The principles underpinning the Paris Commune are viewed as morally degenerate by French conservatives at large while the government at Versailles seeks to maintain the tenuous post-war stability which it has established.

In May, the regular French Armed Forces, under the command of Patrice de Mac-Mahon and the Versailles government, march on Paris and succeed in dismantling the Commune during what will become known as The Bloody Week.

The term ordre moral ("moral order") will subsequently come to be applied to the budding Third Republic due to the perceived restoration of conservative policies and values following the suppression of the Commune.

De MacMahon, his popularity having been bolstered by his response to the Commune, is later elected President of the Republic in May 1873 and will hold the office until January 1879.

A staunch Catholic conservative with Legitimist sympathies and a noted mistrust of secularists, de MacMahon will grow to be increasingly at odds with the French parliament as liberal and secular republicans gain legislative majority during his presidency.