todayinhistory:April 25th 1792: La Marseillaise composedOn this day in 1792, La Marseillaise - the F

todayinhistory:April 25th 1792: La Marseillaise composedOn this day in 1792, La Marseillaise - the French national anthem - was composed by Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle. Rouget de Lisle was a captain of the engineers in the French army, and an amateur musician. He was stationed at Strasbourg during the French Revolution, and was there when Austria and Prussia invaded France to quell the revolution. Upon France’s declaration of war on the two countries in April 1792, the mayor of Strasbourg asked Rouget de Lisle, a guest at his house, to write a marching song to rally French troops. He obliged, and on the evening of April 25th 1792, wrote the ‘Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin’ - ‘War song for the Army of the Rhine’. The song was published by revolutionaryFrançois Mireurin Marseille, and was sung with fervour by the Marseille volunteer soldiers as they entered Paris in July 1792, earning the song its new title of ‘La Marseillaise’. In July 1795, ‘La Marseillaise’ was declared a national song, but it was banned by Napoleon under the new empire. The song was eventually rearranged and reinstated, and adopted as the national anthem under the Third Republic in 1879; in the twentieth century, the anthem was written into the constitution. The original ‘La Marseillaise’ had six verses, but only the first and sixth verse are customarily sung today. The lyrics are fairly violent, but it is a rousing song about the strength of French citizens, and remains an iconic national anthem.Allons enfants de la Patrie, (Arise, children of the Fatherland)Le jour de gloire est arrive! (The day of glory has arrived!)Contre nous de la tyrannie, (Against us tyranny’s)L'etendard sanglant est leve (repeat) (Bloody banner is raised) -- source link

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