City Destroyed by Explosive Shell — Jules Verne's 'The Begum's Fortune' 1879

A city block erupts in catastrophic destruction as a massive artillery shell detonates at the heart of a urban street, sending boulders, timber, and debris skyward in a blinding burst of white light. Tiny figures at lower left watch helplessly as the shockwave tears through stone buildings. This is the climactic bombardment sequence from Jules Verne's scientific romance, where the rival steel-city Stahlstadt unleashes its ultimate weapon against the utopian colony of France-Ville.