The military requirements of the eighteenth-century state often set the parameters for political life. Under Frederick the Great, Prussia's military organization had been based on corporative divisions, which made it difficult to bring about political change without compromising state security. In revolutionary France, the introduction of universal conscription also affected the political world, as it advanced the cause of the Jacobins. It was only the crushing defeat of 1806–7 that brought change to Prussia, as it demonstrated unmistakably the bankruptcy of the old regime. Thus the years after the defeat saw the first steps towards the abolition of serfdom, but universal conscription was only introduced — temporarily — in 1813.

The French Revolutionary army had demonstrated what could be achieved by an army of citizens, rather than subjects. As the Prussian reformer Gerhard von Scharnhorst had noted as early as 1797, the French soldiers were fighting to prevent the reintroduction of autocratic government, which led them to show unprecedented courage and self-sacrifice. The greater number of soldiers available to the French army enabled it to take greater risks; it could also fight in more open formations because it was composed of highly motivated soldiers who could be relied upon not to desert. These patriotic fighters could be expected to endure greater privations than a standing army, and thus the French army was able to reduce its dependence on supply chains and to rely on soldiers foraging.