Why did the Paris Commune Fail? (Short Animated Documentary) 

"It's fine, they probably won't shoot back." is exactly what napoleon did when he returned to france

France's list of enemies throughout history (in no particular order): 1. Germany 2. England 3. France

As a Military Tactician I can confirm that it is generally considered disadvantageous to be fighting a country that has twenty times as many people as yours and also entirely surrounds you.

History: "What do you want? Revolution, or war with another nation?" France: "Yes."

France is like an engine its efficiency measured in revolutions

I can imagine the Prussians just watching the battles between the republican and communists while sitting on sacks of cash and piles of gold

"thrones are for winners" My God your humour in these videos never ceases to amaze me

Honestly finding out that the monarchists actually won the first elections and that France was originally gonna be a monarchy but after a while it just kinda stayed a Republic was the most fascinating thing I learned in this video. I think this deserves a separate video tbh

They didn't have enough Political Power and didn't finish the focuses that gave them buffs in time.

"It's fine, they probably wonnt shoot back." I laughed so hard. THIS is why I watch

How many historical events do you want? Versailles: yes

"Thrones are for winners" -Charlemagne, probably.

Paris Commune: "It's fine, they probably won't shoot back." Ron Howard: "They did."

Make a Video about the worlds Reaction of Napoleon III being the French Emperor

Gunter: Hans!! Hans: Ja? Gunter: Grab zhe popkorn! Zhe French are fighting zhemselves again.

French Commune: Has internal and ideological bickering which hampers their effective control and power Spanish Republicans: Write that down! Write that down!

“It’s fine, they probably won’t shoot back” can easily be coupled with “yes we are outgunned and outnumbered, but we’ll just convince other poor people on the way to join us.”

When the Monarchist attacked, all of the separate groups in Paris divided up and went back to defend their own neighborhoods. This allowed them to be fought one at a time. Also Paris had recently been redesigned with wide boulevards that made it much easier to crush any rebellion. (This had been part of the reasoning behind the design).

The Germans outside the city were like: Yo, uhm, it's cool if you're communists now but could you, like, pay us?

While the info presented here isn't wrong, I felt like adding a little nuance that's absent (which isn't surprising given the short length of the video) Hope this will interest at least someone. First, while social demands were part of the reason why the national guard revolted, the main reason was simply that they wanted to continue the war. Paris was still a massive city, heavily defended and they were convinced that they could hold back the Prussians long enough to raise new armies as reinforcements and push back against the Prussians. Hearing that the government wanted to surrender without a fight really didn't sit well with them. Now, could France have won the war had they gone with that plan ? It's doubtful. They had already taken massive losses in the east, but Paris was indeed able to hold a prolonged siege as the Commune actually proved. Regarding the way the government wanted the National guard to give up their weapons, it's a bit more complicated than just asking them, but just as stupid. The government leaders asked a bunch of generals to take over the city during the night and to seize the weapons while they were unguarded so the the guards had no choice but to accept their decision once they woke up. A pretty solid plan at this point, until you realize they didn't just plan of putting a bunch of armed soldiers in front of each armory to take them over, but to literally take away thousands of cannons and hundreds of thousands of rifles and bring them out of the city in a single night without anyone noticing. Yeah... Good luck with that. They woke up the entire town way before they could take hold of a single cannon and then tried the "Please, give them to us" strategy with the angry guards. It didn't work. By the way, French generals at the time were hilariously terrible, that's one of the main reasons why this war ended up in such a disaster. I might go into more detail on that topic if someone asks. Now, let's talk about the republic. While it's true that the empire fell apart almost immediately after Napoleon III's capture, I want to clarify that this republic was meant to simply be a very temporary government to be replaced with a monarchy as soon as possible and the Versaillais who fought the Commune were absolutely not republicans. Adolphe Thiers, the leader of the government and the one who crushed the Commune in blood was a monarchist at the time. Funnily enough, he later became a republicans when he realized just how incompetent the monarchists were (I might also go in more details on that if someone asks) and this 3rd republic which was supposed to last weeks at most ended up becoming the longest lasting of the French regimes after the Revolution, lasting until the annexation of France in 1940. Finally, I wanted to comment about the lack of leadership within the Commune. While there was no central figure who lead the whole movement and their were a lot of different ideas and ambitions among the insurgents, this was by design. The Commune was an anarchist government, although some Communards might have objected to this label. There wasn't any leader or any central government because there wasn't supposed to be one, the people were the ones who had to gather in assemblies and take the decisions together. And while there were disagreement, these people were able to organize and form a functioning society, especially given the fact they were besieged and in constant crisis. That's why they are so well-remembered even to this day. Now, you might argue that this organization wouldn't have worked in the long run and the Commune would have collapsed from the inside even if it had succeeded and that might be true, but internal divisions weren't the reason it got crushed. The main reason, which is briefly mentioned in this video, is the fact they failed to gather sympathizers outside of Paris. This is due to multiple reasons. The lack of a charismatic central figure and a clear form of governance might have been part of it indeed, but more important was that they basically couldn't communicate with the outside while during that time, the government started a massive propaganda campaign depicting them as dangerous terrorists aiming to destroy Christianity (which was a lie, although many Communard leaders were indeed atheists) and continue a bloody war against Prussia (which was true). Add to that the fact provinces had always been more conservative than Paris and were pretty tired of how they always had to adapt to the regime changes coming from revolutions in the capital and it wasn't hard to convince them to go in massive numbers and slaughter the Communards, which they did.

"It's fine. They probably won't shoot back." Spoiler: They shot back.

"What are you gonna do? Shoot me?" - The Paris Commune

The AOE priest wololo'ing through the French Republican army turning them to communists was a nice touch.

TO BE FAIR there was precedent for "the common soldiers will switch sides & join our revolutionary cause." It worked extraordinarily well for both Garibaldi & Napoleon, and defections were of vital importance later in the Russian Civil War

Idea for a video: *Why did Albania leave the Warsaw Pact?*

Commune: " We've taken Paris the heart of France" Everybody: "Ok what's next?" Commune: "I dunno I didn't think i'd get this far."

"It's fine, they probably won't shoot back" - Benedict Arnold during the invasion of Canada

I love how this channel always summarizes everything nicely at the end…really helps me take it in.

I currently study law & will confirm that “fat stacks of cash” are indeed legal terms.

The workers declare the Paris commune: Ok so now what?

Everyone's about James Bissonnette and Kelly Money-maker, but let's not forget Aaron the White!

Oh my goodness. This channel is amazing. It should be compulsory viewing for everyone! Thank you !

*The Americas:* "Europe, my friend! What have you been up to this--?" *Europe:* "France again. Don't ask."

France: *Attempts to start a communist revolution.* Also France: (wags finger) "Uh, uh, uh. No communism here."

This sounds a lot like CHAZ in Seattle last year, but with more Germans

Love this channel. The humor, the animation, and the history lessons all come together perfectly.

2:58 now that just warmed my heart, good old age of empires reference :,)

I’m surprised we haven’t sold Paris to Kelly Moneymaker at this point.

"It's fine, they probably won't shoot back." -Some dead French soldier, idk.

I just wanna say, that you are one of my favorite channels on RU-vid, thank you so much for the videos you put on RU-vid

France: Viva La Commune! Also France: We hate the Commune!

2:48 "Socialists die when you kill them." The US: My goodness, what an idea? Why didn't I think of that?

I've been waiting for this video forever. I even asked to do something on them! So happy!

I love your channel keep up the great stuff!!!

They were given, to use a technical term, SQUAT This channels humor never fails

*History Matters makes a post* Me: ah yes, *I M E D I A T E D O P A M I N E*

The commune failed because ... it was a commune.

Always enjoy all your vids ty :)

3:46 probably the darkest scene ever from History Matters

3:03 "Fighting a war based on the premise of 'it's fine they probably wont shoot back' isnt the most sound strategy" Oh my, I never would have guessed

Right so I've just discovered your channel and whoops, subbed immediately. Keep it up!

2:56 I've been waiting years for an Age of Empires and History Matters crossover, and now I've been blessed. Thankyou, gracious and holy benefactor.

"Socialists die when you kill them" - Shirou Emiya has entered the chat

*France:* Can we have an everlasting Paris Commune? *History Matters:* Fun fact: No.

I'm so happy you made this video, it is a dream come true

I think my favorite thing about these videos is how many times I can watch them I always notice something new.

The Parisians also kinda stumbled into the revolution, and none of the various groups had enough of a plan (except for the Blanquists, but they were... Blanquists, and thus not really concerned with broad coalition building). In some areas, the communards were not revolutionary enough, I'd argue, but their downfall was really outside their control. Even with a unified front and effective leadership, such a big city cannot live without supplies from outside, and sallying out against 1870 artillery was bound to fail. And the rural areas around were leaning towards the monarchy in any case.

In an alternate reality: Victorious Paris commune: Let's spread our revolutionary ideas throughout Europe! Europe: Aw sh**... here we go again...

Them in the Spartan armor saying "come and take them" is so goood

I can just imagine the Germans sitting outside Paris chilling on recliners and munching on popcorn while all this is going on "Herr Commander, should we do something about this?" *Bang bang bang* "Nein Hanz, we get free show until we get fat stacks of cash"

This channel always gives thoughts we never thought but need to know

Good to see the codifying moment of the "to the barricades" trope.

1:36 - is that a reference to Molon Labe?! This channel is full of great surprises! (though to be fair, this reference on a history channel should not have been such a shock)

Your so close to a million subscribers keep going history matters

"There's nothing more divisive than a call for Left Unity".

What was Imperial Japan's reaction to the fall of Nazi Germany ?

One just has to love the reference to the Obama's medal meme at 1:31. I (and I know I speak for all of us here) enjoy your content, especially when you've got hidden gems like that!

1:05 the delivery on that is so perfect

I love the age of empire reference with the guy turning the soldiers to the other side. Its the most hated element of the game as the priest always takes my farmer while im out killing

Parisians: "Let us now convene our new municipal government, or as we call it in French 'commune.'" Marx: (busts through wall) "DID SOMEBODY SAY 'COMMUNE???'"

Another great video 😁

Your videos are masterpiece, greetings from Portugal

Bismark, the man who invented the German empire and the third French republic.

Fun fact: In Lithuania Klaipėda (Memel) there's a street called Paris commune (Paryžiaus komuna).

3:17 “ to use a legal term, a fat stack of cash” haha had me dying

The wohlolo-priest is the most genius thing I've seen in your videos so far.

2:47 every 60 seconds in Africa a minute passes

Lol 1:43 France looks like it’s been amputated without Elsass Lorraine

A good summary, but something important to not forget : the Paris Commune was not alone, it was the most important, but in all France, Communes in most major cities rose : Lyon, Marseilles, le Creusot, Narbonne, Besançon, etc...

Well come to think of it, Paris was besieged so the living condition was deteriorating quickly, which led to "rebellion". Meanwhile, other places in France was not so why bother to overthrow a government.

3:28 Love the mittrailleuse gun there

"Someone got offended so that means war" Sounds like twitter lmfao

2:57 I did NOT expect to see an Age of Empires reference. Kudos to you.

I like the spartan "come take them" reference

0 dislikes, this is the true quality of the video. This is a relic in time. Til the bots come here.

I have an idea for the next video: How and who decided the borders between the soviet republics?

Amazing. THANK YOU!!!!!!!!

Communard sounds like a great insult.

With the puns that this channel makes, eg 0:24 , he will have the best dad jokes when he has kids.

Those “your mother” signs never get old! 😂🤣😂🤣🤣🤣

‘They were given - to use a technical term - squat’. God, I love this

Please do a video on how Germany reacted to Japan's defeat at Midway, Love the Content!

"Thrones are for winners." Wise words.

For anyone wondering what μωλον λαβέ means it's ancient Greek and means come and get them referring to the weapons Leonidas had with his 300 man army against persius

3:16 "This font!" XD. Also, love the artwork at the end. Please sell them.

That subtle age of empires reference at 2:57 was beautiful

3:00 "It's fine they probably won't shoot back" It works sometimes. When Napoleon returned from Elba the troops sent to arrest him joined him instead, and something similar happened when hardliners in the Army tried to counter-coup the fall of the Soviet Union. Thing is, people remember blunders and massacres and tend to forget brilliant, bloodless victories.

Sounds like “CHAZ/CHOP,” in Seattle.

The champ is back!

Cool video!