An international workshop showcasingongoing and recently completed source-based studies on occupation during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. An important aim of the event is to bring together colleagues working on different subjects and learn from each other about different types of relevant archival materials. There will beplenty of time for informal discussion during breaks and evening programme.

Presentation

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, we are pleased to confirm that the second international archival workshop on Napoleonic history will take place on Monday 15 June 2026. Historians from Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Poland will present new source-based research on the topic of occupation in Napoleonic Europe. Subjects to be covered include : atrocities, counterinsurgency, billeting, looting, and cultural fraternisation with the enemy. Geographically, the papers cover Spain, Galicia, Lower Austria, Hungary, and the Duchy of Warsaw.

• The keynote lecture will be given by Professor Anne Rolland-Boulestreau (Catholic University of the West, Angers) who will speak about the Vendée in 1794-1796. 
• The event is free and open to the public, full programme is available to download below, for registration please contact nebiha.guiga(at)oeaw.ac.at.
• This workshop is generously supported by the Arbeitskreis für Militärgeschichte and the IHB/ÖAW.

Program

Monday 15 June

08 :00 - 09 :00 Registration and Breakfast, Greetings

09 :05 – 10 :30 Session 1 :Civilian Attitudes

• Damian Drzazga, University of Wrocław, The Austrian Occupation of Warsaw in 1809 in the Light of Polish Archival Sources
• Joost Welten, IHB/OeAW, The Exceptional Case of the Austrian Netherlands : How a Brutal Occupation Led to a Voluntary Reunion and, ultimately, Full Integration into France (1792–1814)

10 :30 – 11 :00 Coffee Break

11 :00 – 12 :30 Session 2 : Guerilla Warfare

Dawid Madziar, University of Silesia in Katowice, The Price of Liberty : Evolving Attitudes of Polish Officers Toward the Peninsular War (1808–1812)

Ágoston Nagy, Ludovika University of Public Service, Budapest, Another War : Partisan Warfare, Counterinsurgency, and the Hungarian Insurrectio in Galicia, 1809

12 :30– 13 :30 Lunch Break

13 :30 – 15 :00 Session 3 :Civilian Lives

• Waltraud Schütz, IHB/OeAW, Moulding Citizens in Wartime : Educational Debates and Schooling in Napoleonic Vienna
• Vittoria Princi, The Soldier’s Welfare, the Inhabitant‘s Tranquillity : Barracking and Billeting in the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy

15 :00 – 15 :30 Coffee Break

15 :30 – 17 :45 Session 4 :Civilian-Military Relations

• Michael Wenzel, Napoleon Museum, Deutsch Wagram, What do Local Archives tell us about the French Occupation of Lower Austria in 1809 ?
• Anke Fischer-Kattner, University of the Bundeswehr, Munich, Ruin and Reconstruction : Finance, Justice, and Urban Recovery after the Destruction of Philippsburg (1799–1803)
• François Houdececk, Fondation Napoleon, Paris, Between Coexistence and Violence : The French Soldiers and the Population in Occupied Central Europe

17 :45 – 18 :30 Wine Reception

18 :30 – 20 :00 Keynote Lecture

• Anne Rolland Boulestreau, Catholic University of the West, Angers Combattre en guerre civile - La République contre la Vendée (1794-1796)

20 :00 – 22 :00 Finger Food and Drinks

Organisers

• Dr. Nebiha Guiga (IHB/ÖAW)
• Dr. Ilya Berkovich
• Dr. Jacek Jędrysiak (University of Wrocław)