From Valmy to Waterloo: France at War, 1792–1815 PDF
Preview From Valmy to Waterloo: France at War, 1792–1815
War,CultureandSociety,1750–1850 Series Editors: Rafe Blaufarb (Tallahassee, USA), Alan Forrest (York, UK), and KarenHagemann(ChapelHill,USA) Editorial Board: Michael Broers (Oxford, UK), Christopher Bayly (Cambridge, UK),RichardBessel(York,UK), SarahChambers(Minneapolis,USA),LaurentDubois(Durham,USA),Etienne François(Berlin,Germany), JanetHartley(London,UK),WayneLee(ChapelHill,USA),JaneRendall(York, UK),ReinhardStauber(Klagenfurt,Austria) Titlesinclude: RichardBessel,NicholasGuyattandJaneRendall(editors) WAR,EMPIREANDSLAVERY,1770–1830 AlanForrestandPeterH.Wilson(editors) THEBEEANDTHEEAGLE NapoleonicFranceandtheEndoftheHolyRomanEmpire,1806 AlanForrest,KarenHagemannandJaneRendall(editors) SOLDIERS,CITIZENSANDCIVILIANS ExperiencesandPerceptionsoftheRevolutionaryandNapoleonicWars, 1790–1820 KarenHagemann,GiselaMetteleandJaneRendall(editors) GENDER,WARANDPOLITICS TransatlanticPerspectives,1755–1830 Marie-CécileThoral FROMVALMYTOWATERLOO FranceatWar,1792–1815 Forthcoming: MichaelBroers,AgustinGuimeraandPeterHick(editors) THENAPOLEONICEMPIREANDTHENEWEUROPEANPOLITICAL CULTURE AlanForrest,EtienneFrançoisandKarenHagemann(editors) WARMEMORIES TheRevolutionaryandNapoleonicWarsinNineteenthandTwentieth CenturyEurope LeightonS.James WITNESSINGWAR Experience,NarrativeandIdentityinGermanCentralEurope,1792–1815 CatrionaKennedy NARRATIVESOFWAR MilitaryandCivilianExperienceinBritainandIreland,1793–1815 KevinLinch BRITAINANDWELLINGTON’SARMY Recruitment,SocietyandTradition,1807–1815 War,CultureandSociety,1750–1850 SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–0–230–54532–8hardback 978–0–230–54533–5paperback (outsideNorthAmericaonly) You can receive future titles in this series as they are published by placing a standing order. Please contact your bookseller or, in case of difficulty, write to usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesand theISBNquotedabove. Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills, Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England From Valmy to Waterloo France at War, 1792–1815 Marie-Cécile Thoral SeniorLecturer,ModernEuropeanHistory,SheffieldHallamUniversity,UK Translationby Godfrey Rogers ©Marie-CécileThoral2011 Translation©GodfreyRogers2011 Softcoverreprintofthehardcover1stedition2011 978-0-230-25287-5 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6-10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentified astheauthorofthisworkinaccordancewiththeCopyright, DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2011by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-32253-4 ISBN 978-0-230-29498-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1057/9780230294981 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 20 19 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 Contents Acknowledgements vii Introduction 1 1 BattleExperience 13 I Thechangingfaceofbattle 14 II Battleexperienceandindividualidentity 20 III Modernwar:siteofmassmortality 31 IV Theenemy:perception,representation,andtreatment 36 V Conclusion 44 2 TheWaratSea 45 I TheFrenchNavyintherevolutionary andNapoleonicwars 47 II Dominanceovertheoceans,controlofthetrade routes:thewarintheMediterranean 60 III Thereturnoftheprivateers 64 IV Conclusion 71 3 TheBodyinWar 72 I Fromthebodyofthesoldiertothebodyofthe nation:warandthebodypolitic 73 II Thehumanexperienceofwoundsandillnessinwar 80 III Healingmars:medicalservicesandmilitarymedicine 89 IV Conclusion 97 4 TroopMoraleandMilitaryUnity 99 I Troopmorale:thehistoricalandtheoreticaldebate 100 II Theimportanceoftheprimarygroupand comradeship 102 III Politicalideology,patriotism:theroleofvalues introopmorale 107 IV Thequalityofleadership 111 V Theroleofreligion 113 VI Warasanindividualexperience:theroleof self-concernintroopmotivation 115 v vi Contents VII Externalandmaterialsupportsfortroopmorale: theexampleofalcohol 117 VIII Conclusion 120 5 FromIndividualExperiencetoCollectiveIdentities 121 I Localandnationalidentity 122 1 Regionalandlocalidentity 122 2 Nationalidentity 126 II Culturalidentity:membershipofminorityreligions andsecretfraternities 134 III Militaryidentity 139 IV Conclusion 145 6 WarandtheEconomy 147 I Agriculture 148 II Commerce 152 1 TheAtlanticsector 153 2 TheMediterraneansector 158 3 Crisisandreorganizationofmaritimecommerce 163 III Industry 169 IV Conclusion 173 7 CiviliansintheWar 175 I Newsofthewar 177 II WarandthedailyexistenceoftheFrenchpeople 180 1 Waratthecentreofthepublicsphere 180 2 Thedifficultiesofeverydaylife:hardship,scarcity, andinflation 186 3 Mobilizationandthewareffort 192 III ThewarcomestoFrance 198 IV Conclusion 207 Conclusion 209 Notes 218 SelectBibliography 241 Index 251 Acknowledgements I wish to express my gratitude and thanks to the Arts and Humanities Research Council, which funded the research project ‘Nation, Bor- ders, Identities: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars in European Memories,’ in which I worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of York from 2006 to 2008. Their funding allowed me to carry out the research necessary to write this book. I also benefited hugely from working with the members of this international project, inBerlin(KarenHagemann,EtienneFrançois,RuthLeiserowitz,Kirstin Buchinger-Schäfer,WolfgangKoller,LarsPeters,andMariaSchultz),and in York where I could enjoy long and fruitful exchanges with Alan Forrest, Jane Rendall, Richard Bessel, Catriona Kennedy, and Leighton James. I am also indebted to Michael Broers and Alan Forrest, who kindly accepted to read the whole manuscript through several times. Their precious comments and ideas are greatly appreciated. Many thanks to both of them. At Palgrave, special thanks to Michael Strang and his assistant, Ruth Ireland, for their kind, competent, and effi- cient collaboration. Many thanks as well to the Musée du Louvre and the Réunion des Musées Nationaux for allowing me to use the pic- ture of Napoleon on the battlefield of Eylau by Antoine-Jean Gros for the cover jacket, to Godfrey Rogers for the impeccable translation of the manuscript, and, lastly, to all the members of the Department of His- tory, International Relations and Politics at Coventry University where I enjoyed working in a friendly and congenial atmosphere for 2 years, and to all my colleagues of the Department of History at Sheffield HallamUniversity. Outside of work, I wish to thank my dearest ones for their constant andinvaluablesupport. vii Introduction The Revolution that began in 1789 produced a far-reaching political, social, religious, and cultural upheaval in French society. The radical and comprehensive changes made in the early months and years by France’s new rulers set up a shock wave that affected countries across Europe.Infactitsoonbecameclearthatarootandbranchreconstruc- tion of French society on fundamentally new bases – the image of the ‘tabularasa’–wasnotpossibleinpractice.Butalthoughnumerousele- ments from the ancien régime survived the turmoil and came through the revolutionary era intact, the existing foundations of society were seriously undermined. It was during the Revolution narrowly defined (1789–1799) and the Consulate and the Empire that the contours of modernFrancefirstemerged:abolitionofthesocietyoflegallydefined estates,establishmentofcivilrightsforall,movestowardsnationaluni- fication(creationofadministrativedepartmentsandasinglesystemof weights and measures), and introduction of a more rational system of publicadministrationforthecountryasawhole. Thetransformationswerenotlimitedtothecivil,political,andsocial spheres: they also affected the army and military affairs. ‘The Revolu- tionwaswar,’observedJean-PaulBertaudin1979.‘Foreightyears,with rifleraisedandpikeerect,theFrenchmanwasacombatant.’1 Therefer- enceto8yearsofcontinuousconflictisexplainedbythechronological limits of his study (1792–1799). But the peace that followed the sign- ing of the Treaty of Amiens on 27 March 1802 was short-lived. From May 1803 France was again at war, and would remain so for a further 11 years, with an interruption during the First Restoration. Thus the French declaration of war on Austria on 20 April 1792 in fact commit- ted the nation to more than 20 years of war. Faced with a coalition of EuropeanpowersunitedagainsttheyoungRepublic,therevolutionaries 1 2 FromValmytoWaterloo came up with an original solution to the double imperative of defend- ingtheterritoryofFranceandthenewpoliticalvaluesoftherevolution: theycalleduponthecitizenrytoformatrulynationalarmy.Bybreaking with old-established practices and the monarchical tradition of merce- nary armies, and relying instead on an army of citizen soldiers, France entered the era of political and military modernity. Recruitment was voluntary in the early years, but before long a shortage of soldiers led totheintroductionofconscription.Initiallyanexceptionalmeasure,it became systematic after 1798 and the passing of the Jourdan Law, and assuchwascontinuedandindeedintensifiedduringtheConsulateand Empire.2 TherevolutionaryandNapoleonicwarswerethefirstnational warsinwhichthecombatantsweredrawndirectlyfromciviliansociety. The result was an unprecedented tightening of the bond between the civilianandmilitaryworlds,betweenwarandnation. That the conflict would have consequences for the very foundations ofFrenchsocietywasinevitablegivenitssheerscale,duration,andgeo- graphical extent (the whole of continental Europe and beyond in the campaigns in Egypt and Saint-Domingue); its far-reaching impact on civilian society and trade; and its forcible involvement of hundreds of thousands of young Frenchmen in year after year of interminable war. Several generations of young and not-so-young men underwent their baptism of fire during this 20-year period. Between 1800 and 1815, a totalof1.5millionconscripts,equalto7percentofthepopulationof France,wereenrolledinthearmyandsentofftowar.3Throughthecon- scripts’ experience and what it represented, countless French families alsodiscoveredtherealityofthewar.Theydidsoatdifferentmoments andindifferentways:receivingnewsofthefrontfromsons,husbands and fathers; reading the battle accounts – of questionable reliability – published in the press; hearing the wild rumours that circulated; or experiencing higher prices, the scarcity of colonial products, and the unwelcome changes to ways of life and patterns of consumption and diet.Theyfacedthedemandsofthewareffort–throughrequisitioning, forced loans, higher taxes, and financial crises – welcomed new oppor- tunitiesofferedbyarmysupplyandspeculation,orsufferedtheadverse consequences of the naval war and blockade, the decline of maritime commerceandthestringofbankruptciesamongmajormerchantsand shipowners. Directlyorindirectly,therefore,onthebattlefieldandwithinfamilies, the war that started in 1792 and only really ended in 1815 impinged onthewholeofFrenchsociety.HowdidtheFrenchpeopleexperience theselongyearsofconflict?Howdidtheyperceive,understand,analyse,
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