Rachel Chrastil is Associate Professor of History at Xavier University.
A fascinating and important history. The dramatic narrative of the
siege, bombardment, and the ultimate capitulation of Strasbourg to
its enemies makes for gripping reading. Chrastil’s story
illuminates the conflicting views about what is ‘legal’ in war,
what are the roles and rights of civilians in a conflict, and the
wisdom and consequences of international humanitarian intervention
into war zones.
*Margaret H. Darrow, author of French Women and the First World
War: War Stories of the Home Front*
Chrastil shows that the siege of Strasbourg, an almost forgotten
episode of the Franco–Prussian War, was in fact a highly
significant event in the history of modern warfare. Civilians,
including women and children, became targets and victims of war,
bombardment destroyed lives and urban infrastructure, and
humanitarian impulses moved outsiders to intervene on behalf of
those most grievously assailed by the instruments of war. The Siege
of Strasbourg thus reveals that many of the characteristics of
‘total war,’ usually identified as a phenomenon of the 20th
century, were evident in Strasbourg in 1870.
*Martha Hanna, author of Your Death Would Be Mine: Paul and
Marie Pireaud in the Great War*
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