The lecture explores what the new form of warfare with mass armies that were mobilized by a national propaganda and needed the support of the civilian population meant for ordinary citizens. Because of its extraordinary significance, the Battle of Leipzig provides an excellent example for such a study. To understand the extend of the civilian war experiences and the different factors that formed it, the lecture will start in spring 1812, when the war started for the people in Saxony, after four relatively peaceful years, and will end in the summer of 1814, when the wars against Napoleon officially had come to an end, but the population still was confronted with the aftermath of the war. To remember the victims of these wars on the occasion of their 200th anniversary instead of celebrating the glorious military leaders seems to be appropriate for today.
