Battler (winged word)

Battle strollers is a popular word used to describe civilians who visit the war front out of curiosity . The term became common at the end of the 18th century and was a common term after the German Wars of Unification, especially the Franco-German War of 1870/71, which was also included in the German dictionary of the Brothers Grimm .

Wall painting: Riots during the gladiator games between Pompeians and Nucerians "battle strollers" on a Pompeian wall painting

This is what it says in a review of Berthold Auerbach's Wieder uns! Commemorative sheets on the history of these days (1871) in a collective discussion on "War and Peace Literature":

"At every line we notice that the king of the 'Schlachtenbummler' is speaking to us, battlemen in the same sense above the entire misery of the word as the faithful nurse and Johanniter."

According to the historian Ralf Pröve , "the interested affection and activity as a 'battle-wanderer' [...] were widespread in the 18th century".

Even Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a visiting supporters when he allied troops on their march after 1792 Valmy accompanied - his experience he later described in the autobiographical writing campaign in France  - and when he the 1793 siege of the city of Mainz pursued.

Today's meaning

Later, the word was used to describe spectators during maneuvers and marches, today mostly fans of sports, especially football clubs , who accompany their team to away games ( sports fan ).

literature

• Hermann Bausinger , Klaus Beyrer, Gottfried Korff (eds.): Travel culture. From pilgrimage to modern tourism. 2nd Edition. CH Beck, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-406-44950-6 .
• Holger Thomas Gräf , Ralf Pröve : Paths into the Unknown. A cultural history of travel 1500–1800. S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997 (reprinted unchanged, S. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2015, ISBN 978-3-596-30216-1 ).
• Ralf Pröve: There was food everywhere, surrounded by corpses. In: Back then . The magazine for history 08/2011, ISSN  0011-5908 p. 43 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Ralf Pröve: There was food everywhere, surrounded by corpses . In: Back then. The magazine for history 08/2011, p. 43.
2. ↑ Battlegroups. In: Jacob Grimm , Wilhelm Grimm (Hrsg.): German dictionary . tape 15 : Schiefeln – Soul - (IX). S. Hirzel, Leipzig 1899 ( woerterbuchnetz.de ).
3. ↑ Goethe's complete works in forty volumes , Volume 34. Cotta, Stuttgart / Tübingen 1840 (cf. for example the entry from September 19 [1792] books.google.de , p. 225.)
4. ^ Johann Wolfgang von Goethe : Siege of Mainz in the Gutenberg-DE project