Mission Statement:
To provide the interested public with free access to the primary sources, material culture, and historiography of the Kabinettskriege era in an engaging and concise manner.
Primary Author/Manager: Dr. Alexander S. Burns
Alexander S. Burns is an Assistant Professor of History at Franciscan University of Steubenville. His research focuses on the Atlantic World, the American Continental Army, and Military Europe. Alex's fascination with the Seven Years' War dates from his elementary school days, and that initial interest sparked a lifelong study of this pivotal conflict. Growing up in Indiana, he received his Masters of Arts in History from Ball State University. His dissertation, directed by Katherine B. Aaslestad of West Virginia University, focused on letter writing among common soldiers in the eighteenth-century British and Prussian armies. Alex's first major publication, The Changing Face of Old Regime Warfare (2022) was an edited festschrift for his mentor Christopher Duffy. His first sole-authored book, Infantry in Battle, 1733-1783, shows how eighteenth-century common soldiers fought in surprisingly flexible ways. His next book project, Firm Battalions and American Fire: The Continental Army and Military Europe, explores European influence on the tactical practices of George Washington's Continental Army.
If you want to get a hold of Alex for any reason, leave a comment on the blog, or email him at kabinettskriege@gmail.com.
Alex
ReplyDeleteHad I knew you were going to Leeds I would have asked you to get some snaps of Ferguson's personal rifle from famous test before George III.
Dave Dalrymple
Alex,
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your articles. Due to weapons being essentially the same during the Napoleonic Wars, do you feel that your research on the private soldier, their firings and melees and such carry on into that period? Just curious.
Hi Ed,
DeleteThanks for the question! I do think that some similarities exist, but I tend to view the Napoleonic era as being somewhat different, as a result of demographic changes among soldiers. For example, the average soldier in the Napoleonic Wars was a bit younger than the average soldier in the Old Regime. Tactics also change to some extent, but perhaps not as much as is sometimes claimed.
Hey Alex,
ReplyDeleteWe're soldiers drunk or hung over during war? As armies often camped in sight of each other and fought a battle the next morning, this issue would really interest me.
How to sleep without drinking when you are in sight of the enemy and know that the chance of dying next day is high. I heard Friedrich the great gave his soldiers rations of schnaps before battle? I would not stand to fight as a soldier in a 18th century battle unless drunk I guess ... where there other techniques to make the night before battle bearable?
As a result of that. How often did soldiers fight hung over and how bad was that? Discipline accounted for a lot on 18th century battlefield. I can't imagine being hung over or even drunk still with all the screams, explosions, blood and so on ...
... maybe material for a future blog post, or could you point me to material on the subject?
Thanks alot for your input and your awesome blog!
Bernhard
Hi Bernhard,
DeleteI would say that alcohol played a role in these battles, and some historians such as Ilya Berkovich have examined this, but many soldiers turned to other factors, such as religion, in addition to drink. A few sources talked about alcohol use in combat, particularly Ulrich Braeker at the Battle of Lobositz in 1756.
EXCELLENT WORK, young man....
ReplyDeleteI Can't find much info on Indians during the AWI as far as numbers go.
How many lived east of the Mississippi during the period?
How many fought for the Americans? The British?
What numbers fought in battles? It appears that 300to 400 at any one place at any one time would have been a lot.
What sort of casualties did they suffer?
Gotta be some sources/estimates out there somewhere....
"The American Revolution in Indian Country: Crisis and Diversity in Native American Communities " by Colin Calloway is an excellent overview of Native People in the period of the American Revolution.
DeleteThanks very much for all your work on this blog. Do you have any information on the number of men in a battalion in battle who either left the ranks during the battle or became otherwise ineffective? Not killed or wounded just useless.
ReplyDeleteWhen was the photo for this article taken - looks like Regt von Bose at Guilkford Courthouse - but what year?
ReplyDeleteHi, your blog is grand, and helped me to desire to learn more about the era before the modern. My question however is not so much historical as practical. I study history myself and was wondering, what do you do for work, and what do you see fellow historians doing to live in our day to day lives? While there is certainly archival work and teaching, these positions tend to be rather limited in availability in my experience.
ReplyDeleteAlex
ReplyDeleteI would like to contact you but not via open blog; I attempted to use your email but message was deliverable.
Please advise
Paul Goodman
I've emailed you, please let me know if you are unable to get ahold of me.
DeleteBest,
Alex
Is there any evidence that Prussian officers were more draconian and/or "ill-tempered" than officers in other countries?
ReplyDeleteIf I can be of assistance I am interested. My major fields concern the Habsburgs, worked under G. Rothenberg.
ReplyDeleteLee Eysturlid