Absolute War: Violence and Mass Warfare in the German Lands, 1792–1820 By Mark Hewitson
New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2017. Pp. xvii, 297. ISBN 978–0–19–878745–7.
Reviewed by Katherine Aaslestad
"Conscription and the rise of mass armies engaged in a Volkskrieg are central themes of Hewitson's study. The author traces the emergence of these armies in the German states, both in compliance with Napoleonic demands and in response to crushing defeats by Napoleonic forces. As conscription altered armies, soldiers' experiences of war were transformed. On the one hand, ties between civilian society and the military became closer; on the other, militaries were conducting longer, more lethal campaigns....Soldiers' accounts focus, of course, on mundane details of their campaigns as well as their survival of horrific incidents, but also attest that the escalation and expansion of Napoleonic Wars changed their perception of war-making and its human costs. These narratives related suffering during the Russian campaign and the Battle of Leipzig, battlefield bloodbaths, deadly fevers, and horrific military hospitals to underscore that defeating the enemy did not feel like a victory...."