21 - Demobilisation, Veterans and Civil Society after the Empire in France

Summary

The Empire’s wars left their mark on the entire nineteenth century. In a very practical way, however, the shadow cast by the First Empire over the following century began with the demobilisation of its armies. In France, hundreds of thousands of men returned to their homes in 1814 and 1815, to say nothing of the wounded or those too old to serve any longer who had preceded them during the years of the Consulate and the Empire. The same applied in all the countries that had been at war. The veteran was a familiar sight everywhere, a figure of legend, even though the men themselves enjoyed little if any official recognition. Everywhere, their experience of warfare set them apart from their fellow citizens. They had seen fighting of unparalleled savagery and had experienced in the flesh, often all too painfully, what it meant to serve one’s country; and while some of them may have been curious to discover distant lands, they had also learned the rigours of military discipline. In France, though, the new government regarded them with particular mistrust and accorded them no status. The difficulties of reconversion were experienced more acutely there than in other countries.