Napoleonic Wars Research Articles

Nacija i nacionalizam - poreklo termina i istorijat ideje

In order to know the nature of an ideal, it is necessary to know its origin and historical development-intellectual and social. Nationality is a cultural phenomenon. It is not tied to ideologies but to the cultural systems within which it arose and against which it arose. And these are, first of all, Roman Catholic universalism and dynastic kingdom. The initial meaning of the term nation is not as we understand it in our time. Today's meaning of this term is associated with the French Revolution: A people under one government that knows itself in its own state. The greatest change brought about by the Napoleonic Wars in the domain of warfare was not military but political. A subject of the old regime became a citizen. He would have the obligation to serve his military service and fight if the nation asked for it. It was a change of the first order not only of military structures, it was about the birth of a nation and a national state. A nation is a people that knows itself in its state, and the state does not bow down. And that is why it could be said that a nation is a people who is ready to die and kill for the idea of their homeland. And a nation-state is a state that entrusts its destiny to the hands of a conscripted army, fearing neither rebellion nor desertion.

Children's Literature in the Nordic World by Nina Christensen and Charlotte Appel (review)

Reviewed by: Children's Literature in the Nordic World by Nina Christensen and Charlotte Appel Stephen M. Zimmerly (bio) Children's Literature in the Nordic World, by Nina Christensen and Charlotte Appel. Aarhus UP and U of Wisconsin P, 2021. (Series: The Nordic World) As part of a collective of experts from the five Nordic countries, gathered together to provide a comprehensive look into Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Iceland, Nina Christensen and Charlotte Appel set an ambitious agenda for their contribution to Aarhus U P's Nordic World series. The two are tasked with providing insight into how the reading experience of Nordic children's literature has evolved over the last nearly three hundred years, and how it has influenced and been influenced by all things Scandinavian (in the American sense of the word, including Finland). The result is a worthwhile and fascinating contribution through which to study this subset of children's literature, even while it is an inherently impossible task to accomplish in a scant 105 pages of content. The Introduction outlines how the volume intends to study five relatively distinct time periods in five separate chapters: 1750–1820, 1820–1900, 1900–1950, 1950–2000, and post-2000. Christensen and Appel further structure each chapter accordingly: they begin consideration of most of these eras by offering a few case studies meant to illustrate childhood opportunity and reading practices. From there, they dive into historical, political, technological, social, and cultural influences, analyzing to what extent those influences affected children and what those children subsequently may have read during the given time frame. The work is interdisciplinary in nature and, as a result, is somewhat ironically devoid of substantial literary criticism. Chapter 2 creates the foundational example for the chapters that follow, as it begins by comparing two case studies of children and their reading opportunities. The first is the financially well-to-do Friederike Brun (1765–1835), and the second is the poor Hans Christian Andersen (1805–1875). Many of the examples of their childhoods come from their own autobiographies, including anecdotes of access to "a poor boy's reading culture" versus "a room of her own … [to] read and contemplate the compilation of poems" (14, 16). The poor Andersen turns to oral storytelling and inventive performance in the reality of "meager resources and limited access to books" (15). The affluent Brun becomes an author after learning to read "at the age of [End Page 188] four" and educating herself (15). The influence of the state Lutheran church is also established to be far-reaching during this time period, as children systematically worked through a series of primers and catechisms produced by the church and mandated as required reading in school. Paramount to all of this is the geo-political climate involving the two major "conglomerate" political powers in the Nordic region. Demark controlled itself, Norway, and parts of Iceland and Greenland (among other colonies throughout the globe). Sweden controlled itself, Finland, and territories "along the south-east coast of the Baltic Sea" (21). As this structure began changing in significant ways in the early nineteenth-century, entire systems of governance, agriculture, and school reform took shape. Christensen and Appel explore these changes in subsequent chapters. Chapter 3 opens with anecdotes and histories from two more authors: poor Anton Nielsen (1827–1897) and affluent Ida Holten Thiele (1830–1862). As in Chapter 2, the contrasting examples are used to illustrate the obstacles facing the less financially fortunate in their quest for books, stories, or other literary input, while simultaneously showcasing how those from wealthier families were given access to the classics, individual teaching and tutors, and cutting-edge publishing trends for a newly discovered childhood market. The turn to the historical narrative very clearly follows what came in the previous chapter, as the need to give context to Anderson spans both time periods. Denmark's hegemony in the Nordic countries eroded after failures during the Napoleonic wars (ca. 1814) and gave rise to a subsequent need to reinvent the "unique character of the Danish mother tongue, the history of the father-land, and the Danish people"—all of which found reflection in the "politics, education, and texts and...

The Power and Weakness of the Sultan’s Army in the Description of the Allies of the Second Anti-French Coalition (the Asian Stage of the Campaign of 1799—1801)

The article is devoted to a little-studied event of the Napoleonic Wars: the Ottoman campaign of 1799—1801 against the French expeditionary force that captured Egypt. The events of this campaign are revealed in documents, some of which have not yet been published, and some written in Arabic and Ottoman languages are poorly introduced into scientific circulation. Of particular interest is the fact that the most informative source covering the Asian part of the campaign was Enrico Frankini, the Russian agent in the army of the Grand Vizier. Comparing the views of European and Ottoman campaign participants on the system of organization and management of the Sultan’s army, the relationship between the central and provincial authorities, the Ottomans and the Arabic-speaking population, the self-identification of Muslim soldiers and their attitude to “infidel” enemies or allies — all this allows us to better understand the mutual perception of Europeans preparing for colonial conquests in the Middle East, and the Ottoman society, which was on the verge of transformation. Realizing the need for modernization, Sultan Selim III (1789—1807) began to organize the regiments of the “new order”, but the military reform, as well as several other transformations, caused a sharp rejection of the traditional Ottoman elites. Involvement in the Napoleonic Wars, first as part of the anti-French coalition, and then on the side of France, had fatal consequences both for Selim III himself and for his reforms. A significant role in assessing the low combat capability of the Sultan’s army was played by the reports of Russian and British informants who participated in the Ottoman campaign in Egypt.

The Trouble with Queer Celebrity: Aleksandr Aleksandrov (Nadezhda Durova)'s A Year of Life in St Petersburg (1838)

Zapiski kavalerist-devitsy (The Notes of the Cavalry Maiden) by Aleksandr Aleksandrov (1783–1866), who left his life as Nadezhda Durova to serve in the Russian army during the Napoleonic wars, brought its author fame upon publication in 1836. This article discusses Aleksandrov's later God zhizni v Peterburge, ili nevygody tretʹego poseshchenia (A Year of Life in St Petersburg, 1838) as an account of early nineteenth-century Russian queer celebrity. How did Aleksandrov's experience compare with other gendered celebrity practices, such as lionization? How was it narrated in literary texts? How did this public representation map onto private discourses of the queer self?

Великое герцогство Берг в войнах Наполеона в полевом дневнике лейтенанта Циммерманна

Introduction. After becoming emperor of France in 1804, Napoleon Bonaparte had to solve an extremely difficult geopolitical situation: the old European monarchies were in no hurry to recognize the legitimacy of the newly-made emperor’s power, so France had to act not only by force of arms, but also by demonstrating the effectiveness of the new order by creating model states located in Germany and becoming a showcase. One of these model states was the Grand Duchy of Berg, formed on the territory of the former duchies of Cleves and Berg in 1806. Napoleon sends his officials to the young duchy, actively carries out reforms for the development of the economy, the social sphere, as well as reforms of the army. Materials and methods. Newly formed military contingents recruited on the territory of the states were to take part in the conflicts of the first quarter of the XIX century, and the Grand Duchy of Berg was no exception. Analysis. The article considers the reflection of the participation of the Berg infantry in the Napoleonic Wars from 1807 to 1814 on the pages of the field diary of sergeant and then lieutenant of the 1st Infantry Regiment of the Grand Duchy of Berg P. Zimmermann. Attention is focused on the perception of Spaniards and Russians by German soldiers, on the image of the war as a whole based on the diary mentioned above. The images drawn by Zimmermann are ambivalent at first: he pays tribute to the courage, perseverance and patriotism of the Guerilliers, complains about cruelty and excesses, condemns looting by soldiers of allied units. Result. The tragic fate of the Berg contingent in Russia leads the author of the diary to speculate about good and evil, about combat brotherhood, about the senselessness of losses, the brutality of the Cossacks, the ingratitude of German civil officials. But the leitmotif of the whole narrative is the glorification of the honor of Berg’s soldiers and officers, who did not lose their dignity in the most dangerous and difficult situations.

King George III of England and Queen Maria I of Portugal: bipolar disorder and prince regents as common features of their reigns.

Humanity is sporadically subjected to leaders with deviant behavior, ego problems, or psychiatric disorders, potentially leading to social instability. Bipolar disorder is not common in all populations, but, coincidentally, studies suggest that it affected two sovereigns that were contemporaries, King George III of England, who died 201 years ago, and Queen Maria I of Portugal, who died 205 years ago. They lived during a time when Europe was in turmoil with the French Revolution and Napoleonic Wars, which also coincided with the rise of psychiatry. Both monarchs were forced to have prince regents rule in their place, due to their emotional decline, and they shared the same medical consultant, Francis Willis.

“The Companion of War”: Dysentery in Bonaparte’s Army of the Orient (1798–1801)

The history of wars provides abundant material for the study of epidemics since they have often accompanied military conflicts. The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars of France are especially interesting for researchers due to their duration, the geographical diversity of theaters of military operations, and the large number of participants. The first Russian studies on “Napoleonic epidemiology” published recently show that this era opens wide opportunities to historians in this regard. The author of this article follows in line with such studies, trying to identify the causes and features of the epidemic of dysentery in Bonaparte’s troops which occupied Egypt in 1798–1801, and to establish what impact the epidemic had on the course of the expedition. The doctors of the Army of the Orient were initially very afraid of plague, which they had not dealt with before their arrival in Egypt. Dysentery was well known to them, as people often contracted it in France. To combat the disease, they had a set of tools that had been used more or less successfully for decades in Europe. However, in practice, the epidemic of dysentery turned out to be so deadly in the Army of the Orient that in terms of the death toll, it could be compared with plague, if not even surpassed it. According to the author, the reason for such a high lethality of this disease was the fact that in Egypt, it was caused by another, more pathogenic carrier than in France, and the fact that French doctors could designate several intestinal diseases endemic to Egypt and similar to dysentery with a single concept of “dysentery”, which they had no experience in combating with. French doctors did not use hygiene measures that could prevent the spread of this disease, because they were guided by erroneous ideas about the etiology of dysentery, considering it a consequence of hypothermia of the body.

Changes in the Diplomatic Measures of the Russian Empire in the Balkans after the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji (1774)

In the last third of the eighteenth century, the foreign policy of the Russian Empire was oriented towards the Ottoman Empire and, as part of it, towards the Balkans and the Black Sea region. The aspirations of Russian foreign policy under Catherine II were shaped not only by the weakening of the government in Constantinople and the acquisition of new territories, but also by the creation of Russian economic, cultural, and political presence in southeastern Europe. The creation of official diplomatic representations was one of the main tools used by Russia to establish its presence in the Balkans. The establishment of permanent embassies and the creation of the necessary political and infrastructural background became a decisive segment in the development of European diplomacy from the Peace of Westphalia to the Napoleonic Wars. The steps taken by the government in St. Petersburg with the creation of permanent embassies in the leading European courts were in line with the abovementioned trend, but while this kind of “catching up” process gradually moved towards Central and Western Europe, Russia applied a completely different set of conditions to maintain diplomatic relations in the case of the Ottoman Empire. Ottoman diplomacy operated as a “one-sided diplomatic relation”: there were permanent Russian envoys at the Constantinople court, but no representatives were delegated by the Porte to St. Petersburg. Russia had to adapt to this special situation in the eighteenth century. This closed system was broken by the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji, which closed the Russo-Turkish War of 1768–1774 and included a clause according to which Russia had the right to establish consulates in the Ottoman Empire and thus in the Balkans, a key area. The other key element of the Treaty of Kuchuk Kainardji was the right of the reigning Russian tsar to be the protector of Christians in the Ottoman Empire, which was also fixed in this agreement. The “authority” acquired at this time was not unprecedented, as the Porte had acceded to such requests in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries through capitulations with other states (such as France, Austria, or the Venetian Republic), thus establishing the “protégé” system. At the same time, the Russian government took the protection of Christians under the jurisdiction of the Porte to a new level and made it an integral part of its foreign policy. In my study, I examine how the Russian Empire applied the results of the Peace of Kuchuk Kainardji to diplomatic advocacy in the Balkans.

Патриотические журналы первой трети XIX века

Three magazines of the 19th century are considered as models of historical and patriotic publications. S. N. Glinka’s «Russkiy Vestnik» was devoted to issues of national identity and pursued the goals of national education. N. I. Grech’s “Syn Otechestva” developed “permitted” military-patriotic themes for three years, and from 1815, it turned into a typical literary and artistic magazine. P. P. Svinin’s “Otechestvnnye zapiski” that came out after the Napoleonic wars sought to popularize various aspects of national life. During the analysis, the vulgar sociological assessments of Soviet literary criticism of three magazines are corrected and the modern understanding of patriotism, associated with the term “conservatism”, is characterized.

Zeit/Schrift 1813–1815 oder: Chronopoetik des "Unregelmäßigen." by David Brehm et al.

Reviewed by: Zeit/Schrift 1813–1815 oder: Chronopoetik des "Unregelmäßigen." by David Brehm et al. Jake Fraser David Brehm, Nicola Kaminski, Volker Mergenthaler, Nora Ramtke, and Sven Schöpf. Zeit/Schrift 1813–1815 oder: Chronopoetik des "Unregelmäßigen." Hannover: Wehrhahn, 2022. xviii + 377 pp., 47 illustrations. In the last several decades, Anglophone scholars of print periodicals have often cited Benedict Anderson's assertion that the temporality of the nineteenth-century newspaper is characterized by "the steady onward clocking of homogeneous, empty time." The volume under review here, the latest product of a multiyear research group on "Journal Literature" sponsored by the federally funded German Research Foundation (DFG), challenges each and every one of Anderson's descriptors. The gauntlet is cast in the work's subtitle, which invokes a "chronopoetics of the irregular." While the time signature or characteristic temporality of print serials has traditionally been understood with reference to their periodicity, that is, their appearance at regular intervals, Zeit/Schrift 1813–1815 takes as its object of study a number of journals published early in the nineteenth century which declared in advance that they would appear at irregular intervals. In refusing to abide by the norms of periodicity, these publications become, in the eyes of the "Journal Literature" research group, veritable "chronopoetic laboratories, in which experiments with time are carried out." These medial experiments generate forms of time that are not homogeneous but instead remarkably diverse. Through astonishingly careful readings, informed by contemporary approaches in media theory, material philology, and book history, the authors of this work present to the reader a fascinating archive in which the time of news does not clock steadily onward but instead lurches forward, forks, or doubles back on itself. In perhaps the book's most striking example of this "chronopoetics of the irregular," Nicola Kaminski has uncovered a newspaper that temporarily abandoned the present to print new issues concerning past days, such that numbers 7 and 11 of the same periodical are both dated October 21, 1813, albeit with different news! However, if these journals work to defamiliarize the conventions of print periodicals, it is not as a consequence of the avant-garde literary sensibilities of their publishers. Instead, the irregularity of the journals under consideration here is a sign of their times. As the title suggests, Zeit/Schrift 1813–1815 is concerned exclusively with issues of journals (Zeitschriften) published from 1813 to 1815, during the final stage of the Napoleonic wars known in German as the Wars of Liberation. Picking up in the spring of 1813, when the failure of Napoleon's Russian campaign encouraged the Prussian army to declare open revolt against the French, the volume traces the fates of numerous German journalistic ventures that sought to document this period of intense struggle against Napoleon's [End Page 181] forces. Indeed, the war itself could plausibly be said to be not just the object of much of the reporting studied here but also its subject; the ongoing conflict between the Grande Armée and the opposing troops of the Sixth and Seventh Coalitions shapes both the form and content of nearly every journal studied. Although the authors' pun in their introduction on the ambiguity of Zeit/Schrift (time-writing), in which it is either time which writes or which is written, the same logic might have been extended to Kriegs/Zeit/Schrift as war/time/writing. The fighting raging across the continent determined in manifold ways the conditions under which papers emerged, flourished, and folded. In several instances, these conditions were nakedly political: the need to mobilize the German-speaking masses, both logistically and ideologically, led to a relaxation of censorship laws for friendly papers, which were often commanded into being by military edict and folded once a given campaign had come to a conclusion. Similarly, many of the journalists studied here were concerned to unmask what they perceived to be the concerted propaganda operations of the French press, which exaggerated victories and concealed or misreported defeats. In other cases, the effects of the war on the press were less direct but no less influential. One of the recurring themes of Zeit/Schrift 1813–1815 is the relationship between space, time...

Eastern Persia as an Arena of Rivalry and Possible Cooperation between Russia and the United Kingdom in the Late 19th – early 20th Centuries

In the 19th century after the end of the Napoleonic wars, the contradictions between Russia and the United Kingdom gradually increased both in Europe and in Asia. In Asia, the possessions of both empires gradually approached each other. This happened as the territory of British India grew in the direction of the North-West and the territorial formations in Central Asia joined the Russian Empire. It was about a possible large-scale clash between the two powers, the main theater of which was supposed to be Afghanistan. However, according to the existing plans, the eastern part of Persia (Iran) could become the scene of hostilities, and both sides tried to strengthen their positions in this area. In this regard, Russian military and diplomatic representatives in Khorasan (the northeastern province of Persia) and Central Asia reported on the extraordinary activity of the British in this part of the country, directed against Russian interests. The government was asked to take measures to counter the British expansion, but these calls did not receive support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire. At the same time, Russia had plans to build a railway line to Persian ports in the Persian and Oman Gulfs. Several routes were worked out along which the road could be laid. This would make it possible to take control of a significant part of the trade between Europe and India. The construction of such a route would undermine the monopoly of Great Britain, which owned the Suez Canal, to control the trade of Europe and India, and depreciate the German plan to create a Berlin-Istanbul-Baghdad railway.

Консервативное прочтение австрийской идентичности в сочинениях Фридриха фон Генца и Адама Мюллера фон Ниттердорфа (1816-1832 гг.)

The article deals with the issue of Austrian identity emergence and transformation in conservative intellectual discourse of 1816-1832, concentrating on the legacy of Friedrich von Gentz and Adam Muller von Nitterdorf. The author analyzed ideas presented in works by Friedrich von Gentz, e.g. Manifestos of Emperor Francis I he edited; his speculations on the political systems of Austria, Germany and Europe; his essays published in Osterreichischer Beobachter [Austrian Observer]. The author also analyzed works by Adam Muller von Nitterdorf, including his political essays, panegyric pamphlets addressed to Emperor Francis I and the didactic essay on school education based on dynastic patriotism. The correspondence of the two public figures was also studied. The research methodology is based on the history of concepts that deals with the emergence and evolution of a certain concept in its historical and political contexts. Besides, the author employed the terms and concepts “historical memory”, “historical discourse” and “identity”. The conservative political thought of the Austrian Empire was the main context for speculations on the Austrian identity and also referred to criticism against the French Revolution of the 18th century and to the revisiting of the Napoleonic Wars in the Vormarz period (1815-1848). The author came to the following conclusions. Both intellectuals had a similar approach towards the role of the monarch and loyalty towards him as a core self-identification element for the Austrian Empire's multiethnic population - a “family of peoples”, according to Gentz. This image was broadcast via periodicals monopolized by the officials after the Karlsbad decrees. The “organic constitution” concept played a vital role. According to both intellectuals, Francis I was also a formal symbol of Austrian leadership in German lands. At the same time, Gentz and Muller had a different understanding of an “Austrian”. Muller referred to universalist patterns from previous periods with his speculations on an “Austrian” as a sum of all communities living within the empire. On the contrary, Gentz referred to an “Austrian“ as a subject of the empire with German as a native language and belonging to German culture. Such contradictions were significant in distorting the identity policy of the Metternich government. At the same time, both intellectuals agreed that reinforcing this identity is possible only with the active support of the authorities. For the rest of the society it was to be implemented via school education. The Catholic church was also to play an important role in implementing the policy, with the Josephinism and neo-Josephinism approaches of active inclusion of the clergy into leading the public opinion in a required discourse. After the two intellectuals and the emperor passed away, the conservative doctrine failed to preserve its leadership in the Empire.

Dead Men Telling Tales: Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir Industry, 1808–1914 by Matilda Greig (review)

Dead Men Telling Tales: Napoleonic War Veterans and the Military Memoir Industry, 1808–1914 by Matilda Greig (review)

Все дороги ведут в Саламанку: испанский город в восприятии британских военных в 1808–1812 гг.

Introduction. The conflict in the Iberian Peninsula of 1808-1814, which was a part of the Napoleonic Wars, contributed to the intensification of cross-cultural contacts between British combatants and the civilian population of Spain. Salamanca became one of the places for such interaction between the soldiers of the Wellington army and the Spaniards. The focus of the article is the reconstruction of the image of Salamanca and its inhabitants in the texts of the British participants in the hostilities on the Iberian Peninsula in 1808–1812. Materials and Methods. The study is based on the analysis of letters, diaries and memoirs of British combatants using the imagological method, which makes it possible to refer to the features of the functioning and interpretation of British ideas about Spain, Salamanca, and the inhabitants of the Iberian Peninsula. Analysis. As a result of the study, it was possible to establish that sources of personal origin created by the British soldiers testify to the coexistence of several images of Salamanca. Firstly, we can stress the romanticized image of the university city that became the scene of the action of the novel Gil Blas. The notion of Salamanca as the city of Gil Blas is a persistent cliche found in the texts of British officers. Secondly, in British narratives about Salamanca attention is often focused on the positive qualities of the townspeople who are friendly towards the British and grateful soldiers of the Wellington army for liberating the city from the French. Results. Based on the study we can conclude that several British images of Spain in general and Salamanca in particular function. These images are situational and directly depend on the nature of the relationship established between the British and local residents as well as the behavior of the French army in the occupied territory.

The forming of the customs policy of Russia in the first half of the 19th century

The article is devoted to the study of the influence of customs policy on the economic development of Russia in the first half of the 19th century. If we do not take into account the demands of the coalition allies, then this policy was mainly determined by the struggle of two forces with opposing economic interests. One of the forces was “agrarians”, landowners-nobles, interested in free trade, that is, in the free export of agricultural products and the duty-free receipt of manufactured goods from industrial countries. Another force, whose role is still downplayed by historians, was the absolutist state, personified by the monarch and the central bureaucracy. The state was interested in maintaining military and financial power, and in economic independence. This implied an industry that had to be protected from foreign competition by high customs duties. The interests of these forces were reflected in the ideological confrontation. On the one hand, the ideas of Adam Smith’s “political economy” proclaiming freedom of trade were popular among the nobility. On the other hand, the bureaucracy used in its practice the ideas of traditional mercantilism. After the end of the Napoleonic wars, duties were significantly reduced (tariff of 1819), but the relative freedom of trade led to the massive ruin of Russian manufactories. As a result, the tariff of 1822 marked a decisive turn towards mercantilist politics. Although Treasury Secretary Kankrin was lip service to protectionism, he retained the most important mercantilist ban on metal imports by sea. In the absence of competition, the Ural industrialists were not interested in introducing new technology, and the industrial revolution passed by the Russian metallurgy. Thus, while the thoughtless transition to free trade in 1819 caused the ruin of a large part of the manufactures, the mercantelist policy carried to the extreme caused technical stagnation in the most important branches of the economy. This predetermined the further economic lag in the process of “great divergence”.

Female Counter-Curation: A Case Study of Polish Napoleonic War Reenactment

Abstract Historical reenactment has developed from a niche phenomenon to a global one over the past couple of decades. As a popular pastime it sparks enthusiasm and curiosity for past lifeworlds among the reenactors themselves as well as among the audiences. With its focus on restaging battles and combat, the reenactment environment is a predominantly male one. This article examines female practices of reenactment in a Polish reenactment group. It aims to not only add to the existing body of literature on female reenactors, but to further pinpoint the extent to which the concept of curation helps expand and deepen the understanding of reenactment practices both in general and with regard to female participation. The focus is on female-to-male cross-dressing, interpreted as an ambiguous practice which allows for both the deconstruction of normative gender performances and their stabilization.

“A Natural Anomaly”: Democracy, Equality and Citizenship in Nineteenth-century British Travelogues about America

Many British travelers who visited America in the first half of the nineteenth century did so in order to see first-hand the democratic system and, depending on their own political views, warn their British readers against its dangers or present the U.S. as a model to imitate. My paper focuses on British travelogues written between the end of the Napoleonic wars (1815) and the American Civil War (1861), exploring how their authors conceived the American system and how they wanted to portray it to their compatriots. While progressive writers such as Harriet Martineau and Frances Wright believed that the young republic could, at most, be faulted on not being democratic and egalitarian enough, Tories such as Frances Trollope, Basil Hall and Charles Augustus Murray believed that the American model was harmful. The word “citizens” was used by them as a term of abuse, to signify people characterized by materialism and bad manners. They warned against equality, which they thought would result in leveling down, the tyranny of the majority and universal suffrage. The American model of citizenship seemed menacing especially in the 1830s and 1840s, when British Conservatives felt that the order of the Empire was threatened by the Radicals and the Chartist movement.

SWEDISH NEUTRALITY POLICY IN THE XXI CENTURY

The article examines the neutrality policy of Sweden in the 21st century. The Kingdom of Sweden is one of the few countries on the international scene in the 21st century that implements its foreign policy through a policy of neutrality. It should be noted that Sweden has not directly participated in any military conflicts since the Napoleonic Wars. Also, the article analyzes Sweden's response to modern security challenges in the world and examines the transformation of the country's defense system between the end of the Cold War and the present day. It was established that the traditional policy of neutrality in the light of modern security problems has become ineffective, which forced the country to review its own security structure, as well as to deepen foreign policy relations with its partners, in particular in the field of security and defense. It is worth noting that the country maintained strong ties with NATO, but despite close cooperation, Sweden was a non-aligned state. However, the difficult situation on the international arena, namely the Russian armed invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, forced some countries, primarily Sweden and Finland, to review their security policy and join the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance.

Production, dissemination and uses of surgical data during the Napoleonic Wars: knowledge constructions based on cases and series in a war-related context

Au cours des guerres napoléoniennes, un grand nombre de soldats blessés ont été pris en charge par les services de santé des armées et évacués à travers l’Europe. Cet article examine la production, la transmission et les usages des données chirurgicales produites dans ce contexte, prêtant attention aux « technologies de papier » en usage et questionnant la place des données chiffrées. Ces données ont avant tout une fonction militaire de suivi des forces disponibles et sont par ailleurs fréquemment incomplètes et hétérogènes suivant leurs conditions de production. Leur rôle dans la constitution du savoir médical des chirurgiens paraît dès lors marginal et complexe. Cette ambiguïté du rapport aux données chiffrées permet de nuancer les réflexions sur la militarisation de la médecine et la médicalisation de la guerre.

Defining a Hellene. Legal constructs and sectarian realities in the Greek War of Independence

Abstract The Greek War of Independence (1821–1829) is a fascinating mélange of the old and new of traditional identities and modern concepts. Perhaps nothing exemplifies this better than questions of identity, ethnicity, and nationality as they played out and developed over the nine years of the conflict. This article examines two trajectories on the question of identity and nationality that seamlessly coexisted not only during the Greek War of Independence but also for much of the early history of the Modern Greek State. The first looks at popular understandings of identity and the second the legal constructs that tried to define a national identity and nationality in terms of law that would be compatible with developments elsewhere in Europe. This article explores these questions on the ground but also in terms of legal constructs and their evolution from the period just before the eruption of the revolt to the establishment of the Greek state arguing that these efforts and apparent contradictions can be seen as taking part in a wider European debate on nationality and identity following the experience of the Napoleonic Wars and at the same time continuing long-held identities in the Ottoman state.