Editing Communards (section)

== Franco-Prussian War and the Paris Commune ==
{{main|Paris Commune}}
The [[working class]] of [[Paris]] were feeling ostracized after the decadence of the [[Second French Empire|Second Empire]] and the [[Franco-Prussian War]]. The Prussians [[Siege of Paris (1870–1871)|besieged Paris]] in September 1870, causing suffering among Parisians. The poor ate [[Cat meat|cat]] or [[rat meat]] or went hungry. Out of resentment from this situation grew radical and socialist political clubs and newspapers. While Paris was occupied, socialist groups tried twice to overthrow the [[Government of National Defense|provisional government]].{{sfn|Bullard|2000|p=68—69}}

In January 1871, [[Otto von Bismarck]] and the French minister of foreign affairs, [[Jules Favre]], decided that France would hold national elections. [[Adolphe Thiers]], who had been loyal to the Second Empire, was elected head of the new republic. During the war, the capital had moved from Paris to Bordeaux. When the war ended, the government moved temporarily to [[Versailles, Yvelines|Versailles]]. In the early morning of March 18, the government stationed in Versailles sent military forces into Paris to collect a reserve of cannons.  The detachment was gathering the guns when units of the Paris national guard surrounded them, and killed two French army generals. By the end of the day, the insurgent soldiers of the national guard controlled the city.  They declared a new government called the Paris Commune, which lasted from March 18 to May 28, 1871.{{sfn|Bullard|2000|p=69—72}}

Thiers refused to bargain with the Communards, despite their attempts to do so. He taught newly released French soldiers the "evils" of the Communards as the government prepared for a battle. The Commune responded by building barricades in the Paris streets. Starting on May 21 and continuing through May 28, the French army entered Paris and gradually recaptured the city. Around eighteen thousand communards were killed in combat, more were executed afterwards.  The violence of [[Semaine Sanglante|The "Bloody Week"]]  became a rallying cry for the working classes; some politicians would later proudly brag about their participation with the Commune.{{sfn|Bullard|2000|p=71—72}}