It was
Rome
that put
Paris on
the map,
as it
did the
rest of
western
Europe.
When
Julius
Caesar's
armies
arrived
in 52
BC, they
found a
Celtic
settlement
confined
to an
island
in the
Seine -
the Île
de la
Cité.
Under
the name
of
Lutetia,
it
remained
a
Roman
colony
for the
next
three
hundred
years,
prosperous
commercially
because
of its
commanding
position
on the
Seine
trade
route,
but
insignificant
politically.
The
Romans
established
their
administrative
centre
on the
Île de
la Cité,
and
their
town on
the Left
Bank on
the
slopes
of the
Montagne
Ste-Geneviève.
Though
only two
monuments
from
this
period
remain
today -
the
baths by
the
Hôtel de
Cluny
and the
amphitheatre
in rue
Monge -
the
Roman
street
plan
, still
evident
in the
north-south
axis of
rue St-Martin
and rue
St-Jacques,
determined
the
future
growth
of the
city.
Although
Roman
rule
disintegrated
under
the
impact
of
Germanic
invasions
around
275 AD,
Paris
held out
until it
fell to
Clovis
the
Frank
in 486,
whose
conversion
to
Christianity
hastened
the
Christianization
of the
whole
country.
Under
his
successors,
Paris
saw the
foundation
of
several
rich and
influential
monasteries,
especially
on the
Left
Bank.
With
the
election
of
Hugues
Capet
, Comte
de
Paris,
as king
in 987,
the fate
of the
city was
inextricably
identified
with
that of
the
monarchy
.
Recurrent
political
tension
between
the
classes
and the
crown
led to
open
rebellion
, such
as in
1356,
when
Étienne
Marcel,
a
wealthy
cloth
merchant,
demanded
greater
autonomy
for the
city.
Further
rebellions,
fuelled
by the
hopeless
poverty
of the
lower
classes,
led to
the king
and
court
abandoning
the
capital
in 1418,
not to
return
for more
than a
hundred
years.
Growth
of the
city
As the
city's
livelihood
depended
from the
first on
its
river-borne
trade,
commercial
activity
naturally
centred
on the
place
where
the
goods
were
landed.
This was
the
place de
Grève on
the
Right
Bank ,
where
the
Hôtel de
Ville
now...
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Civil
wars and
foreign
occupation
From the
mid-thirteenth
to
mid-fourteenth
centuries,
Paris
shared
the same
unhappy
fate as
the rest
of
France,
embroiled
in the
long and
destructive
Hundred
Years
War with
the
English.
The
country
reached
its
lowest
point
when the
English...
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Planning
and
expansion
The
first
systematic
attempts
at
planning
were
introduced
by Henri
IV at
the
beginning
of the
seventeenth
century:
regulating
street
lines
and
uniformity
of
façade,
and
laying
out the
first
geometric
squares.
The
place
des
Vosges
dates...
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more >>
The
1789
Revolution
The
immediate
cause of
the
Revolution
of 1789
was a
campaign
by the
clergy
and
nobility
to
protect
their
status -
especially
their
exemption
from
taxation
- from
erosion
by the
royal
government.
The
revolutionary
movement,
however,
was
quickly...
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more >>
Napoleon
- and
the
barricades
Napoleon's
chief
legacy
to
France
was a
very
centralized,
authoritarian
and
efficient
bureaucracy
that put
Paris in
firm
control
of the
rest of
the
country.
For the
rest of
the
nineteenth
century
after
his
demise,
France
was left
to fight
out,...
read
more >>
Expansion
and the
changing
face of
the city
There
followed
a period
of
foreign
acquisitions
on every
continent
and of
laissez-faire
capitalism
at home,
both of
which
greatly
increased
the
economic
wealth
of
France,
then
lagging
far
behind
Britain
in the
industrialization...
read
more >>
The
Siege of
Paris
and the
Commune
In
September
1870,
Napoleon
III
surrendered
to
Bismarck
at the
border
town of
Sedan,
less
than two
months
after
France
had
declared
war on
the
well-prepared
and
superior
forces
of the
Prussian
state.
The
humiliation
was
enough
for a...
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more >>
The
Belle
Époque
Physical
recovery
was
remarkably
quick.
Within
six or
seven
years
few
signs of
the
fighting
remained.
Visitors
remarked
admiringly
on the
teeming
streets,
the
expensive
shops
and
energetic
nightlife.
Charles
Garnier's
Opéra
was
opened
in 1875.
Aptly...
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more >>
The
German
Occupation
During
the
occupation
of Paris
in World
War II,
the
Germans
found
some
sections
of
Parisian
society,
as well
as the
minions
of the
Vichy
government,
only too
happy to
hobnob
with
them.
For four
years
the city
suffered
fascist
rule
with...
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more >>
Postwar
Paris -
one more
try at
revolution
Postwar
Paris
has
remained
no
stranger
to
political
battles
in its
streets.
Violent
demonstrations
accompanied
the
Communist
withdrawal
from the
coalition
government
in 1947.
In the
1950s,
the Left
took to
the
streets
again in
protest
against...
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more >>
The
Mitterrand
era,
1981-95
The
Socialists'
first
government
after 23
years in
opposition
included
four
Communist
ministers:
an
alliance
reflected
in the
government
commitments
to
expanded
state
control
of
industry,
reduction
of the
hours in
the
working
week,
high...
read
more >>
Modern
developments
of the
city
Until
World
War II,
Paris
remained
pretty
much as
Haussmann
had left
it.
Housing
conditions
showed
little
sign of
improvement.
There
was even
an
outbreak
of
bubonic
plague
in
Clignancourt
in 1921.
In 1925,
a third
of the
houses
still
had no
sewage...
read
more >>
The
political
present
Mitterrand's
avuncular
fourteen-year
presidency
was well
calculated
and a
hard act
to
follow,
but
general
unease
demanded
a change
of
direction.
Lionel
Jospin ,
the
uncharismatic
former
education
minister,
performed
remarkably
well in
the...
read
more >>
