Today in History: The Levee en Masse

On this day (August 16) in 1793 the National Convention declared a levee en masse to protect the French Revolution from invasion by other European powers. All able-bodied men ages 18-25 were conscripted into the army. This created massive French armies which were often able to overwhelm the small professional armies of the other European states. At its peak in 1794, the levee en masse put 1,500,000 men into the French army.