The course will deal with cultural aspects of war between 1618 and 1815 like the beliefs and emotions of soldiers (did you know that the most tough soldiers of the eighteenth century were absolutely reluctant to actually kill enemy soldiers?), the role of music on the battlefield (it was actually very difficult to hear it at all...) to cultural images of war (did you know that one of our most popular Christmas Carols originally celebrated a genocidal English Campaign in the Scottish Highlands?). We will also deal with teh cultures of the different armies (very different indeed) and also notions of honor, generosity and mercy (yes, these existed!). We will listen to lectures, and work through core sources of the different aspects ranging from rare soldiers' letters to well known pieces of artwork. We will also challenge well-entrenched stereotypes like the "democratization" of warfare by the French Revolution and Napoleon or the humane character of the Enlightenment.
Dr. Sascha Rolf Möbius is a military historian specializing in cultural aspects of early modern warfare. His book, written together with his wife Katrin, "Prussian Army Soldiers and the Seven Years War. The Psychology of Honour" has earned highest praise in all relevant review journals and he is editor of Vol 4 (Age of Enlightenment) of Bloomsbury's "Cultural History of War". He looks back to twenty years of university teaching with excellent evaluations and two teaching awards.
