Most of Robespierre's biographers have given scant attention to his role as an organiser of war or as a military strategist. He talked relatively little of these matters, preferring to leave them to others, to men more versed in the culture of the military and the science of war. In this he showed a wholly appropriate discretion. After all, the Convention was not short of men with military skills and battle experience: like other able men of their generation, they were drawn into politics in the 1790s as the forum where the most vital decisions were taken and where French society could most effectively be reformed. Carnot and Prieur de la Côte-d'Or were just two of the revolutionary leaders whose previous experience of the army gave them precious insights into military organisation and troop motivation, while others, and most notably Saint-Just, learned much from practical missions to the armies in the field. Robespierre, in contrast, stayed in Paris, maintaining his power base in the political arena of the Convention and the Jacobin club. He never left Paris on mission, either to the provinces or to the frontiers; he made no attempt to visit the troops once the war was declared. In political terms this was undoubtedly a valid choice to make, but it was not one that gave him any special prestige in military circles, nor did it acquaint him with the practical problems faced by the troops on the ground.