In March 1871, in the aftermath of France's humiliating defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, the workers, radicals, and 'little people' of Paris rose in revolt. The rebels saw themselves as heirs to a great French revolutionary and Parisian tradition, carriers of the demand for popular initiative and popular participation. They were republican, anti-clerical, and, to a large extent, socialist. The Commune of Paris which they proclaimed on 26 March 1871 was dedicated to these principles and beliefs.