Ruben Stewart
The notion that only uniformed soldiers are involved in war is a relatively modern and increasingly outmoded idea. In reality, civilians have long played crucial roles in conflict, whether by choice or coercion. Today’s concept of “total defence,” in which large portions of societies are mobilized to prepare for and respond to crises or conflict, has deep historical roots. Long before the 20th century’s industrialized “total wars” or today’s digital battlefields, civilians had an active role and were affected in widespread and unprecedented ways during the Napoleonic era.
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) represent one of the first large-scale conflicts in which the line between soldier and civilian, battlefield and home front, was redrawn at scale. As historian David A. Bell argues, the Napoleonic Wars marked the emergence of “the first total war” in the modern sense, with mass conscription, guerrilla resistance and the militarization of civilian infrastructure, information and economies. This period offers an early and important case study in how civilian harm can arise from “total war” and “total defence”.[1]
“Total war” signalled a profound shift from war as a contest between rulers and armies to war as a struggle between peoples, economies, and ideologies. Today’s “total defence” approach with its “whole of society” framing echoes many of these dynamics, and an examination of the Napoleonic Wars offers specific and pertinent lessons about what happens when civilians, civilian objects and civilian functions are mobilized and militarized.[2]
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