Ancient history

Chronology of the Paris Commune (1871)

January

* January 7:Publication of the Red Poster, which calls for the creation of a Commune in Paris.

* January 19:in Buzenval (near Rueil) bloody failure of the offensive against the Germans, which General Trochu, military governor of Paris and president of the provisional government, imagined to "calm" the most warmongering Parisians

* January 22:insurrectionary demonstration on the Place de l'Hôtel de Ville. General Vinoy's soldiers fire and kill around 30 of the demonstrators.

* January 26:the Germans stop the bombardment of Paris.

* January 28:official announcement of the Franco-German armistice.

February

* February 19:formation of the Thiers government

* February 24:2,000 National Guard delegates meet at Vauxhall. Demonstrations at Place de la Bastille.

* February 26:the guns of the National Guard are assembled in Belleville and Montmartre.

March

* March 1:the Germans parade on the Champs-Elysées.

* March 3:creation of the Republican Federation of the National Guard.

* March 6:Thiers appoints General Aurelle de Paladines, Commander-in-Chief of the National Guard

* March 10:The National Assembly decides to transfer to Versailles. It votes the end of the moratorium on debts, commercial paper and rents. By the Pact of Bordeaux, the deputies do not take for granted the maintenance of the Republic.

* March 11:General Vinoy, commander-in-chief of the army of Paris, suspends 6 republican newspapers. Auguste Blanqui and Gustave Flourens are sentenced to death in absentia for their participation in the attempted insurrection of October 31 in Paris.

* March 16:Thiers settles in Paris with the aim of "pacifying" the capital.

* March 17:Blanqui is arrested in the Lot.

* March 18:Thiers orders the removal of the guns of the National Guard. The Parisians of the East and Center districts are rising up. Execution of Generals Lecomte and Thomas (by their soldiers?). Thiers leaves Paris for Versailles.

* March 19:The Central Committee of the National Guard announces the holding of elections to create the Council of the Commune.

The government entrusts the administration of Paris to the mayors and deputies of the capital.

* March 20-21:In Versailles the delegation of mayors for a conciliation is booed by the Assembly. Jules Favre, Vice-President of the Council of Ministers insults Paris.

* March 21:Versailles troops occupy Mont-Valérien. Demonstration of the "Friends of the Order" boulevard des Italiens, Porte Saint-Denis, rue Vivienne and place de la Bourse.

* March 22:From the Opera to Place Vendôme, bloody failure of the second demonstration of the "Friends of the Order". Part of the population of the chic districts (West) leaves Paris.

* March 23:creation of a Commune in Marseille.

* March 24:creation of a Commune in Narbonne, Saint-Etienne and Toulouse.

* March 26:Creation of the Commune in Le Creusot. Elections for the Paris Commune Council

* March 28:Installation of the Paris Commune Council. Proclamation of the Paris Commune

* March 29:the Commune decrees that the rents due since the moratorium of August 13, 1870, are cancelled; the sale of objects deposited at the Mont-de-Piété is suspended. Military conscription and the professional army are abolished.

April

* April 2:The Commune decrees the separation of Church and State, the worship budget is abolished. The salaries of civil servants can no longer exceed 6,000 francs a year. The Commune decrees the indictment of the government of Thiers. In Courbevoie the Versailles troops attack the Communards who fall back on Neuilly.

* April 3:the Communards launch an attack in the direction of Versailles. Gustave Flourens is assassinated in Rueil-Malmaison by a gendarme.

* April 4:The Communards offensive fails at Châtillon, about 1,500 men are taken prisoners to Versailles. End of the Commune of Marseilles. Gustave Paul Cluseret is appointed War Delegate.

* April 5:The Commune suspends Le Journal des Débats and La Liberté pro-Versailles newspapers

* April 6:The Commune votes the decree of the hostages. Arrest of people who are accomplices of the Thiers government.

* April 8:The Commune decrees the payment of a pension to all the wounded, it will be extended to widows, orphans of the National Guards killed in action (April 10)

* April 9:The Council of the Commune reaffirms the obligation of the prior declaration for the press.

* April 11:the Commune decides to create a council of war.

* April 12:the Commune decides to suspend the legal proceedings concerning the deadlines (rents, bills of exchange...). The Archbishop of Paris, Georges Darboy, hostage of the Commune, writes to Thiers to protest against the summary executions of Communards prisoners and to propose his exchange against Auguste Blanqui prisoner in Morlaix on order of Thiers. The Commune banned Le Moniteur Universel, a newspaper considered pro-Versailles.

* April 13:the Commune decides to demolish the Vendôme Column

* April 14:The Commune prohibits arbitrary arrests. Beginning of the bombardment of Asnières, where the Commune troops are stationed, by Versailles troops (it will last until April 17)

* April 16:The Commune makes count the abandoned workshops and supports the creation of working cooperatives. The Commune decides on a period of three years for the repayment of installments and debts. Complementary elections to the Council of the Commune.

* April 18:the Commune decrees that all arrests must be the subject of a report

* April 19:the Commune makes a Declaration to the French people in which it sets out its program.

* April 20:the Commune prohibits night work for bakers (applicable on April 27)

* April 21:the Freemasons attempt a conciliation between the commune and the Thiers government.

* April 22:the Commune organizes municipal butchers

* April 23:Thiers organizes the blockade of the supply of Paris

* April 25:in Belle-Epine close to Villejuif, an officer of mounted hunter of the Versaillese troops carries out personally without judgments four communard soldiers prisoners. The Commune decides to requisition vacant dwellings to house the victims of the bombardments carried out by Versailles troops. The Commune decides to reorganize Weights and Measures

* April 28:the Commune abolishes the system of fines by which the bosses penalized their employees.

May

* 1st:creation, by the Commune of the Committee of Public Safety (kind of government). Louis Rossel is appointed War Delegate after the dismissal of Cluzeret.
* May 2:the Commune abolishes the political and professional oath for civil servants

* May 4:the Commune prohibits the accumulation of treatments.

* May 5:the Commune suppresses seven Parisian newspapers considered pro-Versaillais and destroys the expiatory chapel commemorating the death of Louis XVI

* May 6:Thiers refuses the attempt at conciliation undertaken by the League of Republican Union of the Rights of Paris. Decree of the Commune authorizing the free clearance of objects deposited at the Mont-de-Piété for less than 6 francs

* May 8:Thiers issues an ultimatum to the Parisians

* May 9:Fort Issy falls into the hands of Versailles troops

* May 10:Charles Delescluze is appointed War Delegate to replace Rossel who resigned. Franco-German peace is signed in Frankfurt. The Parisian assets of Thiers are seized.

* May 11:decree of the Commune ordering the demolition of the Parisian house of Thiers. The Commune suppresses 5 newspapers.

* May 13:Versailles troops occupy Fort Vanves.

* May 14:Thiers refuses the proposal to exchange the 74 hostages of the Commune against the only Auguste Blanqui imprisoned in Morlaix.

* May 15:open crisis between the majority and the minority of the Council of the Commune. The minorities publish a manifesto.

* May 16:demolition of the Vendôme column

* May 17:sabotage causes the explosion of the cartridge factory on Avenue Rapp. The Commune decrees the equality of legitimate or natural children, wives and concubines for the collection of pensions

* May 18:the National Assembly, sitting in Versailles, votes to ratify the Treaty of Frankfurt. The Public Safety Committee of the Commune suppresses ten newspapers.

* May 19:The Commune decrees that officials or suppliers of the Commune who will be accused of misappropriation will be brought before a court-martial where they will risk the death penalty. Arrest of the Dominicans of the convent of Arcueil, suspected of helping the Versailles troops.

* May 21:thanks to a betrayal, Versailles troops enter Paris through the Porte de Saint-Cloud. It's the start of Bloody Week.

* May 22:Versailles troops control the Champs-Elysées, the Saint-Lazare and Montparnasse districts

* May 23:Versailles troops occupy Montmartre. Beginnings of the great fires which will devastate certain Parisian monuments (Palais des Tuileries).

* May 24:The Versaillese control the Latin Quarter and multiply the summary executions. The Town Hall and the police headquarters are set on fire. Communards execute six hostages including Archbishop Georges Darboy.

* May 25:Five Dominicans from Arcueil and nine employees of the convent are killed in an attempt to escape. Vigorous fighting Place du Château d'Eau (current Place de la République). Death of Charles Delescluze.

* May 26:Foubourg Saint-Antoine is controlled by Versailles. Rue Haxo , the mob slaughters 11 monks, 35 gendarmes and four snitches from the Second Empire.

* May 27:Hard fighting in Belleville, at the Père-Lachaise cemetery and at the Buttes-Chaumont.

* May 28:early afternoon end of fighting (Rue Ramponneau) Death of Eugène Varlin.

* May 29:the fort of Vincennes capitulates. End of the Paris Commune. Trials, executions and deportations of communard prisoners will begin.


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