La Marseillaise was a short-lived French weekly newspaper founded by the journalist and polemicist Henri Rochefort in Paris. Its first issue appeared on 19 December 1869, during the final months of the Second French Empire. The paper quickly became associated with the radical republican opposition and played a prominent role in the political agitation leading up to the collapse of the imperial regime.
Aligned with leftist republican ideals, La Marseillaise gave voice to opponents of the Empire, advocating for democratic reforms and press freedom. Its editorial team included several notable figures involved in revolutionary and socialist movements, such as Paschal Grousset, Arthur Arnould, Gustave Flourens, Jules Vallès and Victor Noir.
The newspaper gained significant public attention following the death of Victor Noir, who was shot by Pierre Bonaparte, a cousin of Emperor Napoleon III, on 10 January 1870. The incident sparked widespread protests and further discredited the imperial government.
Suppression and Legacy
The government suspended La Marseillaise shortly after Noir's killing. Although it briefly resumed publication, the paper was definitively suppressed later in 1870 as political tensions escalated. Its brief existence nonetheless had a lasting impact on the radical press in France and contributed to the revolutionary climate that culminated in the fall of the Second Empire and the establishment of the French Third Republic.
References
Girard, Claude-Jean (2003). Un polémiste à Paris: Henri Rochefort. L'Harmattan. ISBN978-2-7475-5343-8.
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