Besançon Commune

The Besançon Commune (in french Commune de Besançon) was a short-lived revolutionary movement conceived in 1871, aiming at the setting of a local autonomous power based on Lyon and Paris experiences.^[1] It originates from sociological changes of the city^[2] and creation of unions.^{[3][4][5][6][1]} The Franco-Prussian War, the fall of the Second Empire, and the advent of the Third Republic, precipitate events.^[7][1] While many notables report an insurrectional context^[8] and an armed support from Switzerland,^[9][10][1] correspondences of James Guillaume and Mikhail Bakunin^[11][12] attest to a confrontation prepared between the end of May and the beginning of June 1871.^[1] But with the start of a large repression on May 21 until June 7, any attempt was compromised.^[1] Despite the hope of a restart, the months following the idea of an insurrection is definitively abandoned mostly with extinction of the groups and activities called anarchists in 1875.^[1]

Besançon Commune
Besançon-Battant, in 1860's.
Date April – June 1871 Location Besançon, France
Belligerents
French Republic	Communards National Guards
Commanders and leaders
	Séverin Robert Vladimir Ozerov