Tu seras soldat: Histoire d'un soldat français

You will be a soldier: Story of a French soldier

Brigadier general Émile Lavisse (1855-1915), brother of the famous patriotic author Ernest Lavisse (1842-1922), was a French cavalry officer and the author of five books on military topics. The civic education book 'Tu seras soldat: Histoire d’un soldat français' (‘You will be a soldier: Story of a French Soldier’) is targeted at pupils in primary and secondary schools. Composed of small stories and 200 engravings, it describes French military history, in particular the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, when France lost the Alsace-Lorraine regions. The title almost sounds like an order, intended to foster nationalism and stir up defensiveness, especially against the Germans. Emile Lavisse positions the Germans as the central enemy and the French as sacrificial figures for the Fatherland. As Lavisse explains, he wanted ‘to teach the children to love their country and to prepare them to fulfil a sacred duty, their military service’. The book was frequently republished: at least 24 times in the run up to 1916. It is exemplary of nationalist education from a militaristic view point at the turn of the 20th century, as is the work of Lavisse’s brother, Ernest Lavisse.