Military service and national integration during the French revolution

First published: September 2002The article analyses the role of military service in the formation of the civic link during the Revolution. To this end, service is looked at from the dual viewpoint of disciplinary training on the one hand and exercise of citizenship on the other. The argument is developed according to which the tension between civic rights and disciplinary subordination apparent in military service leads to a confilicting relationship with certain identity categories (gender, class, nation, race) in which the citizen recognizes himself and in virtue of which he achieves recognition