The People in Arms
Military Myth and National Mobilization since the French Revolution

This 2002 book discusses the history of the mass mobilization of society for the purposes of war.

Daniel Moran (Edited by), Arthur Waldron (Edited by)

9780521030250, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 November 2006

284 pages, 13 b/w illus.
23.1 x 15.6 x 1.4 cm, 0.406 kg

'All contributors make good use of visual evidence, while the editors offer stimulating introductory and concluding thoughts.' History

The People in Arms, first published in 2002, is concerned with the mass mobilization of society for war. It takes as its starting point the French levée en masse of 1793, which replaced former theories and regulations concerning the obligation of military service with a universal concept more encompassing in its moral claims than any that had prevailed under the Ancien Régime. The levée en masse has accordingly gone down in history as a spontaneous, free expression of the French people's ideals and enthusiasm. It also became a crucial source for one of the most powerful organizing myths of modern politics: that compulsory, mass social mobilizations merely express, and give effective form to, the wishes or higher values of society and its members. The aim of the papers presented here is to analyse and compare episodes in which this distinctive ideological configuration has played a leading role.

Illustrations
Contributors
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: the legend of the levée en masse Daniel Moran
2. La patrie en danger: the French Revolution and the first levée en masse Alan Forrest
3. The historiography of the levée en masse of 1793 Owen Connelly
4. Arms and the concert: the nation in arms and the dilemmas of German liberalism Daniel Moran
5. American views of conscription and the German nation in arms in the Franco-Prussian war John Whiteclay Chambers II
6. Defining the enemy: war, law and the levée en masse from 1870 to 1945 John Horne
7. People's war: the German debate about a levée en masse in October 1918 Michael Geyer
8. The levée en masse from Russian empire to Soviet Union, 1874–1938 Mark Von Hagen
9. From Jaurès to Mao: the levée en masse in China Arthur Waldron
10. In lieu of the levée en masse: mass mobilization in modern Vietnam Greg Lockhart
11. The Algerian war (1954–1962): the inversion of the levée en masse Douglas Porch
12. Looking backward: the people in arms and the transformation of war Arthur Waldron
Index.

Subject Areas: Theory of warfare & military science [JWA], Social & cultural history [HBTB], 20th century history: c 1900 to c 2000 [HBLW], Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 [HBLL], General & world history [HBG]