Conscription as military labour: The historical context 1

International Review of Social History

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 1998, Pages 405-419

  Lucassen, Jan ^a   Zürcher, Erik Jan ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0032339422     PISSN: 00208590     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0020859098000224     Document Type: Article

References (48)

1. The articles by Khaled Fahmy, Erik Jan Zürcher and Stephanie Cronin were presented as papers during a symposium organized jointly by the International Institute of Social History and the Middle East Institute of the University of Nijmegen, on the occasion of the latter's fiftieth anniversary. The symposium was held in Nijmegen, Netherlands, on 2-3 October 1997. We wish to thank the organizers in Nijmegen for their generous hospitality. The complete proceedings of the symposium will be published as Erik Jan Zürcher (ed.), Conscription in the Middle East (London, forthcoming).
2. There is a sizeable literature on conscription by military historians. It is, however, devoted almost exclusively to North America and Europe. Martin Anderson, Conscription. A Select and Annotated Bibliography (Stanford, CA, 1976), has 413 pages of entries, of which 20 are devoted to countries other than the US and the UK. The countries dealt with under "other foreign countries" are exclusively European or British Empire dominions.
3. An inspiring example is Stephen Peter Rosen, Societies and Military Power. India and its Armies (Delhi, 1996) with his daring comparisons (for example p. 28: "Rather than arguing that Christian, Islamic, Hispanic or Hindu cultures each have specific, constant, and unique strategic outlooks, we can look at each political unit in each culture area and ask what the dominant structures are, what effects they have for the ability to generate military power, what relation the military has to society, and whether those structures and relations are changing.").
4. Charles Tilly, Coercion, Capital and European States, 990-1990 (Cambridge, MA, 1990).
5. Because of the analytical point of view chosen, the relation between the feudal lord and his soldiers will not be discussed here; however, it will be clear that - as in the case of the relation between the state and its subjects, to be discussed below - here we also have all sorts of variations between free and unfree relations. A good example are the Hessian subsidy troops employed by inter alia the Dutch and later especially the English (e.g. in the American War of Liberation) which can be seen as capitalist hiring of mercenaries. However, within Hessen both feudal obligations and (in the second half of the eighteenth century) conscription aspects also play an important role: see Peter K. Taylor, Indentured to Liberty. Peasant Life and the Hessian Military State 1688-1815 (Ithaca and London, 1994).
6. For a sophisticated discussion of state-peasant relations in the Ottoman Empire, see Huri Ishamoǧlu-Inan, State and Peasant in the Ottoman Empire. Agrarian Power Relations and Regional Economic Development in Ottoman Anatolia during the Sixteenth Century (Leiden, 1994), pp. 1-21. The bibliography gives an excellent introduction into the debate on feudalism.
7. For the transition, see Suraiya Faroqhi, "Crisis and Change", in Halil Inalcik with Donald Quataert, An Economic and Social History of the Ottoman Empire 1300-1914 (Cambridge, 1994), pp. 413-622.
8. We have to keep in mind that only after the Crimean War did the Ottomans cease to enslave prisoners of war or enemy subjects: see Y.H. Erdem, Slavery in the Ottoman Empire and its Demise, 1800-1909 (Basingstoke and London, 1996). However, in the nineteenth century these slaves no longer were recruited for the army or the navy.
9. Henry H. Hirschbiel, "Conscription in Russia", The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History, vol. VIII (Gulf Breeze, FL, 1978), pp. 4-9; Peter Kolchin, Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom (Cambridge, MA, 1987), pp. 42, 204, 367-368.
10. Henry H. Hirschbiel, "Conscription in Russia", The Modern Encyclopedia of Russian and Soviet History, vol. VIII (Gulf Breeze, FL, 1978), pp. 4-9; Peter Kolchin, Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom (Cambridge, MA, 1987), pp. 42, 204, 367-368.
11. Christopher Lloyd, The British Seaman, 1200-1860: A Social Survey (London, 1968).
12. Daniel Pipes, Slave Soldiers and Islam. The Genesis of a Military System (New Haven, CT, and London, 1981), p. 100.
13. Ibid.; Stephen Peter Rosen, Societies and Military Power. India and its Armies (Delhi, 1996), pp. 114-115, 119-123; İsmail Hakki Uzunçarcşili, Kapikulu Ocaklari (Ankara, 1943-1944), 2 vols.
14. Ibid.; Stephen Peter Rosen, Societies and Military Power. India and its Armies (Delhi, 1996), pp. 114-115, 119-123; İsmail Hakki Uzunçarcşili, Kapikulu Ocaklari (Ankara, 1943-1944), 2 vols.
15. Ibid.; Stephen Peter Rosen, Societies and Military Power. India and its Armies (Delhi, 1996), pp. 114-115, 119-123; İsmail Hakki Uzunçarcşili, Kapikulu Ocaklari (Ankara, 1943-1944), 2 vols.
16. This is the reason why the Ottomans rejected the possibility of recruiting the children of townspeople.
17. See André Zysberg, Les galériens. Vies et destins de 6000 forcats sur les galères de France 1680-1748 (Paris, 1987); Frederick C. Lane, Venice. A Maritime Republic (Baltimore, 1973), pp. 364-379, 414-415.
18. See André Zysberg, Les galériens. Vies et destins de 6000 forcats sur les galères de France 1680-1748 (Paris, 1987); Frederick C. Lane, Venice. A Maritime Republic (Baltimore, 1973), pp. 364-379, 414-415.
19. In the eighteenth century galleys vanished from the Mediterranean but became popular in the Baltic. There the Russians deployed serfs under their new conscription system, but other nations used free oarsmen.
20. Jan Lucassen, "The International Maritime Labour Market: Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries", in Paul van Royen, Jaap R. Bruijn and Jan Lucassen (eds), "Those Emblems of Hell"? European Sailors and the Maritime Labour Market, 1570-1870 (St John's, Newfoundland, 1997), pp. 11-23; K. van der Tempel, "'Wij hebben amok in ons schip': Aziaten in opstand tijdens drie terugreizen op het einde van de achttiende eeuw", in J.R. Bruijn and E.S. van Eyck van Heslinga (eds), Muiterij. Oproer en berechting op schepen van de VOC (Haarlem, 1980), pp. 123-147.
21. Jan Lucassen, "The International Maritime Labour Market: Sixteenth-Nineteenth Centuries", in Paul van Royen, Jaap R. Bruijn and Jan Lucassen (eds), "Those Emblems of Hell"? European Sailors and the Maritime Labour Market, 1570-1870 (St John's, Newfoundland, 1997), pp. 11-23; K. van der Tempel, "'Wij hebben amok in ons schip': Aziaten in opstand tijdens drie terugreizen op het einde van de achttiende eeuw", in J.R. Bruijn and E.S. van Eyck van Heslinga (eds), Muiterij. Oproer en berechting op schepen van de VOC (Haarlem, 1980), pp. 123-147.
22. Gregory Hanlon, "The Decline of a Provincial Military Aristocracy: Siena 1560-1740", Past and Present, 155 (May 1997), pp. 64-108.
23. For Hessians see Taylor, Indentured to Liberty, for Scots see T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman and T.M. Devine, "Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Nicholas Canny (ed.), Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 76-112; Thomas C. Smout, "Scots and Emigrants in Europe, 1400-1700", in Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), Le Migrazioni in Europa secc. XIII-XVIII (Prato, 1994), pp. 659-669 and Dmitry G. Fedosov, "Russia's Scottish Clans", in ibid., pp. 861-866; for Irish see Robert A. Stradling, "Military Recruitment and Movement as a Form of Migration: Spain and its Irish Mercenaries, 1598-1665", in ibid., pp. 477-490 and L.M. Cullen, "The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Canny, Europeans on the Move, pp. 113-149.
24. For Hessians see Taylor, Indentured to Liberty, for Scots see T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman and T.M. Devine, "Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Nicholas Canny (ed.), Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 76-112; Thomas C. Smout, "Scots and Emigrants in Europe, 1400-1700", in Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), Le Migrazioni in Europa secc. XIII-XVIII (Prato, 1994), pp. 659-669 and Dmitry G. Fedosov, "Russia's Scottish Clans", in ibid., pp. 861-866; for Irish see Robert A. Stradling, "Military Recruitment and Movement as a Form of Migration: Spain and its Irish Mercenaries, 1598-1665", in ibid., pp. 477-490 and L.M. Cullen, "The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Canny, Europeans on the Move, pp. 113-149.
25. For Hessians see Taylor, Indentured to Liberty, for Scots see T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman and T.M. Devine, "Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Nicholas Canny (ed.), Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 76-112; Thomas C. Smout, "Scots and Emigrants in Europe, 1400-1700", in Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), Le Migrazioni in Europa secc. XIII-XVIII (Prato, 1994), pp. 659-669 and Dmitry G. Fedosov, "Russia's Scottish Clans", in ibid., pp. 861-866; for Irish see Robert A. Stradling, "Military Recruitment and Movement as a Form of Migration: Spain and its Irish Mercenaries, 1598-1665", in ibid., pp. 477-490 and L.M. Cullen, "The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Canny, Europeans on the Move, pp. 113-149.
26. For Hessians see Taylor, Indentured to Liberty, for Scots see T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman and T.M. Devine, "Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Nicholas Canny (ed.), Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 76-112; Thomas C. Smout, "Scots and Emigrants in Europe, 1400-1700", in Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), Le Migrazioni in Europa secc. XIII-XVIII (Prato, 1994), pp. 659-669 and Dmitry G. Fedosov, "Russia's Scottish Clans", in ibid., pp. 861-866; for Irish see Robert A. Stradling, "Military Recruitment and Movement as a Form of Migration: Spain and its Irish Mercenaries, 1598-1665", in ibid., pp. 477-490 and L.M. Cullen, "The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Canny, Europeans on the Move, pp. 113-149.
27. For Hessians see Taylor, Indentured to Liberty, for Scots see T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman and T.M. Devine, "Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Nicholas Canny (ed.), Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 76-112; Thomas C. Smout, "Scots and Emigrants in Europe, 1400-1700", in Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), Le Migrazioni in Europa secc. XIII-XVIII (Prato, 1994), pp. 659-669 and Dmitry G. Fedosov, "Russia's Scottish Clans", in ibid., pp. 861-866; for Irish see Robert A. Stradling, "Military Recruitment and Movement as a Form of Migration: Spain and its Irish Mercenaries, 1598-1665", in ibid., pp. 477-490 and L.M. Cullen, "The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Canny, Europeans on the Move, pp. 113-149.
28. For Hessians see Taylor, Indentured to Liberty, for Scots see T.C. Smout, N.C. Landsman and T.M. Devine, "Scottish Emigration in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Nicholas Canny (ed.), Europeans on the Move. Studies on European Migration, 1500-1800 (Oxford, 1994), pp. 76-112; Thomas C. Smout, "Scots and Emigrants in Europe, 1400-1700", in Simonetta Cavaciocchi (ed.), Le Migrazioni in Europa secc. XIII-XVIII (Prato, 1994), pp. 659-669 and Dmitry G. Fedosov, "Russia's Scottish Clans", in ibid., pp. 861-866; for Irish see Robert A. Stradling, "Military Recruitment and Movement as a Form of Migration: Spain and its Irish Mercenaries, 1598-1665", in ibid., pp. 477-490 and L.M. Cullen, "The Irish Diaspora of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries", in Canny, Europeans on the Move, pp. 113-149.
29. Johannes Hendrikus Kramers [and William Griswold], "Levend", Encyclopaedia of Islam, vol. VIII (Leiden, 1986), pp. 728-729.
30. Janice E. Thomson, Mercenaries, Pirates and Sovereigns. State-Building and Extraterritorial Violence in Early Modern Europe (Princeton, NJ, 1994).
31. Geoffery Fisher, Barbary Legend. War, Trade and Piracy in North Africa, 1415-1830 (Oxford, 1957).
32. Catherine Wendy Bracewell, The Uskoks of Senj. Piracy, Banditry and the Holy War in the Sixteenth-Century Adriatic (Ithaca and London, 1992).
33. Suraiya Faroqhi, Pilgrims and Sultans. The Hajj under the Ottomans 1517-1683 (London, 1994), pp. 54-73.
34. Lane, Venice.
35. See Taylor, Indentured to Liberty.
36. See Alan Forrest, Conscripts and Deserters. The Army and French Society during the Revolution and Empire (Oxford, 1989).
37. Heinz Stübig, "Die Wehrverfassung Preussens in der Reformzeit. Wehrpflicht im Spannungsfeld von Restauration und Revolution 1815-1860", in Roland G. Foerster (ed.), Die Wehrpflicht. Entstehung, Erscheinungsformen und politisch-militärische Wirkung (Munich, 1994), pp. 39-53; Stig Förster, "Militär und staatsbürgerliche Partizipation. Die allgemeine Wehrpflicht im Deutschen Kaiserreich 1871-1914", in ibid., pp. 55-70.
38. Heinz Stübig, "Die Wehrverfassung Preussens in der Reformzeit. Wehrpflicht im Spannungsfeld von Restauration und Revolution 1815-1860", in Roland G. Foerster (ed.), Die Wehrpflicht. Entstehung, Erscheinungsformen und politisch-militärische Wirkung (Munich, 1994), pp. 39-53; Stig Förster, "Militär und staatsbürgerliche Partizipation. Die allgemeine Wehrpflicht im Deutschen Kaiserreich 1871-1914", in ibid., pp. 55-70.
39. See for examples in the Netherlands: Alex Barten and Frans Kraan, Stelligen Onwil. Dienstweigering tijdens de Belgische Opstand (Amsterdam, 1996).
40. Erik Jan Zürcher, "Little Mehmet in the Desert. The Ottoman Soldier's Experience", in Hugh Cecil and Peter Liddle (eds), Facing Armageddon. The First World War Experienced (London, 1996), pp. 230-241.
41. Outside the Anglo-Saxon world, where breach of contract still fell under criminal law until very late (in Britain until 1875-1877), in most European countries labour contracts (except for sailors) fell under civil law. This is an important distinction between military and civilian jobs.
42. Jaap R. Bruijn, The Dutch Navy of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries (Columbia, SC, 1993). p. 206.
43. Marcus Rediker, Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Merchant Seamen, Pirates, and the Anglo-American Maritime World, 1700-1750 (Cambridge, 1987), p. 234;
44. D.L.M. Weijers, "'Dappert waterleeuwen versus schelmen': een muiterij in Perzische wateren, 1733", in Bruijn and van Eyct van Heslinga, Muiterij, pp. 44-57.
45. Leonard Smith, "The French High Command and the Mutinies of Spring 1917", in Cecil and Liddle, Facing Armageddon, pp. 79-92.
46. Erik Jan Zürcher, "Between Death and Desertion. The Experience of the Ottoman Soldier in World War I", Turnica, 28 (1996), pp. 235-258.
47. See Donald Quataert, Social Disintegration and Popular Resistance in the Ottoman Empire, 1881-1908 (New York, 1983).
48. Kolchin, Unfree Labor, pp. 282-283.