Historedia
EuropeEvent

Composition of La Marseillaise

When
1792
Where
Strasbourg; Marseille and Paris
Episodes
2

Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle composed La Marseillaise in Strasbourg in April 1792. The song, originally titled War Song for the Army of the Rhine, was written in response to a request from the mayor of Strasbourg. It later became the French national anthem after being adopted by volunteers from Marseille.

Episodes

  1. 25 April 1792 · StrasbourgComposition in Strasbourg

    Rouget de Lisle composed the song in Strasbourg on 25 April 1792, following a request from the mayor.

  2. end of May – 30 July 1792 · Marseille and ParisAdoption by Marseille Volunteers and Entry into Paris

    The song was adopted as La Marseillaise after being sung by Marseille volunteers by the end of May 1792; the fédérés entered Paris on 30 July 1792.

Background and detail

Composition. Rouget de Lisle returned to his quarters and wrote the words in a fit of patriotic excitement. The piece was initially titled Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin. He dedicated the song to Marshal Nicolas Luckner, a Bavarian freemason in French service.

Adoption. The melody became a rallying call for the French Revolution. It was adopted as La Marseillaise after being sung on the streets by volunteers from Marseille by the end of May 1792. Separately, the fédérés entered Paris on 30 July 1792, having adopted it as their marching song.

People involved

Sources

  1. Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-28
  2. La Marseillaise Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-10

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.