2-502-741 - The Cartoon Collector/Heritage-Images

'The Red Mokanna', 1871. The menacing figure of The Commune stands over France who has little more to give. After France's defeat by Prussia, the Commune increased in violence. It destroyed the Vendome Column erected by Napoleon I. It seized property and took hostages, amongst them the Archbishop of Paris. Money and property was requisitioned. The Tuileries and the Louvre were set on fire and, on the 24th May, the hostages were shot. Eventually, the Commune's stronghold at Belleville was stormed by the troops of the Assembly and eventually the Commune was broken and its members killed or captured. From Punch, or the London Charivari, June 3, 1871.