''La Patrie en danger'' (French: "The country (fatherland) in danger") was the start of a declaration by the French Assembly on 11 July 1792 in response to

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an em ...

joining

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

against France. Along with the

Levée en masse ''Levée en masse'' ( or, in English, "mass levy") is a French term used for a policy of mass national conscription, often in the face of invasion. The concept originated during the French Revolutionary Wars, particularly for the period followi ...

declared the next year, it was part of the growing idea of "people's war" which developed during the

French Revolution The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considere ...

, where ideology "not only conscripted manpower for the regular armies but also inspired ordinary people to fight on their own account." The text of the declaration reads: :"Citoyens, la Patrie est en danger." :"Que ceux qui vont obtenir l'honneur de marcher les premiers pour défendre ce qu'ils ont de plus cher se souviennent toujours qu'ils sont Français et libres; que leurs concitoyens la de maintiennent dans leur foyer la sûreté des personnes et des propriétés; que les magistrats du peuple veillent attentivement; que tous, dans un courage calme, attribut de la véritable force, attendent pour agir le signal de la loi, et la patrie sera sauvée."

Effects

According to

Albert Soboul Albert Marius Soboul (27 April 1914 – 11 September 1982) was a historian of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. A professor at the University of Paris, Sorbonne, he was chair of the History of the French Revolution and author of ...

, the announcement of the fatherland in danger led to the unification of citizens at a time when their interests were jeopardized and intensified their participation both in political life and in military events. The text of the declaration was read on the streets of French cities and villages. In Paris alone, 15 thousand volunteers enrolled in the army, or about 2.5% of the population. Along with the mass levy announced in 1793, this declaration became a stage in the development of the ideas of a "people's war" and an "armed nation" developed during the

. The ideology of the people's war was "not only to mobilize human resources for regular armies, but also to inspire ordinary people to fight at their own expense". At the same time, the success of the declaration of 1792 was closely linked with the then prevailing revolutionary moods in French society. In 1799, an attempt to adopt a similar declaration in the face of military defeats in the

War of the Second Coalition The War of the Second Coalition (1798/9 – 1801/2, depending on periodisation) was the second war on revolutionary France by most of the European monarchies, led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal, N ...

did not end there. As F. Wartell observes, seven years later, "the spirit of 1792 was already dead".

Bibliography

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External links

Digital image of the declaration

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patrie En Danger, La 1792 events of the French Revolution 18th century in France French Revolutionary Wars 1792 documents French words and phrases 1790s neologisms

Effects

See also

Bibliography

External links

References