| The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 Contributor(s): Horne, Alistair (Author) |
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ISBN: 0141030631 ISBN-13: 9780141030630 Publisher: Penguin Books OUR PRICE: $15.30 Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats Published: December 2007 Annotation: From Alistair Hornes grand trilogy on French historytwo magisterial works now back in print In 1870, Paris was the center of Europe, the font of culture, fashion, and invention. Ten months later Paris had been broken by a long Prussian siege, its starving citizens reduced to eating dogs, cats, and rats, and France had been forced to accept the humiliating surrender terms dictated by the Iron Chancellor Bismarck. To many, the fall of Paris seemed to be the fall of civilization itself. Alistair Hornes history of the Siege and its aftermath is a tour de force of military and social history, rendered with the sweep and color of a great novel. |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - History | Military - Wars & Conflicts (other) - History | Europe - France - History | Modern - 19th Century |
| Dewey: 944.361 |
| Physical Information: 1.14" H x 5.46" W x 7" (0.85 lbs) 480 pages |
| Themes: - Chronological Period - 1851-1899 - Cultural Region - French |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Alistair Horne's The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune, 1870-71 is the first book of Alistair Horne's trilogy, which includes The Price of Glory and To Lose a Battle and tells the story of the great crises of the rivalry between France and Germany. The collapse of France in 1870 had an overwhelming impact - on Paris, on France and on the rest of the world. People everywhere saw Paris as the centre of Europe and the hub of culture, fashion and invention. But suddenly France, not least to the disbelief of her own citizens, was gripped in the vice of the Prussian armies and forced to surrender on humiliating terms. Almost immediately Paris was convulsed by the savage self-destruction of the newly formed Socialist government, the Commune. In this brilliant study of the Siege of Paris and its aftermath, Alistair Horne researches first-hand accounts left by official observers, private diarists and letter-writers to evoke the high drama of those ten tumultuous months and the spiritual and physical agony that Paris and the Parisians suffered as they lost the Franco-Prussian war. 'Compulsively readable' The Times 'The most enthralling historical work' Daily Telegraph 'Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the civil war that still stirs the soul of France' Evening Standard One of Britain's greatest historians, Sir Alistair Horne, CBE, is the author of a trilogy on the rivalry between France and Germany, The Price of Glory, The Fall of Paris and To Lose a Battle, as well as a two-volume life of Harold Macmillan. |