TheGarde mobile ("Mobile Guard"; also calledGarde nationale mobile though it had nothing to do with theGarde nationale) was intended to be a reserve force of all able-bodied men previously notdrafted (such as single men and childless widowers), trained yearly, during the time ofNapoleon III.[1][2]
Length of service was intended to be five years, with a draft of 116,000 men per year.[2]Napoleon III took up the idea and announced on 12 December 1866 that theGarde Mobile would eventually attain a strength of 400,000 troops, thus reaching the ruler's target of one million French troops.[3]Adolphe Niel, Minister of War forFrance under EmperorNapoleon III, was in charge of implementing the plan.[3]
Both the left and the right in theCorps Legislatif took issue with the proposal. Traditionalists wanted an all-professional army;[3] liberals were opposed to Bonapartist militarism.[1] But the law to create the Garde was passed in diluted form in January 1868 by 199 to 60 votes and came into force on February 1st of that year.[3] Given the dilution, the Garde Mobile was not fully implemented as planned. It numbered some 90,000 men in 1870 and trained only 14 days per year, non-consecutively, instead of the intended 20 days consecutively.[1] In some cases, the amount of training was even less: in 1869, onebattalion trained only for seven days, the sessions lasting three hours each.[2] Additionally, conscripts with any prior knowledge of drill and military education were excused altogether from training.[3] Thediscipline and equipment of the Garde were regarded as quite bad, especially when compared to the regular army.[1]
After Niel's death in 1869, his replacementEdmond Le Leboeuf regarded the Garde with disdain.[3]
The Garde Mobile was called up on in July 1870, as part of theFranco-Prussian War, but arrived too late to Eastern France to be useful,[1] presuming they could have been of use at all, considering how badly many senior officers considered their temperament and outfit.[3]
![The Attack at Dawn (Alphonse de Neuville, 1877). Prussian troops advance on a French town; French troops including Algerian riflemen and members of the Garde Mobile rush to defend.[4] The Walters Art Museum.](/mt/?noimg=&dark=on&url=http%3a%2f%2fen.wikipedia.org%2fwiki%2fFile%3aAlphonse_de_Neuville_-_The_Attack_at_Dawn_-_Walters_3740.jpg)