War, Revolution, and the Bureaucratic State : Politics and Army Administration in France, 1791-1799

Book excerpt: This book examines a period of particular importance in the formation of the modern French state. The revolutionary strife and international war of the 1790s had important and far-reaching consequences for the development of democracy and bureaucracy in France. Howard G. Brown's study of changes in army administration in this period sheds light on the dynamic relationship between the spread of political participation, the rationalization of public power, and the build-up of military might. Dr Brown shows how the exigencies of war and the vagaries of revolutionary politics wrought rapid and profound changes in the structures and personnel of army administration. Although loath to see a massive military bureaucracy take root, legislators found that their desire to combine civilian control with military effectiveness made a large central administration unavoidable.