From general Winter to the empires of tropical helmets: Warfare and Climate in the Long 19th Century
2022
Abstract
The chapter examines the impact of climate, weather and geography on the conduct of armed conflict in the long 19th century. It shows that climate was not a major determinant of military campaigns from Napoleon to the colonial wars in Africa, but was nevertheless their inescapable context.
The history of the 19th century is a history of overcoming climatic limits with the aid of tools acquired through the process of modernization, and this phenomenon did not avoid wars and warfare.