Revisiting Prussia's Wars against Napoleon

Karen Hagemann is the James G. Kenan Distinguished Professor of History at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She has published widely in Modern German and European history, gender history and the history of military and war (19th-20th centuries) combining approaches from social, political and cultural history. Her books include: Frauenalltag und Männerpolitik. Alltagsleben und gesellschaftliches Handeln von Arbeiterfrauen in der Weimarer Republik (1990); 'Mannlicher Mut und Teutsche Ehre'. Nation, Militär und Geschlecht zur Zeit der Antinapoleonischen Kriege Preußens (2002); Home/Front: The Military, War and Gender in Twentieth-Century Germany (edited with S. Schüler-Springorum, 2002); Masculinities in Politics and War: Gendering Modern History (edited with S. Dudink and J. Tosh, 2004); Gendering Modern German History: Rewriting Historiography (edited with J. Quataert, 2007); Representing Masculinity: Male Citizenship in Modern Western Culture (edited with S. Dudink and A. Clark, 2007); Gender, War, and Politics: Transatlantic Perspectives, 1775–1830 (edited with G. Mettele and J. Rendall, 2010); and War Memories: The Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars in Modern European Culture (edited with A. Forrest and E. François, 2012).

'As one of the leading historians of gender and war, Karen Hagemann writes a masterful account of the Germanic wars against Napoleon in the era 1806–1815 and their place in subsequent collective memories. Weaving archival evidence on daily life experiences with interpretive sophistication of cultural artifacts, she assesses the place of the Napoleonic wars in the construction of Prussian-German nationalism and gendered citizenship. [This book] … will enthrall all readers interested in the play of history and memory in one of Europe's most consequential nation-states.' Jean H. Quataert, Binghamton University

• Prelude: war, culture and memory; Introduction: revisiting the wars against Napoleon; Part I. A History of Defeat, Crisis and Victory: 1. The defeat of 1806 and its aftermath; 2. Reform and revenge: political responses; 3. Liberation and restoration: the wars of 1813–15 and their legacy; Conclusion; Part II. Discourses on the Nation, War and Gender: 4. Mobilizing public opinion: propaganda, media and war; 5. Defining the nation: belonging and exclusion; 6. Debating war: the military, warfare and masculinity; 7. Regulating participation: patriotism, citizenship and gender; Conclusion; Part III. Collective Practices of De/mobilization and Commemoration: 8. Military service: mobilizing militiamen and volunteers; 9. War charity: patriotic women's associations; 10. De/mobilizing society: patriotic-national celebrations and rituals; 11. Honoring and commemorating war heroes: the cult of death for the fatherland; Conclusion; Part IV. Literary Market, History and War Memories: 12. Politics, market and media: the development of a culture-consuming national public; 13. Inventing history: nostalgia, historiography and memory; 14. Remembering the past: the Napoleonic wars in autobiographies and war memoirs; Conclusion; Part V. Novels, Memory and Politics: 15. Re-creating the past: the time of the anti-Napoleonic wars in novels; 16. Hopefulness and disappointment: novels of the Restoration era and the Vormärz; 17. Critique, desire and glory: novels of the Nachmärz and the German Empire; Conclusion; Epilogue: Historicizing war and memory, 2013–1813–1913.