War in an Age of Revolution, 1775–1815

by Roger Chickering (Editor), Stig Förster (Editor)

This volume investigates a critical moment in the history of warfare. It assembles historians of the early modern and modern eras to speak to one another across the great historiographical divide that has traditionally separated them. The central questions in the volume have to do with the historical place of revolutionary warfare on both sides of the Atlantic the degree to which they extended practices common in the eighteenth century or introduced fundamentally new forms of warfare. Among the topics covered in the volume are the global dimensions of warfare, logistics, universal military service and the mobilization of noncombattants, occupation, and the impact of war on civilian life in both Europe and North America.

Genres: History

436 pages, Paperback

First published March 31, 2010

Reviews

[Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

'War in an Age of Revolution, 1775-1815', edited by Chickering & Förster, sometimes offers decent academic texts on the crossroads between evolving society, ideology and warfare. At other times, ironically, the conflicts of the era in question seem way more revolutionary than the topics chosen in this volume.

Much of the book is on the theoretic arguments between narratives of gradual and revolutionary change. These're okay, if a bit old. Of greater value are the discussions of local European situations in Italy and Northern Europe. A nice addition too is Karen Hagemann's. She writes that from the 1790s and 1800s onward, soldiering was seen as a job for a family man and citizen of a nation. Still, a description is lacking of how it was presented up to that point. Jeremy Black's piece on naval strength and the limited European control of the globe up to the early nineteenth century is also revealing: it has only been for a century or so that the West controlled the planet, yet we often still act as if that is the natural or ordinary order of things.

The book also has some serious deficits. No discussion of revolution in Latin American is included. Perhaps they're not revolutionary enough? The same could be said for the American War of Independence, which receives ample attention. Previously, some have interpreted this event as a revolt of rich upper-class colonists against an empire that was halting the colonists' power and wealth accumulation.

As such, the American Revolution is perhaps more of an Anglo-Saxon conservative movement in the spirit of Magna Carta (1215) and the Glorious Revolution (1688). Only to a limited extent do the contributions in this book turn the American War of Independence into a modern revolutionary conflict: carried out by the masses and having lasting (progressive) social effects. Therefore, it is even stranger that this 2010 book doesn't make any mention of the Haitian Revolution, a successful slave revolt.

Read it if you're into somewhat new opinions on long-debated subjects.

[Christopher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Held back somewhat by a lack of conceptual cohesion (beyond Part I, comprising the first six chapters), and a couple of disappointing contributions. A few chapters slip briefly into stupidly impenetrable academese.