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:
“Grown onto every inch of plate, except
Where the hinges let it move, were living things,
Barnacles, mussels, water weeds—and one
Blue bit of polished glass, glued there by time:
The origins of art.”
—Howard Moss (b. 1922)
“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)
“Compare the history of the novel to that of rock ‘n’ roll. Both started out a minority taste, became a mass taste, and then splintered into several subgenres. Both have been the typical cultural expressions of classes and epochs. Both started out aggressively fighting for their share of attention, novels attacking the drama, the tract, and the poem, rock attacking jazz and pop and rolling over classical music.”
—W. T. Lhamon, U.S. educator, critic. “Material Differences,” Deliberate Speed: The Origins of a Cultural Style in the American 1950s, Smithsonian (1990)