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103-816: The French Guards, who were located in Paris, played a major part in the French Revolution as most of the guardsmen defected to the revolutionary cause and ensured the collapse of absolute monarchy in France. French Guards led the Storming of the Bastille and formed the cadre for the National Guard . The regiment was created in 1563 by Charles IX . It was composed of 9,000 men in 30 companies in 1635 with 300 fusiliers per company. They were armed with

206-572: A counter-revolution . In response, the Assembly published the August Decrees which abolished feudalism . Over 25% of French farmland was subject to feudal dues , providing the nobility with most of their income; these were now cancelled, along with church tithes. While their former tenants were supposed to pay them compensation, collecting it proved impossible, and the obligation was annulled in 1793. Other decrees included equality before

309-418: A Parisian mob, and neither Bailly nor Lafayette could prevent it. In rural areas, wild rumours and paranoia resulted in the formation of militia and an agrarian insurrection known as la Grande Peur . The breakdown of law and order and frequent attacks on aristocratic property led much of the nobility to flee abroad. These émigrés funded reactionary forces within France and urged foreign monarchs to back

412-439: A campaign for war against Austria and Prussia, often interpreted as a mixture of calculation and idealism. While exploiting popular anti-Austrianism, it reflected a genuine belief in exporting the values of political liberty and popular sovereignty. Simultaneously, conservatives headed by Marie Antoinette also favoured war, seeing it as a way to regain control of the military, and restore royal authority. In December 1791, Louis made

515-710: A combination of social, political, and economic factors which the ancien régime ("old regime") proved unable to manage. A financial crisis and widespread social distress led to the convocation of the Estates General in May 1789, its first meeting since 1614. The representatives of the Third Estate broke away, and re-constituted themselves as a National Assembly in June. The Storming of the Bastille in Paris on 14 July

618-631: A distinction opposed by a significant minority, including the Jacobin clubs . By mid-1790, the main elements of a constitutional monarchy were in place, although the constitution was not accepted by Louis until 1791. Food shortages and the worsening economy caused frustration at the lack of progress, and led to popular unrest in Paris. This came to a head in late September 1789, when the Flanders Regiment arrived in Versailles to reinforce

721-564: A federal law, as amended 30 September 1859, all military capitulations and recruitment of Swiss by foreign powers, although volunteering of individuals in foreign armies continued until prohibited outright in 1927. The Papal Swiss Guard , reflecting the particular status of the Holy See and the Vatican City State and the character of the unit as a bodyguard , remains an exception to this prohibition, explicitly defined between

824-400: A form of musket ( "fusils" ) or steel-handled pikes , and were allowed to conduct a normal civilian life in times of peace. In practice this meant that they could undertake civilian employment when not required on duty. At Catherine de' Medici 's insistence, they were at first spread over several garrisons, but after the attempted kidnapping of King Charles IX near Meaux by Huguenots ,

927-481: A key role in the attack on the Bastille, where they were credited with both the effective use of artillery cannons and with preventing a massacre of the garrison after surrender. Following the fall of the Bastille, the Gardes Françaises petitioned to resume their guard duties at Versailles. However, this proposal was declined, and the regiment was formally disbanded on 31 August 1789. On 15 July 1789 all

1030-492: A list of grievances, known as Cahiers de doléances . Tax inequality and seigneurial dues (feudal payments owed to landowners) headed the grievances in the cahiers de doleances for the estate. On 5 May 1789, the Estates-General convened at Versailles . Necker outlined the state budget and reiterated the king's decision that each estate should decide on which matters it would agree to meet and vote in common with

1133-494: A majority by forging consensus with monarchiens like Mounier, and independents including Adrien Duport , Barnave and Alexandre Lameth . At one end of the political spectrum, reactionaries like Cazalès and Maury denounced the Revolution in all its forms, with radicals like Maximilien Robespierre at the other. He and Jean-Paul Marat opposed the criteria for "active citizens", gaining them substantial support among

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1236-467: A new independent judiciary, with jury trials for criminal cases. However, moderate deputies were uneasy at popular demands for universal suffrage, labour unions and cheap bread, and over the winter of 1790 and 1791, they passed a series of measures intended to disarm popular radicalism. These included exclusion of poorer citizens from the National Guard, limits on use of petitions and posters, and

1339-562: A philosophical founder of the revolution, wrote it was "manifestly contrary to the law of nature ... that a handful of people should gorge themselves with superfluities, while the hungry multitude goes in want of necessities." The Revolution caused a massive shift of power from the Catholic Church to the state; although the extent of religious belief has been questioned, elimination of tolerance for religious minorities meant by 1789 being French also meant being Catholic. The church

1442-542: A representative body that had last met in 1614. The conflict between the Crown and the parlements became a national political crisis. Both sides issued a series of public statements, the government arguing that it was combating privilege and the parlement defending the ancient rights of the nation. Public opinion was firmly on the side of the parlements , and riots broke out in several towns. Brienne's attempts to raise new loans failed, and on 8 August 1788, he announced that

1545-571: A result, the clergy and nobility could combine to outvote the Third Estate despite representing less than 5% of the population. Following the relaxation of censorship and laws against political clubs, a group of liberal nobles and middle class activists, known as the Society of Thirty, launched a campaign for the doubling of Third Estate representation and individual voting. The public debate saw an average of 25 new political pamphlets published

1648-717: A series of disastrous defeats . In an effort to mobilise popular support, the government ordered non-juring priests to swear the oath or be deported, dissolved the Constitutional Guard and replaced it with 20,000 fédérés ; Louis agreed to disband the Guard, but vetoed the other two proposals, while Lafayette called on the Assembly to suppress the clubs. Swiss Guards#In France Swiss Guards ( French : Gardes Suisses ; German : Schweizergarde ; Italian : Guardie Svizzere ) are Swiss soldiers who have served as guards at foreign European courts since

1751-550: A significant proportion of the 6 million Frenchmen over 25, while only 10% of those able to vote actually did so. Finally, poor harvests and rising food prices led to unrest among the urban class known as Sans-culottes , who saw the new regime as failing to meet their demands for bread and work. This meant the new constitution was opposed by significant elements inside and outside the Assembly, itself split into three main groups. 264 members were affiliated with Barnave's Feuillants , constitutional monarchists who considered

1854-445: A single body, and the following day approved a " suspensive veto " for the king, meaning Louis could delay implementation of a law, but not block it indefinitely. In October, the Assembly voted to restrict political rights, including voting rights, to "active citizens", defined as French males over the age of 25 who paid direct taxes equal to three days' labour. The remainder were designated "passive citizens", restricted to "civil rights",

1957-541: A speech in the Assembly giving foreign powers a month to disband the émigrés or face war, an act greeted with enthusiasm by supporters, but suspicion from opponents. Barnave's inability to build a consensus in the Assembly resulted in the appointment of a new government, chiefly composed of Brissotins . On 20 April 1792, the French Revolutionary Wars began when French armies attacked Austrian and Prussian forces along their borders, before suffering

2060-410: A week from 25 September 1788. The Abbé Sieyès issued influential pamphlets denouncing the privilege of the clergy and nobility, and arguing the Third Estate represented the nation and should sit alone as a National Assembly. Activists such as Mounier , Barnave and Robespierre organised regional meetings, petitions and literature in support of these demands. In December, the king agreed to double

2163-713: Is one of the oldest military units in the world . It is also the smallest army in the world . Two different units of Swiss mercenaries performed guard duties for the Kings of France: the Hundred Swiss ( Cent Suisses ) served in the Palace essentially as bodyguards and ceremonial troops, and the Swiss Guards ( Gardes Suisses ), who guarded entrances and outer perimeter. In addition, the Gardes Suisses served in

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2266-643: Is on display in the Musée de l'Armée in Paris. A less ornate dark blue and red uniform with bearskin headdress was worn for ordinary duties. The Cent Suisses company was disbanded after Louis XVI left the Palace of Versailles in October 1789. It was, however, refounded on 15 July 1814 with an establishment of 136 guardsmen and eight officers. The Hundred Swiss accompanied Louis XVIII into exile in Belgium

2369-735: The Bourbon Restoration both made use of Swiss troops. Four Swiss infantry regiments served with Napoleon in both Spain and Russia. Two of the eight infantry regiments included in the garde royale from 1815 to 1830 were Swiss and can be regarded as successors to the Gardes suisses . When the Tuileries was stormed again in the July Revolution (29 July 1830), the Swiss regiments, fearful of another massacre, withdrew or melted into

2472-525: The Champ de Mars to sign. Led by Lafayette, the National Guard was ordered to "preserve public order" and responded to a barrage of stones by firing into the crowd , killing between 13 and 50 people. The massacre badly damaged Lafayette's reputation: the authorities responded by closing radical clubs and newspapers, while their leaders went into exile or hiding, including Marat. On 27 August, Emperor Leopold II and King Frederick William II of Prussia issued

2575-658: The Declaration of Pillnitz declaring their support for Louis and hinting at an invasion of France on his behalf. In reality, the meeting between Leopold and Frederick was primarily to discuss the Partitions of Poland ; the Declaration was intended to satisfy Comte d'Artois and other French émigrés but the threat rallied popular support behind the regime. Based on a motion proposed by Robespierre, existing deputies were barred from elections held in early September for

2678-870: The French First Republic in September, and Louis XVI was executed in January 1793. After another revolt in June 1793 , the constitution was suspended, and adequate political power passed from the National Convention to the Committee of Public Safety , led by the Jacobins . About 16,000 people were executed in what was later referred to as Reign of Terror , which ended in July 1794 . Weakened by external threats and internal opposition,

2781-577: The French Legislative Assembly . Although Robespierre himself was one of those excluded, his support in the clubs gave him a political power base not available to Lafayette and Bailly, who resigned respectively as head of the National Guard and the Paris Commune. The new laws were gathered together in the 1791 Constitution , and submitted to Louis XVI, who pledged to defend it "from enemies at home and abroad". On 30 September,

2884-643: The Gardes Françaises and lacked the Parisian connections of the latter regiment. During weeks of disturbances prior to early July 1789 leading up to the fall of the Bastille , the regiment initially obeyed orders and on several occasions, it acted against the increasingly-unruly crowds. In April, during a riot at the Réveillon wallpaper factory , guardsmen had fired on a hostile crowd, killing and wounding several hundreds. However, in addition to local ties with

2987-472: The Gardes Françaises constituted the largest element of the Household troops ( Maison Militaire du Roi ). Six grenadier and 24 fusilier companies were divided into the six battalions that comprised the full regiment. The total number of Gardes Françaises amounted to about 3,600 men. The regimental colonel usually held the rank of Marshal of France . Captains of the grenadier companies ranked as colonels in

3090-592: The Gardes suisses wore red coats. The line regiments had black, yellow or light blue facings but the Swiss Guards were distinguished by dark blue lapels and cuffs edged in white embroidery. Only the grenadier company wore bearskins, while the other companies wore the standard tricorn headdress of the French infantry. During the 17th and 18th centuries the Swiss Guards maintained a reputation for discipline and steadiness in both peacetime service and foreign campaigning. Their officers were all Swiss and their rate of pay

3193-478: The Hôtel de Ville, some 7,000 of them marched on Versailles , where they entered the Assembly to present their demands. They were followed to Versailles by 15,000 members of the National Guard under Lafayette, who was virtually "a prisoner of his own troops". When the National Guard arrived later that evening, Lafayette persuaded Louis the safety of his family required their relocation to Paris. Next morning, some of

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3296-495: The Royal-Allemand Regiment and the final defection of most of the rank and file on 14 July. Reportedly, only one of the sergeants stood by the officers when they tried to reassemble their men in the courtyard of the Paris barracks of the Guard. Of the six battalions (sub-units of about 600 men each) in the whole of the regiment, the equivalent of only one battalion remained obedient to orders. The mutineers played

3399-476: The September Massacres that followed. Apart from less than a hundred Swiss who escaped from the Tuileries, some hidden by sympathetic Parisians, the only survivors of the regiment were a three-hundred-strong detachment that had been sent to Normandy to escort grain convoys a few days before 10 August. The Swiss officers were mostly massacred, although Major Karl Josef von Bachmann , in command at

3502-471: The Vendée , where only a few priests took the oath and the civilian population turned against the revolution. The result was state-led persecution of " Refractory clergy ", many of whom were forced into exile, deported, or executed. The period from October 1789 to spring 1791 is usually seen as one of relative tranquility, when some of the most important legislative reforms were enacted. However, conflict over

3605-422: The adjutant shortly before the regiment was summoned to the Tuileries on the night of 8/9 August, indicating that he foresaw the likely end. They were discovered by a gardener and ceremoniously burned by the new Republican authorities on 14 August. The barracks of the Guard at Courbevoie were stormed by the local National Guard and the few Swiss still on duty there also killed. The heroic but futile stand of

3708-466: The parlements , the nobility, and those subject to new taxes. France primarily funded the Anglo-French War of 1778–1783 through loans. Following the peace, the monarchy borrowed heavily, culminating in a debt crisis. By 1788, half of state revenue was required to service its debt. In 1786, the French finance minister, Calonne , proposed a package of reforms including a universal land tax,

3811-465: The 1.68 m (5'6") of line infantry soldiers. The reported incident at the Battle of Fontenoy in which officers of the Gardes Françaises and their English counterparts invited each other to fire first is sometimes cited as an example of excessive chivalry amongst aristocratic opponents. However, in 18th-century warfare, the unit that held its fire until it was closest to the enemy would be able to deliver

3914-417: The Assembly and published on 26 August as a statement of principle. The Assembly now concentrated on the constitution itself. Mounier and his monarchist supporters advocated a bicameral system, with an upper house appointed by the king, who would also have the right to appoint ministers and veto legislation. On 10 September, the majority of the Assembly, led by Sieyès and Talleyrand , voted in favour of

4017-441: The Assembly was increasingly divided, while external players like the Paris Commune and National Guard competed for power. One of the most significant was the Jacobin club; originally a forum for general debate, by August 1790 it had over 150 members, split into different factions. The Assembly continued to develop new institutions; in September 1790, the regional Parlements were abolished and their legal functions replaced by

4120-568: The Assembly went into a non-stop session after rumours circulated he was planning to use the Swiss Guards to force it to close. The news brought crowds of protestors into the streets, and soldiers of the elite Gardes Françaises regiment refused to disperse them. On the 14th, many of these soldiers joined the mob in attacking the Bastille , a royal fortress with large stores of arms and ammunition. Its governor, Bernard-René de Launay , surrendered after several hours of fighting that cost

4223-528: The Civil Constitution led to a state of near civil war in southern France, which Barnave tried to defuse by relaxing the more punitive provisions. On 29 November, the Assembly approved a decree giving refractory clergy eight days to comply, or face charges of 'conspiracy against the nation', an act opposed even by Robespierre. When Louis vetoed both, his opponents were able to portray him as opposed to reform in general. Brissot accompanied this with

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4326-565: The Constituent Assembly was dissolved, and the Legislative Assembly convened the next day. The Legislative Assembly is often dismissed by historians as an ineffective body, compromised by divisions over the role of the monarchy, an issue exacerbated when Louis attempted to prevent or reverse limitations on his powers. At the same time, restricting the vote to those who paid a minimal amount of tax disenfranchised

4429-539: The Crown. The royal family left the palace in disguise on the night of 20 June 1791; late the next day, Louis was recognised as he passed through Varennes , arrested and taken back to Paris. The attempted escape had a profound impact on public opinion; since it was clear Louis had been seeking refuge in Austria, the Assembly now demanded oaths of loyalty to the regime, and began preparing for war, while fear of 'spies and traitors' became pervasive. Despite calls to replace

4532-402: The Estates-General. However, he stated that the three estates were sacrosanct and it was up to each estate to agree to end their privileges and decide on which matters they would vote in common with the other estates. At the end of the session the Third Estate refused to leave the hall and reiterated their oath not to disperse until a constitution had been agreed. Over the next days more members of

4635-623: The European revolts of the 1780s inspired public debate on issues such as patriotism, liberty, equality, and democracy. These shaped the response of the educated public to the crisis, while scandals such as the Affair of the Diamond Necklace fuelled widespread anger at the court, nobility, and church officials. France faced a series of budgetary crises during the 18th century, as revenues failed to keep pace with expenditure. Although

4738-601: The French infantry. Coats and waistcoats were heavily embroidered in white or silver (for officers) braid. The sympathy shown by the Gardes Françaises for the French Revolution at its outbreak was crucial to the initial success of the rising. The other two units of the Maison militaire du roi de France at the time, the Swiss Guards and the Bodyguard , remained loyal to the king, but they were smaller units than

4841-469: The French'. Historian John McManners argues "in eighteenth-century France, throne and altar were commonly spoken of as in close alliance; their simultaneous collapse ... would one day provide the final proof of their interdependence." One suggestion is that after a century of persecution, some French Protestants actively supported an anti-Catholic regime, a resentment fuelled by Enlightenment thinkers such as Voltaire . Jean-Jacques Rousseau , considered

4944-499: The Gardes were brought back together specifically to protect the monarch . In times of war the Gardes Françaises had the privilege of choosing their own battle positions (usually in the centre of the first line of infantry). Other privileges included leading the assault when a wall was breached during a siege , the first choice of barracks and special rights of trial . When on parade, they took precedence over all other regiments in

5047-400: The June 1791 Le Chapelier Law suppressing trade guilds and any form of worker organisation. The traditional force for preserving law and order was the army, which was increasingly divided between officers, who largely came from the nobility, and ordinary soldiers. In August 1790, the loyalist General Bouillé suppressed a serious mutiny at Nancy ; although congratulated by the Assembly, he

5150-676: The King to war. In the Battle of Pavia (1525) the Hundred Swiss of Francis I were slain before Francis was captured by the Spanish. The Hundred Swiss shared indoor guard duties with the King's Bodyguards ( Garde du Corps ), who were French. The Hundred Swiss were armed with halberds , the blade of which carried the Royal arms in gold, as well as gold-hilted swords. Their ceremonial dress until 1789 comprised an elaborate 16th century Swiss costume covered with braid and livery lace. A surviving example

5253-409: The Parisian proletariat, many of whom had been disenfranchised by the measure. On 14 July 1790, celebrations were held throughout France commemorating the fall of the Bastille, with participants swearing an oath of fidelity to "the nation, the law and the king." The Fête de la Fédération in Paris was attended by the royal family, with Talleyrand performing a mass . Despite this show of unity,

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5356-565: The Parisians, the regiment was resentful of the harsh Prussian style discipline introduced by its colonel, the Duc du Châtelet , who had taken up his appointment the year before. The officers of the regiment had negligently left day-to-day control in the hands of the non-commissioned officers, and had limited interaction with their men. These factors led to desertions from 27 June onward, followed by an incident on 12 July in which French Guards fired on

5459-685: The Republic was replaced in 1795 by the Directory , and four years later, in 1799, the Consulate seized power in a military coup led by Napoleon Bonaparte on 9 November. This event is generally seen as marking the end of the Revolutionary period. The Revolution resulted from multiple long-term and short-term factors, culminating in a social, economic, financial and political crisis in the late 1780s. Combined with resistance to reform by

5562-429: The Revolution had gone far enough, while another 136 were Jacobin leftists who supported a republic, led by Brissot and usually referred to as Brissotins . The remaining 345 belonged to La Plaine , a centrist faction who switched votes depending on the issue, but many of whom shared doubts as to whether Louis was committed to the Revolution. After he officially accepted the new Constitution, one recorded response

5665-629: The Royal Army. They shared responsibility for guarding the exterior of the Palace of Versailles with the Gardes Suisses . In addition, the French Guards had responsibility for maintaining public order in Paris, in support of the various police forces of the capital. In 1764, the Gardes Françaises was reorganized to have six battalions, with five fusilier companies (each 120 men) and one grenadier half-company of 50 men. In 1789,

5768-518: The Swiss is commemorated by Bertel Thorvaldsen 's Lion Monument in Lucerne , dedicated in 1821, which shows a dying lion collapsed upon broken symbols of the French monarchy. An inscription on the monument lists the twenty-six Swiss officers who died on 10 August and 2–3 September 1792, and records that approximately 760 Swiss Guardsmen were killed on those days. The French Revolution abolished mercenary troops in its citizen army, but Napoleon and

5871-470: The Third Estate declared itself to be the National Assembly of France and that all existing taxes were illegal. Within two days, more than 100 members of the clergy had joined them. Shaken by this challenge to his authority, the king agreed to a reform package that he would announce at a Royal Session of the Estates-General. The Salle des États was closed to prepare for the joint session, but

5974-624: The Third despite representing less than 5% of the population. Although the Catholic Church in France owned nearly 10% of all land, as well as receiving annual tithes paid by peasants, three-quarters of the 303 clergy elected were parish priests, many of whom earned less than unskilled labourers and had more in common with their poor parishioners than with the bishops of the first estate. The Second Estate elected 322 deputies, representing about 400,000 men and women, who owned about 25% of

6077-554: The Tuileries, was formally tried and guillotined in September, still wearing his red uniform coat. Two Swiss officers, the captains Henri de Salis and Joseph Zimmermann, did however survive and went on to reach senior rank under Napoleon and the Restoration. There appears to be no truth in the charge that Louis XVI caused the defeat and destruction of the Guards by ordering them to lay down their arms when they could still have held

6180-528: The Tuileries. Rather, the Swiss ran low on ammunition and were overwhelmed by superior numbers when fighting broke out spontaneously after the royal family were escorted from the palace to take refuge with the National Assembly . A note written by the King has survived that ordered the Swiss to retreat from the palace and return to their barracks, but they only did so after their position became untenable. The regimental standards were secretly buried by

6283-399: The abolition of grain controls and internal tariffs, and new provincial assemblies appointed by the king. The new taxes, however, were rejected, first by a hand-picked Assembly of Notables dominated by the nobility, then by the parlements when submitted by Calonne's successor Brienne . The notables and parlements argued that the proposed taxes could only be approved by an Estates-General,

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6386-629: The authority of the Pope over the French Church. In October, thirty bishops wrote a declaration denouncing the law, further fuelling opposition. When clergy were required to swear loyalty to the Civil Constitution in November 1790, it split the church between the 24% who complied, and the majority who refused. This stiffened popular resistance against state interference, especially in traditionally Catholic areas such as Normandy , Brittany and

6489-413: The calling of the Estates General of 1789 , which became radicalised by the struggle for control of public finances. Louis XVI was willing to consider reforms, but often backed down when faced with opposition from conservative elements within the nobility. Enlightenment critiques of social institutions were widely discussed among the educated French elite. At the same time, the American Revolution and

6592-470: The clergy joined the National Assembly. On 27 June, faced with popular demonstrations and mutinies in his French Guards , Louis XVI capitulated. He commanded the members of the first and second estates to join the third in the National Assembly. Even the limited reforms the king had announced went too far for Marie Antoinette and Louis' younger brother the Comte d'Artois . On their advice, Louis dismissed Necker again as chief minister on 11 July. On 12 July,

6695-464: The command of the Marquis de Lafayette to restore order when a mob from Paris invaded the Palace of Versailles at dawn on 6 October 1789, and escorted the Royal Family to Paris in the afternoon of the same day. In October 1792, the former Gardes Françaises were distributed among the new volunteer units that were being mobilised for war. In their final role, the erstwhile royal guardsmen provided cadres (officers and senior non-commissioned officers) for

6798-660: The crowd. They were not used again. In 1831 disbanded veterans of the Swiss regiments and another foreign unit, the Hohenlohe Regiment , were recruited into the newly raised French Foreign Legion for service in Algeria. Swiss Guard units similar to those of France were in existence at several other Royal Courts and public entities at the dates indicated below: In total, Swiss mercenary regiments have been employed as guard and regular line troops in seventeen different armies; notably those of France , Spain and Naples (see Swiss mercenaries ). The first Swiss constitution , as amended in 1848, forbade all military capitulations,

6901-434: The doors, gates and outer perimeters of the royal palaces. By the end of the 17th century the Swiss Guards were formally part of the Maison militaire du roi . As such, they were brigaded with the Gardes françaises ( French Guards Regiment ), with whom they shared the outer guard, and were in peacetime stationed in barracks on the outskirts of Paris . Like the eleven Swiss regiments of line infantry in French service,

7004-497: The economy grew solidly, the increase was not reflected in a proportional growth in taxes, their collection being contracted to tax farmers who kept much of it as personal profit. As the nobility and Church benefited from many exemptions, the tax burden fell mainly on peasants. Reform was difficult because new tax laws had to be registered with regional judicial bodies or parlements that were able to block them. The king could impose laws by decree, but this risked open conflict with

7107-430: The field as a fighting regiment in times of war. The Hundred Swiss were created in 1480 when Louis XI retained a Swiss company for his personal guard. By 1496 they comprised one hundred guardsmen and about twenty-seven officers and sergeants. Their main role was to protect the King in the palace as the garde du dedans du Louvre (the Louvre indoor guard), but in the earlier part of their history they also accompanied

7210-419: The following year and returned with him to Paris following the Battle of Waterloo . The unit then resumed its traditional role as palace guards at the Tuileries , but in 1817 it was replaced by a new guard company drawn from the French regiments of the Royal Guard. In 1616, Louis XIII gave an existing regiment of Swiss infantry the name of Gardes suisses (Swiss Guards). The new regiment primarily protected

7313-495: The history of the Swiss Guards was their defence of the Tuileries Palace in central Paris during the French Revolution . Of the nine hundred Swiss Guards defending the palace on 10 August 1792 , about six hundred were killed during the fighting or massacred after they surrendered. One group of sixty Swiss were taken as prisoners to the Paris City Hall before being killed by the crowd there. An estimated one hundred and sixty more died in prison of their wounds, or were killed during

7416-439: The infantry of the line. There was one grenadier company (109 officers and men) and four fusilier companies (each numbering 132 officers and men) to each battalion. The subsequent image of the Gardes Françaises as a socially-elite palace unit led solely by courtier officers may be largely incorrect. Most of the regimental officers were from outside Paris, and some, such as the future Maréchal Abraham de Fabert , did not have even

7519-464: The king would summon an Estates-General to convene the following May. Brienne resigned and was replaced by Necker . In September 1788, the Parlement of Paris ruled that the Estates-General should convene in the same form as in 1614, meaning that the three estates (the clergy, nobility, and Third Estate or "commons") would meet and vote separately, with votes counted by estate rather than by head. As

7622-564: The land and collected seigneurial dues and rents from their tenants. Most delegates were town-dwelling members of the noblesse d'épée , or traditional aristocracy. Courtiers and representatives of the noblesse de robe (those who derived rank from judicial or administrative posts) were underrepresented. Of the 610 deputies of the Third Estate, about two-thirds held legal qualifications and almost half were venal office holders. Less than 100 were in trade or industry and none were peasants or artisans. To assist delegates, each region completed

7725-401: The late 15th century. The earliest Swiss Guard unit to be established on a permanent basis was the Hundred Swiss ( Cent-Suisses ), which served at the French court from 1490 to 1817. This small force was complemented in 1616 by a Swiss Guards regiment. In the 18th and early 19th centuries several other Swiss Guard units existed for periods in various European courts. Foreign military service

7828-403: The law, opening public office to all, freedom of worship, and cancellation of special privileges held by provinces and towns. With the suspension of the 13 regional parlements in November, the key institutional pillars of the old regime had all been abolished in less than four months. From its early stages, the Revolution therefore displayed signs of its radical nature; what remained unclear

7931-519: The lives of 83 attackers. Taken to the Hôtel de Ville , he was executed, his head placed on a pike and paraded around the city; the fortress was then torn down in a remarkably short time. Although rumoured to hold many prisoners, the Bastille held only seven: four forgers, a lunatic, a failed assassin, and a deviant nobleman. Nevertheless, as a potent symbol of the Ancien Régime , its destruction

8034-475: The members of the Estates-General were not informed in advance. On 20 June, when the members of the Third Estate found their meeting place closed, they moved to a nearby tennis court and swore not to disperse until a new constitution had been agreed. At the Royal Session the king announced a series of tax and other reforms and stated that no new taxes or loans would be implemented without the consent of

8137-442: The monarchy with a republic, Louis retained his position but was generally regarded with acute suspicion and forced to swear allegiance to the constitution. A new decree stated retracting this oath, making war upon the nation, or permitting anyone to do so in his name would be considered abdication. However, radicals led by Jacques Pierre Brissot prepared a petition demanding his deposition, and on 17 July, an immense crowd gathered in

8240-420: The most effective volley. On this occasion the Gardes Françaises fired first, with limited effect, and sustained heavy casualties, of 411 dead and wounded. During the years 1685 to 1789 the regiment wore dark "king's blue" coats, with red collars, cuffs and waistcoats. Breeches were red (later white), and leggings were white. Grenadiers had high fur hats, and the fusilier companies wore the standard tricorn of

8343-549: The officers of the Gardes Françaises , led by their colonel, had resigned their commissions. In a letter dated 21 July, addressed to the Marquis de Lafayette , King Louis XVI authorized 3,600 rank and file members of the regiment, including the regimental band, to enter the newly raised Garde Bourgeoise . The Gardes Françaises subsequently provided the professional core of the Garde Nationale . As such, they acted under

8446-422: The other estates. On the following day, each estate was to separately verify the credentials of their representatives. The Third Estate, however, voted to invite the other estates to join them in verifying all the representatives of the Estates-General in common and to agree that votes should be counted by head. Fruitless negotiations lasted to 12 June when the Third Estate began verifying its own members. On 17 June,

8549-400: The parties. When writing Hamlet , Shakespeare assumed (perhaps relying on his sources ) that the royal house of Denmark employed a Swiss Guard: In Act IV, Scene v (line 98) he has King Claudius exclaim "Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door". However, it may also be due to the word "Swiss" having become a generic term for a royal guard in popular European usage. Coincidentally,

8652-464: The protestors broke into the royal apartments, searching for Marie Antoinette, who escaped. They ransacked the palace, killing several guards. Order was eventually restored, and the royal family and Assembly left for Paris, escorted by the National Guard. Louis had announced his acceptance of the August Decrees and the Declaration, and his official title changed from 'King of France' to 'King of

8755-430: The rentier and mercantile classes, while the living standards fell for wage labourers and peasant farmers who rented their land. Economic recession from 1785, combined with bad harvests in 1787 and 1788, led to high unemployment and food prices, causing a financial and political crisis. While the state also experienced a debt crisis, the level of debt itself was not high compared with Britain's. A significant problem

8858-616: The representation of the Third Estate, but left the question of counting votes for the Estates-General to decide. The Estates-General contained three separate bodies, the First Estate representing 100,000 clergy, the Second the nobility, and the Third the "commons". Since each met separately, and any proposals had to be approved by at least two, the First and Second Estates could outvote

8961-613: The revolutionary armies of 1792 to 1802. Following the Bourbon restoration of 1814, attempts were made to recreate most of the various military units that had formerly made up the Royal Household. However, the defection of the Gardes Françaises at a crucial point in the revolution could not be forgotten, and no attempt was made to re-establish that regiment. French Revolution The French Revolution ( French : Révolution française [ʁevɔlysjɔ̃ fʁɑ̃sɛːz] )

9064-519: The royal bodyguard, and were welcomed with a formal banquet as was common practice. The radical press described this as a 'gluttonous orgy', and claimed the tricolour cockade had been abused, while the Assembly viewed their arrival as an attempt to intimidate them. On 5 October, crowds of women assembled outside the Hôtel de Ville , agitating against high food prices and shortages. These protests quickly turned political, and after seizing weapons stored at

9167-496: The ruling elite , and indecisive policy by Louis XVI and his ministers, the result was a crisis the state was unable to manage. Between 1715 and 1789, the French population grew from 21 to 28 million, 20% of whom lived in towns or cities, Paris alone having over 600,000 inhabitants. This was accompanied by a tripling in the size of the middle class, which comprised almost 10% of the population by 1789. Despite increases in overall prosperity, its benefits were largely restricted to

9270-525: The source of legitimate authority was more apparent in the provinces, where officers of the Ancien Régime had been swept away, but not yet replaced by new structures. This was less obvious in Paris, since the National Guard made it the best policed city in Europe, but disorder in the provinces inevitably affected members of the Assembly. Centrists led by Sieyès, Lafayette, Mirabeau and Bailly created

9373-556: The state assumed responsibilities such as paying the clergy and caring for the poor, the sick and the orphaned. On 13 February 1790, religious orders and monasteries were dissolved, while monks and nuns were encouraged to return to private life. The Civil Constitution of the Clergy of 12 July 1790 made them employees of the state, as well as establishing rates of pay and a system for electing priests and bishops. Pope Pius VI and many French Catholics objected to this since it denied

9476-416: The status of provincial aristocrats. The rank and file were recruited from all over France but through marriages and off-duty employment, they quickly established local ties in Paris, which were to influence their behaviour at the outbreak of the French Revolution. Guardsmen were enlisted for a minimum of eight years and were required to be French nationals with a minimum height of 1.73 m (5'8"), compared with

9579-469: Was " Vive le roi, s'il est de bon foi! ", or "Long live the king – if he keeps his word". Although a minority in the Assembly, control of key committees allowed the Brissotins to provoke Louis into using his veto. They first managed to pass decrees confiscating émigré property and threatening them with the death penalty. This was followed by measures against non-juring priests, whose opposition to

9682-596: Was a period of political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 , and ended with the coup of 18 Brumaire in November 1799 and the formation of the French Consulate . Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy , while its values and institutions remain central to modern French political discourse. The causes of the revolution were

9785-489: Was criticised by Jacobin radicals for the severity of his actions. Growing disorder meant many professional officers either left or became émigrés, further destabilising the institution. Held in the Tuileries Palace under virtual house arrest, Louis XVI was urged by his brother and wife to re-assert his independence by taking refuge with Bouillé, who was based at Montmédy with 10,000 soldiers considered loyal to

9888-463: Was followed by a series of radical measures by the Assembly, among them the abolition of feudalism , state control over the Catholic Church , and a declaration of rights . The next three years were dominated by the struggle for political control, and military defeats following the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars in April 1792 led to an insurrection on 10 August . The monarchy was replaced by

9991-467: Was greeted by Bailly and accepted a tricolore cockade to loud cheers. However, it was clear power had shifted from his court; he was welcomed as 'Louis XVI, father of the French and king of a free people.' The short-lived unity enforced on the Assembly by a common threat quickly dissipated. Deputies argued over constitutional forms, while civil authority rapidly deteriorated. On 22 July, former Finance Minister Joseph Foullon and his son were lynched by

10094-563: Was outlawed by the first Swiss Federal Constitution of 1848 and a federal Law of 1859, with the only exception being the Pontifical Swiss Guard ( Latin : Pontificia Cohors Helvetica, Cohors Pedestris Helvetiorum a Sacra Custodia Pontificis ; Italian : Guardia Svizzera Pontificia ) stationed in Vatican City . The modern Papal Swiss Guard serves as both a ceremonial unit and a bodyguard . Established in 1506, it

10197-441: Was substantially higher than that of the regular French soldiers. The Guards were recruited from all Swiss cantons. The nominal establishment was 1,600 men though actual numbers seem to have normally been below this. Disciplinary matters were the responsibility of Swiss officers within the regiment, under a code of punishments that was significantly harsher than that of the remainder of the French army. The most famous episode in

10300-400: Was that tax rates varied widely from one region to another, were often different from the official amounts, and collected inconsistently. Its complexity meant uncertainty over the amount contributed by any authorised tax caused resentment among all taxpayers. Attempts to simplify the system were blocked by the regional Parlements which approved financial policy. The resulting impasse led to

10403-514: Was the constitutional mechanism for turning intentions into practical applications. On 9 July, the National Assembly appointed a committee to draft a constitution and statement of rights. Twenty drafts were submitted, which were used by a sub-committee to create a Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen , with Mirabeau being the most prominent member. The Declaration was approved by

10506-449: Was the largest individual landowner in France, controlling nearly 10% of all estates and levied tithes , effectively a 10% tax on income, collected from peasant farmers in the form of crops. In return, it provided a minimal level of social support. The August decrees abolished tithes, and on 2 November the Assembly confiscated all church property, the value of which was used to back a new paper currency known as assignats . In return,

10609-553: Was viewed as a triumph and Bastille Day is still celebrated every year. In French culture, some see its fall as the start of the Revolution. Alarmed by the prospect of losing control of the capital, Louis appointed the Marquis de Lafayette commander of the National Guard , with Jean-Sylvain Bailly as head of a new administrative structure known as the Commune . On 17 July, Louis visited Paris accompanied by 100 deputies, where he

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