn’t the French government censor Charlie Hebdo and prevent his from happening?”  I don’t know… something like freedom of the press?  France is not an Islamic theocracy – yet.  France is a republic, and they’re on their FIFTH version (RF 5.0).  Let’s review the prior versions.

1)   Up to 1792.   Monarchy, ending in Louis XVI.  We all know how he died.

2)   1792-1804.  First Republic.  The French Revolution ushered in RF 1.0.  This included the Reign of Terror under Danton and Robespierre, the Thermidor Reaction, and a bewildering pair of provisional democracies called the Directory and Consulate.  Oh, and RF 1.0 had its hands full fighting full-fledged wars on its eastern frontiers against European monarchies intent on restoring the Bourbons to power.  The last ruler of RF 1.0 was a guy named Napoleon Bonaparte.

3)  1804-1814.  The First Empire (EF 1.0).  Napoleon I crowned himself Emperor and kicked butt across Europe for some time before finally losing at Waterloo and banished to St Helena.

4)  Louis XVIII (1814-1824). The Bourbons returned.

5)  Charles X (1824-1830).  Another King.

6)  Louis Phillippe (1830-1848).  The last King.  In 1848 Europe erupted in revolutions.  This was the time the Communist Manifesto was first published.

7) 1848-1852.  Second Republic (RF 2.0).   Louis Napoleon, aka Napoleon III, won the election in December after the Revolution deposed Louis Phillippe.  Wondering what happened to Napoleon II?  He was Napoleon Bonaparte’s son, who died in exile in Austria without taking power.  LN/N3 was Napoleon’s older brother’s son, i.e. his nephew, and technically the next in line.  LN/N3 spent most of his life before this in Switzerland and London, de facto exile.

8) 1852-1870.  Second Empire (EF 2.0).  LN/N3 took over as Emperor like his famous uncle.  Nowadays he’s remembered for unsuccessful romps in Mexico and Italy, plus beginning French colonization of Indochina.  I say he should be remembered for remodeling Paris into the form we see today – thanks to his good friend Baron Haussman. 

   The Second Empire ended with the Franco-Prussian War (July 1870-January 1871), followed briefly by the Paris Commune (March-May 1871).

9) 1871-1940.  Third Republic (RF 3.0). This emerged after the Paris Commune and survived World War I.  It came down when the Nazis invaded France in May 1940 and set up the Vichy Republic.

10) 1946-1958.  Fourth Republic (RF 4.0).  After World War II until 1959, when they changed the constitution and form of government – without a revolution!  It took the crisis in Algeria to show that RF 4.0 wasn’t good enough.   Charles De Gaulle was the last prime minister of RF 4.0 and the first president of RF 5.0, until his resignation in 1969.

11)  1959-present.  Fifth Republic (RF 5.0).  That’s what we have today.  The biggest difference between RF 4.0 and 5.0 is that the new version is led by a President, yet they still have a prime minister, he’s just not the top guy anymore.  As you might expect, as a republic this country has free elections, freedom of religion, and freedom of the press.  So Charlie Hebdo has a right to publish anything it wants without fear of violent retaliation by Islamobastards. 

French Military.  As I said, a catch-all.  I’ve read some recent articles written by US soldiers in Afghanistan.  They were consistently highly favorable about French soldiers serving there.  The general idea is, “we’ve all heard the jokes about French surrendering, but these soldiers – and they’re not even Foreign Legion, they’re regulars – are all highly motivated and competent.”  Let’s look at the big picture

1.  Napoleon I.  France conquers Europe until everyone gangs up on Napoleon.  Not a bad track record.

2.  Napoleon III.  France suffers defeat in the Franco-Prussian War.  The Prussians outmaneuvered the French, helped immensely by their Krupp guns.  At a tactical level, the French Chassepot rifle was superior to the Prussian “needle gun”.

3.  WWI.  The French fought hard and bravely.  The leaders were a bit stupid, sometimes, but Petain was no slouch.

4.  WWII.  Here’s the doozy.  Hitler completely outflanked the French with his cut through the Ardennes.  Also, the French military was heavily demoralized in the interwar years, as the country itself was polarized into far-right and left-wing factions who couldn’t agree on anything.  Thus the French were completely unprepared for WWII.

5.  Dien Bien Phu.  The French screwed this up big time, mainly because they completely underestimated the Viet Minh’s abilities.  The Germans in the FFL complained that the training they received was in Africa and had no relevance to jungle fighting.  Mind you, the French also lost to the guerillas in Haiti back in the early 1800s, marking twice that its conventional forces have been defeated by a guerilla army. 

            French forces in Afghanistan are up against the Taliban.  Since the Islamobastards have a long track record of causing trouble back in France, you can expect French soldiers to be very motivated to sticking it to the Taliban on its own turf.  

Baron Haussmann

As I promised, here is the scoop on Georges-Eugene Haussmann, better known as Baron Haussmann, part of the tag-team duo with Emperor Napoleon III who completely remade Paris in the third quarter of the nineteenth century between 1852 and 1870.  My source is Haussmann: His Life and Times, and the Making of Modern Paris, by Michel Carmona.  It’s a fairly long and detailed book on his life and how he managed to remake Paris, but certainly an excellent source of information on France from his birth to death.

 Several generations before him, the Haussmanns moved from what is now Germany to France and became French.  From a relative with a noble title, GEH earned the title of Baron, though in practice his vocation was as a prefect (governor) of different parts of France before becoming prefect of Paris.  This was at a time when Paris had no mayor, the role essentially being filled by the prefect.

 The Haussmann story cannot be told without mentioning Napoleon III, also known as Louis Napoleon.   Nowadays it seems N3 is more known as an unsuccessful dictator who messed around in the Crimea, Italy, Mexico, and Southeast Asia (French Indochina) and lost France to the Prussians in 1870 – he was even captured at Sedan.  But I believe this overshadows his far more significant achievement: rebuilding Paris with the help of his prefect, Haussmann.

 1848 was a busy and interesting time in Europe.  Several countries experienced revolutions; Marx and Engels published their Communist Manifesto.  N3 came back from exile to win the election in late 1848 and become president of France; in December 1852 he succeeded in a bloodless coup to become its emperor, establishing the Second Empire; the first was obviously Napoleon Bonaparte’s.  The latter was actually his uncle; N3 was the son of NB’s older brother Louis.  “Napoleon II”, NB’s actual son, never achieved power, dying in “captivity” in Austria.   Remarkably, N3 spent almost no time in Paris before becoming President.  Most of his life had been spent in exile in Switzerland and England plotting his return to France. 

Upon his return, N3 had brought with him a marked up map of Paris which described his plans.  At that time Paris was still a densely populated city with very few large, wide avenues, more medieval in nature than modern.  N3 had the idea of decompressing the city, allowing it to breathe with more park space and wide avenues cutting across the city and linking up the rail stations with each other; without this it was difficult to cross the city with any speed.  Critics argued the purpose of the wider avenues was to discourage and hamper the use of barricades, but the aesthetic and practical convenience alone of these changes reduces the force of such arguments.  As it was, N3’s colored map went up in flames when the Hotel de Ville was torched by the Communards (aka the Congressional Progressive Caucus) in May 1871.

 If N3 had the basic vision, it was the prefect, Haussmann, who figured out how to turn that vision into reality.  Haussmann was an expert administrator, a clever bureaucrat who know “how to get things done”.  He used eminent domain to condemn huge sections of town – though the owners were compensated – so the demolition and rebuilding could occur.  He managed the financial chicanery necessary to finance the construction, by bonds and finance companies.  He even threw in a few ideas of his own (e.g. the Etoile).  The Opera building itself and the district around it, the Bois de Boulogne, and Les Halles also date from this period under Haussmann’s direction.

 To be honest, I found this “political sausage-making” part of the story fairly dull.  What intrigued me was the way in which Paris changed.  Most of the work was done in the 1850s-1860s, mostly wrapped up in time for the World’s Fair in 1867 and the Franco-Prussian War in 1870.  Another big issue is sanitation:  Haussmann was responsible for installing the sewer system.  This, combined with the larger avenues, dramatically improved the hygiene of the city.  Of course, this meant razing large areas formerly inhabited by less wealthy elements of Parisian society; the new buildings were much nicer and out of the price range of the former residents.  Part of the “financing” was that not only were the new blocks sold at a profit, the improved property values beefed up the real estate tax income of the city.  But this pushed the riff-raff further out.

 In fact, Haussmann presided over a substantial expansion of the city itself.  What had been immediate suburbs were urbanized and the city’s current 20 arrondissement size dates from this time.  With the major exceptions of the Eiffel Tower (1889) and the Paris Metro (1900), most of what we know of today as “Paris” was shaped and formed during Haussmann’s tenure.  This includes Blvd. Malesherbes, which opened in 1861.  This was the street I lived on from 1984 to 1990.  Considerable work was done in this part of town and around Gare St. Lazare, which was only minutes from where I lived, and the station I used most often (mainly to commute to school from spring 1984 to June 1986).

 Downfall.  By now we take Paris in its present form for granted, but back then these “grand travaux” (major works) involved destruction of much of “Old Paris”, which some misguided dolts treasured in its own right.  Moreover, the methods themselves opened up the arrogant and aggressive Haussmann to not merely aesthetic criticism, but outright allegations of corruption and self-dealing.  By mid-1870 this opposition had reached a critical mass so strong that even Napoleon III couldn’t protect his subordinate – and he was out.  But by then they soon had a far more urgent concern than urban renewal and shady real estate deals:  the Prussians had defeated the French Army at Sedan and were soon besieging Paris itself.  

 Modern impressions.  I’ve been to NYC several times over the last few years, and I’ve noticed a major contrast with Paris.  Below First Street, Manhattan has the more irregular streets we associate with European cities, but the buildings are still all different styles and heights.  Above First Street, the avenues are completely straight.  Looking south simply hits the brick wall of oddly-angled streets, but west you can see straight to New Jersey, east to Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx, and north uptown with Central Park in the middle.  But despite the regularity of the streets, the buildings are completely different. 

 Paris, on the other hand, has consistent heights of the blocks, block after block across the whole city.  It’s like it has a crew cut.  Moreover, the facades are consistent in style, none of the dramatic heterogeneity which American cities have.   The latter element was actually established in the late eighteenth century, but Haussmann can take credit for the former.  But the ultimate credit for Paris as we know it now goes to both Haussmann and Napoleon III.  None of the latter’s political and foreign policy failures mean nearly so much in 2012 as his impact on Paris today.

The Franco-Prussian War (1870-71)

[Note:  updated on 3/20/20 and 4/2/21.]

Ready for another installment of “obscure wars no one cares about”?  Let’s go backwards!  There are plenty of WWII veterans still around, and WWII was largely caused by…WWI!  I’ve reviewed WWI at length.  I would imagine that, had someone paid attention to Bismarck and not taken Alsace-Lorraine from the French, odds are that WWI is much less likely to have happened, which makes WWII that much less likely too.  And since taking Alsace-Lorraine was part of this wrap-up of this war, it means that to some extent it actually does have some very remote relevance in the present day, insofar as anyone still cares about WWII.  Anyhow.

 Years ago I was in the train station of St. Lazare, in Paris, and noticed a curious memorial, which referred to World War I as the “Second Franco-Prussian War”, and World War II as the “Third Franco-Prussian War”.  WTF?  And lo and behold, it referred to this as the FIRST “Franco-Prussian War”.  Remarkably, the last French veteran, Seraphin Pruvost, died in 1955, and the last German veteran, Karl Glockner, died in 1953 – both living to see both WWI and WWII.  

 Background.  France at this time was led by Napoleon III, aka Louis Napoleon, the son of Napoleon Bonaparte's older brother (i.e. his nephew), with most of his ambition but little of his talent.  Germany had not quite unified, but was rather a loose confederation of states dominated by Prussia.  Its effective leader was Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, an extremely shrewd statesman.  Ironically, Bismarck had little use for German nationalism, this idea that Germany should be unified.  What he preferred, and what he actually brought into being, was simply Prussia taking over the rest of Germany. 

            Aside from Prussia, the other German states were Baden, Bavaria, Brunswick, Hesse-Darmstadt, Mecklenburg, Saxony, and Wurttemberg.  Each of the others had its own army and uniforms, some appearing distinctly different than the Prussian uniform; and the leaders of these states likewise varied from eager to reluctant allies (some had even tried to weasel deals through back channels with the French).

            Bismarck orchestrated a series of nonaggression treaties with various different countries.  They basically said that these other countries would remain neutral if Prussia ended up in a war with a third country, provided Prussia was not the aggressor.  Then he tricked Denmark (1864), then Austria (1866), then France (1870) into attacking Prussia.  Deprived of allies, each of these countries was decisively defeated in turn by the upstart Prussians.  The war against Austria was definitely a David vs. Goliath contest.

 War.  At the eastern frontier of France, a series of battles took place: Wissembourg (August 4, 1870), Spicheren (August 5), Wörth (August 6), Marnes-la-Tour (August 16), Gravelotte (August 18), and Sedan (September 1) in which the French armies were repeatedly outmaneuvered.  The excellent French chassepot rifle, though superior to the Prussian Dreyse (“needle gun”) design, could not compensate for the Prussians’ massive Krupp artillery.  Metz was encircled and besieged; at the defeat at Sedan, 104,000 French soldiers were captured, along with Napoleon III himself.

 Siege of Paris.  Having defeated the French Army at Sedan in September, the Prussians proceeded to besiege Paris, avoiding a street war, beginning September 19.  Various attempts to relieve Paris by substantial leftover forces marshaled by the French Republic – one army totaled 500,000 soldiers - were ultimately unsuccessful.  On January 28, 1871, the French finally surrendered, and the Prussians occupied Paris for all of…48 hours.  Then they withdrew to the outskirts of the city.

 Hall of Mirrors.  January 18, 1871, Germany was unified under Kaiser (Emperor) Wilhelm I of Prussia, in the Hall of Mirrors at the French royal palace at Versailles.  Of course, the country ended up being truncated after WWI (1919), the treaty also being signed at the same Hall of Mirrors, losing substantial territory to Poland; and then after WWII when Poland was shifted west.  One of the conditions on the re-unification of Germany – West + East – was that any claims on territory now owned by Poland, were waived.  Also, Austria was not part of this unification, though Austria was finally annexed by Nazi Germany in 1938.

 Paris Commune.  I’ve already covered this in my much earlier blog, “Paris Is Burning”.  It lasted from March to May 1871, at which point French government forces coming back from a brief rehabilitative exile in Versailles re-entered the city from the southwest and gradually subdued the National Guard and Communist forces.  The city, having been spared violence and war due to the Prussians’ siege and brief occupation, now suffered street fighting and fires as a result of this brief, urban civil war – the French themselves inflicted far more pain and damage on Paris than the Prussians did.

 Alsace-Lorraine.  These are the two provinces of France which border on Germany to the far east.  Due to the crossover effect, people from this area have an identity crisis.  Are we French?  Are we German?  In Forgotten Soldier, a Franco-German soldier, Guy Sajer, describes fellow German soldiers in WWII dismissing him as “an Alsatian who thinks he’s German” – he speaks better French than German, and speaks German with a French accent.  These provinces are also heavy in coal and iron, and were a prize the Germans could not resist taking from the French, despite Bismarck’s advice to leave it alone – for that exact reason.  Sure enough, just as Bismarck warned, the French burned with passion for revenge over the next 44 years, not only to avenge their shame of 1871, but also to retake these two provinces.  And so we got… World War I.

Uniforms.  Fairly similar to early WWI.  The French wore kepis, dark blue double breasted coats, and red pants.  The "Prussian" side varied, as each nominally independent entity had its own army wearing its own uniforms.  The Prussian uniform resembled the 1914 German uniform except that the jacket was dark blue instead of field grey.  The pickelhaube (leather spiked helmet) was here, albeit with an early tall version and a later short version, the latter we're familiar with from WWI.  

 Books.  I’m not aware of any movies made about this war, but there are two excellent books.  The Fall of France, by Alistair Horne, covers not only the leadup to the war (starting the “story” in 1867), but also the Paris Commune.  And a historical fiction novel by Robert Chambers, Romance in the Red Republic, written in 1895, tells the story of fictional characters who were on the government (anti-communist) side, although during the Paris Commune and not the war.   

April & the Extraordinary World.  This is a recent French steampunk animated movie (2015, well after this blog was originally written in 2009).  In this story, immediately before the war would have begun, Napoleon III dies suddenly, his son resolves matters with the Prussians amicably, and there is no Franco-Prussian War.  This means there is also no WWI and no WWII, and no Nazi Germany.  I'd recommend the movie in and of itself, but this is about the extent of the relevance thereof to the current topic.

Pigeon Post.  Carrier pigeons are remarkably reliable and effective as messengers, in this context allowing Paris to communicate with the rest of France during the four month siege of the city by the Prussians (late September 1870 through late January 1871), who had cut all the telegraph lines in and out of the city.  The lessons learned resulted in pigeons used later (e.g. WWI) but the Franco-Prussian War was the major conflict in which they were employed.