The Fall of Paris
Page 62
Red Clubs, 96–97, 132, 133, 187, 238, 299–300
ruins, trips to the, 421–2
rumours, 88–89
spy-mania, 39, 68–69, 251, 356
triumphal marches through, by Prussians, 261–4, 266; by Versailles Army, 419
BUILDINGS, DISTRICTS, STREETS: Arc de Triomphe, 65, 216, 262, 264, 370
Avenue Rapp, 352
Bank of France, 356–7, 382, 398
Bastille, 270, 400–2
Belleville, 26, 92, 99, 109, 135, 223, 263, 269, 402, 408, 420
Bois de Boulogne, 65, 363, 406–7
Bourse, 65, 398
Butte-aux-Cailles, 400
Buttes-Chaumont, 24, 269, 408, 411–12, 416
Champs-Élysées, 263, 330
Chez Brébant, 72, 179–80, 184
Club des Montagnards, 96
Gare du Nord, 65, 126, 144, 398
Gare d’Orléans, 125, 130, 313
Grand Hôtel, 65, 174, 348
Hôtel de Ville, 55–56, 99–100, 108–16, 237–8, 269, 274–5, 277–80, 283, 288–9, 296, 300, 302, 308, 312, 326, 342, 352, 364, 374–6, 385–7, 398, 420; burning of, 390
Jockey Club, 178, 183
La Villette, 47, 408, 411
Les Halles, 398
Louvre, 64, 114–16, 216, 277–8, 376, 386, 403, 421
Luxembourg, 65, 212, 398
Madeleine, 367, 380, 381–2, 392
Ménilmontant, 26, 99, 408
Montmartre, 64, 85, 268 ff., 282, 305, 380, 404
Montparnasse, 212, 398, 415
Opéra 187, 384, 385
Palais Bourbon, 54–55
Palais de l’Industrie, 65, 174, 379
Palais Royal, 65
Panthéon, 213, 352, 398
Père-Lachaise cemetery, 312, 396, 408, 411–12
Place de la Concorde, 72, 228, 381, 384, 420
Place Vendôme, 56, 108, 114–16, 285, 350, 376, 384, 386. See also Vendôme Column
Rue de Rivoli, 367, 385–6
Tuileries, 57, 58–59, 64, 121, 360–1, 370; burning of, 386–7, 389, 421, 432 Vendôme Column, 349–51
Paris, M. and Mme. 379
Paris-Journal, 186, 418
Parisel, Dr., 356
Pasquier, Surgeon Major, 308, 310
Patrie en Danger, La, 89, 91–92, 100, 186
Patry, Captain, 270
Patte, M., 68, 160, 165
Paturel, General, 269
Pearl, Cora, 18, 39
Péguret, Louis, 67, 95, 152, 173, 220, 223, 242, 256, 260–1, 266, 290, 369
Pène, Henri de, 285–6
Père Duchesne, 260, 304
Pétain, Marshal, x, 106, 429
Petite Presse La, 127, 416
Picard, Ernest, 55, 57, 70, 92, 107, 109, 113–14, 118–19, 190, 274
Pigeons, use of, 128–9, 141, 145
Pinet, warder, 410
Pissarro, 29, 253, 427
Plan Trochu, Le, see under Trochu
Point-du-Jour, 324, 347, 363
Pouchet, Deputy Prefect, 117
Powell, Dr. O. C., 304–5, 320, 358, 361, 367, 371, 381, 389, 404–7
Prévost-Paradol, 30, 36, 39–40
Prince, balloonist, 130
Private armies, 318
Protot, Minister of Justice, 353
Prussians, standard of Army, 40–41; casulties, 44, 105, 234, 244; fortifications erected around Paris, 194–5; living conditions as besiegers, 195 ff.; morale among, 201; triumphal march through Paris, 261–4; end of occupation by, 264; escape of Communards sealed off by 408
Pyat, Félix, 28, 55, 89–93, 97, 107, 109–11, 119, 132, 238, 256, 259–60, 297, 301, 303, 332–3, 339, 342–3, 400, 425, 432
Quinet, Edgar, 259, 427
Rafinesque, Gaston, 286
Rafinesque, Gulielma, 165, 247, 263, 358
Rafinesque, Jules, 286, 322, 347, 352, 414, 421
Rampont, Minister of Posts, 84, 123, 301, 305
Ranc, balloonist, 141
Ranvier, Mayor, 282, 409–12
Rappel,-Le, 39, 279
Razoua, 237
Reclus, Elie and Elisée, 298
‘Reds’, trouble stirred up by, 90–101, 107–20, 138–9, 223–4. See also Commune
Régnault, 242
Reitlinger, Frédéric, 130, 164
Renan, 214
Renault, General, 157
Renoir, Auguste, 19, 29–30, 116, 253, 356, 358, 427, 432
Réveil, La, 32, 89, 238
Rezonville, 49
Rigault, Raoul, aided by Renoir, 29–30; demands post of Prefect of Police, 116–17; as Police Chief, 304; responsibility for final image of the Commune, 334; character and appearance, 334–5; violence and ruthlessness of, 335–6, 395; anticlericalism of, 336–9; faith in Blanqui as leader, 338; questioned about excesses, 342; imposes summary trial, 353; rescues Renoir, 356; recommends destruction of Paris, 364; death, 397
Robinson, G. T., 106, 122
Rochebrune, Colonel, 233
Rochefort, Henri de, 29, 32, 39, 56, 70–72, 84, 87, 98, 100, 107, 110, 120, 230 n., 235, 243, 256, 259, 296, 333–5, 348–9, 355, 423–4, 426
Rolier, balloonist, 144–5
Roncière le Noury, Admiral de la, 156
Roon, General von, 41, 52, 198, 203, 218
Roos, 179
Rossel, Louis, 295, 318, 365; replaces Cluseret, 327; early career, 328; character, 329; reorganizes Paris defences, 329–30; attacked by Pyat, 333, 339, 342; Fort Issy and, 339–41, 342–3; resigns as Minister of War, 341; threatened with arrest, 343; flight of, 343, 344; on Delescluze, 345; trial and death, 423
Rouauh, Georges, 421
Rozicr, Pilâtre de, 121–2
Rueil, 310
Russell, Lady, 162
Russell, W. H., 52, 79, 121, 166, 194, 201–2, 205, 215, 217–18, 232, 278
Russia, 73, 164. See also Alexander II, Tsar
Saarbrücken, 43
Sadowa, 36, 162
St.-Denis, 67, 103–4, 156, 173
Saint-Edmé, 251
St.-Privat 45–46
Saisset Admiral, 284
Sand, George, 21, 23, 39
Sapia, 97, 100–1, 237–8
Sarcey, Francisque, 183
Schmitz, General, 109, 113–16, 138, 224
Schneider, Hortense, 9
Schneider, President of Corps Législatif, 55
Second Empire, extravagances and immorality of, 16–19, 33; grim reverse side of, 19–20, 24–27; materialism of, 22–23; rebuilding of Paris during, 23–25; unrest in, 26 ff.; end of, 58
Sedan, 49–54, 58, 61, 75, 77, 137, 162–3, 200
Seine, River, 137, 143, 186, 230, 347
Senlis, 75
Serrailler, 332
Sheppard, Professor Nathan, 180–1, 182 n., 215, 244
Sheridan, General, 45, 52–53, 75, 208
Siècle, Le, 242
Simon, Jules, 70, 115, 117, 266, 274
Simon, Létoile, 128
Skelly, Charles, 321–2
Smyth, Reverend Dr. J. W., 170–1
Soir, Le, 242
Sparks, Annette and Ellen, 171
Spicheren, 44
Stalin, Joseph, 432
Standard, The, 87, 103, 108, 149
Staneley, Colonel John C., 295, 317, 319–20, 323–4, 329, 342, 346, 348, 350, 356, 360, 367, 376–7, 384–5, 390–1, 400, 406–7, 430
Steinmetz, General, 44–45, 75
Stoffel, Colonel, 40, 210
Stosch, General von, 201
Strasbourg, 106, 199, 202, 258
Susbielle, General, 269–70
Swager, Charles, 213
Swinburne, Dr., 175
Tamisier, General, 93, 99–101, 113, 118, 120
Tann, General von der, 140
Theisz, 297, 301
Thiers, Adolphe, 13, 63, 229, 266, 269, 270, 274, 278, 282, 293, 380, 417; declines office, 57; at Ferrières for peace talks, 81–82; brings armistice proposal, 107; further armistice talks refused by Bismarck, 120; replaces
Trochu, 253–4, 256; character, 257; at armistice talks, 258–9; dealings with the insurgents, 282, 284; proclaims victory over Commune after polls, 288, 289; musters troops at Versailles, 306; declares war on Commune, 307; in no hurry to advance on Paris, 313–14; keeps up pressure on Neuilly, 319; bombards Paris, 322–3; captures Fort Issy, 342; fury of Commune against, 348–9; his house destroyed, 349; adamant against exchanging Blanqui for the Archbishop, 354; fifth-column work, 357, 363; refuses parley with Freemasons, 362; threatened by Bismarck, on question of entering Paris, 363; determined on ‘expiation’ of Commune, 377; instructions for ‘lawful repression’ ignored, 403; his ‘expiation’ begins, 414 ff.; at the victory review, 420; succeeded by MacMahon, 426
Thomas, General Clément, 120, 149, 161, 226, 260, 272, 274, 423
Times, The, 38, 52, 69, 79, 121, 128, 163, 166, 171–2, 194, 215, 264, 417
Tirard, Major, 282–4, 286–7, 300
Tissandier, balloonist, 123–4, 126–7
Tours, 84, 106–7, 124, 128, 138–41, 144, 146, 193, 206–7
Tridon, 301
Trinquet, 412
Trochu, General Louis Jules, early career, 47–48; attends Châlons Conference, 47, 49; predicts Siege of Paris, 48; as Governor of Paris, 49–50; accepts post of President, 56; notifies Palikao of Republic, 57; doubts about National Guard, 62, 92; works on Paris defences, 63, 69–70, 72, 83; physical appearance, 70; character, 71; pessimism of, 71–72; 80; and battle of Châtillon, 77, 80; on Gambetta’s balloon flight, 84; love of bombast, 89; opposition to, 90–91, 97, 99–100; reaction to Le Bourget attack, 104–6; and surrender of Metz, 107; during ‘Black Monday’ uprising, 107 ff.; and le plan Trochu, 136 ff.; changes Basse-Seine plan, 142; failure of efforts to contact Gambetta, 144–6; reluctant to let foreigners leave, 170; second sortie and, 190–2; resignation of, demanded, 193; opportunities missed by, 200; protests against bombardment, 214; prays for a miracle, 222; determines on ‘supreme effort’, 224; disbands battalions of National Guard, 229; plan for final break-out attempt, 231; receives last salute, 233; relieved of military command, 234–6; withdraws into oblivion, 253, 426; escapes from death, 273; refuses help to Rochefort, 423; little now recalled of, 433
Troplong, 33
Turpin, guardsman, 270
Urbain, 353, 422
Vaillant, Marshal, 68, 301
Vallès, Jules, 119, 289, 298, 415
Van der Goltz, 33
Vanves, Fort, 202–3, 212, 346–8, 353
Varlin, Eugène, 100, 283, 291, 297, 302, 327, 380, 398, 409, 412–13
Vengeur, Le, 260, 297, 309, 332, 375
Verlaine, Paul, 59–60, 95, 179, 299, 334, 366, 402, 425
Vermorel, 119, 332, 339, 401
Versailles, as Prussian headquarters, 196 ff., 211, 217–18, 258; as French Government headquarters, 269 n., 278 ff., 306 ff.; travel between Paris and, 357–8
Vésinier, 332
Victoria, Queen, 3, 20, 24, 36, 67, 79, 82, 162, 165, 289, 426, Villejuif, 80
Villiers plateau, 151, 153, 155–7
Vincenzoni, 267, 424
Vinoy, General, 61, 152, 156, 231, 235–8, 267–9, 273–5, 281, 311, 367, 400, 411
Viollet-le-Duc, Colonel, 63, 195, 259
Vivandières, 149
Vizetelly, Henry, 157
Vuillaume, Maxime, 330, 416
Walewski, 33
Wallace, Richard, 167–70, 249, 253, 256 n., 322, 426
Washburne, E. B., xi, 66, 68, 71, 73, 81, 84, 87, 90, 102, 113, 211, 215, 217, 219, 221, 223, 236, 238, 251, 253, 263, 265, 269, 276, 287, 298, 305, 316, 323; 327, 333, 336 n., 345, 348, 353–5, 357–8, 370, 391–3, 403, 421, 427
Werder, General von, 207, 243
Whitehurst, Felix, 108, 158, 166, 173, 193, 215, 220
Wilhelm, King of Prussia, 8, 11, 37, 75, 81–82, 197, 199, 202, 211, 262, 419; proclaims himself Kaiser of Germans, 218
Wilhelm, Prince (Wilhelm II), 240, 274, 420 n.
Wilson, Benjamin, 337–8, 359, 369, 404, 407
Wimpffen, General de, 51–52, 81
Wingfield, Lewis, 352, 407
Wissembourg, 43
Wodehouse, Secretary, 168, 170
Wœrth, 44
Wolff, General, 269
World War I, comparisons with, x, 49, 75–76, 104, 137, 153, 185, 191–2, 206
World War II, comparisons with, x, 49, 51, 79, 106, 201, 206, 214–15, 408. See also Leningrad, Siege of Worth, balloonist, 130
Wroblewski, Walery, 299, 329, 380, 400, 425
Zola, Emile, 43, 49, 358
Zouaves, 38, 52, 77–78, 80, 153, 231, 280, 307
*Zeldin, T, p. 105, Oxford 1973–7.
1 One instance of this was the grand manoeuvre of MacMahon’s Army in August 1870, bringing him eventually to Sedan, which was lost to the sight of the Prussians—until they read about it in The Times.
1 In view of General Spears’s own role as a key eyewitness of events in France during both World Wars, his connection—through his grandfather and the Rafinesque family—with the Siege of Paris and the Commune imparts perhaps an additional interest.
1 The renowned vaudeville star of the ‘Alcazar’.
1 £160,000 or $800,000.
1 It was also said of the Duc de Morny, the Emperor’s natural half-brother and ablest counsellor, that he kept a casket containing portraits of his conquests in all strata of society, photographed naked and usually with flowers adorning their private parts.
2 The mother of Bertrand Russell.
3 ‘Tell me, Venus, what pleasure you find In robbing me thus of my virtue’?
1 ‘Vice, like virtue, has its steps up and down’.
1 ‘It’s a frenzy, a contagion, No one is sheltered from it, in any region.’
1 The first issue of La Lanterne opened with the oft-quoted words: ‘France contains, according to the Almanach Impérial, thirty-six million subjects, not counting the subjects of discontent.’ Instead of an estimated circulation of four thousand, it promptly sold one hundred thousand copies.
1 De Morny was also Louis-Napoleon’s half brother; he once said of himself ‘I am a very complicated person. I am the son of a Queen, the brother of an Emperor, and the son-in-law of an Emperor, and all of us are illegitimate.’
1 Bismarck’s version of the Ems Telegram stated that the King had ‘refused to receive the Ambassador again, and had the latter informed by the adjutant-of-the-day that His Majesty had no further communication to make to the Ambassador.’
1 Your Rhine, German…/Where the father has passed/The child can certainly pass too.
1 Eugene Weber, pp. 102–4, 519, Peasants into Frenchmen, the Modernization of Rural France 1870–1914, 1977.
1 Following Louis-Napoleon’s 1851 coup d’etat, the French Army had come to be recognized as the defender of the hierarchy; a situation which suited the bourgeoisie, but alienated the Republican foes of the Second Empire, who saw it now as an instrument of authoritarian repression. Indeed, under Louis-Napoleon the Army was widely used—instead of the police—to break strikes as well as to head off revolution. Conversely, the Army saw its own role as being one of upholding the existing regime, rather than attempting to alter or influence the political scene in any way; this despite the fact that some 30 per cent of the officer corps came from the nobility (or at least claimed to) and might therefore have been expected to support a restoration of the monarchy, while—as seen by the way they voted Non in Louis-Napoleon’s various plebiscites—many others were at best lukewarm Bonapartists. So, throughout the Second Empire, the Army cadres—worrying less about its legitimacy than they perhaps might have done—remained ‘loyal’ and ‘reliable’. On the other hand, the divisive effect that the Army’s role in the coup of 1851, and subsequently, had on the political scene bore the most baneful consequences for the state of France’s military preparedness by 1870. Especially was this so when it had come to opposing Louis-Napoleon’s military laws crucial to modernizing universal service, and providing the reserves, such as Moltke was churning
out on the other side of the Rhine. Universal service in France was a farce anyway, with a system of substitution whereby the moderately affluent bourgeois could, for a modest sum (of perhaps 1500 francs), purchase a substitute. The results were not all that dissimilar to those of college deferrals to the draft permitted in the US during the Vietnam War; the Army got the rag-tag-and-bobtail, the élite stayed out. While in the Provinces conscription had continued to be bitterly resisted, in Paris the Right mistrusted a conscript army that smacked of the lev’e en masse for obvious political reasons, and clamoured for a strong professional armée de métier, not just as a bastion against the menace abroad, but at home too. The Left saw this, saw the muskets pointing at them, and reacted accordingly. Thiers, the historian who described himself as a ‘monarchist who practises republicanism’, had studied the lessons of the First Empire and always believed in the superiority of professional armies. But most Republicans agreed with their colleague, Jules Simon, who declared during the debate on the Draft Law of 1867, just three years before war began, ‘We want an army of citizens which would be invincible on its home soil, but incapable of carrying a war abroad.’ Battling the creation of a Garde Mobile, the territorials that might have provided the answer to the Prussian reservists, Simon accused the Government’s intent of being ‘the organization of war; ours, exceptionally defensive, is the organization of peace’. In vain did Prévost Paradol criticize the left-wing opponents of ‘the strong army’, on the grounds that ‘defensive’ war demands as skilful soldiers as ‘offensive’ war.
1 Since I could not die in the midst of my troops, I can only put my sword in Your Majesty’s hands. I am Your Majesty’s good brother.’
1 Meaning, in this context, ‘abdication’.
1 In the Middle Ages the Place de Grève (now Place de l’Hôtel de Ville) had become a traditional gathering-place for dissatisfied or unemployed workers; hence the expression en grève, on strike.
1 He had been imprisoned the previous year for writings offensive to the regime.
1 The chaloupes were mostly converted bateaux-mouches that had made their debut at the Great Exhibition of 1867.