Organisation of the state for war

• Why was a reorganised army necessary in the RW?

  Their enemies armies were formidable and the regular French army had been weakened by the widespread exodus of highly trained officers
• Why was a large army possible in the FRW?

  There were 30 million and they had a relatively young population
• What increases were necessary to support such a large army in the FRW?


  They needed a more powerful state - made sure they were armed, fed, clothed and motivated
• What financial actions were needed in the FRW?

  A new currency based on the value of confiscated property - the Assignats. When inflation threatened prices were controlled by direct order and profiteers were ruthlessly arrested and executed
• Why and how did the Revolutionary State take more power than earlier absolutist monarchs?


  To wage war greater power had to be assumed eg restricting legal rights, plunder, control, conscription and heavy reliance on political indoctrination
• What limitations hindered the reorganisation of the state?

  Mass levy was difficult to organise (20,000 desert annually) and they had limited industrial capacity
• In the FRW how did the state organise?

  • had capacity to do 'nation in arms' eg 30 million population in comparison to enemies
  • mass recruitment through levee en masse = huge army of 800,000 by 1794 (10x size of typical army)
  • meritocratic system
  • state overtook workshops and industries - by 1794 3000 workers manufactured 700 muskets per day - civilian resources were exploited
  • 7.5 million journals, 100,000 song sheets - maintain devotion and boost morale
  • opposition executed, political indoctrination, brutal coercion to enforce authority
  • some elements of total war