The Army of the Republic: New Warfare and a New Army

This chapter begins by examining the process in which a bond was formed between national defence and citizenship that subsequently—though only subsequently—came to appear as an intrinsic and fundamental element of the French republican model. The second part of the chapter considers the points of overlap between the wars of the Revolution and a revolution in warfare. The issue is still a matter for historical debate, with disagreement notably over the extent of the mutation, but there is no denying that what emerged was a new form of war, one that created a close linkage between the military and political spheres in France. If this was not an entirely novel phenomenon, what was original was the irreversible, enduring nature of this linkage over the next two hundred years and beyond, as reflected in the progress of the ideal of a nation in arms, which forms the subject of the third section. The spread of this ideal across much of Europe was, [the author suggests], a key factor behind the trend towards total war, an evolution whose full effects would be demonstrated in the two world wars of the twentieth century. [Author]