Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!know!zaphod.mps.ohio-state.edu!rpi!bu.edu!att!cbnews!military From: MJackson.WBST147@Xerox.COM Newsgroups: sci.military Subject: Re: Civil War technology => conscription Message-ID: <1990Oct24.151848.16621@cbnews.att.com> Date: 24 Oct 90 15:18:48 GMT Sender: military-request@att.att.com Followup-To: soc.history Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 18 Approved: military@att.att.com 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 "People will think we're not serious." "So what?" - Dan O'Neill