Synopses & Reviews
This volume explores how the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars (1793-1815) were experienced, perceived and narrated by contemporaries in Britain and Ireland. These conflicts have been described as the first modern or 'total' war with far-reaching consequences for military and civilian society and the development of modern identities. Yet in contrast to the innovative body of scholarship on the First and Second World Wars there has been little sustained analysis of the personal experiences of men and women involved directly or indirectly in these conflicts. Narratives of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars addresses this historiographical gap using letters, diaries and personal testimonies by soldiers, sailors and civilians to shed new light on the social and cultural history of the period and the history of warfare more broadly.
Synopsis
The volume explores how the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars were experienced, perceived and narrated by contemporaries in Britain and Ireland, drawing on an extensive range of personal testimonies by soldiers, sailors and civilians to shed new light on the social and cultural history of the period and the history of warfare more broadly.
About the Author
Catriona Kennedy is Lecturer in Modern British and Irish History at the University of York, UK. Her publications include, as co-editor with Matthew McCormack, Soldiering in Britain and Ireland, 1750-1850: Men of Arms (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012).
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Introduction
1. Narrating War
2. Becoming Soldiers and Sailors
3. Combat and Campaign
4. Travellers in Uniform
5. Prisoners of War
6. Citizen-Soldiers
7. Bringing the War Back Home
Conclusion: A Waterloo Panorama