National Guard (France)  The National Guard () is a French military, gendarmerie, and police reserve force, active in its current form since 2016 but originally founded in 1789 during the French Revolution. For most of its history the National Guard, particularly its officers, has been widely viewed as loyal to middle-class interests. It was founded as separate from the French Army and existed both for policing and as a military reserve. However, in its original stages from 1792 to 1795, the National Guard was perceived as revolutionary and the lower ranks were identified with sans-culottes. It experienced a period of official dissolution from 1827 to 1830, but was reestablished. Soon after the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the National Guard in Paris again became viewed as dangerously revolutionary, which contributed to its dissolution in 1871. In 2016, France announced the reestablishment of the National Guard in response to a series of terrorist attacks in the country. The raising of a "Bourgeois Guard" (""garde bourgeoise"") for Paris was discussed by the National Assembly on 11 July 1789 in response to the King's sudden and alarming replacement of minister for finance and state, Jacques Necker, with the Baron de Breteuil on that day. The replacement caused rapidly spread anger and violence throughout Paris. The National Assembly declared the formation of a "Bourgeois Militia" (""milice bourgeoise"") on 13 July. In the early morning of the next day, the search for weapons for this new militia led to the storming of the Hotel des Invalides and then the storming of the Bastille. Lafayette was elected to the post of commander in chief of the Bourgeois Militia on 14 July, and it was renamed the "National Guard". Similar bodies were spontaneously created in the towns and rural districts of France in response to widespread fears of chaos or counter-revolution. When the French Guards mutinied and were disbanded during the same month, the majority of this former royal regiment's rank and file became the full-time cadre of the Paris National Guard. Initially each city, town and village maintained National Guard units operated by their respective local governments, until they were united on 14 July 1790 under Lafayette, who was appointed "Commandant General of all the National Guards of the Kingdom" and was responsible to the King as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. On 5 December 1790 Robespierre held a speech on the urgent topic of the National Guard, a police force, independent from the army and repeated his ideas in the following year.