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This book offers the first English-language translation of the finest soldier's memoir to emerge from the Franco-Prussian War, titled With my Rucksack: The Unvarnished Campaign Memoirs of an Infantryman from the Year 1870 by Carl Rückert. Lasting from 1870-1871, this was the war that made the modern German nation and set Europe on the path to World War I, and Carl Rückert offers an unrivalled worm's eye view of the experiences of common soldiers who fought in it. A Hessian lance corporal in the German army, he was a close observer of daily hardships, class tensions, the influence of nationalism, and the terrors of combat. He was gravely wounded in the war's decisive battle at Gravelotte, where he was among the first Europeans to face the horrors of breech-loading rifles, machine guns, and accurate artillery. Accompanied by an insightful translator's introduction and a wealth of footnotes, this book is an invaluable link to the everyday realities of the Franco-Prussian War.
List of contents
1. Preface.- 2. Introduction.- 3. Part I: From the Homeland to the Frontier: From the Rhine to the Saar.- 4. Part II: From the Saar to the Moselle: From Spicheren to Mars-la-Tour.- 5. Part III: Battlefields and Battle: Vionville-Gravelotte.- 6. Part IV: The Field Hospitals and the Journey Home.- 7. Afterword.
About the author
Alfred Kelly is the Edgar B. Graves Professor Emeritus of History at Hamilton College, USA, and the author of The German Worker: Working-Class Autobiographies from the Age of Industrialization.
Summary
This book offers the first English-language translation of the finest soldier’s memoir to emerge from the Franco-Prussian War, titled With my Rucksack: The Unvarnished Campaign Memoirs of an Infantryman from the Year 1870 by Carl Rückert. Lasting from 1870–1871, this was the war that made the modern German nation and set Europe on the path to World War I, and Carl Rückert offers an unrivalled worm’s eye view of the experiences of common soldiers who fought in it. A Hessian lance corporal in the German army, he was a close observer of daily hardships, class tensions, the influence of nationalism, and the terrors of combat. He was gravely wounded in the war’s decisive battle at Gravelotte, where he was among the first Europeans to face the horrors of breech-loading rifles, machine guns, and accurate artillery. Accompanied by an insightful translator’s introduction and a wealth of footnotes, this book is an invaluable link to the everyday realities of the Franco-Prussian War.
Additional text
“Alfred Kelly’s translation of Carl Rückert’s war memoirs offers an Anglophone readership a remarkable new perspective on the experiences of German soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War. … it gives the reader an extraordinary sense of living alongside Rückert in his long march to the battlefields of Gravelotte … .” (Karine Varley, European History Quarterly, Vol. 51 (1), 2021)
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"Alfred Kelly's translation of Carl Rückert's war memoirs offers an Anglophone readership a remarkable new perspective on the experiences of German soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War. ... it gives the reader an extraordinary sense of living alongside Rückert in his long march to the battlefields of Gravelotte ... ." (Karine Varley, European History Quarterly, Vol. 51 (1), 2021)
