The two cities in question were London and Paris. It was written in March 1859 and it covered the time of the FRENCH REVOLUTION.
The opening lines are perhaps the best known of any novel.
"It was the best of times it was the worst of times
It was the age of wisdom it was the age of foolishness
It was the epoch of belief it was the epoch of incredulity
It was the season of light it was the season of darkness
It was the spring of hope it was the winter of despair"
It was an age of radical opposites
...A CLASS WAR BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR
The BEST of times referred to "the promise of the end of the tyranny of the nobility and the rise of the common man"
The more things change the more they stay the same.
