City of Ashes: Paris After the Commune: A Photographic History

By Shaun C. Grenan

From March 18 to May 29th, 1871, the city of Paris was ruled by a revolutionary government known as the Commune. This council, composed of radical republicans, socialists, communists, marxists, anarchists, and other working-class men and women, refused to acknowledge the authority of the new French government in light of France's humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War. Led by the National Guard, they felt betrayed and attempted to build a new Paris, free from monarchies and the old strata of Parisian society. The newly-elected government of France attempted to disarm these revolutionaries, with bloody results. The French Army was forced to evacuate Paris, leaving it in the hands of the Commune for over two months. The French Army, reorganized and reinforced, besieged and attacked their own capital city, leading to one of the most horrific and momentous events in history. Thousands would die as the city burned and collapsed around its citizens, changing Paris, and the world, forever. To this very day, the cobblestones of Paris echo with the cries of the fallen from this sanguinary civil war on the streets of the city of light. This work showcases the wreckage of the great city, which would rise again, greater than before.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0F66LQ239
• ISBN13: 9798281015608
• Release Date: April 2025
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 142 Pages
• Dimensions: 11.0" x 0.3" x 8.5"