3-043-836 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The Civil War in Paris: the rue de la Paix and Place Vendôme guarded by the insurgents, 1871. Scene during the '...conflict in that city between the insurgent Red Republican portion of the National Guards and the Government of M. Thiers, appointed by the National Assembly...Here some of the insurgent National Guards were stationed...They had erected barricades of paving-stones across the street, with embrasures for the guns. The National Guards straggled all over the place. A favourite place was on the steps inside the railings at the foot of the column; here they sat and smoked, and, in imagination, governed France. The passage of the streets leading into the Place Vendôme was stopped for vehicles; but people walking might pass, though liable to be questioned and turned back if they did not please the men on guard. After the affair of Wednesday, the 22nd [March], when a number of unarmed citizens entering the Place Vendôme for a pacific moral demonstration against the revolt were shot down and slaughtered by the insurgent National Guards, the cannon were pointed down the Rue de la Paix and the Rue de Castiglione, one way towards the Boulevards, the other way towards the Louvre'. From "Illustrated London News", 1871.