The league was formed with
Léon Gambetta's blessing; Gambetta's education ministry included Déroulède in its Military Education Commission, which was also formed in 1882. However, during the
Boulanger affair, Déroulède co-opted the Ligue to support the general, alienating many Republican members. After Boulanger's exile in 1889, the Ligue was suppressed by the government. Upon the discovery that
Victoria, the future German Empress, had stayed in
Versailles and
Saint-Cloud (a town destroyed during the Franco-Prussian War) during her unofficial visit to France in 1891, the Ligue incited a public uproar. The disorder surrounding the visit eventually resulted in the Crown Princess cutting her trip short and being escorted under French military protection, for her safety, to
Calais to board a ship to England. In 1898, the Ligue was revived to become involved in the
Dreyfus affair engaging in noisy and often violent
anti-Semitic, right-wing protests. At this stage, the Ligue is estimated to have had 60,000 members, largely in Paris. After at the
state funeral of President
Félix Faure, one of the Ligue's founders who later distanced himself from its positions,
Paul Déroulède was sentenced to exile from France for 10 years; the Ligue was again dissolved. Nevertheless, the nationalist author
Maurice Barrès became again its leader in 1914, at the eve of
World War I. Upon Barrès's death, General
Édouard de Castelnau became leader, with
Alexandre Millerand as president of honour. De Castelnau became head of the
Fédération Nationale Catholique, which made him resign the leadership in 1926, as well as the presidency in 1932. The Ligue was definitely dissolved in the late 1930s, after General
Denis Auguste Duchêne briefly reformed it in 1939. == Notable members ==