Book chapter 1396 views
For the Fatherland? The Motivations of Austrian and Prussian Volunteers during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars
Leighton James 
War Volunteering in Modern Times: From the French Revolution to the Second World War, Pages: 40 - 58
Swansea University Author:
Leighton James
Abstract
This book chapter examines the motivation for military service in Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in German Central Europe. The chapter argues that contrary to nineteenth-century interpretations of the German and Austrian war effort, patriotism and nationalism were relatively weak factors underpin...
| Published in: | War Volunteering in Modern Times: From the French Revolution to the Second World War |
|---|---|
| Published: |
Basingstoke
Palgrave
2011
|
| Online Access: |
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?pid=357085 |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa11211 |
| Abstract: |
This book chapter examines the motivation for military service in Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in German Central Europe. The chapter argues that contrary to nineteenth-century interpretations of the German and Austrian war effort, patriotism and nationalism were relatively weak factors underpinning the decision to enlist. It was usually more pragmatic concerns, such as subsistence, career advancement or the allure of military life, that often led men to volunteer for the army. This applied even to the German volunteers of the Wars of Liberation (1813-1815), who were subsequently lionized as forerunners of German nationalism. |
|---|---|
| Item Description: |
Christine G. Krueger and Sonja Levsen (eds), War Volunteering in Modern Times: From the French Revolution to the Second World War (Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2011), pp. 40-58. |
| Keywords: |
Revolutionary War, Napoleonic War, Motivation, Enlistment |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Start Page: |
40 |
| End Page: |
58 |