The men who fought in Napoleon’s Grande Armée built a new empire that changed the world. Remarkably, the same men raised arms during the French Revolution for liberté, égalité, and fraternité. In just over a decade, these freedom fighters, who had once struggled to overthrow tyrants, rallied to the side of a man who wanted to dominate Europe. What was behind this drastic change of heart? In this ground-breaking study, Michael J. Hughes shows how Napoleonic military culture shaped the motivation of Napoleon’s soldiers. Relying on extensive archival research and blending cultural and military history, Hughes demonstrates that the Napoleonic regime incorporated elements from both the Old Regime and French Revolutionary military culture to craft a new military culture, characterized by loyalty to both Napoleon and the preservation of French hegemony in Europe. Underscoring this new, hybrid military culture were five sources of motivation: honor, patriotism, a martial and virile masculinity, devotion to Napoleon, and coercion. Forging Napoleon's Grande Armée vividly illustrates how this many-pronged culture gave Napoleon’s soldiers reasons to fight.

In this volume, a distinguished collection of historians and political scientists reflect on France's evolution as a political community from the nineteenth century to the present. France is often seen as a 'Jacobin' polity, committed to the principles of national unity and state centralization, a robust conception of patriotism, the promotion of a uniform and homogenous culture on its society, and the defence of the general interest against sectional concerns. Shedding new light on the specificities of modern French political culture, this collection of essays will appeal to historians and political scientists interested in the transformation of French public institutions and society, as well as comparativists seeking a deeper understanding of the French political system.

Traces Napoleon's rise to power, early mistakes, and military campaigns, while considering the emperor's darker side and the lengths to which he went to establish himself as a legitimate ruler.