Le Spectateur militaire
Le Spectateur militaire - Recueil de science, d'art et d'histoire militaires ( Eng. The military observer - collection of military science, art and history ) was a French military journal . It was one of the most important journals of the 19th century and was published from 1826 to 1914.
The “Spectateur militaire” appeared shortly after the end of the Napoleonic Wars (1792–1815). At that time, a new platform was needed among military experts to discuss the recent past and to exchange views on future developments. The past wars had led to the discontinuation of almost all military magazines, as the officers who had published them had to go to the respective campaigns themselves. In Prussia there was the military weekly newspaper since 1816 and in Austria-Hungary even since 1808 the Austrian military magazine . With the founding of the “Spectateur militaire” a gap was closed in France.
Soon after its founding, however, the magazine advanced to become one of the most important military journals in Europe. This was explained on the one hand by the fact that French was the most widely used language, on the other hand well-known French generals published their views in this magazine. It also published articles, reviews and reports on current military events. Other military magazines, such as General Military Newspaper , often copied these articles.
The editorial office of the “Spectateur militaire” was at 3 rue Christine in Paris , but the magazine was published in several cities. These were Strasbourg , Madrid , Turin , Naples , The Hague , Leipzig and Saint Petersburg . An issue was published every 15th day of the month, with three issues being combined into one volume. Overall, the magazine appeared in series . The first series covers the years 1826 to 1850, the second series 1851 to 1865, the third series 1865 to 1878, the fourth series 1878 to 1890 and the fifth series finally the years 1890 to 1914. The outbreak of the First World War then ended the work the editors, because the European markets were lost for years and the issuing officers went to war.