Illustration showing the destroyed Vendome Column, Paris, 16th May 1871. The column was pulled down by order of the Paris Commune, because it was an Imperial Monument to Napoleon I and militarism. The column was also very ugly. When the column finally fell there was rejoicing from both the Communards and the National Guard, who can be seen here celebrating, waving caps and rifles. At the end of the Franco-Prussian war, Parisian socialists set up the Commune and refused to surrender Paris to the rightwing French government. This led to bitter fighting on the streets of the city and large-scale executions of Communards.