The Military Enlightenment: War and Culture in the French Empire from Louis XIV to Napoleon

by Christy Pichichero, Julia Gimatova (Translator)

Overview

ENG

The Military Enlightenment brings to light a radically new narrative both on the Enlightenment and the French armed forces from Louis XIV to Napoleon. Christy Pichichero makes a striking discovery: the Geneva Conventions, post-traumatic stress disorder, the military "band of brothers," and soldierly heroism all found their antecedents in the eighteenth-century French armed forces. Readers of The Military Enlightenment will be startled to learn of the many ways in which French military officers, administrators, and medical personnel advanced ideas of human and political rights, military psychology, and social justice.

RUS

Книга Кристи Пичичеро предлагает радикально новый взгляд как на историю французских вооруженных сил от Людовика XIV до Наполеона, так и на Просвещение в целом. Автор находит в военной истории Франции данного периода истоки гораздо более поздних концептов и нарративов – от Женевской конвенции до посттравматического стрессового расстройства. По мнению Пичичеро, французские офицеры, военные администраторы и медицинский персонал уже в восемнадцатом веке развивали идеи прав человека и социальной справедливости, а также основы военной психологии.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9798887195834
Publisher:	Academic Studies Press
Publication date:	05/07/2024
Series:	Contemporary European Studies
Pages:	440
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.00(d)
Language:	Russian

About the Author

ENG

Christy Pichichero is a public intellectual and Associate Professor of History and French at George Mason University. She earned her A.B. in Comparative Literature at Princeton University, her B.M. in Applied Music (Voice - Opera) from the Eastman School of Music, and her Ph.D. in French Studies from Stanford University. She is the Director of Faculty Diversity in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the Past President of the Western Society for French History, and a thought leader in Critical Race Theory, anti-racism, diversity, equity, and inclusion.

RUS

Кристи Пичичеро – доцент истории и французского языка в Университете Джорджа Мейсона. Она училась в Принстонском университете и защитила диссертацию в Стенфордском, а также получила степень магистра по специальности «оперный вокал» в Истменской школе музыки.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. The French Military Enlightenment
2. Before Fraternity
3. Humanity in War
4. A Nation of Warriors
5. The Dialectic of Military Enlightenment
Epilogue
Notes
Index

What People are Saying About This

John A. Lynn II

"Christy Pichichero’s thought-provoking work should inspire, or compel, us all to reconsider eighteenth-century military thought in a much broader context. She presents an impressive variety of issues discussed across a range of contemporary genres. Her study of enlightenment France marvelously demonstrates that the consideration of military topics both by professionals and by civilians infuses as well as reflects the intellectual tenor of an age."

David A. Bell

"Christy Pichichero has written an ambitious, wide-ranging, engaging, and informative book about what she calls the 'military Enlightenment' in eighteenth-century France. Well-researched and clearly presented, it will be read avidly by historians, scholars of eighteenth-century French literature and philosophy, and military historians."

Rafe Blaufarb

"The Military Enlightenment is comprehensive, original, and significant. It has so many virtues, I hardly know where to begin. It is impressively sweeping in the source material Christy Pichichero mobilizes, daring in its chronology, and beautifully written. It will command the attention of scholars in a wide range of disciplines, including history, literature, philosophy, and psychology."

Christian Ayne Crouch

""The Military Enlightenment provides a refreshing angle in European cultural histories of war. Christy Pichichero unpacks the paradoxical questions that inspired the military enlightenment: how to wage war with greatest economy and efficiency but also how to wage war humanely, with compassion and civility. Pichichero’s work deftly shows how both great and lesser-known minds struggled to achieve these ideals in eighteenth-century France and how the military enlightenment continues to inform war ethics to this day.""

Editorial Reviews

"Given its scope and theme, this book makes for excellent reading for two groups of historians. First, military historians will benefit from Pichichero's detailed and original analysis of the development of eighteenth-century military culture. Second, scholars of the Enlightenment will find here vital new perspective on the real-world impact of Enlightenment thought through the medium of the army."

The Historian

"Superbly researched, energetically argued, and extremely well written account.... One ends by admiring the quality and breadth of Pichichero's research, which has triumphantly placed the conduct of war squarely within the domain of the Enlightenment, and indeed turned 'military enlightenment' from an oxymoron into a truism."

French Studies

"The 'long eighteenth century' (1688–1815)... was also the age of Enlightenment, in which reformers sought to apply scientific reasoning to the study of society to improve the world. Pichichero’s fascinating book explores the connections between these phenomena, surveying efforts to create a more rational, humane system of military discipline, to articulate rules of war to protect wounded soldiers and noncombatants, and to regenerate French society through the promotion of the virtues of heroism and patriotism through all strata of society."

Choice

"In a sweeping narrative, underpinned by broad and deep primary sources ranging from well-known works by Voltaire to obscure details of how French military lodges were organized and adorned, Pichichero traces the fervent debates in French society about how best to wage war during the eighteenth century. She more than succeeds in her goal, illustrating in five well-structured chapters how important military thought was to the French Enlightenment writ large.... The Military Enlightenment is a tour de force and deserves a broad readership."

H-War

"Provide[s] fascinating new perspectives on the cultural history of war in the early modern period. The emotional experiences and understandings of soldiers, officers, administrators, and doctors presented... demonstrate that warfare was felt in new ways in the eighteenth century."

The American Historical Review

"Christy Pichichero's work significantly changes our understanding of the French Enlightenment's relationship with war.... Countering claims that eighteenth century soldiers were viewed as machines, Pichichero shows that Enlightenment thinkers emphasised human sensitivity."

H-Soz-u-Kult redaktion

"The Military Enlightenment is a valuable addition to the historiography of the Enlightenment. Pichichero builds on previous works... that argue, similarly, for locating military theory and philosophy within the Enlightenment.... In casting such a wide net, Pichichero effectively proves her thesis, and her work is highly recommended."

HISTORY: Reviews of New Books

""The Military Enlightenment provides a refreshing angle in European cultural histories of war. Christy Pichichero unpacks the paradoxical questions that inspired the military enlightenment: how to wage war with greatest economy and efficiency but also how to wage war humanely, with compassion and civility. Pichichero’s work deftly shows how both great and lesser-known minds struggled to achieve these ideals in eighteenth-century France and how the military enlightenment continues to inform war ethics to this day.""

Christian Ayne Crouch

"Christy Pichichero’s thought-provoking work should inspire, or compel, us all to reconsider eighteenth-century military thought in a much broader context. She presents an impressive variety of issues discussed across a range of contemporary genres. Her study of enlightenment France marvelously demonstrates that the consideration of military topics both by professionals and by civilians infuses as well as reflects the intellectual tenor of an age."

John A. Lynn II

"Christy Pichichero has written an ambitious, wide-ranging, engaging, and informative book about what she calls the 'military Enlightenment' in eighteenth-century France. Well-researched and clearly presented, it will be read avidly by historians, scholars of eighteenth-century French literature and philosophy, and military historians."

David A. Bell

"The Military Enlightenment is comprehensive, original, and significant. It has so many virtues, I hardly know where to begin. It is impressively sweeping in the source material Christy Pichichero mobilizes, daring in its chronology, and beautifully written. It will command the attention of scholars in a wide range of disciplines, including history, literature, philosophy, and psychology."

Rafe Blaufarb