Policing, Rural Revolt, and Conscription in Napoleonic France

Book abstract: Napoleon was a breaker of worlds. He made and remade most of the European continent almost at will, for well over a decade. Much of our world was forged as a consequence of his actions. Ever since we have taken our revenge – whether as scholars, novelists, politicians or private citizens – by making, unmaking and remaking him. Napoleon: assassin or saviour of the Revolution? Hero or charlatan? Manager or despot? Warmonger or pacifist? These are the questions French and foreign historians have tried to answer over the last two centuries. In this collection of essays, a new generation of historians re-evaluate the Napoleonic era by focusing on the constitutional and institutional impact of this period on western European society.