Military libraries are defined by an intellectual, artistic and social inheritance, characteristic to the French society. This report deals with their study through the education of officers in five major military academies between 1789 and 1914 : “Polytechnique”, “Saint-Cyr”, “l’Ecole Navale de Brest”, “l’école de médecine navale de Rochefort” and “l’école de cavalerie de Saumur”. The first purpose of this report is to understand how the military libraries are an educational tool, which participates to the building of the concept of “Nation” within the French armies in the 19th century. The second objective is to establish whether there is a real and unique model of military library at this time. In order to respond to these problems, the study explains the link between the birth of these libraries and the new missions of military academies between 1789 and 1830. In a second part, characteristic identity of each library will be analyzed. Building of the army thanks to a better technical education is tackled. Finally, the report highlights how a new major actor emerges in the academies: the librarian. In parallel, library science themes are investigated: the intellectual and material organization, the wealth of the funds and knowledge transmission tools. Even if they are not the only libraries in the military world, military academiy libraries are a rich and complex element. They have been able to develop a special proximity with the new military education. A proximity that makes libraries an unifying educational tool.
