 An armistice was signed on 26 January 1871 , but the departure of the Prussian troops from Paris in March presaged a period of confusion and civil disturbance . Following an uprising , the city 's municipal authority was taken over by dissidents who established the Paris Commune . Bizet decided that he was no longer safe in the city , and he and Geneviève escaped to Compiègne . Later they moved to Le <unk> where they sat out the two months of the Commune , within hearing distance of the gunfire that resounded as government troops gradually crushed the uprising : " The cannons are rumbling with unbelievable violence " , Bizet wrote to his mother @-@ in @-@ law on 12 May . 
