Thomas Hippler is a research associate in the Department of Politics and International Relations at Oxford University. He holds a PhD in History from the European University Institue, Florence.

Part 1: The French Case 1. State-Construction and Recruitment-Policy in the Ancien Régime 2. The Enlightenment and Military Service 3. Popular Arming and Military Service in the French Revolution 4. The Revolutionary State and the "Nation in Arms" Part 2: The Prussian Case 5. Military, Society, and the State in Old-Regime Prussia 6. The German Idealism and Military Service 7. Conscription in the Reformed Prussian State 8. National War and Conscription in the Era of Prussian Reforms

This book examines the creation of 'national armies' through compulsory military service in France and Prussia during the French Revolution and the Prussian Reform Period.