ABSTRACT
The French parliamentary system had the virtue of flexibility. In every aspect of French life, the victorious republicans moved to remodel institutions in accordance with their principles and to entrench the regime in everyday French life. Only when the moderate republican Jules Grevy replaced Marshal MacMahon as president in January 1879 did the outcome of the events of 1870 finally become clear. The educational materials used in the schools were designed to inculcate devotion to republican institutions and the French nation. To strengthen the regime, the republicans also created new symbols and rituals. The new republican government, particularly under Jules Ferry’s leadership, adopted an activist policy of imperial expansion with important implications for France’s future. France’s defeat in 1870 and the creation of Otto von Bismarck’s unified German Empire had weakened the country’s international position. The place of the urban workers in the new republican society was more problematic than that of peasants.
