German victory parade in Paris (1871)
On 1 March 1871 the Imperial German Army paraded through Paris to celebrate their victory in the Franco-Prussian War. Paris had been under siege since September 1870. The German Empire had been created on 18 January 1871, and an armistice with France began on 28 January. A preliminary peace, the 26 February Treaty of Versailles, allowed 30,000 German troops to occupy Paris from 1 March until the peace was ratified.
German troops entered Paris at 8 am on 1 March, marching down the Champs-Élysées to the Place de la Concorde. A second group followed at 3 pm with fifes and drums as they paraded again down the Champs-Élysées. Parisian crowds were angry, and some tried to block the Arc de Triomphe, but the leading German riders passed through. The parade was watched by a tense and hostile crowd.
The Germans planned more ceremonies, including a triumphal entry of Kaiser Wilhelm I, but the French National Assembly ratified the Treaty of Versailles quickly, so those events were canceled. German troops left Paris two days later, on 3 March, after the ratification was confirmed.
The occupation was commanded by General Georg von Kameke. Some German soldiers were allowed to visit Paris’s museums and sites, such as the Louvre and Les Invalides. There were a few scuffles and incidents, but overall the situation stayed under control, though many Parisians showed anger by mourning the city’s surrender—black veils on statues and other signs of grief.
Paris had already accepted the peace terms, and the Germans stayed only as long as the treaty required. After the withdrawal, which began on 3 March and was completed by noon, there was some looting but order was restored by the National Guard. In the months after, German soldiers marched in Berlin to celebrate, and the war formally ended with the 10 May 1871 Treaty of Frankfurt, which gave Alsace-Lorraine to Germany and imposed heavy reparations and occupation conditions on France.
In Paris, revolutionary sentiment rose in the weeks after the parade, and on 19 March the Paris Commune was proclaimed, though it was short-lived.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 08:31 (CET).