Joseph Bara

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Joseph Bara (1780 – December 7, 1793) was a young French republican soldier at the time of the Revolution who was hailed as a hero by the leaders of the movement. Bara voluntarily enrolled in the revolutionary troops fighting the royalist insurrection in the Vendée. Having been trapped by the enemy and being ordered to cry "Vive le Roi" ("Long live the King") to save his own life, he preferred instead to die crying "Vive la République" ("Long live the Republic"), though his actual exclamation was probably of an earthier nature. The boy's death was seized as a propaganda opportunity by Robespierre, who praised him at the Convention's tribune saying that "only the French have thirteen-year-old heroes" and had his remains transferred to the Panthéon.

[edit] Honours

• A painting by Jacques-Louis David depicts the dying Bara.
• A Paris street is named after him.
• Bara is alluded to in the Chant du départ