The
Paris Commune was a radical
socialist and revolutionary government that ruled Paris from 18 March to 28 May 1871. Following the defeat of Emperor
Napoleon III in September 1870, the
French Second Empire swiftly collapsed. In its stead rose a
Third Republic at
war with Prussia, who subjected Paris to a brutal
four-month siege. A hotbed of working-class radicalism, during this time France's capital was primarily defended not by the regular
French Army, but by the often politicized and radical troops of
National Guard. In February 1871
Adolphe Thiers, the new chief executive of the French national government, signed an armistice with Prussia that disarmed the Army but not the National Guard.