📅 17 March 1871
A council of ministers led by Adolphe Thiers ordered the army to remove cannons held by the National Guard in working-class districts and to arrest leading revolutionaries. The decision prepared the...
📅 18 March 1871
Government troops tried to remove National Guard artillery from Montmartre and Belleville. Residents and guards resisted, many soldiers fraternized with the crowd, and the operation collapsed. The...
📅 19 March 1871
With the national government established at Versailles, the Central Committee of the National Guard announced elections for a new communal government and presented its rule as temporary.
📅 2 April 1871
Government troops opened a military offensive west of Paris and attacked National Guard positions near Courbevoie. The clash marked the beginning of open warfare between the Commune and Versailles.
📅 6 April 1871
Patrice de MacMahon was appointed commander of the reorganized government army. Released prisoners of war strengthened the force preparing to retake Paris.
📅 10 May 1871
The peace treaty ending the Franco-Prussian War required France to cede Alsace and part of Lorraine and pay a large indemnity. The agreement helped the Versailles government concentrate military...
