Defeated flesh is a compelling study of the French defeat of 1870 and the socialist uprising of the Commune of Paris. By looking at the history of the body and medicine, Taithe considers how the French people mobilised for the war effort and how their ultimate defeat had cultural and social consequences which led to the fin-de-siecle spirit. Looking at the siege of Paris, the war suffering and rationing in an exceptionally harsh period of French history it revises the current debates on citizenship, centralisation and modern warfare. The range of material and the approach will cast a new light on the social aspirations behind the first socialist uprising in the world and on the fears of national decline so common in Western Europe before 1914. Drawing upon many untouched sources, Taithe seeks to understand why 1870-71 became such an important phase in the making of modern France. This intriguing and highly original study will be of interest to all readers of French history, European and French culture and specialists of the history of war or medicine.