Carnet B was the main instrument for monitoring "suspects", French or foreign, under the French Third Republic. It was created in 1886 by General Georges Ernest Boulanger, to fight against espionage activities. Managed by the Ministry of the Interior, it is gradually being extended to all individuals capable of disturbing public order or antimilitarists who could oppose national mobilization. On August 1, 1914, Interior Minister Louis Malvy decided not to implement it when the World War I broke out. At the end of the war, it was kept and taken back for general surveillance, especially of foreigners. It was repealed in 1947.[1]

Excerpt from instructions on Carnet B for army corps staffs and the police, drawn up jointly by the Ministries of the Interior and of War, November 1912. National Archives of France.

References

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  1. ^ Becker, Jean Jacques (1973). Le carnet B: les pouvoirs publics et l'antimilitarisme avant la guerre de 1914 (in French). Klincksieck. pp. 16–. ISBN 978-2-252-01519-3. OCLC 1006434581.