Embittered at France's defeat by the Prussians and the five-month siege of the city, the volunteer citizen army of Paris rose up against the central government in 1871. It destroyed public buildings like the Hôtel de Ville, shown here, and established the Paris Commune. The Communards were in turn massacred by a vengeful government. Reconstruction of the Hétel de Ville, the city hall of Paris, began within weeks of the Commune's defeat.