Courage, Honour, and Phlegm: A Study of Eighteenth-Century Military Writers' Descriptions of Soldiers' Combat Emotions and Motivation

Abstract

This article will aim to cover military writers' comments upon the psychological, emotional, and motivational aspects of soldiers in the eighteenth century. In recent years, there has been a positive re-evaluation of the Ancien Régime soldier compared with that of the later citizen soldier of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. This article seeks to add to this re-appraisal by introducing a literature element to the discussion, highlighting and analysing the many passages writers wrote on these psychological topics, such as the fear of death in combat, the world of honour governing the soldier, and nationalistic differences in temperament.