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The term "fédérés" (sometimes translated to English as "federates") most commonly refers to the troops who volunteered for the French National Guard in the summer of 1792 during the French Revolution. The fédérés of 1792 effected a transformation of the Guard from a constitutional monarchist force into a republican revolutionary force.
"Fédérés" has several other closely related meanings, also discussed in this article.
The fédérés of 1790
The term "fédérés" derives from the fête de la Fédération, the annual celebration during the revolutionary era, celebrated at the Champ-de-Mars in Paris on the anniversary of the storming of the Bastille. The Bastille fell on July 14, 1789. At the first fête de la Fédération (1790) Talleyrand performed a Mass, Lafayette addressed the crowd, and Louis XVI gave a secular sermon. The attendees, known as fédérés, came from all over France and brought the spirit of the revolution back to the provinces.
The fédérés of 1792
However, the term "fédérés" as used by historians today almost always refers to the volunteer troops of 1792. The 1792 fête was of a far more radical nature than that two years earlier, and prefigured the insurrection on the 10th of August. The Legislative Assembly had called for a camp outside Paris for 20,000 "fédérés" to protect the city from the impending invasion of France by the troops of the Prussian Duke of Brunswick, but the king had vetoed this. Nonetheless, thousands came.
The fédérés of 1871
The term "fédérés" was revived during the Paris Commune. The Communards' Wall is known in French as the Mur de Fédérés.