ABSTRACT
The surrender of Napoleon III and a large French army to the Germans at Sedan on 1 September 1870 led three days later to the proclamation of the Third Republic and to the formation of a Government of National Defence in Paris. However, despite the strength of republicanism, the wider desire for peace and stability was reflected in the republicans’ defeat in the national parliamentary elections held in February 1871. The republican forces had been too closely identified with the continuation of the war, whereas the task of the new Assembly, which had a conservative and royalist majority, was to approve a peace settlement with Germany. The Assembly met in Versailles and elected a government which, by deliberate intent or through a series of tactless blunders, provoked public unrest. The insurrection of the Paris Commune was finally defeated in May 1871 after a long and bloody fight. France recovered rapidly from these disasters, and by September 1873 the war indemnity had been repaid and the German occupation army was withdrawn.
