The Marquis de Lafayette returned to France only to become swept up in the French Revolution. He played a significant role as a progressive member of the nobility in the Estates-General which later became the National Assembly. Lafayette became the head of the National Guard was involved in crowd-control. Some members of the Third Estate criticized him as the savior of constitutional Monarchy and the rights of the bourgeoisie against anarchy.
In 1791 Lafayette lost the elections for mayor of Paris but
was put in charge of one of the armies to fight against Austria and Prussia. In
1792 he was arrested by French authorities and attempted to desert and was
captured by the Austrians. He remained in prison until 1797, including a year
of isolation. Most of his family was guillotined, imprisoned, or forced into
exile by the excesses of the extreme left of the Revolution.
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