Paris Commune
Related: Paris - revolution
Louise Michel (1830 or 1833 ? - 1905)
Photographie non datée de Louise Michel, cliché Appert
Bodies of militants of the Commune de Paris, photograph by André Adolphe Eugène Disderi
Paris Commune
The term "Paris Commune" originally referred to the government of Paris during the French Revolution. However, the term more commonly refers to the socialist government that briefly ruled Paris from March 26 to May 30, 1871.
The Paris Commune of 1871 was made possible through a civil uprising of all revolutionist trends within Paris after the Franco-Prussian War ended with French defeat. The Prussians included the occupation of Paris in the peace terms. The city and its National Guard had withstood the Prussian troops for six months. The population of Paris was defiant in the face of occupation—they limited the Prussian presence to a small area of the city and policed the 'boundary'. The French government of the Third Republic, headed by Louis-Adolphe Thiers, was concerned that the workers would arm themselves from the National Guard weapons and provoke the Prussians, so on March 18 French troops entered Paris to seize arms within the city. The National Guard refused to give up the weapons and the French government fled from the city to Versailles and declared war on Paris. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune [Dec 2004]
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