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While total warfare has long been associated with the Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, aspects of it were experienced by 17th- and 18th- century European civilian populations too. In the early modern and modern period, non-combatants were constantly involved with, and exposed to, the exigencies of war. The extensive scope and prolonged length of campaigns; the traffic of refugees, hostages and prisoners of war; mass mobilization; and garrisoning and the military pressure for supply ensured that few civilians remained untouched by warfare. The 17th and 18th centuries were also formative in the development of professional standing armies, national identities, and the conventions of modern warfare, and saw the emergence of the modern world-powers and their empires.
This conference seeks to ground these developments and the European experience of total war by examining the relationship between civilians and warfare from the close of the Thirty Years War to the conclusion of the Napoleonic Wars.
The conference will explore the impact of war and violence on civilian populations, the transition between peace and war, and the multiple configurations and mutations of civilian-military identity during the early modern and modern period. The programme consists of contributions from scholars working in various fields, including history, literary studies, visual culture, philosophy, and legal history. The application of a range of data sources and methodologies, alongside a plurality of national perspectives, will contextualize the study of war beyond its traditionally isolated national perspectives and its separation from times of peace and broader civil developments.
Speakers and chairs include: David A. Bell, Horst Carl, Stephen Conway, Barbara Donagan, Charles Esdaile, Alan Forrest, Thomas Hippler, Colm McKeogh, Philip Shaw, Hew Strachan, Peter Wilson.
To encourage cross-disciplinary discussion and cross-national comparisons, this conference is structured to allow round-table discussions and comparative responses to papers.
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