Plan of Champ de Mars, Paris 1889 Essay examples -- Architecture Histo

Plan of Champ de Mars, Paris 1889 This is a twenty-six by forty-eight centimeter plan of the Champ de Mars during the Exposition Universelle of 1889, used by visitors at the time of the fair, a bold political statement on the part of France, as well as an overwhelming success. The Third Republic was established in Paris in 1870, and by 1884, when preliminary studies for the the Exposition Universelle were launched, many political issues were still largely unresolved. In 1870 Napoleon III surrendered at the Battle of Sedan during the Franco-Prussian War. Two days after the defeat Republicans proclaimed the advent of the Third Republic. The Franco-Prussian war ended with Paris's capitulation in 1871. A group of Parisians found Prussia's terms humiliating and wanted to keep fighting. Later dubbed the Communards, they established a dictatorship in Paris known as the Central Committee of the National Guard, later renamed La Commune. However, before La Commune could put its principles into effect, The National Assembly sen t troops into Paris to eradicate the uprising. Even with the elimination of La Commune, there was great dissention within the government. There were conflicts between and within the Left and Right movements. An economic depression began in France in 1873 and worsened into the 1880s, affecting agriculture, industry, and small-scale trade. Citizen unrest was clearly evident in the popularity of General Georges Boulanger, who promised a reform, if not revolution, of the existing government.. In 1888, when Boulanger was at the height of his political esteem, the threat of governmental crisis was very palpable. It was under these circumstances that the Paris exposition of 1889, to commemorate the centennial anniversar... ...pride, it secured France's rank in the eyes of Europe. Bibliography Corporate Author, United States Commissioner to the Paris Exposition Washington: Government Printing Office, 1891 Findling, John E., Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988 New York: Greenwood Press, 1990 Jourdain, Frantz, Exposition Universelle de 1889 Paris: Librarie Centrale des Beaux-arts, 1892 Levin, Miriam, When the Eiffel Tower was New: French Visions of Progress at the Centennial of the Revolution South Hadley, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1989 Silverman, Deborah L., "The Crisis of Bourgeois Individualism", Oppositions 1977, vol. 8, p.70-91 Walton, William, Chefs-d'oeuvre de l'Exposition Universelle de Paris 1889 Philadelphia: Barrie Fr res, 1889 Watson, William,Paris Universal Exposition Washington: Government Printing Office, 1892