The École de Mars occupies the vast, flat expanse of the Plaine des Sablons. It is defined by the memory of a wooden military camp built in seventeen ninety-four to train three thousand teenage recruits from across France. During the height of the Revolution, the Committee of Public Safety ordered these boys to live in tents, perform daily drills, and study the new republican virtues. Today, the only evidence of this site is the name it left behind in the local geography.
École de Mars
historic