National Guard
Created: July 1789
Over the summer of 1789 municipal authorities in Paris and across France authorised armed militias to provide security in the face of widespread political and social unrest. The capital's example, staffed by 'respectable' bourgeois volunteers, rapidly became a model for elsewhere, and on 17 July 1789 the king confirmed its official title as the 'National Guard of Paris'—though the duchess continued to use the term 'Paris militia' until October. Over time the National Guard became a more radical force within the Revolution: guardsmen from across the country played an important role in the war effort from 1792 (and in countering the Vendée rebellion of 1793), and middle class control was diluted when previously stringent financial eligibility requirements were removed after the August 1792 Revolution.
Wikipedia
Appears in these Letters:
1789
22 July: Revolutionary Paris in July 1789
The duchess reflects on events in the Revolution so far and the rising power of Paris's new municipal government. She castigates a...
8 August: The Duchess Rides Through the Great Fear
The duchess felt trapped in Paris following the Revolutionary events of July 1789. She decided to leave Paris for her provincial estates at Moreuil in...
14 October: A King Imprisoned? The October Days
On 5-6 October 1789, a Parisian crowd led by thousands of women marched out to demonstrate at Versailles and forced the royal family to relocate to...
1790
31 July: Celebrating the Revolution on the Duchess's Moreuil Estate
The first anniversity of the Storming of the Bastille was celebrated on an epic scale in Paris. Out in Moreuil the duchess and the relations she had...
29 December: The Duchess Reflects
The duchess takes stock of the Revolution thus far, and considers what it has meant for her and for the country. Her decision to begin this review...
1791
30 June: Capture at Varennes: The Humiliation of a King
Here the duchess sifts through the wreckage of the royal family's thwarted attempt to escape Paris in June 1791. Before leaving on what would become...
1792
14 August: The August Revolution: The Fall of the Monarchy
The summer of 1792 was a perfect storm for the French monarchy, with rising demands for a Republic amid military defeats and the lasting resentment...
4 September: Revolutionary Massacre: Paris in September 1792
At the start of September 1792 Revolutionary tensions boiled over in the capital in the wake of the fall of the monarchy and news of...
1793
11 May: Counter-Revolution in the Vendée
The civil war in the Vendée region of Western France had become a serious strategic and political concern for the Republic by May 1793. The duchess...
5 June: Reflections on Political Repression
The duchess explains how the balance of political power in the capital has recently shifted in a more radical direction, and considers the...