Ah yes, the Arc de Triomphe, celebrating victory in 1806, which turned to tragic defeat by 1812, and invasion by 1814, with 500k French dead, and the Russian Tsar marching into Paris - presumably inspecting the shiny new Arch of Victory LOL. The French invasion of Russia turned into the Russian (allied) invasion of France.
The aforesaid roundabout (12 avenues meeting in a neat circle, containing some vague gallic-shrug number of unmarked lanes) will always be the Place D'Etoile for me, never the Place Charles de Gaulle - but that's another long story of French arrogance and hubris. I do believe the Nazis also paraded around the French Arc de Triomphe.
Speaking as someone with a predilection for photographing fire hydrants and manhole covers, this seems like an entirely reasonable perspective.