The anthem that became known as La Marseillaise[10] was written after the French declaration of war on Austria (April 20, 1792) as a patriotic “War Song for the Army of the Rhine” (Chant de guerre pour l'armée du Rhin). Encouraged by the Mayor of Strasbourg, Frédéric de Dietrich, the engineer officer Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle [9], a self-taught musician stationed there, composed the words and music and gave the first public performance of the anthem. La Marseillaise swept to its real triumph th…