The Levée en Masse in History

When faced, in 1793, with the prospect of defeat, the National Convention issued an appeal for a levée en masse, which, theoretically, placed the entire population at the disposal of France's war machine. Thus was born the modern idea of the nation in arms. This concept has proved to have an enduring legacy, and has been adapted to suit a wide variety of contexts and time periods. This article explores the birth, development and transmission of the levée en masse. It seeks to understand why the concept survived beyond the 1790s and how it remained a compelling instrument of mass mobilisation in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries