After the Wars: German Central Europe after Napoleonic Conquest, 1814-1848

FAIN: FEL-262607-19

Katherine Barbara Aaslestad
West Virginia University Research Corporation (Morgantown, WV 26506-6201)

Preparation for a book on the aftereffects in German society of the Napoleonic Wars regarding warfare and militarism from about 1814 to 1848.

The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars were the first modern “total war,” however, there has been surprisingly little exploration of the ways in which this decades-long conflict transformed both modern military culture and civil society. My project addresses these important questions through a comparative study of German states following the Napoleonic Wars and reveals the extent to which these wars reshaped social attitudes toward soldiers and militarism. My work explores the intersection of militarization and civil society to uncover the public's varied perceptions of the place of soldiering in modern societies. It explains the complex ways in which wartime experiences question militarization, yet paradoxically support the symbolic importance of the military in public ceremonies and rituals. This project contributes important insights, applicable to contemporary civil society and veterans of recent conflicts, to better understand the consequences of war in the modern era.