Iron and Blood: A Military History of the German-Speaking Peoples since 1500

981 Pages·2023·16.316 MB·English

by  Peter H. Wilson

Iron and Blood

Iron and Blood
A Military History of the
German-Speaking Peoples
since 1500
Peter H. Wilson
The Belknap Press of
Harvard University Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
2023
Copyright © Peter H. Wilson, 2022
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First published in the United Kingdom by Allen Lane, an imprint of
Penguin Books, Penguin Random House, 2022
Set in 10.2/13.87 pt Sabon LT Std
Typeset by Jouve (UK), Milton Keynes
First Harvard University Press edition, 2023
Cataloging-in-Publication data is available from the Library of Congress
ISBN 978-0-674-98762-3
For Rosie

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
List of Maps xiii
Note on Form xxxv
Acknowledgements xxxvii
List of Abbreviations xxxix
Introduction xli
PART 1
Balancing War and Peace
1 Warlords 3
2 Forming Armies 39
3 Going for a Soldier 82
PART II
Accepting War as Permanent
4 Restraining the War Monster 117
5 Permanent Armies 158
6 From Extraordinary to Ordinary Burden 209
PART III
Professionalizing War
7 Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns 243
8 Professionalizing War 279
9 Socialization of the Military 320
vii
contents
PART IV
Nationalizing War
10 War and Nation- Building 363
11 Nations in Arms 412
12 Serving the Nation 472
PART V
Democratizing War
13 Demagogues and Democrats 527
14 From Total War to the End of War? 609
15 Citizens in Uniform 683
Notes 755
Index 831
viii
List of Illustrations
1. Swiss retreat from Marignano, 1515. Fresco by Ferdinand Hodler,
1900. Museum of Art and History, Genève. (Photo: Album/Alamy)
2. The Siege and Battle of Pavia, 1525. Painting by unknown artist,
1525–8. Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology, Oxford.
(Photo: Heritage Image Partnership/Alamy)
3. Entrance and courtyard of Maximilian I’s new arsenal at Innsbruck.
Watercolour by Jörg Kölderer from Maximiliani König Zeughauss,
1504–8. Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection.
4. Landsknechts chasing the Venetian lion back across its lagoon,
1510. Detail from The Triumphal Procession of Emperor Max-
imilian I: The Venetian War. Painting by Albrecht Altdorfer and
workshop, c. 1512–15. The Albertina Museum, Vienna, Inv. 25224.
(Photo: copyright © The Albertina Museum, Vienna)
5. The Battle of White Mountain near Prague, 1620. Painting by Pie-
ter Snayers. Santa Maria della Vittoria, Rome. (Photo: copyright ©
NPL – DeA Picture Library / G. Nimatallah / Bridgeman Images)
6. An illustration of the ruthless, loathsome, cruel and abominable
beast, which in a few years wretchedly and miserably devastated
and devastated most of Germany. Broadsheet by an unknown art-
ist, 1635. (Photo: Kulturstiftung Sachsen-Anhalt / Moritzburg Art
Museum, Halle (MOIIF00172))
7. Saxon infantry at the siege of Modone, 1686. Drawing by Ignazio
Fabroni from Album di ricordi di viaggi e di navigazioni sopra
galere toscane dall’anno 1664 all’ anno 1687, c. 1686–7. Biblioteca
Nazionale Centrale, Florence (Rossi Cassigoli 199, c.239r). (Photo:
by courtesy of the Ministero della Cultura/Biblioteca Nazionale
Centrale di Firenze. Further reproduction prohibited)
8. The attack on the Prussian camp near Hochkirch on 14 October
1758. Detail from a painting by Hyacinth de la Pegna, c. 1759–60.
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum / Militärhistorisches Institut, Vienna
ix