Kabienttskriege: A Year in Review

The author as a member of the Volunteers of Edinburgh

Dear Readers,

It has been a long year (and decade), and I wanted to leave 2019 with a few thoughts. The blog covered some new territory in 2019, beginning the year in January with a post on an American soldier in Prussia, and a Prussian soldier in America. My lecture at the Seven Years War Association Convention was recorded in to a podcast in April, and in June, in one of my favorite posts this year, we explored some surviving gaiter cloth in the British National Archives.

This summer, I traveled to Europe in order to research for my dissertation, and I found time to visit some museums as well. That made for a number of posts, regarding  holdings at the Austrian Military History Museum, Burg Forchtenstein, and the art of Hyacinth de La Pegna. We were honored to have guest authors such as Ben Olex and James Taub, who reviewed books and began work on a series on the French Army.

In the summer, I made an impassioned plea for the relevance of the military history of Frederick the Great and George Washington, and followed it in August with two of our most popular posts from this year, covering facial hair in Kabinettskriege-era armies, and the service of black soldiers.

In the fall, Kabinettskriege reported on a newly acquired uniform book at the Society of the Cincinnati, reviewed HBO's Catherine the Great, and discussed the politics of reenacting the European Seven Years War in North America.

A Saxon artillery piece, drawn just after the Seven Years War (find more here)

The autumn also saw the launch of Patreon-only content, check it out and give us your support!

In the tail of the year, I wrote a piece on the sexuality of Friedrich Wilhelm, Freiherr de Steuben, and evaluated art from two modern artists, with pointers on judging art from a historical perspective. These two posts were by far the most controversial of the year, leading to a number of personal insults, which I bore with the measured patience of an evil liberal academic elite. All in all, a successful year.

Where should we go in 2020? What about this era interests you? Let us know in the comments below!

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Thanks for Reading, 

Alex Burns