Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this volume argues that although the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars are often understood as laying the foundations for total war, many eyewitnesses continued to draw upon older interpretative frameworks to make sense of the armed struggle and attendant political and social upheaval.

Leighton S. James's well-researched study makes a welcome contribution to the growing literature on the experience of warfare in Central Europe during the revolutionary and Napoleonic periods. Readers of the Austrian History Yearbook should note that James incorporates all the German lands, including those of German-speakers from the Habsburg realm. James ultimately offers nuanced coverage of a crucial and traumatic phase of Central European history. (Brian Vick, Austrian History Yearbook, Vol. 48, 2017)

"The impression left by this book is that patriotism was something of a luxury, only to be indulged in when the worst of the storm had passed. In the round, this is a stimulating book, not least for bringing to the fore the voices of ordinary people, rather than those of statesmen and intellectuals." - European HistoryQuarterly

Autorentext

Leighton S. James is Lecturer in European History at the University of Swansea, UK. His research interests include military-civilian relations, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, labour history and social history. He has previously worked on the history of south Wales and Ruhr coalfields. He is the author of The Politics of Identity and Civil Society in Britain and Germany: The Miners in the Ruhr and South Wales, 1890-1926.

Inhalt
Introduction 1. Facing the Revolution: The German States from 1789 to 1815 2. Writing War 3. Military Life and Combat 4. Captivity and Travel 5. Invasion and Occupation 6. Resistance and Liberation Conclusion Bibliography