Travestissements, impostures et la communauté historienne: À propos des femmes soldats de la Révolution et de l'Empire

The unexpected presence of a group of women soldiers in the armies of the Revolution and the Empire, when laws are made to exclude them, leads to questioning the categories ordinarily used to speak of these women. Are they “disguised” adventurers or “militant” feminist Republican women illustrating specific social groups? The examination of their itineraries leads to emphasizing the individual aspects of their approach, challenging the moral and ideological judgments of most historians. It is not acceptable to invoke disguises and impostures, where there have been deliberate choices in specific situations, situations which historiography must accept as such.