In the conscription under debate or the triple learning of the nation, citizenship, the Republic (1798-1889) analysing the multiple draft laws on conscription throughout the nineteenth century, Annie Créin speaks of a triple learning: that of the nation, citizenship and the Republic. Gil Mihaely suggested adding a fourth: learning of masculinity. The military played a key role in this area by developing male images and practices long before the mass of French men’s youth crossed the barracks. For example, the army forges images of men, before actually forming men. By studying the way in which facial pilots are used, it can be seen how, gradually, during the first decades of the 19th century, the French ‘super male’ emerges, which accapses virile masculinity to French and embodies its hegemonic model.