Today I tried to tie in some of what I've heard about Nietzsche with his service as a medical orderly during the Franco-Prussian War. Also, I got a chance to use my book about the Paris Exhibition of 1867. That has tons of cool pictures of cannon and rifles - I love the Chassepot! - and medical equipment, which came in handy when penciling in a few descriptions of a medical orderly's life.
I also like the mitrailleuse, but they're probably illegal to own privately in any place but Texas.
My reading about war has tended to gloss over the actual killing and dying part. I don't want to be one of those modern writers who stresses the gore or a Sophocles who positively glorifies horror. Only Alfred Hitchcock can do horror without threatening Western civilization.
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