Abstract
After Verdun fell to the Prussians in 1792, a group of women carried a basket of sugared almonds to the King of Prussia’s tent. Twelve of these ‘Virgins of Verdun’ would pay with their lives for this gesture during the Terror. This article attempts to explain the women’s actions in terms of the models of behaviour available to them, derived from an early modern ‘culture of war’ associated with sieges, as well as the new opportunities for women, created by the Revolution, to express their own political choices. It also attempts to unravel the motives of those who prosecuted the Virgins, and those who celebrated their ‘sacrifice’. Verdun was one of the first chapters in the modern cultural history of war, and so is a chance to explore changing ideas about the role of civilians in warfare, the autonomous personality of cities, and the public life of women.
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