Paris’ short-lived revolt against the national government of France in 1871 (March 18 to May 28) has been the focus of scholarly attention and serious debate for almost 150 years. As the book’s title indicates, Merriman’s new contribution to this literature focuses on the killing of the Communards that began with skirmishes between the Commune’s national guard and the French army on March 30 and concluded in the bloodbath of May 21–28.
Merriman begins his story with a brief history of Paris under the Second Empire and the 1870 Franco-Prussian War. When the Government of National Defense, created to govern France after the Prussian capture of Napoleon III, surrendered to the Prussians, despite the continued resistance of Paris, the stage was set for conflict between the city and the national government. When Adolph Thiers, the head of the new government, tried and failed to disarm the city of its cannons,...