Ligue des Patriotes

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The Ligue des Patriotes was a French far right league, founded by the nationalist poet Paul Déroulède in 1882. It began life as a non-partisan nationalist league calling for 'revanche' (revenge for the French defeat during the Franco-Prussian War) against Germany, and literally means "League of Patriots". However during the Boulanger Affair Déroulède co-opted the ligue to support the general, alienating many Republican members. After Boulanger's exile in 1889 the Ligue was suppressed by the French government.

Upon the discovery that Victoria, the future German Empress had stayed in Versailles and St Cloud (a town destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War) during her unnoficial visit to France in 1891, the Ligue incited a public uproar. The disorder surrounding the visit eventually resulted in the Crown Princess cutting her trip short and being escorted under French military protection, for her safety, to Calais to board a ship to England.

In 1898 the Ligue was revived to become involved in the Dreyfus Affair engaging in noisy and often violent anti-semitic, right-wing protests. At this stage the Ligue is estimated to have had 60,000 members, largely in Paris. After a failed coup in 1899 Paul Déroulède was sentenced to exile from France for 10 years and the ligue was dissolved. But the nationalist author Maurice Barrès became again its leader in 1914, at the eve of World War I ^[1].