@StillIRise1963 right before la commune de paris, Napoleon 3 thought he could quickly win a war against prussia. It went so bad, he was made prisoner with most of his army and the prussian went so far, paris was under siege. At the same time, it was a very harsh winter.
One could imagine it was a period of austerity were everyone was struggling but no. The rich went to paris zoo to get their meat and enjoyed "exotic" meat