Thiers

This led to the creation of a Third Republic headed up by Adolphe Thiers.

According to the paper by Thiers, in certain climates and certain seasons, it may be an advantage to remain closed because moisture can be conserved in that way.

All of the Communes outside Paris were promptly crushed by the Thiers government.

For long an opponent of the Prussian war, Thiers persuaded Parliament that peace was necessary.

General Vinoy ordered the army to pull back to the Seine, and Thiers began to organise a withdrawal to Versailles, where he could gather enough troops to take back Paris.

However Thiers and the National Assembly did not accept his proposals.

On 14 May, Rigault proposed to exchange 70 hostages for the extreme-left leader, and Thiers again refused.

She offered to shoot Thiers, and suggested the destruction of Paris by way of vengeance for its surrender.

The first vote of the new Central Committee was to refuse to recognise the authority of General D'Aurelle de Paladines, the official commander of the National Guard appointed by Thiers, or of General Vinoy, the Military Governor of Paris.

Then in March of the same year, following the insurrection of the Paris Commune the French government under Thiers relocated to Versailles, from where the insurrection was militarily quelled.

They reported to both the Central Committee of the National Guard and to the Executive Commission, and it was not clear which one was in charge of the inevitable war with Thiers' government.

Thiers also decided to move the National Assembly and government from Bordeaux to Versailles, rather than to Paris, to be farther away from the pressure of demonstrations, which further enraged the National Guard and the radical political clubs.

Thiers' government in Versailles urged Parisians to abstain from voting.

Thiers immediately recognized a revolutionary situation and, on 18 March 1871, sent regular army units to take control of artillery that belonged to the National Guard of Paris.

Thiers insisted that the planned operation must go ahead as quickly as possible, to have the element of surprise.

This was approved by Thiers, who felt that to negotiate a future peace treaty the Germans were demanding war reparations of five billion francs; the gold reserves would be needed to keep the franc stable and pay the indemnity.

When the Thiers government left Paris in March, they did not have the time or the reliable soldiers to take the money with them.