1-154-221 - Art Media-Private Collection/Heritage Images

'Deux heures, c'est si vite passe quand il fait beau', Siege of Paris, 1870-1871 (1871). A reluctant-looking group of French soldiers preparing to go on sentry duty at the front line. After the disastrous defeat of the French at Sedan and the capture of Napoleon III, the Prussians surrounded Paris on 9 September 1870. The city held out despite famine, disease and cold until a bombardment with heavy siege guns led to its surrender on 28 January 1871. From a private collection.