1. History of the term and research
The social concept of the “masses” became famous in connection with the levée en masse in the French Revolution (1789): on Aug 23, 1793, the National Convention voted to call up all unmarried or widowed men between the ages of 18 and 25 for military service. With other recruitment measures, by mid-1794 some 800,000 men had been drafted for military service in this way.
The gigantic army as a mass became one of the symbols derived from the Fre…