Conclusion: Guidons Burning

Abstract

By 1791, it seemed that France’s inflated expectations for citizen soldiers — and perhaps citizenship in general — had inhibited, if not indefinitely deferred, the realization of a citizen army for France. Much of French expectation for the citizen army throughout the old regime and Revolution had depended on the citizen desiring to join the army and fighting vigorously out of love for the patrie, with little change to the social hierarchy and status of the officers. The early Revolution, however, while promising the realization of a citizen army, also extinguished it, at least for the next several decades. Like a dream deferred, the citizen army was something that the officers, soldiers, and citizens of France had tried, and just barely touched, but never fully realized. Officers began to flee in great numbers in 1791, and the declaration of war on 20 April 1792 only increased the number of officers who emigrated, seeing it as their last chance to restore their comrades, the king, and their way of life, with the help of another country that still recognized nobility.² French Revolutionaries then had to contend with the ‘citizen army’ that they inherited, just as it crumbled under the rigors of an increasingly radical Revolution and the threats that plagued it without and within. The army of the French Revolution would pursue voluntary enrollment, specifically with calls for volunteers in 1791 and 1792, but the numbers of people who answered the call would not be sufficient to fill the army’s ranks, and Revolutionaries would resort to conscription.

‘Soit héro. Soit plus. Soit citoyen.’¹

— Villeneuve, ancien officier d’artillerie