Absolute War

Violence and Mass Warfare in the German Lands, 1792-1820

Nonfiction, History, European General, Modern
Cover of the book Absolute War by Mark Hewitson, OUP Oxford
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Mark Hewitson ISBN: 9780192513953
Publisher: OUP Oxford Publication: February 9, 2017
Imprint: OUP Oxford Language: English
Author: Mark Hewitson
ISBN: 9780192513953
Publisher: OUP Oxford
Publication: February 9, 2017
Imprint: OUP Oxford
Language: English

Wars have played a fundamental part in modern German history. Although infrequent, conflicts involving German states have usually been extensive and often catastrophic, constituting turning-points for Europe as a whole. Absolute War is the first in a series of studies from Mark Hewitson that explore how such conflicts were experienced by soldiers and civilians during wartime, and how they were subsequently imagined and understood during peacetime, from Clausewitz and Kleist to Jünger and Adorno. Without such an understanding, it is difficult to make sense of the dramatic shifts characterising the politics of Germany and Europe over the past two centuries. The studies argue that the ease - or reluctance - with which Germans went to war, and the far-reaching consequences of such wars on domestic politics, were related to soldiers' and civilians' attitudes to violence and death, as well as to long-term transformations in contemporaries' conceptualisation of conflict. Absolute War reassesses the meaning of military conflict for the millions of German subjects who were directly implicated in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Based on a re-reading of contemporary diaries, letters, memoirs, official correspondence, press reports, pamphlets, treatises, plays, and cartoons, this volume refocuses attention on combat and conscription as the central components of new forms of mass warfare. It concentrates, in particular, on the impact of violence, killing, and death on many soldiers' and some civilians' experiences and subsequent memories of conflict. War has often been conceived of as 'an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds', as Clausewitz put it, but the relationship between military conflicts and violent acts remains a problematic one.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

Wars have played a fundamental part in modern German history. Although infrequent, conflicts involving German states have usually been extensive and often catastrophic, constituting turning-points for Europe as a whole. Absolute War is the first in a series of studies from Mark Hewitson that explore how such conflicts were experienced by soldiers and civilians during wartime, and how they were subsequently imagined and understood during peacetime, from Clausewitz and Kleist to Jünger and Adorno. Without such an understanding, it is difficult to make sense of the dramatic shifts characterising the politics of Germany and Europe over the past two centuries. The studies argue that the ease - or reluctance - with which Germans went to war, and the far-reaching consequences of such wars on domestic politics, were related to soldiers' and civilians' attitudes to violence and death, as well as to long-term transformations in contemporaries' conceptualisation of conflict. Absolute War reassesses the meaning of military conflict for the millions of German subjects who were directly implicated in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. Based on a re-reading of contemporary diaries, letters, memoirs, official correspondence, press reports, pamphlets, treatises, plays, and cartoons, this volume refocuses attention on combat and conscription as the central components of new forms of mass warfare. It concentrates, in particular, on the impact of violence, killing, and death on many soldiers' and some civilians' experiences and subsequent memories of conflict. War has often been conceived of as 'an act of violence pushed to its utmost bounds', as Clausewitz put it, but the relationship between military conflicts and violent acts remains a problematic one.

More books from OUP Oxford

Cover of the book Law and Life in Common by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Divine Agency and Divine Action, Volume III by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book On Life and Death by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Why Does Inequality Matter? by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Towards a European Public Law by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Discourses of Mourning in Dante, Petrarch, and Proust by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book The Spanish Civil War: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book An Introduction to Clinical Research by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Witness Testimony in Sexual Cases by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book The Masnavi, Book Two by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book The Good Soldier by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Plants: A Very Short Introduction by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book A Dictionary of Computer Science by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Electing the Pope in Early Modern Italy, 1450-1700 by Mark Hewitson
Cover of the book Arbitration Under International Investment Agreements by Mark Hewitson
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy