{{italic title French Garde Nationale soldier with Tabatiere rifle 1870

The ''Garde mobile'' ("Mobile Guard"; also called ''Garde nationale mobile'' though it had nothing to do with the ''

Garde nationale The National Guard (french: link=no, Garde nationale) is a French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution. For most of its history the ...

'') was intended to be the body which would in effect conscript all who had been able to avoid military service. The Garde would also take in all conscripts on completion of their army service.

Napoleon III Napoleon III (Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte; 20 April 18089 January 1873) was the first President of France (as Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte) from 1848 to 1852 and the last monarch of France as Emperor of the French from 1852 to 1870. A nephew ...

took up the idea and announced on 12 December 1866 that the ''Garde Mobile'' would eventually attain a strength of 400,000 troops. Its members were colloquially known as "''Moblots''". It origins lay in the crises that led up to the Franco-Prussian War, when

Adolphe Niel Adolphe Niel (4 October 180213 August 1869) was a French Army general and statesman. He was born at Muret, Haute-Garonne and entered the École Polytechnique in 1821. Niel entered the engineer school at Metz, became lieutenant in the Engineer ...

, Minister of War for

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

under Emperor

, attempted to bolster French military power creating a service which would provide reserves to be added to the regular French army. Although there was conscription into the army, not only was it not universal but middle-class people could purchase exemptions for their sons in a system known as ''

Remplacement ''Remplacement militaire'' (French for "military replacement") was the name for a policy of military conscription which originated in France and Belgium in the 19th century. Under the system, wealthy citizens chosen for military service by lot co ...

''. Both the left and the right in the ''

Corps Legislatif Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...

'' took issue with the proposal. The right wanted an all-professional army; the left were opposed to Bonapartist militarism, or wanted a "People in Arms" as their defense service. Hence not much money was spent for the equipment or training of the ''Garde Mobile''. Its authority to conscript was also diminished. Servicemen were trained fourteen days per year, each one not followed by another, so they could return home to sleep. This service was not even permitted to deploy beyond the local areas of which the units were formed; thus, they were hardly ''mobile''. The ''Garde Mobile'' had different uniforms from those of either the regular infantry, the National Guard, or the infantry of the

French Marines French Marines may refer to any of the following: Historical * Troupes de la marine, the corps maintained by the French Navy to protect its ships ** Compagnies Franches de la Marine, the above which was renamed and retrained serve as amphibious t ...

. They did not get the excellent French

Chassepot The Chassepot (pronounced ''SHAS-poh''), officially known as ''Fusil modèle 1866'', was a bolt-action military breechloading rifle. It is famous for having been the arm of the French forces in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871. It repla ...

rifle. When the Franco-Prussian War broke out, troops were called up into the Garde Mobile, and they received a mixture of inferior equipment bought from foreign countries, the transport of which was secured by the French Navy.

Representation in Art

File:Alphonse de Neuville - The Attack at Dawn - Walters 3740.jpg, ''The Attack at Dawn'' (1877). The Garde Mobile rush from an inn to defend themselves from the advancing Prussian troops.

The Walters Art Museum The Walters Art Museum, located in Mount Vernon-Belvedere, Baltimore, Maryland, United States, is a public art museum founded and opened in 1934. It holds collections established during the mid-19th century. The museum's collection was amassed ...

. Military units and formations of France French Army Military units and formations of the Franco-Prussian War