One vital fact about Jane Austen is that almost all her novels were drafted, revised, and published in the 22 long years that Britain was at war with France, first with Revolutionary France (1793–1799) and then with Napoleonic France after Napoleon Bonaparte became the nation's de facto ruler (1799–1804) and then emperor (1804–1814). Austen's novels register the wars’ impact on the England of her time. Austen's novels register the dramatic increase in military numbers during the Napoleonic Wars, exploring its increasing importance in the history of the landed families. The novels engage contemporary debates about social advancement and military behavior. War has also been an important part of the context for the reception of Austen's fiction. For readers during the two world wars of the twentieth century, it was the apparent avoidance of war that made Austen's fiction so welcome as a kind of retreat or refuge.