Written by Rouget de Lisle in April, 1792, La Marseillaise was first published in Strasbourg under the title Chant de Guerre pour l’armée du Rhin (War Song for the Army of the Rhine) at a time when the Austro-Prussian invasion of France was imminent. The song received its affiliation with Marseilles when it was taken up by volunteers from that city upon their arrival in Paris at the end of July. Adopted as the national anthem by the Convention in 1795, the song would become a standard theme throughout the Directory and Consulate periods only to be banned by Napoleon in 1805 as a means of declaring an end to the political ferment of the Revolution. It was reinstated as the national anthem in the centennial year of the Revolution, 1879. Full of violent imagery, its lyrics clearly convey the urgency of expelling the Austro-Prussian invaders and saving the nascent republic in the critical days prior to the Battle of Valmy.
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Allons enfants de la Patrie Refrain: Que veut cette horde d’esclaves, Quoi! ces cohortes étrangères! Tremblez, tyrans et vous perfides, Français, en guerriers magnanimes Nous entrerons dans la carrière Amour sacré de la Patrie |
Arise children of the fatherland, The day of glory has arrived! Against us tyranny’s Bloody standard is raised. Listen to the sound in the fields, The howling of these fearsome soldiers. They are coming into your midst To cut the throats of your sons and companions. Chorus: To arms, citizens! Form your battalions! March, march! Let impure blood Water our furrows! What do they want, this horde of slaves, Of traitors and conspiring kings? For whom these vile chains, These long-prepared irons? Frenchmen, for us. What outrage! What fury it excites! It is we they plan To return to the old slavery! [Chorus]What! These foreign cohorts! They would make laws in our courts! What! These mercenary phalanxes Would cut down our warrior sons. Great God! By chained hands Our brows would yield to the yoke Of vile despots who would become The masters of our destinies. [Chorus] Tremble, tyrants and traitors, Frenchmen, as magnanimous warriors We shall enter into the pit Sacred love of country |