In which estate were the soldiers prior to the French revolution?
score:1
The enlisted soldiers in European armies before the French revolution were mostly third estate lower class. Most of the officers in most European armies before the French revolution were second estate upper class.
That is the general rule. Every society had its own twist and variation on the basic social classes. And every armed force had some variation in the class composition of the various ranks.
Thus:
"peasants had to serve in the army..."
Was true for those peasants who volunteered or were chosen to serve.
And:
"army was not open as I was not a noble by birth"
was also true for ambitious young men who considered careers as army officers but were barred from officer positions because of their low status.
So it is inaccurate to imply that privates in the army were mostly nobles before 1793. Privates were volunteers of low status or else were peasants conscripted against their will to fill enlistment quotas. Nobles or gentlemen in the enlisted ranks were rare in all pre revolution armies.
Upvote:3
The two quotes relate to two different time periods.
Before the Revolution:
The medieval division of society into "those who fought (nobility), those who prayed (clergy), and those who worked (everyone else)" still held strong and warfare was considered a domain of the nobles.
Remember that, unlike England with its primogeniture, in France the title was inherited by all sons, there there were plenty of petty nobles with no means of self-support besides their sword.
After the Revolution:
On 17 August 1793, the Convention voted for general conscription, the levée en masse, which mobilised all citizens to serve as soldiers or suppliers in the war effort.
More post
- 📝 Identify Helmet (possibly WW2 British)
- 📝 How deep would a Roman Marian cohort's battle line be, in a melee?
- 📝 Why did overestimated coins led to inflation and well-estimated coins to deflation?
- 📝 How did Medieval armies survive the use of mail armor in the deserts of the Middle East?
- 📝 What is meant by "state people" in this context? (Governments of new Balkan states post-WWI)
- 📝 Has anyone survived triggering a bounding landmine?
- 📝 How likely it is that a nobleman of the eighteenth century would give written instructions to his maids?
- 📝 Were there any successful revolutions that didn't end in a totalitarian regime?
- 📝 What has prevented the United Nations from failing the same way as the League of Nations?
- 📝 Earliest evidence of objects intended for future archaeologists?
- 📝 What events led to the fall of the Zhou Dynasty during the Warring States period?
- 📝 Identify the caricatured countries in an illustration about the XYZ affair
- 📝 Was there a bronze age in the Americas?
- 📝 What is the source for the Baal Shem Tov's signature?
- 📝 Why are doughnuts toroidal?
- 📝 When did furniture become common in the homes of most people in the British Isles?
- 📝 How did Diego Gutiérrez know the boundaries (shape of the Americas) when he drew the 1562 Map of America
- 📝 How was Germany able to hold itself together, while Austria-Hungary could not?
- 📝 Did early nineteenth century commoners know their royalty?
- 📝 Which countries (or comparable geographical units) have a lower population now than they used to at some point in history before 1950?
- 📝 When could California mission priests perform confirmation?
- 📝 Why were the Malinta Tunnels built?
- 📝 How (and why) did Hitler create "the world's largest traffic jam?"
- 📝 How big were Ancient China military forces?
- 📝 Why didn't North American tribes use bog iron?
- 📝 How did people say “I have to go to the bathroom” before the bathroom and pipes were common?
- 📝 How much did a telephone call cost in the USA around 1920?
- 📝 When studying about the history of, say, Philippines, is it generally better to prioritize the works of Filipino Historians than foreign historians?
- 📝 Why aren't there any Chinese colonies?
- 📝 What percent of the US Federal Budget was spent on WW2?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 In which estate were the soldiers prior to the French revolution?
- 📝 Which European countries did not have a revolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution and why?
- 📝 How many people were beheaded by the Guillotine in France during the French Revolution (1789-1794)?
- 📝 What were the reasons for the Renaissance / scientific revolution in Europe?
- 📝 Why were British ships not of the same quality as French and Spanish ships until the latter part of the 18th century?
- 📝 Were there any high-ranking female soldiers during the Middle ages?
- 📝 Are there any documented examples of wooden ships which were in active service for 100 years or more? If not, what is the longest?
- 📝 What were the criteria for class ranking at West Point prior to the Civil War?
- 📝 Were there any crops and livestock common to both the Old and New Worlds prior to the Columbian exchange?
- 📝 Were soldiers in the World Wars paid?
- 📝 Were Quintidis holidays in the French Republican calendar?
- 📝 How were the British and French armies invited into Belgium in 1914?
- 📝 Did the French Revolution help produce French military "elan?"
- 📝 What were the thoughts of the Celts, Romans and other ancient European people about the standing stones which survive from prehistoric times?
- 📝 Which were the last castles to be besieged and fall in the United Kingdom?
- 📝 How densely populated were the Americas prior to European colonization?
- 📝 Were there any Roman villas in Britain which were used rather than destroyed after the Romans left?
- 📝 What were the individual soldiers motivated by during World War 1?
- 📝 How were the day-to-day activities of the French Resistance financed?
- 📝 Why wasn't there more resistance to the French revolution by the army?
- 📝 What weapons were manufactured in India by the British forces which were used during world wars?
- 📝 Have there been any nuclear accidents in the US at nuclear facilities which were not "commercial"?
- 📝 Which were the continent-wide common languages in human history?
- 📝 Were there any other systems which resemble the complex election procedure for the doge of Venice
- 📝 Which texts/works were lost due to the Mongol invasions of Baghdad?
- 📝 Why did the French Revolution bring secularism?
- 📝 Which operating system were the hackers at the MIT AI Lab using in 1971?
- 📝 How were the British and French Mandates in the Levantine area involved in WWII?
- 📝 Were mounted soldiers really an advancement during the Middle Ages?
- 📝 How many soldiers were present at the charge down Little Round Top?