What was the military past of your ancestors?
Finding information on the military past of your ancestors can be rich in discoveries!
1798 - The establishment of conscription, compulsory military service
Finding information on the military past is useful for all family stories researchers.
Indeed, as early as 1798 with the establishment of conscription, military service becomes Compulsory for men aged 20 years.
Between 1800 and 1805, a conscript (person who was called upon to serve in the army due to a legal obligation of military service) could replace a replacement To do its military service in its place. THE draw could aussi permettre à certains hommes de ne pas partir. Ces deux mesures ont été supprimées respectivement en 1872 et 1905 - année de l'instauration du compulsory military service of 2 years for all men.
Find the military course of your ancestors in the archives
THE military registers Are archives of choice for genealogists in search of the military course of an ancestor.
They are easy to find online in 1867. Ils sont aussi conservés aux archives départementales dans la sous-série 1R. THE tableaux cantonaux de recensement, la liste des tirages par canton, la liste des conscrits, la liste du contingent et les registres du recensement cantonal sont également consultables dans la série R.
THE fiches matricules individuelles sont d’une grande importance pour les généalogistes puisqu’elles se composent d'A complete civil status part (date and place of birth, names of parents ...) as well as Information on the level of education, a physical description, the profession and the different places of life of the conscript.
Another important part to find in these sheets is that of military. It is in this area that the details of various services and changes are noted (battles to their credit, assignments, injuries, medals and decorations, etc.).
💡 Consult them Overseas National Archives To find alphabetical registers and tables to the 1921 class for French West Africa, Algeria, the French Somalis, Comoros, Guyana, Indo and Indochina, Madagascar, New Caledonia, Polynesia, Reunion and Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon.
THE archives militaires en ligne
There are several sites specializing in military archives:
• Memory of men : essential site for your genealogical research. It has a nominative research tool to find an ancestor among many databases (dead for France of the First World War, the Second World War, the Resistance and many others).
• Great memorial : cette base de données généalogiques du Ministère de la Culture est centrée sur les militarys des Poilus.
• Historical Defense Service : He is one of the major actors in military history in France and you can consult his funds.
• Memorial : the useful wiki to find ancestors in the databases (war memorials, civilian victims, soldiers killed or missing, deported, etc.).
• Léonore base : To find the nominative files of people appointed or promoted in the order of the Legion of Honor since 1802 and died before 1977.
• Sainte-Hélène medalists : This base lists the 405,000 soldiers still alive in 1857 who fought alongside Napoleon 1st during the wars of 1792-1815.
• Chtimist : This site is full of useful information on the courses of the regiments of the First World War (there are even several thousand photos of soldiers!).
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