The Empire
Napoleon did not believe that the middle-class National Guard would be able to maintain order and suppress riots. Therefore he created a Municipal Guard of Paris, which was strongly militarized. However, he did not abolish the National Guard, but was content to disarm it. He kept it in reserve and he mobilized it for the defense of French territory in 1809 and 1814. Twenty thousand national guardsmen took part in the Battle of Paris in 1814.
Read more about this topic: National Guard (France)
Famous quotes containing the word empire:
“London, that great cesspool into which all the loungers and idlers of the Empire are irresistibly drained.”
—Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930)
“now
I bring full-flavoured wine out of a barrel found
Where seven Ephesian topers slept and never knew
When Alexander’s empire passed, they slept so sound.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)