This volume focuses on a still too little appreciated aspect of urban history of the modern period—the impact of the military on the development, perception, and functioning of European cities. It contains ten contributions from Europe—primarily Central and Eastern Europe, that is, from areas that belonged to the Russian, German, and Austro-Hungarian Empires—and centers on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. During this period, the process of rationalizing army maintenance led soldiers of huge militaries, often operating in far-flung countries, to relocate to modern barracks concentrated in towns and cities. These mainly urban settlements had the potential to harbor new, place-consuming infrastructure. How these precise circumstances impacted and changed European cities is the driving subject of this book.
