French Army 1750–1820

Rafe Blaufarb is Professor of History at Florida State University

• Introduction1 The merits of birth: lineage and professionalism in the Old Regime2 The meanings of merit in 17893 The death and rebirth of the officer corps, 1789–924 Republican meritocracy in the nexus of war, civil strife, and factionalism5 The politics of professionalism during Thermidor and the Directory, 1794–96 Napoleon's improbable synthesis: monarchy and meritocracy in the reconstruction of the officer corps, 1799–1815ConclusionIndex

'This is the most convincing study of the shifting ideas of meritocracy in the officer corps of the French army in this period, straddling contrasting political regimes from the Bourbon monarchy, through the Revolution and Empire, to the Restoration. Rafe Blaufarb illuminates the reforms of the Revolutionary period by framing them in their wider context.'Professor Alan Forrest, University of York‘Blaufarb’s book is a study with wider implications, providing keen insights into the evolution of ideals from the last years of the Old Regime through the Napoleonic era.’Michael P. Fitzsimmons, Auburn University Montgomery, The Journal of Modern History Vol 77, No 2, June 2005