The Commune of Paris was a period of anarchy and bloodshed in Paris at the end of the Franco-German war. It lasted from March the 18th until May the 28th 1871, and began with the refusal of the Paris National Guards to give up their arms, their murder of General Thomas and General Lecomte and their organisation of themselves into a Central Committee.
On March the 18th, Thiers, the head of the national government, retired with the regular troops to Versailles, and the Parisian central committee assumed the executive power in Paris. They proceeded to elect a communal council of seventy-five members on March the 26th and April the 16th. This body passed resolutions for the abolition of conscription, free rent for the quarters October 1870 to April 1871, complete separation of the church and state, the suppression of the budget for public worship and the restitution to the nation of all property held by ecclesiastical bodies in mortmain, enforced enrolment in the National Guard of every man between 19 and 35, the institution of a labour commission, the establishment of co- operative workshops, all education to be in the hands of the laity only. They were finally defeated by the army who shot their communist prisoners without trial. Research Commune of Paris
The Jacobins were a radical French political group. The Jacobins stood for the establishment of a single, uniform, rational and centralised nation- state, which would be a democratic republic, expressing the sovereignty of the people. Jacobins were entirely hostile to aristocratic privileges and to all feudal forms of government. They were originally called the Club Breton when they were formed in Versailles, but on moving to Paris in 1789 were renamed the Jacobins. After successive purges they became the instrument of the Reign of Terror under Robespierre's dictatorship. See Jacobinism Research Jacobins
The Tennis Court Oath was a dramatic incident which took place at Versailles in the first stage of the French Revolution. On the 17th of June 1789 the Third Estate of the States-General under the presidency of Jean Bailly, a representative of Paris, declared themselves the National Assembly, claiming that they were the only Estate properly accredited and that the First and Second Estates must join them. On 20 June they found their official meeting- place closed and moved to the TennisCourt, a large open hall nearby. The Oath bound them not to separate until they had given France a constitution. Research Tennis Court Oath
The Treaty of Versailles was a treaty of peace concluded at Versailles between commissions representing the United States and Great Britain. It was arranged in 1782, and was formally ratified on September the 3rd,1783. Jay, Adams, Franklin and Laurens formed the American Commission. By this treaty the absolute independence of the United States was recognized. Florida was returned to Spain; the Americans relinquished their pretensions to the territory north of Lake Brie; the St Lawrence river system, from the western end of Lake Superior to the forty-fifth parallel, was made the boundary; from the forty-fifth parallel to the sea, the boundary followed the highlands after an uncertain fashion, and was long a matter of bitter dispute; British right of navigation of the Mississippi was yielded, England according in return the American right of fishing on the Canadian and Newfoundland coasts; Loyalists and Tories were to be protected in America; English troops were to be withdrawn without destroying any property, or taking away any negro slaves belonging to Americans. This treaty was in reality signed in Paris, but is generally known by the above name, which properly belongs only to the treaty between England and France. Research Treaty of Versailles
Benjamin Franklin was an American statesman and scientist. He was born in 1706 at Boston and died in 1790. The son of a tallow-chandler and soap-boiler, he was apprenticed to his elder brother, a printer, and developed an eager fondness for books and writing.
At seventeen he ran away to Philadelphia, where, in 1729, he established a newspaper. His public spirit, his talents as a writer and the fame of his scientific discoveries advanced him in prominence. In 1753 he was appointed deputy postmaster-general of the British colonies. In 1754, being a member of the Albany Convention, he proposed an important plan for colonial union.. From 1757 to 1763, and again from 1764 to the American War of Independence, he was agent of Pennsylvania in England; part of the time, also, for Massachusetts, New Jersey and Georgia.
In 1773, acting as agent for the political leaders in Massachusetts, he sent over to them the correspondence of Hutchinson, Oliver and other Massachusetts loyalists with a confidant of the British Ministry. The publication of the letters aroused great excitement in the colonies, and brought down upon Benjamin Franklin violent abuse on the part of the ministerialists, and dismissal from his office of postmaster-general.
In 1775 seeing that reconciliation was impossible, he returned to Pennsylvania, and was at once chosen a delegate to the Continental Congress. In 1776 he was one of the committee of five who drew up the Declaration of Independence,, and in the autumn was sent to join Arthur Lee and Silas Deane in the mission to France. In Paris he was received with great enthusiasm. He succeeded in obtaining from the French Government not only the treaty of 1778, but also large sums of money supplied in secret before that government declared war on England and openly afterward. Benjamin Franklin had a leading part in the beginnings of negotiation with Great Britain for peace and independence. In respect to the actual manner in which the treaty was concluded, he was overruled by John Adams and Jay, who deemed it best, contrary to the instructions of Congress, to negotiate apart from France and make separate terms. Benjamin Franklin played an important part in the arrangements of the treaty, especially those respecting the loyalists. After the Treaty of Versailles had thus been signed on September the 3rd, 1783, Benjamin Franklin negotiated a favourable treaty with Prussia.
In 1785 Benjamin Franklin returned to America, and was chosen president of Pennsylvania, and again in 1786 and 1787. He was an influential member of the Convention of 1787, and died at Philadelphia a few years later. Beside his eminence as a statesman and as a philosopher and scientific discoverer, Benjamin Franklin was noted as a shrewd and practical philanthropist, and was one of the best of English writers. He was renowned for his identification of lightning with electricity, but also wrote widely criticising corruption, philosophising and even describing Harvard College as a place where money was valued above intelligence. Research Benjamin Franklin
Charles Francois Dupperier Dumouriez was a French soldier. He was was born in 1739 at Cambrai of a noble family of Provence and died in 1823. He served as an officer in the Seven Years' war. In 1768 he went to Corsica as quartermaster-general of the small army which was sent for the conquest of that island, and was afterwards made colonel. In 1778 he was appointed governor of Cherbourg.
At the revolution he joined the Jacobins, and subsequently the Girondists, and in 1792 he was minister of foreign affairs. War breaking out between France and Austria he resigned in order to take command of the army; invaded Flanders, and defeated the Austrians at Jemappes and conquered Belgium. Instead of prosecuting the war vigorously he now entered upon measures for the overthrow of the revolutionary government, issued a proclamation, in which he promised the restoration of the constitutional monarchy in the person of the heir to the crown, but was attacked by the Versailles volunteers, and compelled to flee on April the 4th, 1793. The convention set a price of 300,000 livres upon his head. At first he retired to Brussels, and after various wanderings found a final refuge in England. His Memoirs, written by himself, appeared in 1794; an enlarged edition in 1822. He was also the author of a large number of political pamphlets. Research Charles Dumouriez
Charles Vergennes, Count de Vergennes, was a French statesman. He was born in 1717 and died in 1787. He became Minister of Foreign Affairs in France in 1774. He gave efficient support to the American colonies during the American War of Independence. He counselled Louis XVI to loan the American insurgents money, to recognize their independence, and to sign the treaty of 1778, by
which France aided the Americans with forces, money and supplies. He was a negotiator of the treaty of Versailles in 1783. The American negotiators suspected him of intending to sacrifice their interests, and, disregarding their instructions, made a separate peace apart from France. Research Charles Vergennes
Charles X (Comte d'Artois) was king of France. He was born in 1757 at Versailles and died in 1836. The grandson of Louis XV, he was the youngest son of the dauphin, and brother of Louis XVI. He left France in 1789, after the first popular insurrection and destruction of the Bastille, and afterwards assuming the command of a body of emigrants, acted in concert with the Austrian and Prussian armies on the Rhine. Despairing of success he retired to Great Britain and resided for several years in the palace of Holyrood at Edinburgh. He entered France at the Restoration, and in 1824 succeeded his brother, Louis XVIII as king. In a short time his reactionary policy brought him into conflict with the popular party, and in 1830 a revolution drove him from the throne, and he resided in Britain until 1832 when he moved to Hungary.
Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berri was the second son of the Count d'Artois (afterwards Charles X). He was born in 1778 at Versailles and died in 1820 when he was assassinated. In 1792 he fled with his father to Turin and served under him and Conde on the Rhine. In 1801 he came to Britain, where he lived alternately in London and Scotland, occupied with plans for the restoration of the Bourbons. In 1814 he landed at Cherbourg, and passed on to Paris, gaining many adherents to the royal cause; but they melted away when Napoleon landed from Elba, and the count was compelled to retire with the household troops to Ghent and Alost.
After the battle of Waterloo he returned to Paris, and in 1816 married. He was assassinated by Louvel, a political fanatic, on February the 14th, 1820. The duke had by his wife, Carolina Ferdinanda Louisa, eldest daughter of Francis, afterwards king of the Two Sicilies, a daughter, Louise Marie Therese, afterwards Duchess of Parma, and a posthumous son subsequently known as Comte de Chambord. Research Duke of Berri
Francois Achille Bazaine was a French soldier. He was born in 1811 at Versailles and died in 1888. He entered the army as a private soldier in 1831, and served in Algeria with distinction, gaining the cross of the Legion of Honour, and rising to the rank of lieutenant. He next went to Spain and fought in the foreign legion against the Carlists and in 1839 returned to Algeria, where he latterly held the rank of colonel in 1850.
He was next engaged in the Crimean war, being at first commander of a brigade and then general of division, leading the French troops sent to attack the fortress of Kinburn in 1855. He did good service also in the Italian war of 1859, being actively engaged in the battle of Solferino. His military reputation was increased by the part he took in the Mexican expedition during 1862 to 1864, in which he led the first division under Forey, and when this general was recalled became commander-in-chief of the French forces in Mexico and marshal of France.
On the outbreak of the Franco-Prussian War in 1870 he was appointed to the command of the 3rd Army Corps, after a series of defeats culminating at Gravelotte he withdrew his army to Metz where he subsequently surrendered to the Prussians. After the war he was court-martialled in 1873 for surrendering the city of Metz and for negotiating with the enemy, was convicted and sentenced to death, though the sentence was commuted to 20 years imprisonment. In 1874 he escaped from prison and made his way to Madrid where he lived the remainder of his life. Research Francois Bazaine
The Probert Encyclopaedia was designed, edited and programed by
Matt and Leela Probert
Abbreviations
Research Commune of Paris
