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French Soldiers of the Revolutionary Armies |
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| The slogan on the banner of this unit of French troops from the early 1790s, reading “Live Free or Die”, demonstrates the radical spirit and high morale of the revolutionary armies. Benefiting from sweeping reforms introduced by the military engineer Lazare Carnot in 1792, the French revolutionary armies were recruited from a nationwide draft of citizens, and organized into the first all-arms divisions (infantry, artillery, and cavalry) whose aim was the total destruction of the enemy. The French victory at Valmy in September 1792 was only the first of many triumphs for the revolutionary armies, who proved that the small forces of the 18th-century monarchies were no match for the new principle of “the nation in arms”. After the end of the revolutionary period, these new units and procedures were used by Napoleon to conquer continental Europe in the Napoleonic Wars. | ||||||
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| Bulloz/George Rainbird Ltd./Robert Harding Picture Library | ||||||
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| French Revolutionary Wars; French Revolution | ||||||
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