CHRONOLOGY: THE PARIS COMMUNE 
 
                                   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% for].  
 
July 19: 
  After a diplomatic struggle over the Hohenzollern (Prussian) candidacy 
  to the Spanish throne, France declares war on Prussia.  
 
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 ocupation 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: 
  Thiers wants to disarm Paris.  Sends French troops (regular army) to 
  Paris, but, through fraternization with Parisians, they refuse to 
  carry out Thiers' 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: 
  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:  
  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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