The Archaeological Institute of Luxembourg, a learned society that has pursued its mission since the 19th century to study and make accessible sources from different periods of Luxembourg history, recently devoted two volumes of its Annals to the history of the Department of Forets, which, during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic eras, covered Luxembourg as well as parts of present-day Belgium and Germany. This is a collection of articles, on the one hand, and a monographic study, on the other, both reflecting the in-depth work carried out by this institute. One should not expect striking theses of general scope, but rather a work that adheres to the rules of the art, primarily the editing and criticism of sources, the aim of which is to provide a solid foundation for historical research. The collection Studies on the French Revolution, the Directory, and the Empire in the Department of Forests (volume 143 of the Annales) consists of short articles reviewing the lives of certain key figures, well-known sources in local history (including the Luxembourg magistrate's congratulatory speech to General Hatry, or a drawing by Goethe), or institutions (the criminal court). Two basic works on the history of archival collections are noteworthy, extremely useful for any historian and archivist (articles by David Kirt and Wolfgang Hans Stein). It also includes editions of inaccessible yet valuable sources, such as the journal of General Paillard, one of the key figures in the French conquest. The work is completed by a methodical and exhaustive bibliography on the history of the Department of Forests. Volume 144 of the Annales includes a study by Roland Yande that deals in depth with the replacement of conscripts in the Forêts department during the "French era." This is again a fundamental work that provides researchers with archival material. Based on a large body of archival sources, Yande sheds light on the political context, the legislative framework, the administrative structures, the organization of conscription, and the conscript replacement practices developed by local populations. He conducts both a statistical analysis of serial sources and a presentation of numerous specific cases, often touching and sometimes humorous. By allowing the replacement of conscripts, the French authorities established a war market that de facto partially transformed the French army into an army of mercenaries paid by private individuals. They also opened the door to a whole series of abuses. Yande shows that there was great confusion and a lack of respect for laws and directives. Administrators did not hesitate to inflate figures (which earned them an example for their good results by Jérôme Bonaparte), charlatans promised to avoid conscription through supernatural methods, and mayors took advantage of conscription to turn their personal enemies into cannon fodder. The author shows the exhaustion of the countryside and the growing difficulty French authorities had in enlisting young men in the army. The surge in replacement prices, highlighted in the study, is particularly striking. Specialists will appreciate the statistical tables, as well as the summaries of contract clauses, prices, and payment terms. Conscription (and replacement) were part of the mechanisms that enabled French expansion in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and thus the interest of this study extends far beyond the local context, even if, unfortunately, no effort is made to integrate the results into a broader geographical and thematic framework. With the exception of a few clichés such as the "shaggy and vociferous Cossacks" and the odd decision to use 21st-century watercolors to illustrate events from the "French era," this work is of great seriousness and provides a wealth of data on which research on revolutionary and Napoleonic Europe can draw.