Motivation in War - The Experience of Common Soldiers in Old-Regime Europe

Explains the motivation of ordinary soldiers to enlist, serve and fight in the armies of eighteenth-century Europe.

List of contents

Introduction; 1. Motivation: new research and contemporary sources; 2. Reconsidering desertion in old-regime Europe; 3. Discipline and defiance: a reciprocal model; 4. Why they enlisted?; 5. A counterculture of honour; 6. Networks of loyalty and acceptance; Concluding remarks; Bibliography.

About the author

Ilya Berkovich completed his PhD thesis at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and has since published items on crusader and eighteenth-century history. He has won the Polonsky Prize for Creativity and Originality in the Humanistic Disciplines from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Moncado Prize for an Outstanding Article from the Society for Military History. Berkovich is currently an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. Before starting his studies, he served three years as a conscript in the Israel Defence Forces.

Summary

This book fundamentally revises our understanding of why soldiers of the eighteenth century served and fought. It reveals how these men embraced a unique corporate identity based on military professionalism, masculinity and hostility toward civilians, fostering notions of individual and collective soldierly honour and contributing to greater combat cohesion.

Product details

• Authors: Ilya Berkovich, Ilya (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Mu Berkovich, Ilya (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitat Munchen) Berkovich, Berkovich Ilya
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 02.02.2017
• EAN: 9781107167735
• ISBN: 978-1-107-16773-5
• No. of pages: 292
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > History > Modern era up to 1918; Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900, Europe, European History, HISTORY / Military / General, HISTORY / Europe / General, military history, 19th century, c 1800 to c 1899, 18th century, c 1700 to c 1799, Military life & institutions, Military institutions