Description: Volume III of the Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars moves away from the battlefield to explore broader questions of society and culture. Leading scholars from around the globe show how the conflict left its mark on virtually every aspect of society. They reflect on the experience of the soldiers who fought in them, examining such matters as military morale, ideas of honour and masculinity, the treatment of wounds and the fate of prisoners-of-war; and they explore social issues such as the role of civilians, women's experience, trans-border encounters and the roots of armed resistance. They also demonstrates how the experience of war was inextricably linked to empire and the wider world. Individual chapters discuss the depiction of the Wars in literature and the arts and their lasting impact on European culture. The volume concludes by examining the memory of the Wars and their legacy for the nineteenth-century world.
Brief description: Peter Hicks is a historian of the Napoleonic period and International Affairs Manager at the Fondation Napoléon, Paris and Chargé de cours at the Institut Catholic des Etudes Supérieures (ICES), La Roche sur Yon. His previous publications include Emmanuel de Las Cases, Le Mémorial de Sainte Hélène: Le manuscript retrouvé, critical edition with presentation and commentary, with Thierry Lentz, François Houdecek and Chantal Prévot (2017), and The Napoleonic Empire and the New European Political Culture, with Michael Broers and Agustin Guimerá (2012).
Review Quotes: 'One of the strengths of the work is to draw attention to the transnational, global context of the Napoleonic wars, in line with new trends in historical research. The structure of the work is logical and understandable, containing as many as 82 chapters in three volumes. The study was written by authors - it should be emphasized - who are experts in the issues raised. The well-thought-out content of the individual chapters provides a huge amount of knowledge, reflecting the results of contemporary research on the Napoleonic era.' Dariusz Nawrot, Kwartalnik Historyczny