The claim that the French Revolution "had transformed the ethos and size of the French army, and had based it spiritually and physically at the heart of the nation" might be correct. It might also be true to argue that with the outbreak of the Revolutionary Wars, "the army assumed simultaneously the defense both of France and of the new order, and that in consequence all three – army, nation, and Revolution – were identified together." This, however, does not mean that the French peasants accepted service in the colors without hesitation. Indeed, "for many Frenchmen the service demanded by the government quickly assumed the guise of a new and unwelcome corvée, a tax in blood to a distant and impersonal master, imposed in the name of a national cause that they understood only in the dimmest terms."

XREF: Echoes the earlier highlight at loc 1359 that no Egyptian peasant voluntarily joined Mehmed Ali's army; both feature subjects resisting conscription despite official nationalist narratives. Builds on: "No Egyptian peasant voluntarily joined Mehmed Ali's army."

Khaled Fahmy, All the Pasha_s Men_ Mehmed…, loc. 1364