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National Guard (France)
French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The National Guard (French: 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.
National Guard | |
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Garde nationale | |
![]() Logo of the National Guard (since 2016) | |
Active | 1789–1827 1831–1872 2016–present |
Country | France |
Type | Reserve Gendarmerie |
Size | >77,000[1] |
Part of | French Armed Forces National Police |
Motto(s) | Honneur et Patrie ('Honour and Fatherland') |
Engagements |
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Website | garde-nationale |
Commanders | |
Minister of the Armed Forces | Sébastien Lecornu |
Secretary General for the National Guard | General Louis-Mathieu Gaspari |
Notable commanders | Gilbert du Motier, marquis de Lafayette |
For most of its history the National Guard, particularly its officers, has been widely viewed as loyal to middle-class interests.[citation needed] It was founded as separate from the French Army and existed both for policing and as a military reserve. However, in its original stages from 1792 to 1795, the National Guard was perceived as revolutionary and the lower ranks were identified with sans-culottes. It experienced a period of official dissolution from 1827 to 1830 but was reestablished. Soon after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the National Guard in Paris again became viewed as dangerously revolutionary, which contributed to its dissolution in 1871.[2]
In 2016, France announced the reestablishment of the National Guard for the second time, in response to a series of terrorist attacks in the country.[2][3][4]