Paris, city, France: Under the Third Republic

With the establishment of the Third French Republic and relative stability, Paris became the great industrial and transportation center it is today. Two epochal events in modern cultural history that took place in Paris were the first exhibition of impressionist painting (1874) and the premiere of Stravinsky's Sacre du Printemps (1913). In World War I the Germans failed to reach Paris. After 1919 the outermost city fortifications were replaced by housing developments, including the Cité Universitaire, which houses thousands of students. During the 1920s, a time of enormous cultural and social activity, Paris was home to many artists and writers from the United States and elsewhere. German troops occupied Paris during World War II from June 14, 1940, to Aug. 25, 1944. The city was not seriously damaged by the war.

Sections in this article:

• Introduction
• Contemporary Paris
• Under the Third Republic
• Napoleon to the Commune
• The Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
• During the Renaissance
• Early History
• Government and People
• Points of Interest
• Transportation Facilities
• Bibliography

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