In 1870, society was very clearly divided in two: the rich bosses and the wealthy versus the workers, craftsmen and ordinary people living from day to day.

In the streets, you could hear the clatter of carts on the cobbles, the shouts of street vendors and the din of workshops, while others strolled through the Bois de Boulogne enjoying the shade of the chestnut trees, so much appreciated by Baron Haussmann.

Napoleon III had been in power since 10 December 1848, restoring the Empire with the blessing of the wealthy. With the coup d'état of 2 December 1851, he put an end to the 2nd Republic.

Haussmann, Prefect of the Seine, had been administering Paris since 1853. He was responsible for the major works ordered by Napoleon III to make Paris healthier and turn it into a city admired throughout Europe. But above all, it was a way of demolishing the old districts of Paris, which had been the city's main hotbeds of revolution since 1789.

The revolutions of 1830 and 1848 are still fresh in everyone's memory.

Between 1860 and 1870, the population of Paris doubled to almost two million inhabitants. Many of the newcomers came from the provinces to find work, but lived in squalor. The richest lived in opulent buildings, while the poor crammed into unsanitary garrets at exorbitant rents, suffering from the cold in winter and the heat in summer.

There were still many working-class districts: Saint-Antoine, the cabinetmakers' district, La Villette, the butchers' district, and the 13th arrondissement, the tanners' district (the Bièvre had not yet been covered).

The industrial revolution was beginning, and people were needed to keep the machine running. A new unskilled working class emerged.

Working days averaged twelve hours, and from a very young age children were hired for pennies in workshops where accidents were commonplace.

For the women, who were paid 50 to 70% less than the men, the situation was one of abject poverty, and most of them resorted to prostitution to feed their families. There is no social protection.

Repression against the workers did not stop them from organising. In 1864, Napoleon III granted them the right to strike and tolerated the development of cooperatives, mutual societies, etc.

Napoleon III declared war on Prussia on 19 July 1870. The accumulation of military defeats led the country to disaster and the Emperor to his ruin: he was taken prisoner at Sedan on 2 September.

The Republic was proclaimed on 4 September 1870 and a National Defence government was elected.

The siege of the capital by the Prussian armies lasted four long months. The cold and hunger hit the working class districts very hard. Despite this, the people were galvanised; they wanted to defend their country and their honour, and refused to accept the government's capitulation.

At the end of 1870, the Central Republican Committee for National Defence of the 20 arrondissements was created. On 7 January 1871, in a proclamation known as "l'Affiche Rouge", the Red Poster, this committee called for the formation of a people's government. The inhabitants of the working-class districts signed up and swelled the ranks of the National Guard, which was now open to all. These battalions joined forces on 15 March 1871 to coordinate their actions, hence the name Fédérés.

The National Defence government was afraid of this armed people and signed an armistice with the Prussians on 28 January 1871. The abandonment of Alsace and Lorraine, which had been ceded to Prussia, and the enormous gold ransom provoked the anger of Parisians.

On 8 February the government organised elections. The result was a predominantly royalist and rural Assembly, with Adolphe Thiers as its chief executive.