Description: "The Revolutionary and the Napoleonic Wars profoundly affected German Central Europe. Thousands of German and Austrian soldiers fought as enemies and allies of France in military campaigns that stretched from the Sierras of Spain to the snowfields of Russia. Meanwhile, German and Austrian civilians found their lives touched by warfare in a way not seen for decades. The political geography of area was transformed as the thousand-year Holy Roman Empire collapsed and Napoleon redrew state borders. Millions found themselves forced to adapt to the political and military reality of French domination. This book traces the individual and collective experience of these momentous events in the letters, diaries and memoirs of contemporaries. It explores how soldiers and civilians wrote about both the horrors and pleasures of warfare and how these experiences were mediated by social status, sex, religion and geography. It suggests that despite the trauma of a generation of warfare, older, pre-Revolutionary interpretations of armed conflict remained important as eyewitnesses sought to explain and understand the turmoil around them. "--
Review Quotes:
"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