The Siege of Paris

by Robert Baldick

The Siege of Paris in the autumn and winter of 1870-1871 was the last full-scale siege of a European capital, the first occasion of the indiscriminate bombardment of a civilian population, the source of immense hardship and suffering, and the origin of a division in the French nation which has still not been healed. Yet for the past 50 years or more it has generally been regarded either as a heaven-sent retribution for the sins of a frivolous society or as an amusing interlude in the grim history of European conflict.

Now Robert Baldick has put the Siege into proper perspective. It is not a military history, but rather an entertaining, highly informative and resoundingly successful attempt to portray Paris life during these dark and momentous days in her history.

Genres: History

222 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Robert Baldick was an English scholar of French literature, writer, joint editor of the Penguin Classics series with Betty Radice, and a well-known translator. He was a Fellow of Pembroke College, Oxford.

He wrote eight books including biographies of Joris-Karl Huysmans, Frederick Le Maitre and Henry Murger and a history of the Siege of Paris.

In addition, Baldick edited and translated The Goncourt Journals and a number of the classics of French literature including works by Gustave Flaubert, Chateaubriand, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jules Verne, and Henri Barbusse, as well as a number of novels by Georges Simenon.

Reviews

[Leslie Zemeckis]

Pretty much a great encapsulation of paris and the war and what was going on as the Prussians strangles paris

[Cullstix · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful account of the Siege of Paris through a mix of diary entries and first person testimony. Each chapter breaks down the siege on a week by week basis and finishes just before the beginning of the commune. A fantastic page turner full of brilliant anecdotes.