Abstract
Roger Chickering and Stig Förster, eds, War in an Age of Revolution, 1775–1815, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2010; xii + 422 pp., 6 illus.; 9780521899963, £47.00 (hbk)
Reviewed by: Leighton S James, University of Swansea, UK
As the editors of this volume point out, two ‘master narratives’ have dominated the military history of the early modern and modern periods. While early modern military history has been deeply influenced by Michael Robert’s ‘military revolution’ thesis, the concept of ‘total war’ has shaped approaches to the military history of the twentieth century. While the first is bound by technological innovation (i.e. the introduction of firearms), the latter is essentially rooted in political change. Although industrialization made ‘total war’ possible in a material sense, it was new political ideas, particularly those stemming from the French Revolution, that provided the crucial ideological framework. Modern political nationalism and the patriotic soldier were components of a supposedly new type of warfare, one capable of and requiring the mobilization of whole societies. Both Roger Chickering and Stig Förster have examined the idea of ‘total war’ from the American Civil War to the Second World War in a series of conferences and edited volumes. However, they have become acutely aware of the lack of dialogue between the modern and early modern periods. This edited volume represents an attempt to bridge the gap between these two ‘master narratives’ by examining the revolutionary period between 1775 and 1815.
Was this period characterized primarily by continuity or rupture? The 20 essays collected in this volume do not provide a definitive answer to this question. The assembled contributions range from logistics and tactics to the experience and representation of warfare. Some authors emphasize the continuities or evolution in warfare. Azar Gat’s opening essay places the ‘military revolution’ thesis within the context of a broader process of modernization and argues that ‘social mobilization’ was already a feature of the old regime states. Ute Planert’s overview of the ‘French wars’ between 1793 and 1815 also emphasizes evolutionary change rather than revolutionary rupture. The writings of the French military thinker Guibert do appear to foreshadow some of the elements of ‘total war’, but, as Beatrice Heuser points out, there is none of the genocidal thought that accompanied ideas of ‘total war’ in the twentieth century.
Other authors are less equivocal about the revolutionary changes. For Dierk Walter the Prussian military reforms of 1807 to 1814, the creation of the militia and the notion of a ‘people’s war’ foreshadowed the broad mobilization of twentieth-century total wars. Some, such as Friedrich von Gentz, became disillusioned with the idea of arming the people. Yet, as Günther Kronenbitter shows, Gentz was nevertheless alive to the revolutionary impact warfare had upon international diplomacy. Stig Förster reaches beyond the transatlantic framework to place the wars within a global perspective. He suggests that the social and political change during this period was less to do with art of war itself, but was instead a consequence of the sheer global scale of the conflict between European powers. The logistical challenges posed by this expansion of conflict are considered in Jeremy Black’s chapter on naval power and Alan Forrest’s study of the French Revolutionary armies.
Many of the essays focus on the relationship between military and civilian society. Through the example of Revolutionary France, Wolfgang Kruse illustrates how warfare placed increased burdens on civilians. Other essays, such as Michael Broer’s study of northern Italy and Katherine Aaslestad’s examination of Hamburg, stress the increased exploitation of civilian society by the military. Divisions between civilian and combatant also became increasingly blurred. Tim Shannon’s examination of Native American warfare argues that civilians were increasingly viewed as legitimate targets for military action. The chapters by Matthew Ward, Marion Breunig and T.H. Breen point to the expansion of the civilian experience of the military through the American militia and through Associations. Civilians were also directly involved in warfare in other ways. Jörg Nagler examines British attempts to encourage rebellion amongst the slave population during the War of Independence, while Laurence Tone challenges stereotypes of the Spanish guerrillas to place them within a regional context. The final essays illustrate that warfare not only imposed a physical burden, but also challenged cultural practices and norms. Donatus Düsterhaus points to attacks on religion in Alsace in the 1790s, while Karen Hagemann argues that warfare profoundly affected understandings of masculinity. Britain escaped invasion and occupation. Yet as Mary Favret shows, warfare penetrated every aspect of life, while literary representation exposed Britons to an awareness of war as ‘unbounded’.
Despite the diversity of the chapters, the essays are united in recognizing a fundamental change in the relationship of civilians to warfare and the military. No one was now exempt. In this Chickering and Förster see a foretaste of the ‘total wars’ of the twentieth century, even if the concept cannot be applied unreservedly to the period between 1775 and 1815. However, the book does lead one to question the role of warfare before 1775. Förster admits the Seven Years’ War was the first global conflict and some of the topics touched upon here, such as petite guerre, militia organizations and patriotic propaganda, were evident in that mid-eighteenth century conflict. One cannot help but ask what processes and ideas spanned the pre- and post-revolutionary eras? But perhaps that is a subject for a further edited volume.