Soldiers' Lives Through History: The Nineteenth Century (review)

Recent military history tries to give a more complete picture of warfare by focusing on the social backgrounds of participants rather than on the history of great battles and commanders. The Soldier's Lives Through History series appears intended to support this movement by providing an introductory-level examination of the "soldier's identity and the soldier's place in Western civilization" (p. viii). Michael Neiberg capably presents The Nineteenth Century portion of this series and, while informational in its own right, when coupled with traditional studies of warfare during the period, will provide an excellent grounding for students of warfare during the era.

This work appears at first glance to be well suited for use as an undergraduate-level military history text book, but first impressions can be deceiving. Not only does this book provide a commendable overview of the less studied background of soldiers, but it also provides a framework for future study for all levels of historians. The notes, bibliography, and introductory discussion of available sources are particularly valuable guides to a reliable selection of mostly secondary works that point out excellent paths for further study.

While this work is possibly best suited for use as a textbook, the choice of binding is perhaps unfortunate. Coupled with the rather high price, the school-book-style binding might prove to be less than enticing to the more casual reader. This is unfortunate as Neiberg manages to present a serious work that reads at times more like a popular history. His relaxed style and use of references such as the television series Blackadder to illuminate his points makes for easy reading and might well be attractive to a wider audience.

Neiberg stretches the nineteenth century to include World War I. This construct allows him to more successfully trace how advances in technology during the latter nineteenth century shaped the experience of the individual soldiers than would have been the case if he had ended his survey earlier. The work is divided into two periods: the first ending with German Unification, "The Age of Men," and the second with the First World War, "The Age of Machines." In each period, Neiberg ably examines what brought soldiers to the army, why they fought, how they were trained and educated, how they were cared for, how they fought, and how they experienced battle.

The ways in which society shaped the evolution of the military are carefully presented, with particularly strong discussions of nationalism and its impact on recruitment, the evolution of the role of conscription, and the effects of technology on the training and professionalism of the soldiers. One of the strongest sections of the book is a detailed discussion of possibly the most important daily concern in the life of a soldier: food (pp. 57–64). Neiberg uses sources from both sides of the Atlantic to evaluate the methods used by countries to feed their armies and how this affected individual soldiers and the conduct of war and to trace similarities across "western civilization." Other particularly strong sections deal with medical care for the wounded, and the importance of nationalism, religion, and other motivations for fighting.

One shortcoming of this volume is that there seems to be a lost opportunity to add comparative studies that would place military developments in context by examining parallel developments in civilian communities. The nineteenth century saw significant societal changes and often upheavals in politics, education, social consciousness, technology, economics, and the concept of national identity. In particular, discussions of changes in medical care, education, and other areas in the lives of civilian workers might serve to add perspective. For example, placing the Cardwellian reforms of the British Army within the context of the rise of liberalism under Gladstone might well illustrate the movement to reform the army as a reflection of greater societal changes and also provide a standard against which one could...