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Literary
June 2, 1832
The Liberator
Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts
What is this article about?
First-person narrative of the Seven Years' War's horrors between the Empire and Prussia over a barren Silesian province. The narrator leads a regiment, describing brutal battles at Prague and Kolin, with soldiers enduring famine, pestilence, and mutual slaughter, leaving thousands dead.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
WAR.
War broke out between the Empire and Prussia. The prize between the combatants was a paltry province, which the money wasted in the contest would have paved with ingots, and which seemed doomed to perpetual sterility. We contrived, however, to make it bear a crop of human skulls. As the holder of a fief of the empire, a regiment was offered to me, and, at the head of my cavaliers, I rushed into the war. Glorious invention for accumulating the miseries, exercising the follies, and displaying the blindness of man! Two hundred thousand of us were sent out to butcher each other. Imperialists and Prussians pounced on each other with the appetite of vultures, and having gorged ourselves with human blood, rested only until a fresh feast of blood was ready. Every horror that fiction ever raised, was transacted as the common every day business of life. To-day victors, to-morrow fugitives; wading through Austrian carcases at Prague; bathing in Prussian gore at Kollin; fighting through fire and water, through famine, nakedness, pestilence; we were still as ready as ever to tear each other into fragments, as if we were flinging away life for any one thing that ever made life desirable. Between the hospital and the field, the first campaign strewed the rocks and morasses of Silesia with a hundred thousand skeletons of what once were men and fools.
War broke out between the Empire and Prussia. The prize between the combatants was a paltry province, which the money wasted in the contest would have paved with ingots, and which seemed doomed to perpetual sterility. We contrived, however, to make it bear a crop of human skulls. As the holder of a fief of the empire, a regiment was offered to me, and, at the head of my cavaliers, I rushed into the war. Glorious invention for accumulating the miseries, exercising the follies, and displaying the blindness of man! Two hundred thousand of us were sent out to butcher each other. Imperialists and Prussians pounced on each other with the appetite of vultures, and having gorged ourselves with human blood, rested only until a fresh feast of blood was ready. Every horror that fiction ever raised, was transacted as the common every day business of life. To-day victors, to-morrow fugitives; wading through Austrian carcases at Prague; bathing in Prussian gore at Kollin; fighting through fire and water, through famine, nakedness, pestilence; we were still as ready as ever to tear each other into fragments, as if we were flinging away life for any one thing that ever made life desirable. Between the hospital and the field, the first campaign strewed the rocks and morasses of Silesia with a hundred thousand skeletons of what once were men and fools.
What sub-type of article is it?
Prose Fiction
Satire
What themes does it cover?
War Peace
Political
Death Mortality
What keywords are associated?
War Horrors
Silesia Campaign
Prague Battle
Kollin Battle
Imperialists Prussians
Soldier Narrative
Literary Details
Title
War.
Subject
War Between The Empire And Prussia
Form / Style
First Person Narrative Of War Experiences
Key Lines
Glorious Invention For Accumulating The Miseries, Exercising The Follies, And Displaying The Blindness Of Man!
Wading Through Austrian Carcases At Prague; Bathing In Prussian Gore At Kollin;
The First Campaign Strewed The Rocks And Morasses Of Silesia With A Hundred Thousand Skeletons Of What Once Were Men And Fools.