communism

Yes, I realize that this is another one of Maillol's girls
falling off her pedestal {they do follow a pattern don't
they -- hmmm, women - pedestals - falling - analyst ? }

and while it doesn't upset me too much to put another one
in, there is a particular reason for this one. In the
background is the Louvre { I think this is an old picture
because the pyramid is not visible in the background} and
although they can't be seen here, the wings actually
extend to take in this statue and the Arc de Triomphe du
Carrousel on the right. So if you compare this photo with
the map below then it should give some perspective as to
where the old Palace was located.

When Louis The Sixteenth, Marie Antoinette, their children and entourage were dragged from their
traditional home in Versailles by the fish-wives of Les Halles they were taken to the Tuileries Palace. Catherine de
Medicis had commissioned the palace as an addition to the Louvre Palace in 1563 and 100 years later LeNotre
designed the Tuileries gardens to complement the building. The Kings of France had vacated the Louvre Palace in
1722 when the 12 year old Louis the Fifteenth moved his court to Versailles so the Monarchy had been forcibly
returned to their ancestral home in 1792, ostensibly to "be among their subjects" but in reality under virtual house
arrest.

Their forced return was to be the beginning of their many humiliations, leading up to the terrifying events of
August 1792. In that month, the sans-culottes gathered their forces from all over France and the Marseillaise was
heard for the first time as the Marseille contingent marched to the capital. Santerre led the Paris contingent from
the Right Bank, joined with the contingent from the Left Bank and met up with the brigades from the provinces ---
together they were known as the Commune.

They sang "Ca Ira", the repetitive and martial mantra of the sans-culottes { Edith Piaf sings the Ca Ira on
one of her albums } and danced the Carmagnole and they gathered at the Carrousel side of the Palace.

The King and Queen took refuge in the Manege [where
Rue de Rivoli now stands }under the dubious protection
of the revolutionary leaders and the mob took their
vengeance on the faithful Swiss Guard.

There were 900 Swiss Guard supposedly defending the
King and Queen at noon of August 10th, 1792 and they
were faithful in their duty in the face of overwhelming
odds. Historians have argued long and hard as to what
would have had happened had the King and Queen
stayed in the Tuileries Palace and it is now a matter of
conjecture.

The reality is that the red-coated Swiss were
massacred inside and outside the Palace and made their
last stand by the round pond { see map }. The King and
Queen were moved to the Temple but the ill-fated Flight
to Varennes and the demise of the Swiss Guard had
effectively sealed their fate.

The famous Coronation painting by Jacques-Louis David is an incredible 31 feet long. All of the
characters represented can be identified -- Talleyrand, Murat, Napoleon of course, Napoleon's
Mum, Josephine kneeling, Napoleon's sisters holding the train {some say they pulled it back in
spite} and behind these two is Josephine's daughter Hortense with a small boy at her feet. The
year is 1804 and the infant is the future Napoleon the Third, son of Louis, brother of Bonaparte
and Hortense, Josephine's daughter. Bonaparte was very fond of Hortense and often dandled
his nephew on his knee. Brought up in this atmosphere of Imperial splendour, the young
Napoleon consciously or sub-consciously emulated Bonaparte in many ways in later life and
achieved his major ambition of becoming Emperor after 1848.

Napoleon the Third does not go down in History as a great ruler
and he has been severely criticised in France but the
overwhelming defeat in the Franco-Prussian War tends to
overshadow some of the good things that he did. As an instance, it
was this Emperor who commissioned Haussman to demolish the
slums, build the Grand Boulevards and create the Paris that we
see today. Unfortunately for him, his military prowess fell far
short of Bonaparte himself. Victories at Magenta and Solferino
gave a false impression of French military might at that time and
the Franco-Prussian War was entered into quite enthusiastically.
Zola's "La Debacle" describes the crushing defeat most
graphically, culminating in the overwhelming defeat of the
French at Sedan and the capture of Napoleon the Third.

But it was in Paris where the repercussions were to be felt the
greatest.

Yet again the mobs formed in the capital, with the traditional areas of Belleville, Menilmontant and Montmartre well
represented and Paris once again became an armed camp. Montmartre, the Butte and other high points were made
into strongholds and the barricades went up all over the city. There is no doubt that Paris was in danger of being taken
by an anarchic mob whose sole aim was to bring down the government with no plan or idea as to what would take its
place. The French government reacted swiftly to the danger within and there was bloody fighting everywhere. The
Commune was defeated finally ---not in any set-piece battle but street by street and it is no exaggaration to say that Civil
War had been narrowly averted.

The insurrectionists called themselves the Commune
and in a final act of spite in 1871 they torched the city.
The Palais Royale, The Rue Royale, Place de la
Concorde were all in flames and once again the
Vendome Column crashed to the ground --- it seems
that no revolution in Paris is complete without the
destruction of the Vendome Column.