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Events on Sunday 4 September 1870 1
1870Proclamation of the Third French RepublicNapoleon III's empire falls, republic declared in ParisFollowing the capture of Napoleon III at Sedan, republicans in Paris declared the end of the Second Empire and proclaimed the Third Republic on 4 September 1870. A Government of National Defense took power to continue the war against Prussia. The new republic would endure until 1940.