The popularity of La Marseillaise and participation of war volunteers show which new civic role?

Correct answer: Citizens began to see themselves as active participants in defense of the nation

The governing concept is civic nationalism: people increasingly understood the nation as a community of citizens rather than merely the king’s territory. La Marseillaise became a powerful revolutionary song, and volunteers joined the army with the belief that they were defending the nation and its political ideals. Their participation connected military service, citizenship, and national identity. This was different from fighting only as subjects of a monarch or as hired soldiers. Option A is correct because it captures this active civic role. Option B reduces citizens to taxpayers, C denies their mobilisation, and D reverses the revolutionary movement by claiming that citizens strengthened absolutism.