Baron Haussmann tore down medieval Paris and replaced it with the wide boulevards, uniform facades, and grand public spaces that define the city today. He did it under Napoleon III’s protection, with borrowed money, forged accounting, and a bulldozer’s indifference to the tens of thousands of Parisians he displaced.

This episode traces Haussmann from his political origins through the massive renovation of Paris, the financial scandals that brought him down, and the lasting impact of his vision on urban planning worldwide.

• He demolished roughly 20,000 medieval buildings and constructed 40,000 new ones across Paris
• His wide boulevards were designed partly for beauty and partly to prevent revolutionary barricades
• He was dismissed in 1870 after the scale of his financial irregularities became impossible to ignore
• Modern Paris — its boulevards, parks, sewers, and streetscape — is fundamentally his creation