War volunteering in modern times : from the French Revolution to the Second World War

Exploring volunteering as a characteristic of modern wars, this book examines why individuals go to war. It studies the motivations, social backgrounds and military experiences of war volunteers in a wide range of conflicts since the French Revolution, and helps to interpret the relationship between war and society in modern times. Front Matter....Pages i-xii Introduction: Volunteers, War, and the Nation since the French Revolution....Pages 1-22 Volunteers of the French Revolutionary Wars: Myths and Reinterpretations....Pages 23-39 For the Fatherland? The Motivations of Austrian and Prussian Volunteers during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars....Pages 40-58 Polish Volunteers in the Napoleonic Wars....Pages 59-77 Fág an Bealeagh: Irish Volunteers in the American Civil War....Pages 78-91 “A Race That Is Thus Willing To Die For Its Country”: African-American Volunteers in the Spanish-American War 1898....Pages 92-108 British and Imperial Volunteers in the South African War....Pages 109-121 Welcome but Not That Welcome: The Relations between Foreign Volunteers and the Boers in the Anglo-Boer War of 1899–1902....Pages 122-149 Heroes or Citizens? The 1916 Debate on Harvard Volunteers in the “European War”....Pages 150-162 Voluntary Enlistment in the Great War: a European Phenomenon?....Pages 163-188 Paramilitary Volunteers for Weimar Germany’s “Wehrhaftmachung”: how Civilians were attracted to serve with Irregular Military Units....Pages 189-210 Fighting for God, for Franco and (most of all) for Themselves: Right-Wing Volunteers in the Spanish Civil War....Pages 211-230 From the Nazi Party’s Shock Troop to the “European” Mass Army: The Waffen-SS Volunteers....Pages 231-247 An Approach to the Social Profile and the Ideological Motivations of the Spanish Volunteers of the “Blue Division”, 1941–44....Pages 248-274 Women in Combat: Female Volunteers in British Anti-Aircraft Batteries in the Second World War....Pages 275-290 Back Matter....Pages 291-297 "Why do individuals voluntarily fight in wars? Volunteering is a characteristic phenomenon of modern wars, yet has surprisingly never been approached by historians, sociologists, or political scientists in a comprehensive way. This book therefore fills an important gap in the historiography of war and society in modern times by tackling the motivations, social backgrounds, military uses and experiences of war volunteers in the wars between the late eighteenth century and today. By using a comparative perspective, the book provides an important basis for the interpretation of volunteer movements and significantly furthers our understanding of the relationship between war and society in the modern era"--Page 4 of cover Why do individuals voluntarily fight in wars? Volunteering is a characteristic phenomenon of modern wars, yet has surprisingly never been approached by historians, sociologists or political scientists in a comprehensive way. This book therefore fills an important gap in the historiography of war and society in modern times by€tackling the motivations, social backgrounds, military uses and experiences of war volunteers in the wars between the early nineteenth century and today. By using a comparative perspective, the book provides an important basis for the interpretation of volunteer movements and significantly furthers our understanding of the relationship between war and society in modern times