EURO1004 Chapter Notes - Chapter 19: The Communards, Labour Leader, Louis Auguste Blanqui
WEEK 10 – Fin-de-siécle Europe
Textbook reading: in William Simpson and Martin Jones (eds),
Europe: 1783-1914
,
Third edition (London and New York: Routledge, 2015), pp. 325-400
CH 19: THE THIRD REPUBLIC IN FRANCE, 1871-1914
Section A
• The collapse of the Second Empire through military defeat at the hands of the
Prussians left a power vacuum –
the Third Republic
was shaken by war, defeat and the
suppression of the Commune, and to start with it seemed that it would be replaced
quickly by a constitutional monarchy
• In 1875 a constitution was approved after the Monarchists’ hopes came to nothing, and
conservatives and radical Republicans found that they had common ground
•
The Third Republic
survived until 1940, proof enough that it was the regime which
divided the French people the least
• However, this republic was unable to rid the effects of France’s turbulent political
history rapidly, and the political culture remained deeply affected by previous issues
such as the Church State and the Dreyfus Affair (1894-1906) which
brought to surface
political and social divisions which went back to the first French Revolution
• The fact that the Third Republic survived challenges and changes, suggests that the
political culture had outgrown revolutionary insurrection or the
coup d’état.
ESTABLISHING THE REPUBLIC, 1870-79: A COMPROMISE WITH THE PAST
Surrender
- By 23 September 1870 – Prussian forces had surrounded and cut off Paris – and the
government delegates of three elderly ministers provided to be incapable of effective
government as they could not prevent the siege
- Gambetta (a French statesman) organised an Army of the Loire however the attempt to
break through the Prussian lines and relive Paris failed, - making Gambetta’s force
ineffective
-
Paris surrendered on 28 January 1871 – the government agreed to an armistice and
promised to hold elections to a National Assembly on 8 February to give them a
proper mandate for the peace talks.
- Gambetta felt betrayed as he couldn’t believe that France couldn’t continue to fight
after Paris had fallen, he ended up resigning, taking what turned out to be an
important
step towards the evolution of the Republic by non-revolutionary means.
Elections and peace
- The elections of
8 February 1871
were clearly a vote for peace
- Adolphe Thiers – became the leader of the Monarchist-conservative majority who
voted him ‘Chief of the Executive Power of the French Republic’ – this title was careful
to avoid prejudicing the future form of government. Thiers promised to remained
neutral in party terms and organise a coalition government, which would allow no party
to criticise the peace from outside.
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- The takeover of Alsace-Lorraine was a focus on French ambitions for revenge, the
large indemnity appeared crippling and
France’s defeat seemed complete and political
turmoil highly likely
The commune
-
The Paris commune was a radical socialist and revolutionary government that ruled
Paris from 28 March to 28 May 1871
- Reaction to peace took an extraordinary form in Paris – 37/43 deputies for Paris on 8
Feb, 1871 wanted the rest of France to continue the war
- Following the departing of the Prussian victory parade through Paris, the National
Assembly moved from Bordeaux to Versailles because of the conditions in Paris – but
many Parisians saw this as a further sign that France was turning her back on those who
had endured the Prussian siege.
- The government decreed that the National Guard would no longer qualify for pay (they
had to prove poverty now), and all of the rents and debts needed to be paid, adding to
the bankruptcy to the grievances of many Parisian – bourgeois as well as working class
- The members of the Commune – the Communards confidently expected France to
follow where Paris led - but to the central government of France (established in
Versailles) the rebels were ‘Federalists’ a description made more understandable by
attempts to set up Communes in other cities including Lyon and Marseilles, and Thiers
was quick to organise the second siege of Paris
-
The Commune was a crumbling attempt at a government:
o Moderate elements quickly fled, and a collection of extremists ranging from
radical journalists to Anarchist followers of Blanqui (French socialist and
political activist) argued and bickered
o The Communards issues many decrees – e.g. exempting tenants from back-
payments of rent and banning gambling
- It was not only Paris that was wrecked by this civil war, but also the city’s capacity to
lead a revolution
- It allowed the government to exterminate rebellious
Republicanism
, and over the next
few years the National Assembly and Thiers moved more freely towards a regime less
dominated by revolutionary ideology
The constitution of the Republic
- Thiers (a French Statesman) carefully appealed to both moderate Republicanism and
the Monarchist majority, telling the National Assembly in 1872 that the ‘Republic will
be conservative, or it will not exist’.
- Gambetta (a French statesman) who was unconnected with the Commune and leader
of the radical Republicans was highly suspicious that Thiers’s talk of a Republic was a
front while preparations were made for a constitutional monarchy
- It was left largely to Thiers to guide matters towards a Republican constitution – Thiers
pursued a conservative policy of which the Monarchist deputies in the National
Assembly approved:
o He rejected income tax
o Maintained a centralised government structure
o Abolished the National Guard
o Began reforming the army
o Achieved spectacular success in raising loans from the general public to pay off
the indemnity
- Thiers’s support for a Republican constitution became more obvious between 1871
and 1873 and the ‘Bordeaux Pact’ was broken
- The Monarchists finally turned against Thiers, in March 1873 passing a law preventing
him as President from addressing the assembly, and conservative policy demands
which immediately prompted his resignation
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Document Summary
Textbook reading: in william simpson and martin jones (eds), europe: 1783-1914, Third edition (london and new york: routledge, 2015), pp. Ch 19: the third republic in france, 1871-1914. Section a: the collapse of the second empire through military defeat at the hands of the. Prussians left a power vacuum the third republic was shaken by war, defeat and the suppression of the commune, and to start with it seemed that it would be replaced quickly by a constitutional monarchy. Establishing the republic, 1870-79: a compromise with the past. By 23 september 1870 prussian forces had surrounded and cut off paris and the government delegates of three elderly ministers provided to be incapable of effective government as they could not prevent the siege. Gambetta (a french statesman) organised an army of the loire however the attempt to break through the prussian lines and relive paris failed, - making gambetta"s force ineffective.
