Assassination of Jean Jaurès

You are approaching the corner of rue Montmartre and rue du Croissant. This unassuming spot, known as the Café du Croissant, served as a flashpoint for European history on the evening of July thirty-first, nineteen fourteen. Inside this building, the prominent socialist leader and fervent anti-militarist Jean Jaurès was working on an urgent editorial for his newspaper, L'Humanité. He sat with his back toward the open window, seeking relief from the summer heat while trying to organize a final, desperate international effort to prevent the looming First World War. At nine-forty in the evening, a young nationalist named Raoul Villain reached through that same window and fired two shots. One bullet shattered the calm of the evening and ended the life of the man many saw as the final barrier against the coming global catastrophe.