On the corner of Rue Paulin Mèry and Rue du Moulin-des-Prés, near number 12, stands a modern building.

In place of this new building opposite us, at 12 Rue du Moulin-des-Prés, there once stood a large house with an inner courtyard accessed via a grand porch. It has now disappeared, but the old houses around it must have witnessed the Commune.

On 3 March 1871, Émile Duval, accompanied by federal guards, seized a million cartridges stored in the Manufacture des Gobelins (as a precaution, in case the Prussians…) and hid them at 12 Rue du Moulin-des-Prés. In the 13th arrondissement, the uprising against Thiers’ government began on 3 March.

On 4 March 1871, Émile Duval went to the fortifications of the 9th sector and brought back 26 cannons, which he initially placed in front of the town hall, whilst the Prussians were parading through Paris. It was here that he had the cannons and weapons hidden to prevent them from being recaptured by the Versaillais.

Émile Duval appointed himself president of the revolutionary committee and drafted orders for the powder magazines of the fortifications. He gave orders to Commander Thierce (a future supporter of Versailles), who refused to obey. He was taken away by force for questioning and threatened with execution: on 7 March, he was carrying an arrest warrant sent by Versailles for Duval — a warrant that never reached its destination.

On 8 March, as a precaution, Émile Duval had the cannons moved from the Place d’Italie to 16 Rue du Moulin-des-Prés, in the Brothers’ school, which no longer exists.

Thiers’ provocations

It was then that the Government, having taken refuge in Bordeaux, suspended the rent moratoriums granted during the siege and abolished the daily pay of 1.50 francs for the National Guards. News also reached them of the death sentences handed down to Blanqui and Flourens for the events of 31 October.

The National Guard

Before continuing, a brief reminder of what the National Guard was, as its role was crucial to the Commune.

Originally, in 1789, it was a bourgeois guard led by La Fayette tasked with maintaining order in Paris; its members were civilians who received military training but were not professionals. It was retained by Napoleon I, but Charles X disbanded it in 1827 and re-established it in 1830.

In September 1870, facing the Prussians, the Government of National Defence reinforced the National Guard: in Paris, it initially comprised 60 battalions recruited from the ‘safe’ arrondissements; then, in the face of the Prussian threat, 254 battalions, mainly made up of workers, were recruited. They were paid by the town hall and armed. They elected their own officers.

They played a major role during the siege of Paris and became increasingly politicised. On 15 March 1871, they established a ‘federation of national guards’, hence their nickname ‘fédérés’. It was their Central Committee of the National Guard that opposed Thiers’s armistice and led the insurrection until the election of the members of the Commune on 26 March. The 13^th arrondissement had 10,000 National Guardsmen, including 5,000 combatants.

The National Guard was finally disbanded in August 1871.