Jules François Simon was a French statesman and philosopher, and one of the leaders of the Moderate Republicans in the Third French Republic.
Eugène Henri Brisson was a French statesman, Prime Minister of France for a period in 1885-1886 and again in 1898.
Pierre Marie René Ernest Waldeck-Rousseau was a French Republican politician who served as the Prime Minister of France.
Maurice Rouvier was a French statesman of the "Opportunist" faction, who served as the Prime Minister of France. He is best known for his financial policies and his unpopular policies designed to avoid a rupture with Germany.
Louis Joseph Ernest Picard was a French politician.
Paul-Armand Challemel-Lacour was a French statesman.
Léon Gambetta was a French lawyer and republican politician who proclaimed the French Third Republic in 1870 and played a prominent role in its early government.
Eugène Spuller was a French politician and writer.
Jules Vallès was a French journalist, author, and left-wing political activist.
The Government of National Defense was the first government of the Third Republic of France from 4 September 1870 to 13 February 1871 during the Franco-Prussian War. It was formed after the proclamation of the Republic in Paris on 4 September, which in turn followed the surrender and capture of Emperor Napoleon III by the Prussians at the Battle of Sedan. The government, headed by General Louis Jules Trochu, was under Prussian siege in Paris. Breakouts were attempted twice, but met with disaster and rising dissatisfaction of the public. In late January the government, having further enraged the population of Paris by crushing a revolutionary uprising, surrendered to the Prussians. Two weeks later, it was replaced by the new government of Adolphe Thiers, which soon passed a variety of financial laws in an attempt to pay reparations and thus oblige the Prussians to leave France, leading to the outbreak of revolutions in French cities, and the ultimate creation of the Paris Commune.
The 16 May 1877 crisis was a constitutional crisis in the French Third Republic concerning the distribution of power between the president and the legislature. When the royalist president Patrice MacMahon dismissed the Moderate Republican prime minister Jules Simon, the parliament on 16 May 1877 refused to support the new government and was dissolved by the president. New elections resulted in the royalists increasing their seat totals, but nonetheless resulted in a majority for the Republicans. Thus, the interpretation of the 1875 Constitution as a parliamentary system prevailed over a presidential system. The crisis ultimately sealed the defeat of the royalist movement, and was instrumental in creating the conditions for the longevity of the Third Republic.
The Moderates or Moderate Republicans, pejoratively labeled Opportunist Republicans, was a French political group active in the late 19th century during the Third French Republic. The leaders of the group included Adolphe Thiers, Jules Ferry, Jules Grévy, Henri Wallon and René Waldeck-Rousseau.
The Republican Union, later known as the Progressive Union, was a French parliamentary group founded in 1871 as a heterogeneous alliance of moderate radicals, former Communards and opponents of the French-Prussian Treaty.
The Léon Gambetta class consisted of three armored cruisers built for the French Navy during the first decade of the 20th century. Armed with four 194-millimeter (7.6 in) guns, the ships were much larger and more powerfully armed than their predecessors. Léon Gambetta, the first of the sister ships to be completed, was initially assigned to the Northern Squadron where she served as a flagship. Her sisters Jules Ferry and Victor Hugo were assigned to the Mediterranean Squadron where Jules Ferry also served as a flagship. Léon Gambetta joined them there in 1910 and the sisters remained there for most of their careers.
Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet was a French statesman who served four times as Prime Minister during the Third Republic. He also served an important term as Minister of War (1888–1893). He belonged to the Moderate Republican faction.
Eugène Etienne was a French politician who was a Deputy from 1881 to 1919, Minister of War in 1913, and a Senator from 1920 until his death.
François Henri René Allain-Targé was a French politician of the French Third Republic. He served as Minister of finance under Léon Gambetta and Minister of the interior under Henri Brisson.
Jules-Théodore-Joseph Cazot was a French politician of the French Third Republic. He was a member of the National Assembly of 1871. He was a senator for life from 1875 until his death. He was minister of justice in 1880 and 1881, under the governments of Jules Ferry and Léon Gambetta.
Emmanuel Arène was a French journalist, playwright and republican politician who was deputy for Corsica for many years and senator of Corsica in his last years. He was involved in scandals over maritime mail contracts and the Panama Canal funding. Towards the end of his career he dominated Corsican politics. Arène was also a prolific and successful journalist, wrote short stories and wrote for the theatre.
Edme Charles Phillipe Lepère was a French politician, journalist and lawyer who served as the Minister of the Interior and Religious Affairs under Prime Ministers William Henry Waddington from 1879 to 1880. He previously served as Minister of Agriculture and Commerce from February to March 1879.
