Paris petitioners and the fédérés demand that…
August 1793 CE
In response, Convention member Bertrand Barère had asked the Convention to “decree the solemn declaration that the French people was going to rise as a whole for the defense of its independence.”
The Convention had fulfilled Barere’s request on 16 August, when they stated that the Levée en masse would be enacted.
The decree is effectively enacted by the National Convention on August 1793, having been penned by Barère in conjunction with Carnot.
The decree reads in ringing terms, beginning: "From this moment until such time as its enemies shall have been driven from the soil of the Republic, all Frenchmen are in permanent requisition for the services of the armies. The young men shall fight; the married men shall forge arms and transport provisions; the women shall make tents and clothes and shall serve in the hospitals; the children shall turn old lint into linen; the old men shall betake themselves to the public squares in order to arouse the courage of the warriors and preach hatred of kings and the unity of the Republic."
All unmarried able-bodied men between eighteen and twenty-five are requisitioned with immediate effect for military service.
This will significantly increase the number of men in the army, reaching a peak of about fifteen hundred thousand in September 1794, although the actual fighting strength will probably peak at no more than eight hundred thousand.
In addition, as the decree suggests, much of the civilian population will be turned towards supporting the armies through armaments production and other war industries as well as supplying food and provisions to the front.
As Barère puts it, "…all the French, both sexes, all ages are called by the nation to defend liberty".
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