MJackson.WBST147@Xerox.COM (10/24/90)
From: MJackson.WBST147@Xerox.COM [mod.note: Followups to soc.history. - Bill ] Yes, there was conscription before Napoleon. There was even precedent for conscription in post-Middle Ages Europe; Dwyer mentions some Italian city-states in passing, although these were limited drafts aimed at an elite. But /levee en masse/, the nation-in-arms concept, was new. And don't credit Napoleon; the French turned to it long before the Republic was replaced by the Empire. Mark <MJackson.Wbst147@Xerox.COM> "People will think we're not serious." "So what?" - Dan O'Neill