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Parisians: An Adventure History of Paris

Page 45

by Robb, Graham


  1805

  First consistent numbering and naming of Paris streets.

  1811

  Creation of Brigade de la Sûreté.

  1814

  31 March–Paris occupied by Allied armies.

  11 April–First abdication of Napoleon.

  May–First Restoration.

  1815

  18 June–Battle of Waterloo.

  9 July–Second Restoration.

  1815–24

  Reign of Louis XVIII.

  1824

  Accession of Charles X.

  1828

  First successful omnibus service in Paris.

  1829

  Rue de la Paix becomes the first gas-lit street in Paris.

  1830

  July Revolution; abdication of Charles X; coronation of Louis-Philippe.

  1832

  March–September–Cholera epidemic.

  June–Repression of popular revolt.

  1833–48

  C.-P. Barthelot de Rambuteau Prefect of the Seine département: renovation and completion of squares and monuments, provision of public fountains, the first tarmac-covered streets and the first street urinals (vespasiennes).

  1834

  14 April–Popular insurrection: massacre of men, women and children at 12, Rue Transnonain by the National Guard.

  1837

  First railway station in Paris: 124, Rue Saint-Lazare.

  1841

  Population: 935,000 (50% born in Paris; almost 3% of French citizens live in Paris).

  1841–44

  Adolphe Thiers’s ring of fortifications.

  1843

  Île Louviers joined to the Right Bank of the Seine.

  1845–64

  Renovation of Notre-Dame by Viollet-le-Duc (inaugurated on Christmas Day, 1862).

  1848

  February Revolution. June–Repression of popular revolt.

  1851

  2 December–Coup d’état of Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (Emperor Napoleon III, 1852–70).

  1853–70

  Georges-Eugène Haussmann Prefect of the Seine département: 20,000c houses demolished; 44,000 houses and apartment blocks built; roads widened and network extended by 106 km (including four new bridges and 664 km of trottoirs); 21,000 more street-lights; drainage system increased from 107 to 561 km; three new parks and eight ‘squares’ thirteen new churches and two synagogues; five new theatres.

  1854–57

  Landscaping of Champs-Élysées and Bois de Boulogne.

  1855

  21 September–Haussmann’s circular on the harmonization of Paris: all buildings in the same block to have the same continuous balconies, cornices and roofs.

  1855–59

  Creation of a north–south axis from the Gare de l’Est to the Observatoire. (Inauguration of Boulevard de Sébastopol: 5 April 1858.)

  1859

  November–Annexation of suburban communes and reorganization of Paris into twenty arrondissements. Population before annexation: 1,174,000; after: 1,696,000(4.6% of French population). Land area: 78.02 km2.

  1850s and 60s

  Grands magasins (department stores): Bon Marché (1852), Grands Magasins du Louvre (1855), Bazar de l’Hôtel de Ville (1860), Printemps (1865), Belle Jardinière (1866), Samaritaine (1869).

  1860–68

  Bibliothèque Nationale, by Henri Labrouste.

  1865–66

  Demolitions on the Île de la Cité, whose resident population falls from 20,000 to 5,000.

  1866

  Pneumatic post network (until 1984).

  1870

  September–Defeat of France by Prussia at Sedan; Siege of Paris; proclamation of Third Republic.

  1871

  March–Election of Paris Commune; National Government at Versailles. May–Destruction of Hôtel de Ville (rebuilt 1874–82) and Tuileries Palace (not rebuilt); defeat of Commune by government troops.

  1875

  Inauguration of Opéra designed by Charles Garnier (Avenue de l’Opéra completed 1878).

  1875–1914

  Building of Sacré-Cœur basilica at Montmartre.

  1879

  National Government returns from Versailles to Paris.

  1889

  Universal Exhibition and inauguration of Eiffel Tower.

  1891

  15 March–Paris time imposed on the rest of France.

  1895

  December–First public screening of motion pictures, by the Lumière brothers, at the Grand Café, Boulevard des Capucines.

  1898

  13 January–Zola’s letter on the Dreyfus Affair.

  1900

  April–November–Universal Exhibition; inauguration of Gare d’Orsay, Grand and Petit Palais, Pont Alexandre III. 19 July–Opening of first Métro line in Paris.

  1903

  July–The first Tour de France bicycle race begins and ends in Paris suburbs.

  1906 and 1919

  Îlots insalubres identified for slum clearance.

  1910

  January–Worst flooding since 1658. 4 November–Opening of first Nord–Sud underground railway line.

  1911

  Population: 2,888,000 (7.3% of French population; 18%, including suburbs).

  1914

  31 July–Assassination of Jean Jaurès at Café du Croissant.

  1 August–France orders general mobilization.

  30 August–First aerial bombardment of Paris (Gare de l’Est).

  1915

  20–21 March and 29 January 1916–Zeppelin raids on Paris.

  1918

  January–September: Occasional bombardment by Gothas and long-range cannon. 11 November–Armistice.

  1919

  Opening of Le Bourget airport. Demolition of Thiers’s fortifications begins.

  1921

  Population: 2,906,000 (7.4% of French population; 15%, including suburbs).

  1925

  Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes.

  1930

  Land area (now including Bois de Boulogne and Bois de Vincennes): 105.4 km2.

  1937

  International Exhibition and inauguration of Palais de Chaillot.

  1939

  3 September–Declaration of war.

  1940

  June–German army enters Paris; French government leaves for Tours, then Bordeaux.

  July–Establishment of Vichy régime. Paris, in the Occupied Zone, remains the capital of France.

  1942

  July–‘Rafle du Vel’ d’Hiv’ (biggest round-up of Jews in Paris).

  1944

  August–Liberation of Paris.

  1946

  Population: 2,725,000 (6.8% of French population); of Seine département: 4,776,000.

  1950

  Creation of HLMs (rent-controlled public housing) and the first ‘dormitory towns’ opening of new Port of Paris at Gennevilliers.

  1952

  Orly replaces Le Bourget as the main civil airport for Paris.

  1958–

  Development of business quarter, La Défense.

  1959–69

  Presidency of Charles de Gaulle.

  1961

  Creation of ‘District de la Région Parisienne’ (renamed ‘Île-de-France’, after the former province, in 1976).

  17 October–Massacre of Algerians by Paris police.

  1962

  July–Algeria granted independence. 4 August–Loi Malraux creates conservation areas in central Paris. 22 August–Attempted assassination of President de Gaulle at Petit-Clamart.

  1964

  July–Seine département divided into Paris, Seine-Saint-Denis, Val-de-Marne and Hauts-de-Seine.

  1965

  ‘Schéma Directeur de la Région Parisienne’: creation of five satellite ‘villes nouvelles’–Cergy-Pontoise, Évry, Marne-la-Vallée, Melun-Sénart and Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines.

  1968

  May–June–Student protests and general strike.<
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  1969

  Work begins on Tour Montparnasse (completed 1972) and a regional express train network (RER); the central markets, Les Halles, moved out to Rungis.

  1969–74

  Presidency of Georges Pompidou.

  1973

  Completion of Boulevard Périphérique.

  1974

  Opening of Roissy-Charles de Gaulle airport.

  1974–81

  Presidency of Valéry Giscard d’Estaing.

  1975

  Population of Paris: 2,317,000; of metropolitan area: 9,879,000 (4.4% and 18.7% of French population). 1 July–Launch of flat-rate ticket for entire Paris transport network (Carte orange).

  1977

  31 January–Centre Georges-Pompidou (‘le Beaubourg’).

  28 February–Height limit of twenty-five metres imposed on all new buildings in central Paris.

  March–Jacques Chirac first Mayor of Paris since 1871.

  1979

  Demolition of wine warehouses at Bercy.September–Forum des Halles.

  1981–95

  Presidency of François Mitterrand.

  1981

  September–First TGV rail service: Paris–Lyon.

  1984–87

  Parc de la Villette.

  1986

  December–Musée d’Orsay.

  1989

  March–Grand Louvre and Pyramid.

  July–Opéra Bastille.

  1991

  Discovery of neolithic tools and dugouts at Bercy.

  1992

  April–Opening of Disneyland Paris.

  1994

  14 November–The first Eurostar train leaves the Gare du Nord for London Waterloo.

  1995–2007

  Presidency of Jacques Chirac.

  1996

  December–Opening of Bibliothèque Nationale de France.

  1998

  12 July–French national football team wins the World Cup in the Stade de France at Saint-Denis.

  1999

  Population: 2,125,000; of metropolitan area (Île-de-France): 10,947,000 (18.7% of French population; 6.9% born outside European Community).

  2001–

  Bertrand Delanoë Mayor of Paris.

  2002

  July–August–‘Paris-Plage’: creation of temporary ‘beaches’ on the banks of the Seine.

  2005

  October–November–Popular revolt in the banlieue and in towns and cities throughout France.

  2006

  March–The Sorbonne occupied by students; evacuated by CRS. 2007–Presidency of Nicolas Sarkozy.

  2007

  July–Introduction of Vélib bike rental scheme.

  2008

  1 January–Smoking banned in cafés and restaurants.

  2010

  Projected completion of Périphérique de l’Île-de-France.

  Sources

  ONE NIGHT AT THE PALAIS-ROYAL

  Abrantès, Laure Junot, duchesse d’. Mémoires de Madame d’Abrantès. Ed. A. Ollivier. 1958.

  Arrêté des demoiselles du Palais-Royal consfédérés [sic] pour le bien de leur chose publique. c. 1790.

  Balzac, Honoré de. Le Colonel Chabert. 1832.

  Balzac, Honoré de. Splendeurs et Misères des courtisanes. 1838–47.

  Bertin, Le Chevalier. ‘Voyage de Bourgogne’. In Voyages des poètes français. 1888.

  Blagdon, Francis William. Paris As It Was and As It Is. 1803.

  Boudon, Edmée-Marie-Claude de. Lettres…ou Journal d’un voyage à Paris. 1791.

  Carroll, Charles Michael. ‘The History of “Berthe”: A Comedy of Errors’. Music & Letters, July 1963, pp. 228–39.

  Chateaubriand, François-René de. Mémoires d’outre-tombe. Ed. J.-C. Berchet. 1989–92.

  Hurtaut, Pierre-Thomas-Nicolas and Magny. Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs. 1779.

  Isherwood, Robert. Farce and Fantasy: Popular Entertainment in Eighteenth-Century Paris. 1986.

  Kotzebue, August von. Souvenirs de Paris en 1804. Tr. G. de Pixérécourt. 1805.

  Lamothe-Langon,Étienne-Léon de. Voyage à Paris, ou Esquisses des hommes et des choses dans cette capitale. 1830.

  Lefeuve, Charles. Les Anciennes maisons de Paris. 1875.

  Mercier, Louis-Sébastien. Tableau de Paris. 1782.

  Napoleon I. Manuscrits inédits, 1786–1791. Ed. F. Masson and G. Biagi. 1907.

  Parent-Duchâtelet, A.-J.-B. De la prostitution dans la ville de Paris. 3rd ed. 1857.

  Restif de la Bretonne, Nicolas-Edme. Le Palais-Royal. 1790; 1988.

  Salgues, Jacques-Barthélemy. Mémoires pour servir à l’histoire de France sous le gouvernement de Napoléon Buonaparte. Vol. I. 1814.

  Wild, Nicole and David Charlton. Théâtre de l’Opéra-Comique, Paris: répertoire, 1762–1972. 2005.

  Winter, Edward. ‘Napoleon Bonaparte and Chess’. 1998. http://www.chesshistory.com/winter/extra/napoleon.html

  Young, Norwood. Napoleon in Exile: St. Helena, 1815–1821. 1915.

  THE MAN WHO SAVED PARIS

  Blagdon, Francis William. Paris As It Was and As It Is. 1803.

  Clément, Alain and Gilles Thomas. Atlas du Paris souterrain. 2001.

  Dulaure, Jacques-Antoine. Histoire physique, civile et morale de Paris. 1829.

  Dunkel, Jean-Timothée. Topographie et consolidation des carrières sous Paris. 1885.

  Guillaumot, Charles-Axel. Mémoire sur les travaux ordonnés dans les carrières de Paris. 1797; 1804.

  Guillaumot, Charles-Axel. Remarques sur un livre intitulé ‘Observations sur l’architecture’, de M. l’abbé Laugier. 1768.

  Héricart de Thury, Louis. Description des catacombes de Paris. 1815.

  Hurtaut, Pierre-Thomas-Nicolas and Magny. Dictionnaire historique de la ville de Paris et de ses environs. 1779.

  Jenlis, Suzanne de. ‘Charles Axel Guillaumot’. ABC Mines, April 2004. http://www.annales.org/archives/x/guillaumot.html

  Journal des Mines, XXXV (1814), p. 194.

  Lefrançois, Philippe. Paris souterrain. 1950.

  Mercier, Louis-Sébastien. Tableau de Paris. 1782.

  Mercier de Compiègne, C.-F.-X. Manuel du voyageur à Paris. 1798–99.

  Pétition des ouvriers employés aux carrières de Paris, adressée au Conseil d’ État.c. 1790.

  Pinkerton, John. Recollections of Paris, in the Years 1802–3-4–5. 1806.

  Simonin, Louis-Laurent. ‘Les Carriers et les carrières’. In Paris-Guide, par les principaux écrivains et artistes de la France. Vol. II. 1867.

  Thépot, André. Les Ingénieurs des mines du XIXe siècle. 1998.

  LOST

  Maps: Roussel, Paris, ses fauxbourgs et ses environs (1730); Louis Bretez (‘Plan Turgot’), 1739; Guillaume Dheulland, Ville, Cité et Université de Paris (1756?); Jean Delagrive, Plan de Paris (1761); Robert de Vaugondy, Plan de la ville et des faubourgs de Paris (1771); Hurtaut and Magny, ‘Plan de la ville et fauxbourgs de Paris’, in Dictionnaire historique […] (1779) Edme Verniquet (see Pronteau, below).

 

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