# Conscription law institutionalizes military service (1798)

URL: https://history-france.com/timeline/1798-conscription-law-institutionalizes-military-service
Location: France

The Jourdan-Delbrel law established systematic conscription for French men. Within the broader French Revolution period, The Revolution dismantled legal privilege and absolute monarchy, declared new rights and created a republic. War, popular mobilization, civil conflict and political terror repeatedly transformed the revolutionary state. At this point in the timeline, the relevant governing authority is French Directory (Five-man executive). Conscription law institutionalizes military service mattered because it changed the legal or constitutional framework within which French institutions and citizens operated. The event is positioned here so visitors can read it alongside changes in government, warfare, society, religion, culture and France’s wider international setting.

## Why it matters
Conscription law institutionalizes military service mattered because it changed the legal or constitutional framework within which French institutions and citizens operated.

Ruler at the time: [French Directory](https://history-france.com/rulers/french-directory)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia topic lookup — Conscription law institutionalizes military service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=Conscription+law+institutionalizes+military+service&go=Go)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica topic lookup — Conscription law institutionalizes military service](https://www.britannica.com/search?query=Conscription+law+institutionalizes+military+service)
- [Vie-publique — French institutions and history](https://www.vie-publique.fr/)