Mark Lawrence is the author of several books, including the award-winning Spanish Civil Wars. He works on modern European and Latin American history, as well as the comparative history of civil war. He is based at the University of Kent.
1. Introduction 2. Context of the French Revolution and the Art of War 3. Living with Campaigning 4. Living with Armies 5. Living with Empires 6. Living with Insurrection 7.Conclusion
This work seeks to offer a new way of viewing the French Wars of 1792-1815. Most studies of this period offer international, political, and military analyses using the French Revolution and Napoleon as the prime mover. But this book focuses on military and civilian responses to French Revolutionary and Napoleonic wars, throughout the rest of Europe and the Americas. It shows how the unprecedented mobilization of this era forged a generation of soldiers and civilians sharing a common experience of suffering, bequeathing the West with a new veteran sensibility. Using a range of sources, especially memoirs, this book reveals the adventure and suffering confronting ordinary soldiers campaigning in Europe and the Americas, and the burdens imposed on civilians enduring rising and falling empires across the West. It also reveals how the wars liberated slaves, serfs, and common people through revolutions and insurgencies.