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2 - Creating the legend

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 August 2010

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Summary

It did not take the revolutionaries long to recognise that they had a problem with the line army that they inherited from the Bourbon monarchy, a problem which, even in 1789, manifested itself in a number of very different ways. The new regime could not assume the loyalty and commitment of its troops, and desertion rates soared, especially amongst officers who had taken a personal oath of fealty to the King and thought that their oath had been rendered irrelevant by the dramatic change in the polity. Many of the men in the ranks, too, became suspect in the eyes of the new government, since the authorities could not feel sure that they would obey orders when faced with a stream of countermanding political currents. Some were felt to be easily led and might follow their officers into counter-revolution or emigration; others could be intoxicated by the language of liberty and equality and lured into acts of indiscipline and mutiny. It could not be assumed, in other words, that the soldiers would remain obedient, carrying out without question the will of the new government, or that generals who had obeyed the orders of a sovereign king would now transfer their loyalty to the sovereign nation. The large number of resignations from high-ranking officers and the departure of many prominent military figures into emigration in Turin, Mainz and Coblenz added to the distrust which the revolutionaries felt for the officer class, while the violent mutinies at Nancy, Perpignan and elsewhere during 1790 fuelled fears that the line army could disintegrate, leaving Paris open to attack and the Revolution perilously vulnerable.

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The Legacy of the French Revolutionary Wars
The Nation-in-Arms in French Republican Memory
, pp. 12 - 37
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2009

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  • Creating the legend
  • Alan Forrest
  • Book: The Legacy of the French Revolutionary Wars
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511730016.002
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  • Creating the legend
  • Alan Forrest
  • Book: The Legacy of the French Revolutionary Wars
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511730016.002
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Creating the legend
  • Alan Forrest
  • Book: The Legacy of the French Revolutionary Wars
  • Online publication: 04 August 2010
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511730016.002
Available formats
×