ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the foremost role of the state of siege, as the backbone of France's civil government in the Great War of 1914-1918. The state of siege which was declared by the decree of August 2, 1914 in the 86 French departments, the territory of Belfort, and the three departments of Algeria was maintained for the duration of the war. The outbreak of the war was accompanied by an immediate application of article 8 of the law of 1849. The government was counting on the energy of the army to secure public order, and it was a logical step to institute military courts to provide the aid for military authority that civil courts would in normal times accord to the civil authority. The control of civil liberty under the permissive terms of the state of siege constituted an efficient aid to the French government in the prosecution of the war.
