Unit IV                 The Fin-de-Siecle Metropolis, 1870-1900

Chronology of the Paris Commune
(From http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html)


1848

December 10: Louis Bonaparte elected president of the Second Republic.


1852

December: Empire of Napoleon III (Louis Bonaparte) proclaimed. Dubbed the Second
Empire, the First Empire being that of Napoleon Bonaparte.


1870

January 10: About 100,000 people demonstrate against Empire on the occassion of the
funeral of Victor Noir, a republican journalist killed by the Emperor's cousin, Pierre
Bonaparte.

May 8: A national plebiscite votes confidence in the Empire [about 84% in favour].

July 19: After a diplomatic struggle over the Hohenzollern (Prussian) candidacy to the
Spanish throne, France declares war on Prussia.

July 23: Marx completes what will become known as the "First Address."

July 26: The "First Address" is approved by the General Council of the International
Working Men's Association.

August 4-6: Crown Prince Frederick, commanding one of three German armies invading
France, defeats French Marshal MacMahon at Worth and Weissenburg, pushes him out
of Alsace, surrounds Strasbourg, and drives on Nancy. The other two German armies
surround Marshal Bazaine's forces in Metz.

August 16-18: Bazaine's efforts to break through the German lines are bloodily defeated
at Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte. The Germans advance on Chalons.

September 1: Battle of Sedan. MacMahon, attempting to relieve Bazaine at Metz and
finding the road closed, fights and is defeated at Sedan.

September 2: The French army, together with Emperor Napoleon III, capitulates at
Sedan.

September 4: At news of Sedan, a Paris mob invades the Palais Bourbon and forces the
Legislative Assembly to proclaim the fall of the Empire. Come evening, the Third
Republic is proclaimed (at the Hotel de Ville). The provisional Government of National
Defence (GND) is set up: General Louis Jules Trochu (President), Leon Gambetta
(Ministry of Interior), Jules Favre (Ministry of Foreign Affairs).

September 6: GND issues statement: blames war on Imperial government, it now wants
peace, but "not an inch of our soil, not a stone of our fortresses, will we cede." Since
Prussia demands Alsace-Lorraine, the war continues.

September 19: Two German armies begin long siege of Paris. Bismarck figures the "soft
and decadent" French will quickly surrender. The GND sends delegation to Tours, soon
to be joined by Gambetta (who escapes from Paris in a balloon), to organize resistance in
the provinces.

October 27: French surrender (Bazaine with 173,000 men) at Metz.

October 30: National Guard defeated at Le Bourget.

October 31: Rebels storm GND at town hall. Attempt to set up a Commune in Paris,
after the model of 1792. Besieged Paris has only a week's supply of food left.

November 1: GND promises elections and amnesty to rebels -- promises it will not
deliver upon.


1871

January 28: After four long months, Paris capitulates to Prussians. While all regular
troops are disarmed, the National Guard are permitted to keep their arms -- the populous
of Paris remains armed. The GND signs 3-week armistice with Bismarck, to negotiate
peace. Paris forts turned over to the Germans. Food brought into Paris.

Febuary 8: Elections held in France.

Febuary 12: New National Assembly opens at Bordeaux; two-thirds of members are
conservatives and wish the war to end.

February 16: The Assembly elects Adolphe Thiers chief executive.

February 26: Peace concluded with Bismarck: Alsace and one-third of Lorraine
surrendered (including Metz); France to pay enormous indemnity over three years;
German army of occupation to slowly withdraw as indemnity payments made.

March 1-3: After months of struggle and suffering, Parisians react angrily to the entry of
German troops in the city. The National Guard organizes a Central Committee, prepares
for conflict.

March 11: National Assembly adjourns. It will now set up shop at Versailles on March
20.

March 18: Adolphe Thiers attempts to disarm Paris and sends French troops (regular
army), but, through fraternization with Parisians, they refuse to carry out thier orders.
Generals Claude Martin Lecomte and Jacques Leonard Clement Thomas are killed. The
bulk of the troops withdraw. Paris is now controlled by radicals.

March 26: A municipal council -- the Paris Commune -- is elected. Central Committee of
the National Guard relinquishes power. Commune consists of radical and moderate
republicans, mainly followers of Proudhon and Blanqui, with some members of Marx's
First International.

March 30: Commune abolishes conscription and the standing army.

April 1: Civil servant salary cap introduced.

April 2: Adolphe Thiers now enters power struggle with Commune. Versailles troops
launch campaign against city. Commune formally announces separation of church and
state. Church property nationalized.

April 7: Reacting to Versailles' policy of shooting captured Communards, Commune
issues an "eye-for-an-eye" policy statement, promising retaliation. It is, however, never
acted upon.

April 8: All religious representations removed from Paris schools.

April 18: Commune announces the postponement of all debt obligations for three years.

April 30: Adolphe Thiers orders nationwide municipal elections.

May 10: The peace treaty concluded in February now signed, known as Treaty of
Frankfurt. (Endorsed by National Assembly May 18.)

May 21-28: The Fall of Paris. Versailles troops enter Paris on May 21. They now spend
eight days clearing resistance, which usually involved shocking massacres. Operation led
by Marshal MacMahon, who would later become president of France. Thousands of
Communards and innocent Parisians summarily executed (as many as 30,000); numerous
others imprisoned and deported. Death tolls as great as Terror of 1793-94.

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