republic · France and the Low Countries

French Third Republic

1870 CE – 1940 CE · capital Paris

France's longest-lasting regime since the Revolution, which built secular schools and a colonial empire, won the First World War and fell in 1940.

Origins

After Napoleon III's capture at Sedan, Paris proclaimed the Republic on 4 September 1870. Defeat by Prussia, the loss of Alsace-Lorraine and the crushing of the Paris Commune followed. A monarchist assembly could not agree on a king, and the constitutional laws of 1875 created a parliamentary republic almost by default.

Rule and society

Strong parliaments and short-lived cabinets governed. Jules Ferry's laws made primary schooling free, compulsory and secular, and the 1905 law separated church and state. The Dreyfus Affair divided the nation. France built a large empire in Africa and Indochina. It won the First World War under Georges Clemenceau at a cost of 1.4 million dead, and the Popular Front of Léon Blum introduced paid holidays in 1936.

Decline and legacy

Germany's invasion in May 1940 brought rapid defeat. On 10 July 1940 parliament voted full powers to Marshal Pétain, ending the Republic and creating Vichy France.

Lineage

Second French Empire 1852 CE – 1870 CE Imperial Territory of Alsace-Lorraine 1871 CE – 1918 CEFrench Third RepublicVichy France 1940 CE – 1944 CE

Connections (6)

French Third Republic was part of French Empire1870 CE – 1940 CE
Paris Commune was conquered by French Third Republic1871 CE
Autonomous Albanian Republic of Korçë was a protectorate of French Third Republic1916 CE – 1920 CE
French Cilicia was part of French Third Republic1918 CE – 1921 CE
Republic of Alsace-Lorraine was conquered by French Third Republic1918 CE
French Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon was a protectorate of French Third Republic1920 CE – 1940 CE

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Cite this page

APA: The Epoch Institute. (2026). French Third Republic. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-third-republic
MLA: “French Third Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-third-republic. Accessed .
Chicago: The Epoch Institute. “French Third Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-third-republic.
Harvard: The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘French Third Republic’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/french-third-republic (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻