Military body made up of armed citizens and volunteers with a lower military rank compared to that of a permanent army. During the periods of 1820-1823 and 1833-1843 it was the armed branch of the liberal military and was primarily composed of  the urban middle classes that were predisposed to fight against those whom they considered enemies of liberty: the absolutists and moderates. In 1845 they were replaced, out of repression, by the Civil Guard, although they reappeared during the Democratic Sexennial (1868) under the name of Volunteers of Liberty and Volunteers of the Republic.