Reformer In France

During the French Revolution, Lafayette was among reform leaders who demanded that Louis XVI convene the States-General, the legislature that had not met in 175 years. He supported its transformation into the National Assembly, of which he was chosen vice president. He presented for adoption the Declaration of the Rights of Man. After the storming of the Bastille, Lafayette became commander of the National Guard. Its goal was to protect the constitutional monarchy that the king was forced to accept.

In 1792, when Prussia and Austria went to war against the revolutionary regime in France, the government placed Lafayette in command of an army against the Austrian forces in Belgium. He led an invasion into Belgium but achieved little. Because of his support of the king, whom the radical revolutionaries wanted to depose, he had to flee France. He tried to escape to the United States, but was captured by the Austrians and held as a prisoner of war for five years, 1792–97.

General Napoleon Bonaparte arranged for Lafayette's release but, viewing him as a possible rival, barred him from France for two years. Later Lafayette opposed Napoleon's taking the title of emperor and called for his abdication in 1815 after the Battle of Waterloo.