What did Johann Wolfgang von Goethe write about the French campaigns of 1792 and 1793?

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a staunch opponent of the French Revolution, accompanied his patron, Duke Charles Augustus, on military campaigns against France in 1792 and 1793. These experiences were his first direct exposure to war, which he described as a nightmare.1

During the 1792 campaign, Goethe witnessed the Battle of Valmy. Observing the significance of the event, he prophetically wrote: "From this day forth begins a new era in the history of the world". He was fortunate to survive the subsequent retreat from Valmy. In 1793, he returned to the front to observe the siege and destruction of French-occupied Mainz.21

Goethe attempted to process these political upheavals through his writing, though he found it difficult to address the events in a literary form. His efforts included the failed play Der Gross-Cophta (1792) and several other fragmentary or unsatisfactory works, such as Der Bürgergeneral (1793) and Die Aufgeregten (written in 1793). Additionally, he adapted the medieval stories of Reynard the Fox into hexameters in 1793 as an exercise in political satire.1