The Garde mobile ("Mobile Guard"; also called Garde nationale mobile though it had nothing to do with the Garde nationale) was intended to be the body which would in effect conscript all who had been able to avoid military service. The Garde would also take in all conscripts on completion of their army service. Napoleon III took up the idea and announced on 12 December 1866 that the Garde Mobile would eventually attain a strength of 400,000 troops. Its members were colloquially known as "Moblots". It origins lay in the crises that led up to the Franco-Prussian War, when Adolphe Niel, Minister of War for France under Emperor Napoleon III, attempted to bolster French military power creating a service which would provide reserves to be added to the regular French army. Although there was cons