The Fall of Paris: The Siege and the Commune 1870-71 Book

One of a trilogy of books written by the author, examining key aspects of the 3 major wars between France and Germany that occurred between 1870 and 1940 - a period of time that is the same as that between the end of WWII and today. The Franco-Prussian War (perhaps more accurately termed the Franco-German War) was a subject I knew little about, although I did know that France was comprehensively defeated and that the war precipitated the unification of Germany. This book does not seek to examine the War as a whole - the lead-up to the conflict, and the first six weeks in which the French Army was crushed, are briefly described in the first few chapters, which actually I found to be rather slow reading. The focus of the book is the Prussian/German siege of Paris in 1870-71; the eventual capitulation of the French government; the subsequent rebellion within Paris and establishment of the Commune; and the civil war and second siege of the city by the counter-revolutionary forces that eventually crushed the Commune. It's a dramatic story, well-told by the author. Because these events happened less than 150 years ago, they took place amongst streets and landmarks that are recognisably those of Paris today. Anyone who has visited the city will find it hard to imagine these locations as the setting for the events described here.

The book has left me with a much better grasp of the reasons for, and the extent of, the historical divisions between Left and Right in France. I recall some years ago watching the famous 1970's Thames Television series, "The World at War", (about WWII), and the episode featuring the Fall of France. Witnesses on the programme described how in, in 1940, the French Left and Right so hated one another that both preferred conquest by the Germans to being ruled by their own internal enemies. Alistair Horne really sets out how those divisions date back to the 1793-94 Reign of Terror, the 1848 Revolution and perhaps most of all to the Commune. Some of the Leaders of the Commune were individuals capable of great cruelty, and its supporters were always liable to engage in unrestrained mob violence and the most revolting lynchings, but the excesses of the Commune pale beside the appalling atrocities committed by the "Versaillais" (the anti-Commune forces) after the Commune was suppressed, atrocities that disgusted most foreign observers and much of the rest of France. Horne quotes a British Officer, on leave of absence and in Paris at the time as commenting "What provokes me is that there seems no middle opinion ever expressed." Most tellingly, the author relates how Lenin was obsessed with the Commune and the reasons for its failure. He drew the conclusion that the Commune failed because it had compromised. It decided for example not to seize the assets of the Bank of France when those lay within its grasp, for fear of damaging confidence in the currency; and according to Lenin the Commune failed because it had not met "White Terror" with "Red Terror". When Lenin's chance came, he would make sure there were no half-measures and plenty of "Red Terror."

This is a readable narrative history, but also one that leaves the reader much better informed about the Commune and its place in history, both in terms of what went before it, and what came after.