Soldiers, Citizens and Civilians : Experiences and Perceptions of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, 1790-1820

At the London workshop seventeen participants from seven countries presented papers relating to the experiences and perceptions of soldiers and civilians in different European countries. For this volume the editors selected nine papers to be rewritten for publication, and invited two scholars to write new papers for the book on significant topics absent from the workshop. The Arts and Humanities Research Council, the GHI, and the German Research Foundation generously funded the workshop. The editors would like to thank all the participants in the workshop for their stimulating presentations and contributions to discussion, the authors for their willingness to co-operate so fully in the rewriting and editing of the essays, and the three foundations for making both the event and the resulting book possible. Front Matter....Pages i-xv Introduction: Nations in Arms — People at War....Pages 1-19 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 Regimental Worlds: Interpreting the Experience of British Soldiers during the Napoleonic Wars....Pages 23-42 Survivors of War: French Soldiers and Veterans of the Napoleonic Armies....Pages 43-58 Glory, Honour and Patriotism: Military Careers in the Duchy of Warsaw, 1806–1815....Pages 59-76 The World Turned Upside Down: Female Soldiers in the French Armies of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....Pages 77-95 Front Matter....Pages 97-97 Caring for the Nation’s Families: British Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Families and the State, 1793–1815....Pages 99-117 War without Battles: Civilian Experiences of Economic Warfare during the Napoleonic Era in Hamburg....Pages 118-136 From the Ballroom to the Battlefield: British Women and Waterloo....Pages 137-156 ‘Unimaginable Horror and Misery’: The Battle of Leipzig in October 1813 in Civilian Experience and Perception....Pages 157-178 Front Matter....Pages 179-179 ‘A Very Rebellious Disposition’: Dutch Experience and Popular Protest under the Napoleonic Regime (1806–1813)....Pages 181-204 ‘A Citizen and Not a Soldier’: The British Volunteer Movement and the War against Napoleon....Pages 205-221 Religion and the Experience of War: A Comparative Approach to Belgium, the Netherlands and the Rhineland....Pages 222-242 Back Matter....Pages 243-251 The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars affected millions of people's lives across Europe and beyond. Yet the extent to which the constant warfare of the period 1792-1815 shaped everyday experience has been little studied. This volume of essays discusses the formative experience of these wars for men and women, as soldiers, citizens and civilians. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars have been described as the first 'total war', which affected millions of people's lives and brought a whole continent into contact with armies and bloodshed. But the extent to which the constant state of war that existed between 1792 and 1815 shaped everyday experience has been much less studied, even although these wars, conducted by mass armies and often mobilized by patriotism, led to the circulation of millions of people throughout Europe and beyond. The changing nature of warfare had far-reaching consequences for civil society as well as for those directly engaged in fighting. This volume of essays by international scholars examines the formative experiences of men and women -- soldiers, citizens and civilians -- in the years 1792-1815, drawing particularly on their personal documents and social and cultural practices, to offer a perspective on the wars which is at some distance from broader and more familiar historical narratives The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars have been described as the first 1total war2, which affected millions of people's lives and brought a whole continent into contact with armies and bloodshed. But the extent to which the constant state of war that existed between 1792 and 1815 shaped everyday experience has been much less studied, even although these wars, conducted by mass armies and often mobilized by patriotism, led to the circulation of millions of people throughout Europe and beyond. The changing nature of warfare had far-reaching consequences for civil society as well as for those directly engaged in fighting. This volume of essays by international scholars examines the formative experiences of men and women - soldiers, citizens and civilians - in the years 1792-1815, drawing particularly on their personal documents and social and cultural practices, to offer a perspective on the wars which is at some distance from broader and more familiar historical narratives This volume explores the impact of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, the first fought by mass armies, on the ambitions and identities of European men and women, as soldiers, citizens and civilians