The
Government of National Defence, having led the republic during the
Franco-Prussian War, signed the
Armistice of Versailles which provided for new elections in the
National Assembly to establish a more legitimate government. The cabinet was formed following the
Legislative elections of 1871, which saw a majority of royalists elected. Their initial project was a
third Restoration of descendants of either the
Bourbons or the
Orléans; the Republic was merely seen at that time by royalists as a system of transition before the return of a constitutional monarchy. However, Jules Dufaure succeeded in assembling a coalition of
Opportunists,
Legitimists,
Orleanists and independent
Liberals, while leaving
Bonapartists, marginalized following the fall of the
Second Empire, and
Radicals, openly in favour of the pursuit of the war, out of the majority. On 18 May 1873, Adolphe Thiers, wishing to reorganize the government and to make it more republican leaning, asked the cabinet to resign and tasked Jules Dufaure to form a new one, leading to the formation of the
Cabinet Dufaure II. == Actions ==