Masculinités honorées ou brisées. L’expertise médicale des blessures de guerre comme révélateur des luttes entre masculinités au cours de l’Empire napoléonien

Abstract

Studying the role of doctors in the institution of a military-virile norm provides a better understanding of the role of medicine in the relationships of domination, subordination and marginalisation between different masculinities in France during the Napoleonic Empire. One of the aims of Napoleon’s regime was to inculcate military virility, seen as a resource for organising the reproduction of a hierarchical, militaristic society. The army’s medical staff played a specific role in this process. Their interventions helped to save wounded soldiers and prevent certain simulations, while at the same time maintaining the formation of masculinities subordinated to a valid wounded masculinity. Soldiers who had been treated and were severely disabled were still assigned the role of welfare recipients, while wounded soldiers who were still able-bodied enjoyed promotions and decorations. In both cases, medical expertise is used to fuel these promotion and pension systems by scientifically objectifying the traces of these men’s sacrifice.

Keywords

• military masculinities
• war invalids
• Napoleonic Empire medicine
• military-virile model