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This edited volume explores conscription in the Napoleonic era, tracing the roots of European conscription and exploring the many methods that states used to obtain the manpower they needed to prosecute their wars. The levee-en-masse of the French Revolution has often been cited as a Revolution in Military Affairs, but was it truly a revolutionary break with past European practices of raising armies, or an intensification of the scope and scale of practices already inherent in the European military system? This international collection of scholars demonstrate that European conscription has far deeper roots than has been previously acknowledged, and that its intensification during the Napoleonic era was more an evolutionary than revolutionary change. This book will be of much interest to students of Military History, Strategic Studies, Strategic History and European History.
List of contents
Introduction Frederick C. Schneid. Conscription in France During the Era of Napoleon Harold D. Blanton. Meeting the French Challenge: Conscription in Prussia, 1807–1815 Dierk Walter. Conscription in Russia in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries: "For Faith, Tsar and Motherland" Alexander Mikaberidze. Conscription in the Habsburg Empire to 1815 Arthur Mark Boerke The Recruitment of Seamen for the British Navy, 1793–1815: "Why Don’t You Raise More Men?" Kevin McCrainie. Conscription in Spain in the Napoleonic Era Charles J. Esdaile. Conscription and Desertion in Napoleonic Italy, 1802–1814 Alexander Grab. Recruitment and Conscription in the Kingdom of Westphalia: "The Palladium of Westphalian Freedom" Michael F. Pavkovic. Filling the Ranks: Recruitment and Conscription for the Danish-Norwegian Army during the Napoleonic Era Karsten Skjold Petersen. Manning the Armed Forces: The Swedish Solution Fredrik Thisner. Conscription in Mehmed Ali’s Egypt – A Napoleonic Legacy John P. Dunn. Napoleonic Conscription and the Militarization of Europe? Frederick C. Schneid
About the author
Donald Stoker is Professor of Strategy and Policy for the US Naval War College’s Monterey Program in Monterey, California.
Harold D. Blanton is Professor of Strategy and Policy and Associate Chairman of the US Naval War College’s Monterey Program.
Frederick C. Schneid is Professor of History at High Point University.
Summary
This edited volume explores conscription in the Napoleonic era, tracing the roots of European conscription and exploring the many methods that states used to obtain the manpower they needed to prosecute their wars.
