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H-France Review

H-France Review Vol. 3 (May 2003), No. 57

Jean-Noël Luc, ed., Gendarmerie, état et société au XIXe siècle. Paris: Publications de la Sorbonne, 2002. 510 pp. Appendices. 30.00 € (pb). ISBN 2-85944-449-1.

Review by Anthony J. Steinhoff, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

Perhaps no figure embodies the modern French state's efforts to secure public order and ensure the execution of the laws more fully than the gendarme. The gendarmes combated brigandage in the countryside, brought the accused to justice, broke up strikes, monitored demonstrations, and helped establish colonial rule. Although closely linked to local society, the gendarmes represented the centralized state, and their very presence fostered national consciousness throughout the hexagone. Despite recent interest in the history of nation-building in France and the coercive-regulatory functions of the modern state, our understanding of the gendarmes and the socio-institutional context in which they worked remains elementary. Gendarmerie, état et sociéte, the published proceedings of a colloquium dedicated to the nineteenth-century gendarmerie held at the Sorbonne in 2000, endeavors to change this state of affairs.

The volume is organized around five major themes, each introduced by the colloquium's organizer, Jean-Nöel Luc. The first section explores the gendarmerie's fundamental organization and attributes. Analyzing the major texts defining the service from 1781 to 1903, Luc reveals two of its enduring features: its profoundly military character and its relative autonomy vis-à-vis other state agencies. The section's remaining papers examine specific aspects of this institutional history. Three pieces focus on the corps' origins: Jacques Lorgnier's essay on the gendarmerie's roots in the ancien regime maréchaussée; Bernard Gainot remarks on the Directory's utilization of gendarmes to pacify the countryside; and Aurélien Lignereux's portrayal of Moncey's efforts to maintain the distinction between gendarmerie and police during the Empire. Fabien Gaveau next investigates the respective roles of the two services charged with the policing of rural France: the gendarme and the rural policeman (garde champêtre). The final pieces look at developments during the Third Republic: Xavier Borda's paper on the efforts to demilitarize the gendarmerie after 1879; Jean-Marc Berlière's discussion of the service's turn of the century crisis (i.e. a sense that its charge was greater than its resources); and Marie-Berthe Servier's ethnological reading of a fin-de-siècle history of the Garde républicaine (the gendarmerie's Parisian branch).

The second part of the book takes up the gendarmerie's appropriation of physical space. Luc's opening remarks provide data on personnel recruitment and deployment, exposing the gradual--but real--increase in the service's physical presence over the course of the century. He also surveys the primary loci of the gendarme's field of action--cities, countryside, and theaters of war--and the technical organization of the gendarmerie's resources. The remaining contributions in this segment look at the gendarmes' activities in particular geographical settings. Jean-Paul Jourdan plots the increasing density of the network of gendarme legions in the southeast, a phenomenon he credits, in part, to the demands of area notables. Nicole Gotteri studies the introduction of the service to Napoleonic Spain, where it became the most reliable source for information and most dependable agent for keeping the peace. Continuing in this international vein, Hubert Heyries examines the gendarmerie in Savoy after the province's annexation to France. He argues that despite earlier promises, local elements in the service were marginalized after 1860, which ultimately hindered efforts to integrate Savoy into the empire. Lastly, André-Paul Comor reveals that in the form of the military prévôté, the gendarmerie played a central role both in the 1830 conquest and in the transformation of Algeria from colony to département.

Part three considers the gendarmes' execution of their basic civilian mission: to maintain public order and uphold the law. Luc launches this inquiry with an overview of the gendarmerie's mission, both its essential functions and its extraordinary services. He observes that both spheres of action evolved considerably over time, not only in response to social change but also according to local conditions. In addition, Luc examines the rationales for both public antipathy towards and, equally important, public support for the gendarmes. Pierre Karila-Cohen shows that the restored Bourbon and July Monarchies used the gendarmerie extensively to gather information about the political climate in the provinces, independently of departmental authorities. The next two pieces examine how the gendarmerie interacted with other authorities in the pursuit of specific aspects of its mission. Christian Estève discusses the collaboration of the gendarmes with the hunting police in the pursuit of poachers between 1830 and 1852; Marielle Python-Bernicot focuses on the complementary work of gendarme and fireman to maintain order in French cities. Using judicial records from the region of Vitré, Jean-François Tanguy documents the diverse nature of the gendarmes’ activities from the July Monarchy to the inter-war period. The final three contributions investigate the growing use of the gendarmes as a preventative force, especially in the second half of the century. Corinne Marache examines the development of this activity from the perspective of rural Aquitaine, whereas Jean-Wagniart and Henriette Asséo analyze the handling of two widely perceived public threats, respectively vagabonds and nomads.

In the book's fourth segment, the contributions develop a social history of the gendarme. Luc initiates this discussion with coments on recruitment to the gendarmerie, remarking that three conditions made gendarmes stand out from the general population: the requirement that they be taller than the average military recruit, able to read and write, and provide their own equipment. Nevertheless, Luc shows that most gendarmes came from the popular classes, married, and served close either to their place of birth or that of their spouse. Finally, Luc suggests that the gendarmerie did not promote social mobility, which, along with continual problems of remuneration, helps to explain the corps' recurring staffing problems. Pierre Lévêque follows these comments with an analysis of the maritime gendarmerie's composition under Napoleon. Drawing on data about the gendarmes' career paths from the departmental company of the Nord, Arnaud-Dominique Houte concludes that a gendarme's social and geographical horizon remained extremely limited throughout the first half of the century. Cyril Cartayrade then shows how gendarmes achieved a significant degree of implantation into local society using evidence from the canton of Tauves between 1815 and 1854. In the sole piece that extends into the second half of the century, Jean-Louis Lenhof paints a picture of the gendarme in a provincial town, Alençon. He observes that between 1820 and 1914, fewer and fewer gendarmes came from the area. Neither this nor service rotations prevented them from setting palpable roots in local society, but their professional obligations generally precluded outright integration.

The fifth and final set of essays discuss the international diffusion of this institutional model. As Luc reminds the reader, between 1791 and 1814 revolutionary and Napoleonic France introduced the gendarmerie to many parts of Europe. It was not just an occupational force but also a critical means for establishing new judicial and administrative systems. Moreover, although the satellite states collapsed, the gendarmerie often survived because subsequent political regimes came to discover its utility for maintaining public order and reinforcing new notions of central authority. Two contributors in this section look at Piedmont's carabinieri, the successors of the imperial gendarmerie. Michael Broers discusses the creation of the carabiniere reale in the Restoration period, and Jonathan Dunnage investigates the service's activities following Italian unification. Cyril Fijnaut then traces the introduction of the gendarmerie into the Batavian Republic and examines the restored Dutch states' difficulties in reviving it (under the name of the maréchaussée royale) after 1815. Next Jean-Paul le Flem and Maximiliano Lasén Paz examine Spain's experiences with the gendarmerie, a narrative that culminates in the creation of the Guardia Civil in 1844. Lastly, Axel Tixhon examines the police functions of the Belgian gendarmerie, contending that the rise in the number of gendarmes between 1841 and 1885 helps to explain the apparent rise of criminality. By way of conclusion, the book ends with a series of general remarks on the colloquium's presentations and the direction of future research, first from Clive Emsley, the most well-known historian of the gendarmerie in Europe, and then from the colloquium's institutional sponsors: Frédéric Guelton, director of the French Army's historical service; Georges Philippot, Director of the National Gendarmerie's historical service; and Jean-Pierre Chaline and Alain Corbin, co-directors of the Center for the Historical Study of the Nineteenth Century at the Sorbonne.

Consistent with the nature of the genre, the quality of the individual contributions in the present volume is highly variable. Several are rich in information but weak in analysis. A couple of the essays also seem out of place, either because of their methodology or their content. And given the relationship between the gendarmerie and the rise of Louis-Napoleon, we might have expected more attention to the development of this corps during the Second Empire.

Taken as a whole, however, Gendarmerie, état et société merits the attention of scholars, and not just those of nineteenth-century France. First and foremost, it greatly expands our knowledge of the gendarmes and the gendarmerie, underscoring their importance for the organization of social life and the pursuit of justice and order throughout France. The papers also draw on an impressive array of sources, making the volume a valuable guide to research in this field. Secondly, the book provides new insights into the construction of state authority both in France and in much of western Europe. They emphasize how the gendarmes helped to translate the idea of law common to all citizens into a reality. And they show how the gendarmes provided valuable information about local conditions, which the state used to shape its actions and policies. Finally, by calling attention to the gendarmerie's status as a service with a military organization but a largely civilian mission, the collection questions traditional views of how military values influenced state and civil society in modern Europe. Significantly, alongside the example of Prussia and its army, we now have France and its gendarmerie.

LIST OF ESSAYS

  • Jean-Noël Luc, "La Gendarmerie au XIXe siècle, 'une arme inconnue.' "

Part I. Le Bras armé de l'état

  • Jean-Noël Luc, "Introduction."

  • Jacques Lorgnier, "Organisation et missions des maréchaussées (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles): trois siècles d'expérience pour la gendarmerie nationale."

  • Bernard Gainot, "La gendarmerie dans la recomposition sociale post-révolutionnaire: la loi organique de 1798."

  • Aurélien Lignereux, "Gendarmes et policiers dans la France de Napoléon: les rapports entre le maréchal Moncey, premier inspecteur général de la gendarmerie, et Fouché, ministre de la Police générale."

  • Fabien Gaveau, "Gendarmes et gardes champêtres, de 1795 à 1854: une relation ambiguë."

  • Xavier Borda, "Gendarmerie et statut militaire: les projets de démilitarisation de la gendarmerie sous la Troisième République."

  • Jean-Marc Berlière, "La gendarmerie en question au début du XXe siècle."

  • Marie-Berthe Servier, "L'Historique de la Garde républicaine, une mémoire officielle conçue à la Belle Epoque."

Part II. Gendarmes des champs, gendarmes des villes, gendarmes des camps

  • Jean-Noël Luc, "Introduction."

  • Jean-Paul Jourdan, "Le réseau des brigades de gendarmerie dans le Sud-Ouest au XIXe siècle."

  • Nicole Gotteri, "Le général Louis-Léopald Buquet, commandant de la gendarmerie en Espagne, et ses rapports à Savary, ministre de la Police générale (1810-1813)."

  • Hubert Heyriès, "Entre identité nationale et identité provinciale: les gendarmes en Savoie au moment de l'annexion (1860)."

  • André-Paul Comor, "Implantation et missions de la gendarmerie en Algérie, de la conquête à la colonisation (1830-1914)."

Part III. "Veiller à la sûreté publique et assurer le maintien de l'ordre et l'exécution des lois"

  • Jean-Noël Luc, "Introduction."

  • Pierre Karila-Cohen, "Une 'bonne' surveillance: la gendarmerie et la collecte du renseignement politique en province sous la monarchie censitaire."

  • Christian Estève, "Gendarmerie et police de la chasse en France (1830-1852)."

  • Marielle Python-Bernicot, "Pompiers et gendarmes du XIXe siècle au service de la sûreté publique."

  • Jean-François Tanguy, "Les brigades de gendarmerie de Vitré et la petite police judiciaire (1835-1935)."

  • Corinne Marache, "La gendarmerie et la prévention des troubles dans le monde rural aquitain (1850-1914)."

  • Jean-François Wagniart, "La gendarmerie et les gendarmes face à la question du vagabondage (1870-1914)."

  • Henriette Asséo, "La gendarmerie et l'identification des 'nomades' (1870-1914)."

Part IV. Le gendarme, 'un soldat qui a pris racine'?

  • Jean-Noël Luc, "Introduction."

  • Pierre Levêque, "Les gendarmes maritimes sous le Consulat et l'Empire."

  • Arnaud-Dominique Houte, "Carrières de gendarmes: trajectoires géographiques, professionnelles et sociales dans la compagnie du Nord pendant la première moitié du XIXe siècle."

  • Cyril Cartayrade, "L'ordre au village: le brigade de gendarmerie du canton de Tauves (1815-1854)."

  • Jean-Louis Lenhof, "Gendarmerie et société dans une ville moyenne au XIXe siècle: le cas d'Alençon."

Part V. La gendarmerie en Europe

  • Jean-Noël Luc, "Introduction."

  • Michael Broers, "De la Gendarmerie impériale à la Carabiniere Reale: l'expérience policière piémontaise, premier exemple d'exportation du modèle français."

  • Jonathan Dunnage, "Les carabiniers italiens après 1860: professionnalisme et auto-représentation."

  • Cyrille Fijnaut, "De la gendarmerie hollandaise à la maréchaussée royale des Pays-Bas (1805-1815)."

  • Jean-Paul Le Flem, "La création de la Guardia civil et le modèle gendarmique français (1808-1844)."

  • Colonel Maximiliano Lasén Paz, "La Guardia civil, des réformes de 1844 à la fin du XIX siècle."

  • Axel Tixhon, "L'essor de la gendarmerie belge et la mesure de la criminalité (1841-1885)."

Conclusion: Regards croisés sur la gendarmerie du XIXe siècle

  • Clive Emsley, "La gendarmerie et l'État."

  • Lieutenant-colonel Frédéric Guelton, "Un corps militaire."

  • Jean-Pierre Chaline, "L'image du gendarme."

  • Général Georges Philippot, "Un passé toujours actuel."

  • Alain Corbin, "Un objet historique aux multiples facettes."

Anthony J. Steinhoff
University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Anthony-Steinhoff@utc.edu


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H-France Review Vol. 3 (May 2003), No. 57

ISSN 1553-9172

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