The Parisian revolutionaries take control of the French Capital, leading to the beginning of the Paris Commune, a socialist and popular government that would rule the City of Light from March 18 to May 28, 1871. So when Adolphe Thiers, head of the government, tried to seize the cannons from the National Guard in Montmartre and sent regular troops to Paris on March 18, the Parisians rose against the political and military leaders who had retreated to Versailles. Only protected by the National Guard (composed mostly of Parisian workers and craftsmen), the people of Paris, hard-hit by the siege, feel humiliated by the decision to sign an armistice with Germany in January 1871. Following the Franco-Prussian War, Paris has been besieged by German troops since September 18, 1870.
