L'honneur Du Soldat

In the aftermath of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748), France embarked on a reform of its military apparatus, which was accelerated by the defeats of the Seven Years' War and continued until the French Revolution. Driven by the desire to improve the army's capacity, these transformations led to an unprecedented control over soldiers' bodies, which were more than ever reduced to the rank of automatons. Through the mobilization of bodies, the moral and political status of the rank and file was ultimately rethought.