Book: The First Total War by David A. Bell
It’s been a while since I’ve read a thesis book. I’ve read fiction and informational nonfiction, but this is a book that puts forth an argument and tries to prove it.
I’ve kind of forgotten how fun it is to read books like that—especially if the writer is a readable writer. They engage your critical mind in a much more obvious way. I’m asked to question and evaluate the author’s points on every page.
Fun!
It has long been accepted (although still argued) that Napoleon’s wars signaled the beginning of modern warfare in a modern society. Modern, in a historical sense, is often used to describe the era of the “nation state,” which is one country made up of one people.
During Napoleon’s France, the French people started to identify as ethnically French. This may feel like a strange thing to us today, but that’s because we are still not out of the Modern Age just quite yet.
David A. Bell argues that the world that allowed for the rise of a Napoleon fundamentally changed the nature of warfare in terms of goals, psychology, and scope. Specifically, “total war” is one that involves the entire society, not just the military and the government.
It is a very interesting idea, but after reading The First Total War: Napoleon’s Europe and the Birth of Warfare as We Know It