ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the nineteenth-century war panorama as a form of total immersion into the imaginary and spectacular world of war. Analyzing the visual immersive technology of the nineteenth-century war panorama, it explores how the panorama staged, conveyed, and mediated the viewer's experience of war. The chapter argues that the panorama as a medium is inherently paradoxical: On the one hand, it absorbs the audience into a collective experience or war. It builds a "community" of spectators, and it trains, disciplines, and prepares viewers for the wars to come. By militarizing audiences, propagating nationalism, and by immersing the audience into national battles, the panorama represents the history of military combat under the auspices of futurity. The chapter describes the paradox, namely a type of "pre-modern" vision of history intrinsic to the medium of the panorama. The panorama is thus a medium capable of propelling history into the future—shaping national communities that will collaborate in waging wars.
