The Paris Commune

In the winter of early 1871, Paris was a city of ghosts. After a four-month siege by Prussian forces, its people had survived a freezing famine by eating horses, dogs, and even zoo animals. But their endurance was met with betrayal. The new national government, led by Adolphe Thiers, signed a preliminary peace treaty in February 1871. It required France to pay a 5 billion franc indemnity and cede the territories of Alsace and Lorraine. While the new, largely monarchist assembly moved its seat to Versailles, Parisians watched Prussian troops hold a victory parade down their own Champs-Élysées. The final insult came when the government ended the moratorium on rents and debts, threatening thousands of impoverished residents with ruin. Outrage simmered through the starved and defeated capital.