The Military Enlightenment

Reviews / Votes

Pichichero's fascinating book surveys efforts to create a more rational, humane system of military discipline, to articulate rules of war to protect wounded soldiers and noncombatants, and to regenerate French society through the promotion of the virtues of heroism and patriotism through all strata of society.

(Choice) Christy Pichichero's work significantly changes our understanding of the French Enlightenment's relationship with war.

(H-Soz-u-Kult redaktion) Pichichero traces the fervent debates in French society about how best to wage war during the eighteenth century. The Military Enlightenment is a tour de force and deserves a broad readership.

(H-War) Provide[s] fascinating new perspectives on the cultural history of war in the early modern period.

(The American Historical Review) Military historians will benefit from Pichichero's detailed and original analysis of the development of eighteenth-century military culture. Scholars of the Enlightenment will find here vital new perspective on the real-world impact of Enlightenment thought through the medium of the army.

(The Historian) The Military Enlightenment is a valuable addition to the historiography of the Enlightenment. Pichichero builds on previous works... that argue, similarly, for locating military theory and philosophy within the Enlightenment.... In casting such a wide net, Pichichero effectively proves her thesis, and her work is highly recommended.

(HISTORY: Reviews of New Books) Superbly researched, energetically argued, and extremely well written account.... One ends by admiring the quality and breadth of Pichichero's research, which has triumphantly placed the conduct of war squarely within the domain of the Enlightenment, and indeed turned 'military enlightenment' from an oxymoron into a truism.

(French Studies) The author invites a fine reflection on the search for humanism at war and on the excesses of military justifications based on supposed humanism in recent conflicts.

(French History) Pichichero is to be complimented for her industry and her subtle insightful analysis. She has produced a nuanced work of military, intellectual and cultural history.

(The English Historical Review) In a sweeping narrative, underpinned by broad and deep primary sources... Pichichero traces the fervent debates in French society about how best to wage war during the eighteenth century. She more than succeeds in her goal, illustrating in five well-structured chapters how important military thought was to the French Enlightenment writ large.

(The NYMAS Review)