Is there somewhere I can read more about norms in early modern warfare?

[Sches]

Linebattles and early modern warfare have always intrigued me, especially the bravery of the men fighting. I'm curious as to what, if at all, commom norms etc. were agreed upon between the fighting parties that were frowned upon to be broken, for example shooting at generals (I know it was a normal tactic to shoot at them for disruption, just an example of what I'm looking for). If I could get a site that goes more in depth in how the warfare etc. was planned and happened that'd be awesome. i've read the wikipedia page but it didn't really go onto what I was looking for. Thanks!

 

[ratszo]

Sorry, no easy way to condense this subject.
Historians would often only mention 'norms of battle' if the norms weren't followed, which happened often enough.
Napoleon's conscript armies were expected to feed off the land, pillage was codified.
I can direct you to Charles Oman's exhaustive seven volume work:

"A history of the Peninsular War"
Within this massive work can be found many examples & answers to your questions.

Luckily, the books can be had for free through archive.org.
Here's my search:

https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A%22Oman%2C+Charles+William+Chadwick%2C+Sir%2C+1860-1946%22&and[]=subject%3A%22Peninsular+War%2C+1807-1814%22

Good Luck!

 

[thebearessentials]

If you can get a-hold of a copy of Imperial Bayonets: Tactics of the Napoleonic Battery, Battalion, and Brigade as Found in Contemporary Regulations
by Nafziger, you'll be in for a real treat. I've found it to be an expensive tome, so perhaps your local library will have it.

 

[Desideratus]

https://archive.org/details/recollectionsofo00blazrich -- Recollections of an officer in Napoleon's army. Bunch of memoirs about a guy that was in the Grand Armee. It didn't go into specifics about battle, it was mostly about his experiences on campaign/training, like what happened in camps, what they did for fun, etc.

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.110506 -- The Anatomy of Glory. Napoleon's Imperial Guard from start to finish, though against it doesn't go into specifics about battles.

http://napoleonistyka.atspace.com/ is a decent website, though some digging revealed that the people that made it either are mostly unknown/not exactly trusted, so... Deal with that how you want. It drew a lot of information from The Anatomy of Glory, so that at least makes it somewhat trustworthy.

None of this is very helpful for answering your question but it might be useful as a jumping off point.

 

[Bluehawk]

If you can get a-hold of a copy of Imperial Bayonets: Tactics of the Napoleonic Battery, Battalion, and Brigade as Found in Contemporary Regulations
by Nafziger, you'll be in for a real treat. I've found it to be an expensive tome, so perhaps your local library will have it.

A new edition has gone to print through Helion & Company, at £29.95 with a discount for ordering online.
http://www.helion.co.uk/new-and-forthcoming-titles/imperial-bayonets-tactics-of-the-napoleonic-battery-battalion-and-brigade-as-found-in-contemporary-regulations-new-edition.html