Indigènes after Indigènes: post-war France and its North African troops

This article focuses on North African soldiers who served in the French army of occupation in western Germany after its liberation in 1945. Taking as its starting point Rachid Bouchareb's 2006 film, Indigènes, the article contrasts claims the film made about the memorial exclusion of the colonial soldier with his surprising centrality to French accounts of their own military exploits. Using publications issued by the army for its internal readership and archival records of the military occupation's day-to-day activities, the author argues for a modified understanding of the French Republican notion of assimilation that is able to take account of the prolific representation of the North African soldier, and his accommodation, in Cold War Germany.     

Eduard Hitzig's experiences in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871): the case of Joseph Masseau

It is well known that Fritsch and Hitzig published the results of their experiments on cortical stimulation in 1870, the year in which the Franco-Prussian War (FPW) broke out. Several tall stories are found about Hitzig's role in the FPW; stories that have not been well documented. During this war, he worked at the military hospital in Nancy, where he was allowed to admit to his ward soldiers with head wounds. He made a close observation of the 20-year-old French soldier Joseph Masseau, who suffered from a right-sided cerebral abscess following a gunshot wound sustained during the Loire campaign on December 10, 1870 and was looked after in the military hospital of Nancy in January and February 1871. Hitzig related the clinical and autopsy observations to his recent experimental findings. A translation into English of part of the case report is provided.     

Welfare Warriors: Towards a Genealogy of the Soldier Citizen in Canada

Over the past few decades, new forms of citizenship have emerged in the context of a globalizing and urbanizing world. The government of citizens and economies, it is argued, is increasingly trans‐, supra‐, or sub‐national in scale, and characterized by the eclipse of Keynesian welfarism and rights‐based citizenship. Scholars have documented the emergence of targeted, risk‐based, and workfarist governmentalities and political economies at various spatial scales, and have even described emergent forms of citizenship as "post‐national". And yet, in many countries we are concurrently confronted with massive symbolic and fiscal reinvestment in national militaries, particularly in the welfare of personnel. Given this, and the longstanding relationships between the nation‐state and military service, it is curious that the soldier has hardly figured in recent discussions about citizenship. This paper provides a genealogy of the soldier‐citizen in Canada, from iconic national worker‐citizen in the post‐World War II period to its recent anxious positioning at the intersection of "domestic", entrepreneurial, workfarist citizenship, and the widespread re‐emergence of militarism and national security. It demonstrates that the military citizen has at key times been a template for innovations in social forms of national government, and argues that the soldier has been a crucial figure in their re‐engineering in recent years. Situated amidst transformations in work and worker‐citizenship, and at the intersections of political struggles in both the domestic and international spheres, the soldier provides a unique lens on questions of the national and the social. Through an engagement with the labour of social citizenship, and the war work that initiated many of its governing techniques, the military citizen emerges as a critical figure in the contemporary neoliberal nation.     

战国中山军事制度初探

战国时期,中山作为一中等国家能纵横于各大国之间,这与它拥有较为完善的军事制度密不可分。这一时期,中山国军事领导体制得以确立,国王集军权于己,相兼领军事。兵种配置上,中山国设有车兵、步兵、骑兵等。而军事赏罚的实行也为提高军队战斗力提供了保障。     

Even We Can’t Prevent Forests: The Chemical War in Vietnam and the Illusion of Control

Abstract

By exploring tactical and strategic uses of chemical agents beyond Agent Orange and the other ‘Rainbow Herbicides’ used as part of Operation Ranch Hand during the Vietnam War, this essay seeks to fill a gap in our under- standing of the chemical war waged by the United States in South-east Asia, and to make a contribution to the growing body of literature devoted to the intersections of military and environmental history. Taking seriously the roles played by both human and non-human actors, it explores how the White House and Pentagon continually attempted, unsuccessfully, to impose more stringent forms of control over southern Vietnam. Herbicidal warfare and the use of forest fire as a military weapon were simply two more failed attempts among many to impose control on a nation, a people, and a landscape — indeed, on nature itself — all of which refused to accept the dictates of American power just as stubbornly as American policymakers refused to accept the limitations of that power.     

American civil–military relations today: the continuing relevance of Samuel P. Huntington's The soldier and the state

Fifty‐five years after it was first published, Samuel Huntington's The soldier and the state remains an essential starting point for serious discussions of American civil–military relations. In part this is due to the boldness and ambition of the author. Huntington brought theory to a research area that had suffered from too little theorizing and then went on to formulate concepts that scholars and practitioners of civil–military relations still find useful. These include: the conceptualization of the military as a profession; the articulation of the two central forces shaping the nature of military institutions as the functional and the societal imperatives; and the formulation of subjective and objective control as the two main patterns of civilian control. This review article briefly revisits these concepts and argues that they retain utility in illuminating important issues in American civil–military relations today. It also argues, however, that Huntington's contributions were productive but not perfect. Some of his specific definitions, such as the content of military expertise, are debatable. Some of his central concerns, such as whether the United States could sustain a strong military over an extended period of time, are no longer central today. Finally, in some places the literature has moved beyond what Huntington offered. The best example is the ongoing debate over how the country's political leaders and its most senior military officers should interact. It is precisely on this point that Huntington's objective control is the weakest. While The soldier and the state certainly does not deserve uncritical acceptance, it does continue to merit a fair hearing. Current discussions of American civil–military relations are likely to be more reasonable and productive if Huntington is given a voice.     

'It's a Man's Life!': Soldiers,masculinity and the countryside

This article explores the relationships between soldiers, masculinity and the countryside. It draws on a variety of published materials ranging from army recruitment literature to military autobiography. It is located primarily in conceptual frameworks suggested by feminist and rural studies literatures. Following a brief discussion of the historical contribution of the military to ideas of rurality, the relationships between soldiers, masculinity and the countryside are explored. First, the ways in which the army constructs a particular view of the countryside are discussed. This view accords the army rights of control over space, dictates a particular way of seeing rural space, and develops a quasi-environmentalist interpretation of the impact of army activity on the landscape. Second, it is suggested that this conceptualisation of the countryside contributes specifically to the construction of particular (hegemonic) notions of masculinity. The ideas of adventure and danger are particularly important in this respect. Third, the role of the body of the soldier in this process is examined. The construction of a specific gendered identity through a process of transformation from civilian to soldier is discussed. The article concludes by suggesting how the body of the soldier is used to signify particular senses of place.     

20世纪初期芬兰人马达汉入疆考察细节及其分析

1906年8月,芬兰籍职业军人马达汉接受俄军总参谋部的军事任务,组成一个以自己为主的小型考察队,从中亚进入中国新疆境内进行军事情况收集活动,历时一年两个月。到达北京后,他进入俄国驻北京公使馆,整理完成了呈送上级的军事考察报告(含附图)。本文注重研究考察队在新疆境内的许多细节:如何从军事地形着眼,如何使用仪器,如何广泛取材形成一部具有军事情报价值的日记体著作。百年后这部著作的军事情报时效性已大为降低,但仍可作为颇具参考价值的历史地理资料加以使用。     

Tracing the ‘chemyn de Portyngale’: English service and servicemen in fourteenth-century Portugal

Three Anglo-Portuguese campaigns took English servicemen into Portugal in the 1380s. Two were largely guided by Plantagenet interests, in 1381–2 and 1386–7, respectively under the earl of Cambridge and the duke of Lancaster. The other, which began in 1384 under the regent João of Avis (later João I), involved entirely volunteer English forces. While the Lancastrian-led expeditions were largely political and military failures, servicemen recruited by the Portuguese in England achieved greater success, including victory at the Battle of Aljubarrota. This article compares these expeditions for the first time. It looks at their political, diplomatic, military, social and economic contexts, exploring motivations for English service in Portugal in particular, from that of the common soldier to that of the governments. By looking at the itineraries in Portugal of English soldiers, their presence is mapped and their continuance debated. The Anglo-Portuguese examples demonstrate how foreign military intervention and mercenary activity might be a driving force in social and economic relations between regions of Europe during the Hundred Years War.     

Tracing the ‘chemyn de Portyngale’: English service and servicemen in fourteenth-century Portugal

Three Anglo-Portuguese campaigns took English servicemen into Portugal in the 1380s. Two were largely guided by Plantagenet interests, in 1381–2 and 1386–7, respectively under the earl of Cambridge and the duke of Lancaster. The other, which began in 1384 under the regent João of Avis (later João I), involved entirely volunteer English forces. While the Lancastrian-led expeditions were largely political and military failures, servicemen recruited by the Portuguese in England achieved greater success, including victory at the Battle of Aljubarrota. This article compares these expeditions for the first time. It looks at their political, diplomatic, military, social and economic contexts, exploring motivations for English service in Portugal in particular, from that of the common soldier to that of the governments. By looking at the itineraries in Portugal of English soldiers, their presence is mapped and their continuance debated. The Anglo-Portuguese examples demonstrate how foreign military intervention and mercenary activity might be a driving force in social and economic relations between regions of Europe during the Hundred Years War.     

Breaking the covenant: governance of the British army in the twenty-first century

This article argues that the military covenant between senior army commanders and soldiers is breaking down for two reasons: first, British forces are being engaged in new and controversial wars of choice, putting new and distinct pressures on the covenant; and second because senior military commanders have not fully appreciated the changes to their authority and power in governing the British army. It further suggests that military commanders, central staff and ministers need to acknowledge the scale of the internal challenges to the military covenant and develop appropriate responses. Drawing on examples from gender equality and sexual orientation, allegations of war crimes in Iraq, the military's duty of care and the proposed launch of a British Armed Forces Federation, this article argues that these challenges show that the military leadership has no choice but to rethink its outdated approach to governance of the British army, if it is to remain fi t for purpose. Without appropriate adaptation, army chiefs will have themselves contributed to the breaking of the military covenant, between the army and the individual soldier.     

The ‘superman’ solution: ‘Super soldiers’ and ‘superheroes’ in the United States military

Current US military research focused on the development of pharmacological ‘super soldiers’ – soldiers enhanced through a variety of pharmaceuticals and biomedical technologies to perform far beyond what unenhanced soldiers can do – draws from and often mimics popular or pop-cultural conceptions of the superhero. These biomedical and pharmacological interventions pose profound ethical problems and possibilities that are solved – in part – by imagining the new US super soldier as a superhero. Drugging soldiers to enhance their ability to fight and survive is a frightening proposition, and one that makes people uncomfortable; the solution is to imagine them as superheroes – as positive representations of the enhanced soldier on the side of good, somehow contained and controllable and fundamentally safe and unfrightening.     

William Tell Militarism: The Swiss Model for Canada’s ‘Citizen Army’

Following Confederation in 1867, Canadians needed to move forward from their dependence on British imperial defence. Canadian militiaman Richard John Wicksteed was first to recommend adopting the model of the Swiss Army, a multi-ethnic, rifle-wielding citizen force powerful enough to ensure Swiss neutrality although surrounded by militaristic European powers. General Officer Commanding Edward Thomas Henry Hutton later proposed the Swiss model for a Canadian ‘National Army,’ echoed by Militia Minister Frederick Borden. In 1917, Colonel William Hamilton Merritt was the final advocate, drawn especially to the notion of equality in Switzerland’s universal military training programme. By this time, however, the Great War had changed concepts of Canada’s military needs from a reliance upon the defence-oriented citizen soldier to a more highly trained, expeditionary military force.     

Playing war

This paper argues that war video games are transitional spaces that connect players to the ‘war on terror’. It explores the pervasive influence of militarism in video games and how the US Army is enlisting play as an active force in blurring the distinctions between civilian and soldier. The paper begins by theorizing what exactly it means to ‘play’, and settles on the concept of ‘transitional space’ provided by psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott. It then investigates the ‘military entertainment complex’, an assemblage of institutions and sites that produce military video games for commercial release. Next, the paper looks at the aesthetics of video games, revealing an entrenched colonial logic instrumental for military recruitment and consent. The final section pulls all of this together to argue that video games are transitional spaces instrumental to understanding the everyday geographies of violence, terror, and warfare.     

汉代限田制说

张家山汉简《二年律令.户律》之受田宅律文,其实施对象是汉初军队系统的复员人员,而非全国人民,是"法以有功劳行田宅"精神的具体体现。此土地授予前属于国有,授予后即归被授者私有。"授田"与"授田制"是不同的概念,汉代虽然存在授田的现象,但并不存在战国授田制那种形式的土地制度。军功授田、民户自有的土地以及买卖而来的土地是汉初名田的三个来源。汉初,国家一方面承认民户对土地的所有权,同时对土地的转让、买卖和继承予以一定的限制,其方法是不同等级规定不同的数量限额,目的是维护既存的等级制度和抑制土地兼并。因此,汉代名田制是土地私有制基础上的限田制。     

The organisation of military religion in the armies of King Edward I of England (1272–1307)

King Edward I of England (1272–1307) was an exceptionally capable leader both on the battlefield and in the organisation of the bureaucratic institutions necessary for the successful pursuit of his military objectives. The military history of Edward’s reign has benefited from extensive scholarly attention, particularly with regard to matters such as military recruitment, battlefield strategy, and logistics. However, one major lacuna has been an examination of the pastoral care made available to soldiers serving the king in both peace and war. This study considers the means by which both professional fighting men and militia forces serving in the armies of Edward I were provided with the opportunity to obtain pastoral care. It considers in turn, soldiers attached to the royal household, the troops of the royal garrisons, militia forces drawn from the shires, and finally the contingents provided by men who held land from the king through military tenure.     

“The third man” — David's heroes in 2 Sam 23,8–39

Abstract

The basic meaning of the word is “three”, “third”. Besides this, the word also possesses two specialized meanings, namely “chariot soldier” and “officer of high rank”. The evident discrepancy between these two meanings has occasioned considerable interest among scholars (e.g, Thenius, Elliger, Hertzberg, Margalith, Mastin, Na'aman, Schley).

In the contribution at hand it has been shown that the was a trained soldier who did not belong to the standard crew of a war chariot However, it was possible to assign him temporarily to the chariots in order to raise their effectiveness. The warriors in question could also be transported in chariots as third men, in addition to the standard crew of two. It is from this practice that the term “third man”, originated. It was also from this military élite that the king picked his chiefs and adjutants. Gradually the word came to mean not only a specially trained soldier, but also the king's adjutant. The meaning “shield bearer”, which has often been suggested for has nothing to support it.     

Understanding the Helmand campaign: British military operations in Afghanistan

British forces are now engaged in a major operation in southern Afghanistan, the outcome of which is likely to be strategically decisive—especially for the configuration and status of Britain's land forces. Although progress seems to have been made, there has been much criticism of the campaign. Through an analysis of the three‐year Helmand mission (Operation Herrick), this article explores whether, for all the improvements in the campaign in terms of resources and numbers of troops, the basic structure of the campaign established in 2006 has endured. Instead of focusing on an ‘ink‐spot’ from which to expand, British forces have tended to operate from dispersed forward operating bases from which they have insufficient combat power to dominate terrain and secure the population. They are consequently engaged in a seemingly endless round of high‐intensity tactical battles which are normally successful in themselves but do not contribute to the overarching security of the province. The analysis explores the way in which this distinctive campaign lay‐down—the preference for dispersal and high‐intensity fighting—may be a reflection of British military culture and its military doctrine. By highlighting potential unacknowledged aspects of the British military profession, the article aims to contribute to debates about the development of the armed forces.     

清代的消防组织与救火工具

清代的消防组织由属于官府的巡城官兵与属于民间的“水会”两大系统组成,行政、军事与消防的一体化管理是清代消防组织的特点。以现代人的眼光来看,清代的消防组织在管理与培训等方面已经具有现代科学化的某些内容。而纵观由太平桶到火烛车再到水龙所形成的救火工具发展的三部曲,我们也不难看到人们在与火灾进行斗争中的进步。     

‘Forewarned Is Forearmed’: Intelligence,Japan's Siberian Intervention,and the Washington Conference

This article details the intelligence-gathering role of US railroad experts stationed in Siberia and Manchuria from 1917 to 1922. Beginning in April 1920, US railway officials began receiving intercepted correspondence between Japanese officials, passed to them from Japan's military headquarters in Harbin via a former Czechoslovak soldier. The intelligence shows that US officials were aware of highly detailed planning by Japanese expansionists. Whether or not US officials were completely cognisant of the intelligence's significance, these sources provide insight into why US diplomacy helped provide leverage to the moderates within Japan's government. In particular, the intercepted correspondence allows for a reinterpretation of Japanese Foreign Minister Uchida Yasuya's role during the Siberian expedition. This paper provides evidence that Uchida was not a moderate ally as scholars have traditionally claimed, but a key facilitator of Japan's military expansionists. It argues that the success of the Washington Conference, combined with the military's repeated failures to produce a victory in the Russian Far East, pressured Uchida into withdrawing his support for the expansionist programme. In addition to demonstrating the impact of the Washington Conference and the Siberian intervention on US–Japanese relations, this article helps explain Uchida's later re-emergence in the 1930s as a militarist sympathiser.