Georges-Eugène Haussmann, The Man Who Rebuilt Paris
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 เม.ย. 2019
- Emperor Napoleon III engaged in one of the most ambitious renovation projects ever conceived when he chose to rebuild Paris, France. He chose the brilliant and audacious Georges-Eugène Haussmann to over see the work. It is history that deserves to be remembered.
This is original content based on research by The History Guy. Images in the Public Domain are carefully selected and provide illustration. As images of actual events are sometimes not available, images of similar objects and events are used for illustration.
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Script by JCG
#history #thehistoryguy #Paris
Napoleon III is literally too underrated for an emperor. He might not live up to rival the same feat of his legendary uncle, but he was a visionary who thought about future.
Literally, the word Literally is literally incorrectly used by literally many people lately
He really ended the spirit of 1848
Yeah he was a fucking dictator that ended the 2nd republic. A traitor and a lame imitation.
It was inevitable France would become a republic again. But had he kept out if foreign affairs and stuck to domestic matters he’d be remembered as a reformer king, the man who modernized France.
@@dkupkeagreed
Hauseman certainly did a wonderful job to create much of the Paris many know and love today, and thanks to the visionary, Napoleon the III.
Haussmann....Not pronounced like HG is doing: OSS-MAN
I haven't read all the comments, but for me what makes Paris my favorite city is the uniformity of its architecture : nearly all the buildings are approximately six stories high. This may be boring to modern architects, who've imposed their personal designs on most of the other large cities of the world, but for the people who live there (I don't), it has a mysteriously calming effect, which puts Paris on the wish lists of the rest of us. Thank you, Maître Haussmann, for your ruthless insight.
It's that uniformity that makes it so that you can take a photo from almost anywhere in Paris and people know it's Paris. But it's a beautiful uniformity, not the dystopian uniformity of an American suburb with its tract housing and streets devoid of life and personality.
I agree with you but it's not that mysteriously. Aside a skyscraper you feel much smaller and weaker but six units high aren't too much. The building looks somewhat all the same but they have small difference and they have a beautiful decoration on the front. Every building exactly the same would be bad but every building very unique wouldn't be so much better. This also includes the height of the building.
Human scale.
Not a skyscraper to be seen (within the peripherique), and yet, the population tops 2 million! All within 41 square miles.
The subjects that you choose are always interesting, but its your storytelling ability that really makes this channel so watchable.
Raw sewage into a river. That was in Seine.
I'll show myself out.
Badoumtsing!
@@plugs313 I think you flushed him out.
@Rob Rage Not to mention the "Great Stink" in London ...
@Rob Rage the White River in Indy has a constant smell somewhere between rotting fish, corpses, and sewage.
That's OK. Everyone else has left the building.
Yet NYC hasn't been able to finish a subway under 2nd avenue after nearly 100 years...
What ?
A history of the construction of the Paris Metro would be interesting. Compared to the New York subway, we found the metro to be marvelous and very quickly figured out our way around the city using it despite having minimal understanding of the French language. Many of the station's look old, but they're reasonably clean and brightly lit, at least in the areas we visited.
its sad when old buildings get torn down, but overall its good, because what they ended up with was also beautiful, unlike disgusting modern buildings we have going up today.
It worked because when they tore it down, it was replaced with something equally beautiful. That was before The Architectural Profession was taken over and subverted. If they did the same thing today, we would get ugly glass buildings and brutalist commie blocks
Architects tried to ruin Notre Dame, but thankfully the French Parliament stepped in and prevented Architects from ruining it with the rebuild going on.
@@JohnDoe-vm2di I completely agee with you, although I wouldn't call the modern glass buildings of today "brutalist commie blocks" .. they're very much capitalistic lol
and they're also glass so they aren't brutalist either...
@@ganginfr4923 Didn't say glass buildings were brutalist, but they both have a depressing soul-less vibe.
glass buildings will be timeless
A very interesting short but comprehensive presentation of the renovation of Paris. Thank you very much.
How prophetic you did this piece. Sadly it will be needed again after the fire today. So sad to see a historic building to be destroyed. May it be rebuilt with the care to history the cathedral demands and deserves!
Il n'y a aucun doute, la cathédrale Notre Dame sera reconstruite à l'identique. It is the most beloved monument in Paris by all Parisian and French people.
I find it fascinating that humans seem to prosper most when all the crap is accounted for. Literally. Yet another great video. Keep up the good work THG.
businesses as well.
Crap accounted for, quite literally.
What happened in Paris happened in various degrees elsewhere. The census for England in 1801 shows that some 80% of the population was rural while the 1901 census shows that the total opposite. By the middle of the century overcrowding was such a problem that it was not unusual for several families to share just one room.
So the second half of the century saw huge building projects where thousands of terraced houses were built. New schools were added after the education act and things slowly improved. Interestingly many of these terraced houses were themselves removed in the 60s and 70s when new housing was built.
The new stuff built in the 60s was generally a mistake though :(
@@LondonReps
Why?
@@thephoenix756 Let's say that post-modernist architecture is not the prettiest XD
@@castellanos6436 Brutalism.
@@kiwitrainguy Some brutalist buildings are not that bad: a very few of them are interesting looking. But the avarage post-modern building is generally soulless and uninspiring in my opinion.
What's the possibility of a video on Notre Dame, given today's events?
I liked the episode, interesting how the city was just handed over-it's not like they had a Great Fire of London to rebuild after.
When London was rebuilt after the Great Fire, the city's landowners ensured the old street-plan was respected. Wren wanted to "do a Housman", but was not allowed.
Or a fire like Chicago. I love how downtown Chicago streets are. Perfect grid. Very hard to get lost. When I was riding around on the streets of London, I couldn't tell which direction I was headed half the time. That's probably why I stuck to the Tube more.
As a history buff, I lament the loss of so many older parts of historic Paris, but when you walk the boulevards you can't help but love the beauty of it all, much like walking the elegant and uniform Georgian-era New Town in Edinburgh (although there this was built adjacent to the Old Town, not on top of, so both survived - a good possible future topic for THG to consider, perhaps!)
I love what Haussman did, he made Paris beautiful and livable. His work is a thousand times better than what was done in the 20th C., like the hideous La Defense “Arch”. Classic archive endures because it’s beautiful.
This is incredible timing, History Guy. Two weeks ago I was in Paris for the first time on a week long work trip and had commented on how regular the buildings were. A work associate from Belgium proceeded to explain how much of Paris was redone in the 1800s. Now I know the full story! While I can only wonder how many great things were lost, I will say that I absolutely loved the charm of Paris, and memories of that distinct city style will certainly stay with anyone who has the chance to visit. :)
if haussmann rose from the dead and saw what state paris was in he'd politely ask to be put back underground.
Brain food for the thinking class, History Guy much thanks!!
Aaaah "The American Thinking-Class", how much shallower that pool has become.....
I am sad that I just found your TH-cam channel. But you have a subscriber for life now! And I have a ton of videos to catch up on. :)
Your life can only be better for it. Because this guy could of made me want to go to school.
@@andyZ3500s
I got tired of hearing about Paul Revere,3rd,5th,8th11th,12th grades. Some how I figured there was a LOT more to history.
Always better late than never. Today is the first day of the rest of your life.
Matt Temple ...Even the ones you don’t think will be interesting are a revelation.
You will NOT regret your decision---guaranteed.
Awesome work on this. I have learnt bits about the redevelopment of Paris as I am doing essentially town planning. Would love to see more.
What about a story of the General who refused Hitler and saved Paris from destruction. Excellent episode.
@@goodun6081 That's History that definitely needs to be Remembered. One Man to stand alone. Against a bunch of yes men.
Semper Fi
No team ever invents anything; they only develop one man's flash of genius.
Archibald Low
That may have been mostly true long ago, but in the age of modern science, it's most definitely not.
@@lordgarion514 think about it - when a team "invents" something, it's actually one member of the team that makes a first suggestion, without which there would be no invention.
@@commander31able60
Like I said, that's not really how it works anymore.
Things are far too complex at the scales we work at now.
For example, the team that invented the blue ray player had to use dozens of unrelated inventions going back decades to make it.
And in fact, not one person on the team that invented the blue ray invented anything. No one had a "eureka" moment.
The days of someone going into a lab and coming out with a new product are over.
@@commander31able60
Also, we're at the point now where there's as many "what the hell was that" moments as there are flashes of genius, mostly courtesy of the weirdness of quantum mechanics of course.
I'm not saying there's never flashes of genius, but generally speaking, they come during, and not before research and development get started.
@@lordgarion514 but who had the original idea, the impetus to make a blueray player?
Awesome as always
I’m so happy I found this channel. This video is quite short but full with information. I’m studying this topic for a fiction story and have seen a ton of opinionated articles and vids but this one is unbiased. Thank you, sir!
Great video. I can't tell you how many history classes I had in which we were told the one and only reason for the radiating, wide streets of the new Paris was for military advantage in case of invasion. Sounds like that was really just a happy side effect.
Yes and no: designer SAID he didn't make it Riot Proof so he didn't get on the bad side of people who like to riot a lot :D But he worked for the Emprah so he probably was told: GET RID of the fucking ghettos they keep revolting. And they are revolting.
Narrow roads like they had would make it easier to defend since it would force your enemy to attack you one at a time vs on wide front. Wider roads would make it easier for the enemy to penetrate the core of the city in large numbers.
P.S. I think your history teachers were confusing Paris for the US highway system. It wouldn't be the first time a history teacher got it wrong.
Hoehner Tim I think it was about making it harder for rebels to build barricades. So it was - apparently - an internal security issue in response to the European revolutions of 1848 rather than as a defence measure.
@@bob_the_bomb4508 Thanks. Maybe that's what I'm remembering. I remember some reference as well to a limit on the height of the buildings, so as not to obstruct the view to the outskirts of the city from some central location.
Sean Kerns that's possible, but those apartment buildings were pretty much the limit at which you'd want to drag up two bags of groceries. I doubt they could have been made much higher anyway!
Nicely done. Cool tie. Thanks for making theses. Best of the whole wide internet!
Remarkable! 'The City of Light' is basically 300 years old or less.
The concept of 'Eminent Domain' begins and ends with modern Paris, as does the school of Civil Engineering.
Asking before you finish, but in hearing about the Creating of Space, I can't help wonder about all the people who found themselves Homeless as a result of the many demolitions!!!
History dude hits hard every day! I haven't found a video that isn't good. Like your videos with my morning coffee and cigarettes
Informative and interesting as always!
Thank you. Very useful information
What a fantastic video, thank you!
Very useful, thanks!
You sir are an amazing youtuber THANK YOU!!!! Please keep it up!!
Excellent, thank you!
The gas didn't bring about the title The City of Lights. That name primarily comes from the luminaries, a collection of artists on Paris who contributed to the rich enlightenment period that Paris was known for.
Excellent and thank you very much.
Been to Paris three times and love it.
Great channel, thanks.
Went to Paris just once and I greatly hope to visit it again! I'm really a country boy at heart, and an American, but my wife and I love Paris. Never felt so comfortable in any other large city before. Although we also liked Barcelona quite a bit.
@@goodun6081 Check out the Rick Steves video on how to prepare for Paris (skipping lines and such), waste of time waiting in line.
Just take your time to see ONE thing, don't be affraid to be missing out on something.
I'd also recommend walking once in the centre, instead of metro.
@@mikehydropneumatic2583 , we probably walked three or four miles per day. We might take the metro to the general area or attraction we wanted to visit, and then hoof it on foot the rest of the way. I remember leaving the Louvre, which is the only place we really waited in any kind of long line, and heading on foot to the Tuilleries gardens, except that we got a little lost and walked way past that area, but we met a young lady from Boston who was finishing her master's degree in Paris. She got us back on track in the right direction. It was interesting to hear that finishing her Master's, in math, in Paris would save her $18,000 versus doing it in the states. Anyway, we're not afraid to get a little bit lost and maybe have an unexpected or serendipitous experience along the way. We stayed in the Left Bank, by the way, in an old hotel, which turned out to be a great spot with lots of things within walking distance, including the Islamic Museum and Notre Dame. Seeing impressionist paintings at the musee D'Orsay was one of my favorite bits. My wife is still mad at me for refusing to wait in line to get on to the Eiffel Tower, but I don't like that kind of tourist attraction, nor do I like long lines.
Awesome video!
This is really informative - thank you!
I actually learned about Haussman's work in school, but not in this detail.
Wow. Great video. Cheers from Australia.
I always enjoy your episodes that are not about wars or the military. While war makes for dramatic history, the history of mankind is much more about how people have learned to work together and cooperate. More urban history please!
I first started watching back when there was only about 20,oo subscribers. It is a pleasure seeing that number steadily climb
Fantastic video
I enjoy all your videos, but I really enjoyed this one.
Thank you for an interesting video.
It was only last week that I gave a presentation to my French class about this very subject and now, today, TH-cam shows me yours - which was much better than mine.
Excellent video, thank you. Paris architecture is my favorite 😍❤️
Ah Paris, pour le meilleur ou our le pire, toujour belle!
Ah Paris, for better or worse..... always beautiful! Thanks HG. I've always been curious about the history of the cityscapes and of the buildings that line the streets of Paris. It's a beautiful city with so much history. Another great episode! You fulfill your self proclaimed title of The History Guy time and again.
The last time I was in Paris, it seemed to have fallen back into the pre-Haussmann era. I was going to spend a week doing the "tourist thing" but by the second day I had had enough of the constant urine smell that permeated everything and headed to the U.K.. I spent the unused Paris time added to my time in London and the U.K..
My friend was just there as well recently. With all the Protesting riots, and crap, she didn't care too much about Paris.
@Tucsoncoyote 2019 ,
Sir your right about the swamp/marsh, but that was before it was filled in. I would contend that the smell now is all the crap being spewed out of the mouths of Congressmen/women, not the other way around !
This is very true. My grandfathers were both there during WW2, he said the people were filthy, I said it was a war..
He said, no that's not it.
Years later my girlfriend's husband was stationed in Germany and she and some other women went to France in the early 90's. She said that she would never go back. That it was filthy and she's not known to be as picky as me!
@@kevynhansyn2902 unfortunately the french have always been known to be dirty and my comment above were a couple of observations way before the yellow vest protests.
The filth your friend saw there is more the invasion of illegals their filthy government have foisted upon them. But filth is what u get with globalists
@@dawnyockey1475 How extraordinary ! A man able to shit throuh his mouth ! I wonder where you put your food.
Thanks. As a frequent visitor to Paris, I enjoyed this segment.
Thanks for this interesting story.
Very good job. You always make my day
Superlatives abound. Thank you so much.
You're on a roll keep it up :D
I had no idea. Thank you for posting. Any visitor to Paris should see this.
The Palais Garnier ..... OMG, that is the most beautiful building I have ever beheld. If you go to Paris, everyone knows to go to Versailles, but also go to the Palais Garnier.
Georges-Eugène Haussmann has made Paris a modern city !
Fantastic video. Love Paris... thank you, Haussmann and company!
*20,000 Buildings torn down,30,000 Buildings built, 2000 km of tunnels for pipes, anther 600-1000 km of sewage tunnels, 400 km of Aquaducts... In 17 years??*
*DOUBT.*
Thank you
Thank you for the mention of military strategy in the design of the city .
Thank you sir!!!
For such an ancient city - as old as the Roman Empire, when it was called "Lutetia" - Paris was really worked over, like it or not, by this one man. You can see glimpses of pre-Haussmann Paris in Left Bank neighborhoods like Mouffetard and a few others, but really it's all Haussmann, and as History Guy says, later urban planners followed in his wake. New York's version was a man named Robert Moses.
Well done!
A history remembered video on the “Great Boston Molasses Flood” would be great. Most Bostonians don’t even know about it, or think it’s an urban myth.
Tucsoncoyote ~ I agree, I’m familiar with the Johnstown flood and that would be a great History Remembered video.
I also read that one reason why there aren't that many tall buildings in Paris, especially modern skyscrapers or office towers, is because the tunnels, catacombs and mines below the city make siting such tall, heavy structures extremely difficult.
It's because that in 1974 the president stopped the construction of tall sckyscrapers. But it was recently allowed again. Catacombs and mines are not found everywhere, only in some places.
@@debranchelowtone I hope they don't ruin the Paris aesthetic with out of place glass skyscrapers like happened in London.
@@rexx9496 It will probably be on the outskirts, but some nice houses are destroyed and replaced by small modern buildings on the inner town, some gems are already gone.
Hey can you do a video about the Navajo code in the second World war? That's definitely history that deserves to be remembered!😊
Seconded.
The code talkers, thirded!
There was some American Indians that performed a similar service in the great war.
There were more than the Navajo. involved. Multiple tribes.
rutabagasteu Well, guess what? The Navajo had a better PR Department...
Goodness gracious!!I am so happy that Paris exists.....It is my escape to from UK regularly to keep my happiness level boosted.I fell in love with the city years ago.Just being there I feel so contented.xx
You can’t deny the architecture is beautiful but he easily let power get to his head. Wild
Señor de la historia. Los temas, las imágenes y la investigación histórica son muy buenos.
En mi caso particular, la duración de ellos es apropiada.
Felicitaciones, Siga adelante en la difusion del conocimiento.
Very informative
A very odd coincidence - that this was posted 5 days before the historic Notre Dame fire. Excellent work on this piece.
Great story!
Another great piece of history that we all should know...and now we do!
There is no royal road to learning.
Merci, c’était fascinant et très bien raconté.
Now that should be a movie.
Thank you for this story. I love Paris. Mr. Haussmann did a superb job; Paris is the most beautiful city I have ever been in.
“Paris is always a good idea!” I agree!! Thanks History Guy!
I wish I'd have known all of this 30 years ago... Bravo!
Funny people complained about the construction work being done back then. Now people around the world dream of going to Paris, France.
Amazing!
You have to follow up with 1900’s NYC w/ Robert Moses & Jane Jacobs.
Great vlog! How about telling the story about a man who became just as famous as Hausmann, Mr. Ritz? Born in Switzerland and showed the world how to dine and sleep in style!
According to the French periodical "Geo Histoire," XVII century Paris was so confusing that once when Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette had escaped their palace under cover of night, they were forced to return because their driver got lost in the narrow streets. That didn't end well.
If you aren't familiar with the story, you might research how back in 1925(?) an accomplished scammer named Victor Lustig succeeded in "selling" the Eiffel Tower to a scrap metal dealer named Poisson. In Poisson's defense there was serious consideration of razing the tower at the time. I often wonder if this is the reason that French people shout "poisson" when someone falls for an April Fool's Day prank, although being caught like a fish, might apply.
This story sounds fishy to me.
The grand avenues were designed to avoid social upheaval (ie. French Revolution). As Napoleon had named himself Emperor he needed the ability to get his troops into any of the city quickly. Also the grand avenues served as a means for him to demonstrate his power as the army marched down them often (remember Red Square during the Cold War). I have a Master's Degree in Urban Planning, that's why I know about Haussmann. Great Video, keep them coming.
the grand avenues also allowed the military to subdue the legendary paris mobs . cannon fire could dominate the city fiing down these long vistas, the mob could no longer use a warren of narrow twisted lanes to ambush opposing forces.
Paris is nice after the renovation, but I personally appreciate the medieval street pattern that was there before.
Barcelona still has intact sections of the original medieval wall scattered around the city. When my wife and I visited Munich we took a day trip out to Nuremberg, which hae the oldest surviving intact walled city left in Europe. There, perhaps I have helped you plan your next trips!
Alan Fox, this video mentions all the parks that were added so the common people would have access to something besides brick and stone. There did seem to be at least a small Park every five or six blocks at most during the week we were walking all over Paris. Between all the parks, small and large, and the parisians love of trees and flowers and potted plants on the balcony, the city feels warmer and more inviting and less cold and impersonal then other cities. It surprised my wife and I how quickly we felt comfortable and at home there. We felt similarly in Barcelona, which had lots of flowering trees and shrubs, and parks with children's play areas, and which looked like an excellent city to raise children in. The children we saw walking around we're pretty much free range, they be a hundred feet ahead of or a hundred feet behind their parents, but nobody seemed to get separated and nobody was freaking out about it. Many of the dogs were also relatively off leash oh, and again nobody was freaking out about it. Despite the very large tourist crowd, it was surprisingly relaxed and relaxing.
Paris is an amazing place. It looked like quite a fun video to make.They still cram so many and so much into quite a small space, and when you get into the history of Paris, it's really interesting.
You should do one on the Metro or hidden Paris: les catacombes, les carrieres, les ossements, les sousterrains etc. That's when it gets quite amazing.
Votre prononciation est aussi mauviais que le mien.
Thousands of generations are weeping for Paris and Notre Dame.
I Just love this video. I have been to Paris, but as someone who as graduate degree in landscape architecture, it is fascinating to see what can be done, without the namesayer.
Most people have no taste or imagination, to understand what you can achieve.
I haven't seen Paris but I spent a few weeks in Orléans; I'll have to think through that experience a bit more in light of this video.
Thanks for an interesting look at why Paris looks the way it does today.🙂
David McCullough does a great job on this subject in his book The Greater Journey Americans in Paris.
That wonderfull book is the reason why my wife chose Paris to be her very first European trip. We definitely hope to do it again!
Why would I ever watch TV again... without streaming this. Do you know where Napoleon kept his armies during the bitter winter campaigns? In his sleevies.
Love this!!!
Might have added a little note on the cause for the ubiquity of Mansard roofs in Paris. Great video as usual.
Thanks again! You make my drive to work interesting.
Watching TH-cam while commuting makes everyone's drive to work interesting. 😨
@@sdnlawrence5640 Well last I checked my phone had audio and I have ears.
@@sdnlawrence5640 Besides, not everyone drives to work.
Hausmann and Robert Moses were two of a kind, although Moses' works didn’t fare so well.
Some would argue that Moses was his own Napoleon LOL. He probably had more power than most NYC mayors.
See Robert Caro's book on Moses, The Power Broker.