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Welcome to the Age of Napoleon.

Episode 6, The King's Army.

Thanks for joining me. Our subject today is warfare and military life in 18th century Europe.

The French Revolution would transform the art of war and the relationship between nations and their soldiers forever.

But it was in these armies before that transformation that Napoleon and all the other great commanders

of this era learned their trade. I know there's some listener interest in the

average person's experience of this era, particularly in the lives of common

soldiers. As luck would have it, there's an excellent memoir of this period written by a reasonably average guy that includes a lot of great information about military life.

His name was Ulrich Breaker. He was Swiss, but served in the Prussian army

during the seven years war.

His memoir is called The Life Story and Real Adventures

of the Poor Man of Togenburg. Breaker came from humble origins and had little formal education,

but he was a talented funny writer with a fantastic eye for detail.

I'll be using him as an example as we go along weaving in some of his observations and experiences to illustrate some of the general concepts we'll be talking about.

The 18th century was a transitional period in the history of warfare.

In earlier eras, the battlefield was ruled by elite heavily armored units who fought up close hand to hand.

Technological and production improvements in the who fought up close hand to hand.

Technological and production improvements in the 17th century made firearms and artillery

more accurate, more reliable, lighter, and cheaper.

This ushered in a new era in the history of warfare, an era dominated by the firepower of

masked formations of infantry armed with muskets.

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