That's interesting - the second half of the 19th century is fascinating.

When Louis Napol?on (Napol?on III) becomes Emperor and the French build an empire in Africa, redesign Paris to make it like no other city (for purely ideological reasons), develop a modern state infrastructure, and then loses the Franco-Prussian War, prompting Germany to unify as a nation state.

So then you get the Third Republic (1871-1940), the crushing of the Commune of Paris (the first ever practical attempt at some form of 'socialism'), the Dreyfus Affair, the World Exhibitions and the Eiffel Tower, the invention of cinema, the Olympic Games, etc etc etc. The socio-political history is ceaselessly fascinating - decent book by Robert Tombs called France 1814-1914 ...

Posted By: Ottosson Foxtrot, Oct 2, 23:48:07