Paris

Like France in general, Paris as a city had to an important degree lost ground relative to other major urban areas since the age of le Roi-Soleil. The 50 years that spanned the Second Empire and the first half of the Third Republic thus witnessed the emergence of modern Paris as one of the world's great capital cities, a symbol of both French greatness and global modernity. In 1850 Paris was one of Europe's greatest cities, second only to London in population, and the capital of one of the world's leading nations. Paris grew in another important respect, by expanding its municipal boundaries and annexing neighboring suburban communities. The link between cultural modernity and entertainment that would so distinguish Paris during the modern era had first become noticeable under the July Monarchy. The consumer culture of late nineteenth-century Paris, attracting visitors, shoppers, and goods from near and far, in effect defined the French capital as a world capital.