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 collapsed, and the French Third Republic rose up in its place (initially intended as a provisional government but it ended up lasting until 1940) to continue the war with Prussia, which resulted in a 4-month-long siege of Paris (ending Jan 28), which laid the groundwork for the Commune
in desperation Napoleon III went to war against Bismarck's Germany and lost, and in the vacuum that followed arose the Paris Commune, one of the greatest revolutionary episodes in capitalist urban history