Wiens on Hewitson, 'The People's Wars: Histories of Violence in the German Lands, 1820-1888'
Author: Mark Hewitson
Reviewer: Gavin Wiens
"...the suffering of the civilian population at the hands of French and coalition armies, the application of universal conscription and the exaction of “contributions” from towns and cities, and the appalling hardships endured by soldiers, especially during the Russian campaign, had brought the “horrors of war” home to many Germans. Yet, according to Hewitson, “what was most striking about the military conflicts and international crises after 1848 was the readiness of conscripts, volunteers, and their families to go to war ... whether or not a conflict was perceived to be ‘national’” (p. 7). The answer to this apparent paradox, Hewitson suggests, lies in the extensive postwar mythologizing of the “national” struggle against Napoleon after 1813—the so-called Wars of Liberation—by artists, academics, and journalists, and even some soldiers. Their efforts ensured that a heroic image of war continued to exist in German-speaking Europe until the new realities of the battlefield—the lethality of modern weapons and the absurdity of individual bravery—became clear during the Wars of Unification (1864-71)."