 Undoubtedly by 1793 the armies of the French Republic were in a state of disruption ; experienced soldiers of the Ancien Régime fought side by side with raw volunteers , urged on by revolutionary fervor from the special representatives , agents of the legislature sent to insure cooperation among the military . Many of the old officer class had emigrated , and the cavalry in particular suffered from their departure . The artillery arm , considered by the old nobility to be an inferior assignment , was less affected by emigration , and survived intact . The problems would become even more acute following the introduction of mass conscription , the levée en <unk> , in 1793 . French commanders walked a fine line between the security of the frontier and clamor for victory ( which would protect the regime in Paris ) on the one hand , and the desperate condition of the army on the other , while they themselves were constantly under suspicion from the representatives of the new regime . The price of failure or disloyalty was the guillotine . 
