militarized force. In 1720, the was officially attached to the Household of the King (), together with the gendarmerie of the time, which was not a police force at all, but a royal guard. During the eighteenth century, the marshalcy developed in two distinct areas: increasing numbers of Marshalcy Companies (), dispersed into small detachments, were stationed around the French countryside to maintain law and order, while specialist units provided security for royal and strategic sites such as palaces and the mint (e.g., the and the .) While its existence ensured the relative safety of French rural districts and roads, visitors from England, which had nothing but the not very effective parish constables, saw the , with its armed and uniformed patrols, as royal soldiers with an oppressive role and so a symbol of foreign tyranny. On the eve of the 1789 French Revolution, the Maréchaussée numbered 3,660 men divided into small brigades (a "brigade" in this context being a squad of ten to twenty men). Their limited numbers and scattered deployment rendered the ineffective in controlling the "Great Fear" of July through August, 1789. The Revolutionary Period During the revolutionary period, the commanders generally placed themselves under the local constitutional authorities. Despite their connection with the king, they were therefore perceived as a force favoring the reforms of the French National Assembly. As a result, the was not disbanded but simply renamed as the . Its personnel remained unchanged, and the functions of the force remained much as before. However, from this point, the gendarmerie, unlike the , became a fully militarized force. During the revolutionary period, the main force responsible for policing was the National Guard. Although the had been the main police force of the ancien regime, the gendarmerie was initially a full-time auxiliary to the National Guard militia. In 1791 the newly named was grouped into 28 divisions, each commanded by a colonel responsible for three départements. In turn, two companies of gendarmes under the command of captains were based in each department. This territorial basis of organisation continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries. Nineteenth century Under Napoléon, the numbers and responsibilities of the gendarmerie—renamed —were expanded significantly. In contrast to the mounted , the gendarmerie were both horse and foot personnel; in 1800, these numbered approximately 10,500 of the former and 4,500 of the later, respectively. In 1804 the first Inspector General of Gendarmerie