In the 18th Century, the concept of war was understood as simply monarchical games, in which the people had no say. The French Revolution distorted this concept of war by involving the everyday citizen. Conventional limited warfare changed into total warfare, where the whole nation was geared toward the war effort. Dying for your country became an honour, whereas previously, soldiers were often seen as the scum of the earth. As war became related to a fight for rights and liberty, it became irreversibly linked to the people and used as an anchor around which nationalism formed. As Helmut von Moltke comments in 1880, war was no longer “the weakening of the enemy’s military power” but instead an attack on “all the sources of support for the hostile government … its finances, railroads, foodstuffs, even its prestige.”
The 1800's saw the concept of war transfer for traditional notions of civilised, noble, detached warfare to the notion of total war, which appeared in the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792. This emerging idea called for a complete social, economic and political dedication by a national population to the cause of war. Additionally, with European nations now competing over colonial power in other continents, thinking about war changed from being about conquest and expansion of one's border on a direct level continental, to conquest and subjugation of the new world.
Over time the way in which wars have been fought has changed drastically. However this advancement and change in war is due to the ways in which people of growing nations have changed their thinking about war. By the 19th century the idea of war had become one deeply rooted in the idea of a nation and was closely linked with the process of nationalism. In America the civil war saw two conflicting thoughts about war, one of bringing a nation together and another of splitting it apart. Europe’s involvement in wars saw them fight key battle for territory in Africa and even saw England fight a war in India to try and keep a hold there. Many of these wars were born out of a great scramble by European powers in the act of colonialism. Especially the English empire of the time was reaching out as far as it could to try and grab as many colonies and bits of land all across the globe. For Britain war was a necessary occurrence to try and bring under control as many foreign peoples as it could into the British Empire. War was no longer just a defence of the British Isle but it was a defence of all colonies as well as a means of gaining as many trade opportunities and lands in everywhere from China to Africa.
Erin Brodie
ReplyDeleteIn the 18th Century, the concept of war was understood as simply monarchical games, in which the people had no say. The French Revolution distorted this concept of war by involving the everyday citizen. Conventional limited warfare changed into total warfare, where the whole nation was geared toward the war effort. Dying for your country became an honour, whereas previously, soldiers were often seen as the scum of the earth. As war became related to a fight for rights and liberty, it became irreversibly linked to the people and used as an anchor around which nationalism formed. As Helmut von Moltke comments in 1880, war was no longer “the weakening of the enemy’s military power” but instead an attack on “all the sources of support for the hostile government … its finances, railroads, foodstuffs, even its prestige.”
The 1800's saw the concept of war transfer for traditional notions of civilised, noble, detached warfare to the notion of total war, which appeared in the French Revolutionary Wars from 1792. This emerging idea called for a complete social, economic and political dedication by a national population to the cause of war.
ReplyDeleteAdditionally, with European nations now competing over colonial power in other continents, thinking about war changed from being about conquest and expansion of one's border on a direct level continental, to conquest and subjugation of the new world.
Over time the way in which wars have been fought has changed drastically. However this advancement and change in war is due to the ways in which people of growing nations have changed their thinking about war. By the 19th century the idea of war had become one deeply rooted in the idea of a nation and was closely linked with the process of nationalism. In America the civil war saw two conflicting thoughts about war, one of bringing a nation together and another of splitting it apart. Europe’s involvement in wars saw them fight key battle for territory in Africa and even saw England fight a war in India to try and keep a hold there. Many of these wars were born out of a great scramble by European powers in the act of colonialism. Especially the English empire of the time was reaching out as far as it could to try and grab as many colonies and bits of land all across the globe. For Britain war was a necessary occurrence to try and bring under control as many foreign peoples as it could into the British Empire. War was no longer just a defence of the British Isle but it was a defence of all colonies as well as a means of gaining as many trade opportunities and lands in everywhere from China to Africa.
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