The Paris Commune was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defended Paris, and working-class radicalism grew among its soldiers. Following the establishment of the French Third Republic in September 1870 and the complete defeat of the French Army by the Germans by March 1871, soldiers of the National Guard seized control of the city on March 18. The Communards killed two French army generals and refused to accept the authority of the Third Republic; instead, the radicals set about establishing their own independent government.
The Basilica of Sacré Cœur de Montmartre, commonly known as Sacré-Cœur Basilica and often simply Sacré-Cœur, is a Catholic church and minor basilica in Paris dedicated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. It was formally approved as a national historic monument by the National Commission of Patrimony and Architecture on December 8, 2022.
Georges Darboy was a French Catholic prelate who served as Bishop of Nancy then Archbishop of Paris. He was among a group of prominent hostages executed as the Paris Commune of 1871 was about to be overthrown.
The Place Vendôme, earlier known as the Place Louis-le-Grand, and also as the Place Internationale, is a square in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, France, located to the north of the Tuileries Gardens and east of the Église de la Madeleine. It is the starting point of the Rue de la Paix. Its regular architecture by Jules Hardouin-Mansart and pedimented screens canted across the corners give the rectangular Place Vendôme the aspect of an octagon. The original Vendôme Column at the centre of the square was erected by Napoleon I to commemorate the Battle of Austerlitz; it was torn down on 16 May 1871, by decree of the Paris Commune, but subsequently re-erected and remains a prominent feature on the square today.
Louis Charles Delescluze was a French revolutionary leader, journalist, and military commander of the Paris Commune.
Picpus Cemetery is the largest private cemetery in Paris, France, and is located in the 12th arrondissement. It was created from land seized from the convent of the Chanoinesses de St-Augustin, during the French Revolution. Just minutes away from where the most active guillotine in Paris was set up, it contains 1,306 victims executed between 14 June and 27 July 1794, during the height and final phase of the Reign of Terror.
Théophile Charles Gilles Ferré was one of the members of the Paris Commune. He authorized the executions of Georges Darboy, the archbishop of Paris, and five other hostages, on 24 May 1871. He was captured by the army, tried by a military court, and was shot at Satory. He was the first of twenty-five Commune members to be executed for their role in the Paris Commune.
Anatole de Bengy was one of the five Jesuit martyrs of the Paris Commune, along with Pierre Olivaint.
The Église de la Sainte-Trinité is a Roman Catholic church located on the place d'Estienne d'Orves, at 3 rue de la Trinité, in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. It was built between 1861 and 1867 during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, in the residential neighborhood of the Chaussée d'Antin. It is in the ornate Neo-Renaissance or Second Empire Style, with a highly visible 65-meter-tall belfry.
Jean-Marie du Lau d'Allemans was a French Catholic prelate who served as the last Archbishop of Arles. He was one of the Catholic Martyrs of September 1792, killed in the September Massacres during the French Revolution. He was beatified on 17 October 1926 by Pope Pius XI.
Pierre Olivaint (1816–1871) was a French Jesuit who was killed by the Paris Commune.
The Five Martyrs of the Lycée Buffon were five students from the Lycée Buffon shot by the Germans in Paris at the Stand de tir de Balard on 8 February 1943 for their activities with the French Resistance. Also, their families were taken hostage. Following the war, each of the students was posthumously awarded the Legion of Honour, the Croix de guerre 1939–1945 and the Resistance medal.
Claude Lecomte was a French general killed by the National Guard of the Paris Commune.
Jacques Léon Clément-Thomas, was born in 1809 in Libourne (Gironde) and shot in Paris on 18 March 1871, one of the first deaths of the Paris Commune. A Republican of the old guard, Clément-Thomas was an army general, Commander in Chief of France's National Guard on two occasions, and a parliamentary deputy.
André de SoveralSJ was a Portuguese Catholic priest from Colonial Brazil. He was killed during the Restoration War at the Martyrdom of Cunhau, a massacre promoted by Dutch troops and their Calvinist ministers, who fought against the Portuguese Empire in Brazil. Soveral was a member of the Jesuits.
The semaine sanglante was a weeklong battle in Paris from 21 to 28 May 1871, during which the French Army recaptured the city from the Paris Commune. This was the final battle of the Paris Commune.
The Federated Legion of Women was an armed unit composed of women active during the Paris Commune in May 1871. It was founded in the 12th arrondissement, with the intended mission of hunting down deserters. The legion had uniforms, parades, and a standard-bearer, and was led by two officers, Colonel Adélaïde Valentin and Captain Louise Neckbecker. There were an estimated 20-100 members, most from working-class backgrounds. They held and attended meetings in Parisian political clubs, where they incited citizens to take up arms. After the defeat of the Commune, arrested members were given heavy sentences, including forced labour and deportation.
Adélaïde Valentin, also known as Colonel Valentin, was a labourer and communard. She was, during the last month of the Paris Commune, the colonel of the Federated Legion of Women.
Crimes de la Commune is a series of photomontages produced by French photographer Ernest-Charles Appert at the end of the Paris Commune. A Parisian photographer accredited to the Tribunal de la Seine, and sometimes cited as the forerunner of bertillonage, he photographed Communards incarcerated in Versailles and used these portraits in photomontages. This practice of committed photomontage is the subject of much debate. Furthermore, these photographs raise issues of both commercial practice and copyright.
The fires of Paris during the Commune were the premeditated destruction of monuments and residential buildings in Paris mainly during Bloody Week, the period when Paris was recaptured by the Versailles army from Sunday, May 21 to Sunday, May 28, 1871.
