Hello, I’ve just started reading the Sharpe series again and at the moment I’m reading Sharpe’s Enemy. At the end of Chapter Five Colonel Dubreton informs Sharpe that he was at the Royal Academy of Equitation in Angers, France, with none other than Sir Arthur Wellesley. Unless I am mistaken, this would mean that Dubreton was an officer in the French army before the Revolution? I’m intrigued by the idea that Dubreton become part of the French officer class through privilege in the days of the Monarchy, yet after the Revolution he attained the rank of Colonel through his merit… if I am correct in thinking that is what happened. It’s also interesting how a man like Nicholas Soult, a private in Old France’s army, could become a Marshal whilst officers of the old regime could still prosper under a meritocracy. I was reminded of Napoleon Bonaparte, and how he was an Artillery Officer in the pre-revolutionary Royalist army (and a member of the Corsican minor nobility, I think I read somewhere). I then wondered how common it was for the officers of Old France’s army to serve (as officers) in the army of New France, considering many of them might have fled the country for practical reasons like saving their necks or ideological reasons such as monarchism, religious convictions etc. etc. Furthermore, would the Republican army have been as welcoming a place as the Napoleonic army for an officer of the old Royalist army? Thank you kindly, Matt.