West European Studies

The Marseillaise is the national anthem of France. The anthem has a rich history in its usage that dates back to the revolutionary war in French in 1792. The la Marseillaise was one of the songs that was composed in the revolutionary war period and was later approved to be the national anthem of France by the convection in 1795. The la Marseillaise was composed by Claude Joseph Rouget De Lisle in April 25 1792 at the start of the French Revolution ally wars when France declared war on neighboring Austria and Prussia.

The anthem then became the assembly call of the revolution. The anthem was composed in Strasbourg and not in Marseillaise by the Claude Joseph who was the captain of the engineers in Rhine. The song was first sung on the streets by volunteers from Marseillaise when they arrived on their way to Paris. The song was first sung in a patriotic gathering in Marseillaise by a young volunteer named Montpellier. The song became very popular in the army during their march to the battlefield and shortly after the song wascomposed,the city of Strasbourg was attacked by the foreign armies of Austria and Prussia and this song was sung as the armyrepulsed the armies,from Strasbourg. The song became so popular that after some time it became the rallying call of the revolution to mobilize the masses to gather for the marches that occurred during the revolution.

Claude was approached by the Strasbourg mayor to compose a song that would be chanted by the army as it approached Paris. The song was originally called hymne de guere dedie au marechal de lucknerthe, which was renamed later the war song of the army of Rhine. The song was sang as the Marseillaise army volunteers numbering 5000 troops entered Paris on the July of 1792 and by the time the march was over, the song became popular till it became the anthem of the revolution. The anthems first major play was in a patriotic feast where it became popular due to its melody and the tone among the army units in other regions speciously the Marseillaise army unit which made the song to be called the le Marseillaise three months later after its composition. The anthem was so important in the match of the soldiers that printed copies of the anthem would be handed to the volunteer soldiers while they entered Paris. The anthem was sung as the troops from Marseillaise marched through in the war and on 10th august 1792.

The song was sung as the revolutionary forces entered Tuileries. The anthem was very popular in the march called the levee en masse of the revolutionary wars especially the leeeve en mass of 1793 where the anthem was sung as the masses in the revolutionary war marched across France contributing to the success of the gatherings. The le Marseillaise was approved by the convection government as the national anthem in the July 14 1795. The anthem was the first among the European anthems that employed marching in its usage

During the revolution in the first republic, le Marseillaise use in the revolution was one of the songs that contributed to the success of the revolution. In the time of the founding of the second republic, the use of the le Marseillaise was opposed by Napoleon from 1799 to 1815. The anthem was rarely used in this period for official functions but remained popular among the people. The opposition by the Napoleons regime was due to its revolutionary theme and the regime  created other anthems to replace it like the veillons au salut de iepire and partant pour la syrie. Napoleon I opposed the anthem because it was viewed as a song that would fuel the revolutionary process more at time when the monarchy and the empire was experiencing a period of restoration in the second republic. Despite the opposition by the Napoleon government and its suppression, of use the le Marseillaise remained very popular and at the heart of people and the republican government supporters at the time.

The le Marseillaise was also banned in its use by Louis XVIII at the time of the second restoration in 1815. The decision by the two rulers was due to the fact that the songs revolutionary and bloody character was viewed as a threat to their regime. The use of the le Marseillaise was reinstated as the national anthem in the third republic in the July of 1830. The anthem was used in  military parades at all occasions and was played in the July of 1830 when the aristocratic monarchy of King Charles collapsed and the empire was restored as a constitutional monarchy. The le Marseillaise was resorted fully as the national anthem of France after the 1830s July revolution.

However, the use of the national anthem was opposed in Napoleon the third before it was reinstated in 1879 as the national anthem (Wade, 58). At the beginning of the revolution, the le Marseillaise was originally known as the chant de gure du rhin war army of the song of Rhine but due to the popularity it got from the troops in Marseillaise, it was named after Marseillaise because the army at Marseillaise always used the song as a marching song in their march. The names of the anthem also changedin its usage during the revolutionary periodfor most of the17th and18th century. The song wasknown as the anthem of theinternational revolutionary movement but it was later called theParis commune later in the eighteenth century.

At the start of the revolution, the song was sung asa reflection of the French troops of invading foreign armies of Austria and Prussia as the lyrics depicted butin thefirst republic and the siege forBastille, the song usage reflected thestruggler of the French population symbolized the war that the local populationwas engaging in during theperiod against the rule of the aristocratic monarchy of Napoleon, and Louis the 18th. In the third republic, the use of the anthem signified the strong revolutionist zeal that was with the French people at the time which made him to ban the song as he fared thesinging of the song would ignite the revolutionary war more. By napoleon, the use of the anthem after the use July revolution of 1830s represented the end of the monarchy and the triumph of the people against the aristocratic government.

Napoleon attempts to suppress the popularity of the la Marseillaise was an attempt to restore the monarchy and the empire completely opposed all the revolutionary forces that were against the monarchy. However, the use of force by napoleon to quell the popularity of the anthem did not bear fruit as it was restored in the 1830s, when the anthem was restored, in the third republic. The anthem was played in all national occasions. The band that played the anthem in these occasions came from the military. When France was occupied by Germany in the   third republic, the Marseillaise still remained the anthem that was used by both the Vichy state of France that collaborated with the German occupiers and the non colonized France. The la Marseillaise was later to be made the official national anthem of France in the constitution of the fifth republic.