19th Century

<!–^~^49|left|Napoleon III^~^–><!–^~^50|right|Eiffel’s controversial structure at the Universal Exhibition of 1889^~^–>In 1870, the Franco-Prussian war erupted, Paris fell to the Germans and France lost the Alsace and Lorraine regions. Following the defeat, Napoleon III was exiled and France’s Third Republic marked the definite end of centuries of monarchy.

The industrial expansion was not slowed by the war and continued at a fast pace. To commemorate the centenial of the French Revolution, the Eiffel Tower was constructed during the Universal Exhibition of 1889. Simultaneously, the cultural and artistic scene thrived and evolved with the Impressionists, the Art Nouveau style, the novelist Flaubert and the satirist Zola.

Dateline:

1853
Haussman redesigns Paris

1870-71
Franco-Prussian War

1871
Third Republic

1889
Eiffel Tower built

1895
First movie by the Lumieres brothers

1898-1906
The Dreyffus Affair – antisemitic French army

Also See:

Introduction 

Napoleonic Era

20th Century