Levée en masse Levée en masse ( , which is , when translated into English , essentially " mass uprising " or " mass mobilization . " The concept originated as a French term for mass conscription during the French Revolutionary Wars , particularly for the one from 16 August 1793 . However , its use as a military tactic predates this by an untold number of centuries , though typically as an occasional measure of last resort as in Baldwin IV ' s defense of the Kingdom of Jerusalem ( one of the crusader states ) . The term was used again in the sense in relation to enrollment into civilian militias in the war in Bosnia . Terminology . The term " Levée en masse " denotes a short - term requisition of all able - bodied men to defend the nation and its rise as a military tactic may be viewed in connection with the political events and developing ideology in revolutionary France , particularly the new concept of the democratic as opposed to a royal subject . Central to the understanding that developed ( and was promoted by the authorities ) of the " Levée " is the idea that the new political rights given to the mass of the French people also created new obligations to the state . As the nation now understood itself as a community of " all " people , its defense also was assumed to become a responsibility of " all " . Thus , the " Levée en masse " was created and understood as a means to defend the nation for the nation by the nation . Historically , the " Levée en masse " heralded the age of the people ' s war and displaced prior restricted forms of warfare as the cabinet wars ( 1715 – 1792 ) when armies of professional soldiers fought without general participation of the population . The French Revolutionary Wars . The first modern use of " levée en masse " occurred during the French Revolutionary Wars . Under the Ancien Régime , there had been some conscription ( by ballot ) to a militia , " milice " , to supplement the large standing army in times of war . This had proven unpopular with the peasant communities on which it fell and was one of their grievances which they expected to be addressed by the French Estates - General , when it were convened in 1789 to put the French monarchy on a sounder footing . When this led instead to the French Revolution , the " milice " was duly abolished by the National Assembly . The progression of the Revolution came to produce friction between France and its European neighbors , who grew determined to invade France to restore the monarchical regime . War with Prussia and Austria was declared in April 1792 . The invading forces were met in France by a mixture of what was left of the old professional army and volunteers ( it was these , not the " levée en masse " , that won the battle of Valmy in September 1792 ) . By February 1793 the new regime needed more men , so the National Convention passed a decree on 24 February allowing for the a national levy of about 300 , 000 with each French département to supply a quota of recruits . By March 1793 France was at war with Austria , Prussia , Spain , Britain , Piedmont and the United Provinces . The introduction of recruitment for the Levy in the Vendée , a politically and religiously conservative region , added to local discontent over other revolutionary directives emanating from Paris , and on 11 March the Vendée erupted into civil war — just days after France declared war on Spain and adding further strains on the French armies ' limited manpower . By some accounts , only about half this number appears to have been actually raised , bringing the army strength up to about 645 , 000 in mid - 1793 , and the military situation continued to worsen . In response to this desperate situation , at war with European states , and insurrection , a " levée en masse " was decreed by the National Convention on 23 August 1793 in ringing terms , beginning : All unmarried able - bodied men between 18 and 25 were requisitioned with immediate effect for military service . This significantly increased the number of men in the army , reaching a peak of about 1 , 500 , 000 in September 1794 , although the actual fighting strength probably peaked at no more than 800 , 000 . In addition , as the decree suggests , much of the civilian population was turned towards supporting the armies through armaments production and other war industries as well as supplying food and provisions to the front . As Barere put it , " … all the French , both sexes , all ages are called by the nation to defend liberty " . For all the rhetoric , the " levée en masse " was not popular ; desertion and evasion were high . But the effort was sufficient to turn the tide of the war , and there was no need for any further conscription until 1797 , when a more permanent system of annual intakes was instituted . An effect of the " levée en masse " was the creation of a national army in France , made up of citizens , rather than an all - professional army , as was the standard practice of the time . Its main result , protecting French borders against all enemies , surprised and shocked Europe . The levée en masse was also effective in that by putting on the field many men , even untrained , it required France ' s opponents to man all fortresses and expand their own standing armies , far beyond their capacity to pay professional soldiers . The levée en masse also offered many opportunities for untrained people who could demonstrate their military proficiency , allowing the French army to build a strong officer and non - commissioned cadre . Though not a novel idea — see for example thinkers as diverse as Platoand the lawyer and linguist Sir William Jones ( who thought every adult male should be armed with a musket at public expense ) — the actual practice of a " levée en masse " was rare before the French Revolution . The " levée " was a key development in modern warfare and would lead to steadily larger armies with each successive war , culminating in the enormous conflicts of World War I and World War II during the first half of the 20th century . Bosnia . During and in the aftermath of the war in Bosnia it was argued that armed reaction of Bosnian Muslims to Serbian militias in Srebrenica and other places was a legitimate form of civilian levée en masse .