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Jane Austen was born in 1775 and died in 1817, and throughout much of her lifetime, Great Britain was at war, including with the 13 American colonies starting in the year she was born and lasting until 1783, and with the United States in the War of 1812, which lasted until 1815. However, a series of wars with France, the neighboring country and military power about 21 miles across the English Channel at the closest point in Kent, that had the most impact on Great Britain and its people during Austen’s lifetime.
In 1793, when Austen was 17, France declared war on Great Britain after tensions emerged between the two countries due to the French Revolution and the resulting execution of French aristocrats and royals. That conflict lasted until 1802, but after a brief period of peace, the war resumed in 1803 when Napoleon moved to expand his power and France’s dominion over the European continent and beyond. These Napoleonic Wars lasted until 1815, culminating with the French emperor’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo in present-day Belgium. Jane Austen wrote the first version of Pride and Prejudice between 1796 and 1797, and then revised it significantly between 1811 and 1812 before its publication in 1813. During both these times, she was living in a period of warfare that she was very well aware of, especially since two of her brothers served in the British navy.
The arrival of soldiers and the rakish character of George Wickham
This wartime influence appears in subtle ways in Pride and Prejudice. For the characters in the novel, the arrival of the regiment is primarily of interest because it means the town will be filled with young men. However, readers at the time would have clearly understood that the presence of soldiers and militiamen signaled that the troops were gathered to prepare for the possible threat of a French invasion. The presence of these soldiers was also not always reassuring. A regiment of soldiers arriving in a town meant that there would be the presence of young men who were often idle, bored, and restless. They could pose a risk in terms of drinking, mischief, and the sexual targeting of young women.
In the novel, the rakish behavior of the militiaman George Wickham subtly but unmistakably conveys the possible risks of an active military presence within local communities. But beyond Wickham, Austen chose not to directly reference the war or any other wider geopolitical events in Pride and Prejudice. While some might find this surprising, the novel’s structure makes it clear that even in middle of a war, the ordinary events of day-to-day life continue and many civilians would not have necessarily been preoccupied with it—particularly given that being in a state of war was a fairly normal thing for the British during Jane Austen’s lifetime.
