2-356-269 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Investiture of President MacMahon with the Spanish Order of the Golden Fleece, 1875. Patrice de MacMahon served in the French Army in the Crimean War and the Second Italian War of Independence. He was made Duke of Magenta by Napoleon III for his victory at the battle of the same name. Promoted to Marshal, MacMahon was one of the commanders of the French Army in the disastrous Franco-Prussian War (1870). In 1871 he was actively involved in leading the brutal suppression of the Paris Commune. He was the first President of the French Third Republic, holding office as Head of State from 1873 until 1879. A print from The Illustrated London News, 17th April 1875.