ABSTRACT
The question of troop motivation is central to any discussion of the revolutionary citizen-soldier. The influences that contributed to troop motivation flowed through the ordinaire. French regulations decreed that the soldier would live and fight surrounded by the primary group. The ordinaire could be quartered on the civilian population, camped together in tents, or lodged in barracks. During the public, obligatory reading of political journals or addresses, men probably stood together by company and ordinaire. French soldiers seemed to have readily formed buddy relationships of two or three men within the ordinaire. The study of relationships and standards challenges historians with extremely difficult problems of methods and sources. Even social scientists examining these questions in present-day armies confront serious problems, despite their questionnaires and interviews. The regional focus of revolutionary battalions meant that local networks of family and friendship carried over into military life.
