Historedia
Episode 1 of 4

Montmartre Cannon Seizure

When
18 March 1871
Where
Montmartre
Part of
Montmartre cannon seizure and the origin of the Paris Commune, 18 March 1871

Regular French Army troops sent by Adolphe Thiers attempted to seize National Guard cannons on Montmartre on 18 March 1871.

Soldiers from the French Army tried to remove cannons from the hilltop. The troops fraternized with civilians and the National Guard, failing to enforce the seizure order. This event marked the beginning of the revolutionary uprising of the Paris Commune.

Sources

  1. Montmartre Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-01
  2. Paris Commune Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-01

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.