The Siege of Paris
During 1870-1871, the France of the Second Empire underwent one of those catastrophes from which nations strangely re-arise to greatness.
‘The siege of Paris began on September 17th, 1870, and from that day communications were cut.’ So says a curious document in the British Museum: a brevet de présence, a certificate that the holder had lived in Paris during the Siege. This particular copy was given by a German to an English lawyer several years after the Siege had ended.
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