IV.3.1.c. CARNAGE

MENU: 4.3.1.c. Carnage

"BLOODY WEEK:"

THE WORST EUROPEAN MASSACRE 

OF THE 19TH CENTURY

(MAY 21-28, 1871) 

Civil war by Édouard Manet, 1871, zoom

The drawing's title is generic. But the church in the background is the Madeleine, the  barricade is emblematic of Paris and the corpse, who holds a white rag, wears a Guard's uniform. 

In brief

• A fight of the poor

• The slaughter of the wretched   

• Escape by socializing with the enemy

• The fate of a political painter

• Soldiers whom officers mistrust

• The officers' responsibility

• The adversaries

• Parisian sequels

• The past sways pop culture: Piaf and Sinatra

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A fight of the poor