When Napoleon returned to France from the Russian campaign in 1812, his army, once numbering 250,000, reported 8,800 men fit for duty. He made a law that the national guard should march to the frontiers to defend them from invasion. This being deemed necessary, the measure was willingly submitted to.
One hundred thousand national guards were marched from different points to the Rhine, where they found the regular army. In two days an order arrived for the whole mass to march forward, and the national guard had the alternative of marching to battle or being cut to pieces, in case of refusal, by the regulars. Upwards of* seventy thousand of them perished in the campaign.
一八一二年俄羅斯戰役之後，拿破崙回到法國。他的軍隊，全盛時有二十五萬人，現在只餘八千八百人尚堪作戰。拿破崙制定法律，要國民兵赴邊疆駐守，防止敵國入侵。國人都認為這是必要的，並沒有反對。
各地共十萬個國民兵奉命，赴萊茵河畔取齊，見河畔還有正規軍。兩天之後，全軍接到命令，要往前進，上戰場殺敵，國民兵如有不從，勢必死在正規軍刀下。是役，國民兵死者達七萬多人。
*Upwards of是「超過」、「多於」的意思，美式英語作upward of，等於more than，例如：Upwards of 50 people were injured in the accident（意外事故之中，有五十多人受傷）。