The Franco-Prussian War and Paris Commune

Franco-Prussian War.

As a result of being pressured into War with Prussia without any allies, Nepolean  (ruler of France) was captured  in 1871. These events led to the Republic War, however, disaster struck once again and Paris was sized by the Germans and Prussians, who alongside demanding massive reparations, also took Alsace and Lorraine.

The French however, in an attempt to resist the Prussian take-over of Paris, took residence within it. At this point, the Germans were also surrounding Paris, leading to pandemonium, not to mention a short supply of sustenance. An armistice was then signed by the French government, leading to the payment of yet more reparations to Germany. The humiliation France had suffered in this period of time was immense, and the public were not remotely impressed. 

The Paris Commune 

The Paris Commune of 1871 was hugely important because it is perhaps one of the first examples of the working class combining forces in an attempt to take power.  It therefore also developed the movement of anarchy, not to mention socialism, and Marx saw it as a confirmation of his ideas regarding communism.  

After being defeated during the Franco-Prussian war, the French government tried to send in troops to “regain the Parisian National Guard's cannon to prevent it from falling into the hands of the population”.  The troops however were met by a huge rowdy crowd, and refusing to fire at their own people, turned against their officers, beginning the French Commune.

Parisians elected a council during the free elections, who desired to recreate France as a “confederation of communes”, in an attempt to create a new society.  The commune combined traditional representative democracy with their new socialist ideas. This angered anarchists who noticed that the commune was not allowed to act for itself but instead had to rely on governors. This Council opposed this anarchist minority and called for it to be defended by the French army, after ignoring the general public consensus.

On the 21^st of May, Government troops entered the city and fought for a whole week. 30,000 communards met their deaths, and even though the major “event” is ignored on the French history curriculum,  it marks a massive milestone in European history.

The Dreyfus Affair

The Dreyfus case divided the French embassy and public. It was probably quite as hard-hitting as it was down to the fact that it followed other scandals such as the Wilson case and the Boulanger affair.
Alfred Dreyfus was the captain of French army, and descended from a Jewish family. In 1894 papers discovered in a wastebasket suggested that he was passing on secret information to the German Government.

Dreyfus was believed to commit treason, probably because he was a Jew and also because he had access to the information that was passed on to the German government. The French army then also stated that Dreyfus’ handwriting was identical to that on the papers. Although he constantly pleaded innocence, he was found guilty of treason and was shipped off to Devil’s Island and stripped of his rank.

Two years on, in 1896 an officer reopened the case, only to find that the evidence was wrong and the real culprit was Esterhazy. However, this was new information went to waste as Esterhazy was acquitted on his second day of trial.

Emile Zola, a journalist covered the army’s cover up in “J’accuse” but was found guilty of of libel and sentenced to prison. The public’s involvement however by this point had become more passionate, and the political right (the church) declared the Dreyfus case to be a conspiracy of the Jews.
A while later, another officer discovered that additional documents had been added to the Dreyfus file and found that Hubert Henry, the lieutenant had forged the documentations.

In September 1899, Dreyfus was pardoned by the president of France, and was allowed to re-enter Paris, but not until 1906- 12 years after the pardon. The case had forced the republicans, radicals and socialites to work together and in 1905, the Radical party succeeded in passing legislation separating church and state.