Origins
When the Franco-Prussian War began in 1870, France was under the control of Emperor Louis Napoleon III. A National Assembly was based in Paris, but its powers were limited. Widespread discontent amongst Assembly members before the war, particularly amongst socialist members, had given Louis-Napoleon many enemies. At the disastrous battle of Sedan, Louis-Napoleon was captured by the Prussian Army, leaving France effectively without a government. When news of Louis-Napoleon's capture reached Paris, leading members of the National Assembly rushed to the Hôtel de Ville to declare a new government. At the Hôtel de Ville, Léon Gambetta publicly declared the founding of the Government of National Defence on September 4, and the government immediately assumed control of all affairs in France, intending to continue the war against Prussia.
Read more about this topic: Government Of National Defense
Famous quotes containing the word origins:
“The origins of clothing are not practical. They are mystical and erotic. The primitive man in the wolf-pelt was not keeping dry; he was saying: “Look what I killed. Aren’t I the best?””
—Katharine Hamnett (b. 1948)
“Lucretius
Sings his great theory of natural origins and of wise conduct; Plato
smiling carves dreams, bright cells
Of incorruptible wax to hive the Greek honey.”
—Robinson Jeffers (1887–1962)
“The settlement of America had its origins in the unsettlement of Europe. America came into existence when the European was already so distant from the ancient ideas and ways of his birthplace that the whole span of the Atlantic did not widen the gulf.”
—Lewis Mumford (1895–1990)