Synopses & Reviews
Beginning with the brutal Sumerian and Assyrian armies of ancient Iraq and ending with the men and women of the military of the early 21st century, this series shows what life was and is like for soldiers. The weapons and technology change, culture changes, but human physical and pyschological needs and fears do not. How did soldiers become specialists, and how were permanent standing armies developed? What was it like to march with Julius Caesar in Gaul or fight the Goths in the Balkans? How did it feel to conduct a siege in medieval times? How did the business of feeding and clothing armies advance over time? How did the horrendous health conditions on war fields in the 19th and early 20th centuries contribute to improvements in modern medicine? What was it like to shiver in a frozen Belgian wood in 1944, as German Tiger tanks rumbled toward your foxhole? How do soldiers master high-tech weaponry, yet protect themselves from the most primitive improvised explosive device? This lively and comprehensive set reveals, ultimately, what kinds of societies produced these soldiers and the ways in which the soldiers, in turn, shaped their societies. Each volume in the series provides glimpses into the day-to-day lives of soldiers of the period, and addresses the significant political and historic issues of the times. Just some of the highlights from the five volumes of Soldiers' Lives through History include: BLVolume 1: The Ancient World. Siegecraft and artillery; armor, helmets, and shields; chariots; cavalry; strategic range and endurance; camp life; the battle; casualties. BLVolume 2: The Middle Ages. Life in the Middle Ages; Men-at-arms; garrison life; armies in the field; sieges of townsand cities; life in the Crusades; chivalry; commemorations and thanksgivings. BLVolume 3: The Early Modern World. The age of specialists in weapons and skills; the rebirth of the trained infantryman; the age of mercenaries; the age of the professionals. BLVolume 4: The Nineteenth Century. Recruitment, discipline, and desertion; training and leadership; weapons, uniforms, and daily needs; soldiers on 19th-century and modern battlefields, including World War I. BLVolume 5: The Twentieth Century. World War II; political changes and the spread of democracy; extensive technological change; military daily life through the global war on terror. In each volume, chapters examine the basics of military life, including recruitment, reasons for enlisting, training, desertion, relations between officers and soldiers, attitudes of the civilian population to the soldiers, food, clothing, health and well-being, injuries and death, strategies and tactics in conflicts, equipment and weapons, discipline and punishment, life after the army, and other issues. Volumes also include a number of resources for students, researchers, and anyone interested in the history of soldiers' lives around the world, including illustrations and maps; timelines; recommended books, articles, primary documents, correspondence, and Web sites; and comprehensive indexes.
Review
"The early modern entry in this series begins with the French invasion of Italy in 1949, chronicles the transition of the Western soldier from mercenary to professional, and ends with the French Revolution in 1789. Showalter and Astore chronicle changes in recruitment methods, weaponry, tactics, command structure, morale, daily life in camp, disease, discipline, religious considerations, and civilian attitudes. The final chapter follows Europe's soldiers overseas as they confront enemies waging warfare under new rules and conditions." - Reference & Research Book News
Synopsis
Two distinguished historians tell the story of the early modern soldier, of Europe, a figure often misunderstood, in the period spanning from 1494 to 1789. He is the freebooting Landsknecht of the sixteenth century, swaggering in dilapidated finery through the ruins he and his kind created. He is the mercenary of the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century, rootless and masterless, brutalizing civilians for a few coins, destroying civilization's works for the pleasure of it. He is the uniformed automaton of the eighteenth century, initiative beaten out of him, fit to do no more than endure battles and floggings until he pitched into an anonymous grave. Often told in the soldiers' own words, or those of the historians of the period, nine chapters rich in description and detail cover the following topics: BLDT The bloody and influential battles of the period, Pavia (1525), Breitenfeld (1631), and Leuthen (1757). BLDT Where the soldiers came from and how they were recruited. BLDT Gunpowder cannons, new fortresses, and siege warfare. BLDT The relationships between the leader and the led. BLDT Morale and motivation of ordinary soldiers. BLDT Women and children with the regiment. BLDT Camp life for soldiers and camp followers. BLDT Disease, medicine, and sanitation at camp. BLDT Soldiers and veterans in town. BLDT Europeans at war around the world: India, Asia, and the Americas. A timeline provides context for the dates, events, and places discussed in the book; there are extensive endnotes and a comprehensive and topically arranged bibliography of recommended print and online sources. A thorough index completes the book.
Synopsis
The colorful beginnings of the modern Western soldier are told: his evolution from mercenary to professional, the weapons he carried, the way he fought, and how he lived, from the late fifteenth century and the introduction of gunpowder in battle to the start of the Age of Revolution.
Synopsis
Two distinguished historians tell the story of the early modern soldier of Europe, a figure often misunderstood, in the period spanning from 1494 to 1789. He is the freebooting Landsknecht of the sixteenth century, swaggering in dilapidated finery through the ruins he and his kind created. He is the mercenary of the Thirty Years War in the seventeenth century, rootless and masterless, brutalizing civilians for a few coins, destroying civilization's works for the pleasure of it. He is the uniformed automaton of the eighteenth century, initiative beaten out of him, fit to do no more than endure battles and floggings until he pitched into an anonymous grave.
Synopsis
A timeline provides context for the dates, events, and places discussed in the book; there are extensive endnotes and a comprehensive and topically arranged bibliography of recommended print and online sources. A thorough index completes the book.
About the Author
DENNIS SHOWALTER is Professor of History at The Colorado College and has been Mc Dermott Chair at the U. S. Military Academy, as well as a Distinguished Visiting Professor there and at the U.S. Air Force Academy and H.L. Oppenheimer Professor at the Marine Corps University. Among his publications are History in Dispute: World War I (2002) and History in Dispute: The Second World War (2000), The Wars of Frederick the Great (1996), and Tannenberg: Clash of Empires (1990).WILLIAM J. ASTORE is Associate Provost and Dean of Students, Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center. With Dennis Showalter, he is the co-author of Hindenburg: Icon of German Militarism (forthcoming).