We are delighted to announce the recipient of the 2024 D. W. Smith Fellowship. Philipp Portelance, PhD candidate in history at UQAM and Heidelberg University, has been selected for his project entitled: "Aussi n'y a-t-il point de Troupe au Monde plus belles, ni mieux disciplinées": Exchanges, Transfers, and Cultural Intermixing of Combat Skills between French and Germanic Regions (1648-1792).
With this project, Philippe Portelance aims to study cultural transfers within the armies of the 18th century. The goal is to shed light on the processes of circulation of military practices and models, the sociological composition and geographical mobility of troops, as well as the war experience itself, in order to identify the cultural transfers that occur therein. The D. W. Smith Fellowship will allow him to undertake a research stay in Europe to digitize archives that will be used for this project. The archives to be examined are those of the National Library of France, the Historical Defense Service in Vincennes, the Geheime Staatsarchiv in Berlin, the Hauptstaatsarchiv of Bavaria, the Landesarchiv of Rhineland-Palatinate, and Hesse.
We are looking forward to know more about this fascinating project!
