This was the first project in which I brought together social history, cultural history, and war. It began as an investigation into why Bavarian soldiers earned a reputation for atrocities in 1870–71. The need to explain both their good and their terrible relations with French civilians led me to consider factors such as social background, gender norms, nationalism, identity, morale, leadership, discipline, logistics, personal and tactical security, and normative images of war. There is still a lot to unpack in this emblematic and instructive moment in the modern history of war and society.
Thesis and Publications
- “Die deutschen Greueltaten im Krieg 1870/71 am Beispiel der Bayern,” in Kriegsgreuel: Die Entgrenzung der Gewalt in kriegerischen Konflikten vom Mittelalter bis ins 20. Jahrhundert, ed. Sönke Neitzel and Daniel Hohrath (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 2008), 223–39.
- “The Bavarian Army and French Civilians in the War of 1870–1871: A Cultural Interpretation,” War in History 8, no. 3 (2001): 271–93. Reprinted in Warfare in Europe 1825–1914, ed. Peter Wilson (Aldershot: Ashgate Publishing, 2006), 135–58.
- “The Bavarian Army and French Civilians in the War of 1870–71,” MA thesis, University of Augsburg, 1994.
Blog Posts
- “War, Gender, and Nation in 19th-Century Europe: A Preliminary Sketch,” June 23, 2017.
- “Historiographical Impasse,” November 9, 2015.
- “Why Atrocities?,” November 20, 2014.
- “Atrocities in the Franco-Prussian War, 1870–71,” December 22, 2008.
- “Paradoxes,” July 21, 2007.
Book Review
