The Resurrection of the French National Guard

Louis rosel was a former captain during the franco prussian war. Rosel found the national guard to be disobedient, frequently drunk and absent without leave. He also wanted to end completely the election of officers for fear of being immediately voted out of his office. This tug-of-war led moral and the rank and file to continue to plumb it. Every morning, some battalion would muster, and fewer and fewer men would turn out. Even officers stopped showing up. So at a moment when the commune was going to need every man in paris to ward off the versailles army, no one volunteering. Those who remained felt like maybe they were the chumps here