Napoleon III and the Rebuilding of Paris

Book excerpt: A classic history of the creation of modern Paris by Napoleon III and Haussmann Between 1850 and 1870, Napoleon III and his Prefect of the Seine, Baron Haussmann, created the modern city of Paris out of the congested and ill-equipped capital of the eighteenth century. They gave Paris many of its present major streets, its great municipal parks, the Central Markets, the Opera House and other well-known buildings, and a water supply system and sewer network that still serve the city. In Napoleon III and the Rebuilding of Paris, David Pinkney tells the story of how Paris was transformed and examines the many challenges that the venture faced, including an increasing population, engineering problems, political complications, and personality clashes. Pinkney sets the undertaking in the context of French political and economic history, shows its relation to the public health movement of the mid-nineteenth century, and explains its significance in the history of city planning.