The Descents of Military Violence against Civilians: a history of the present

Abstract

Inspired by the works of Michel Foucault and Erling Sandmo, this article explores contemporary discourses of military violence against civilians from a genealogical perspective. The purpose is to shed light on the historicity of certain structures of knowledge, thoughts, politics and ethics that are fundamental for the ways in which military violence against civilians is put into words, interpreted and explained in various situations and contexts today. My main argument is that the descents of Swedish contemporary discourse on military violence against civilians can be traced back to epistemological and politico-legal conflicts in the 17th century.

Keywords:

• violence
• military
• civilians
• genealogy
• epistemology
• discourse

Notes

1 See, for example, Ignatieff, The Warrior’s Honor; Blok, ‘The Narcissism of Minor Differences’; Münkler, De nya krigen; Syse, Rättfärdigt krig; Kaldor, New and Old Wars; Farrell, The Norms of War; Kinsella and Carr, The Morality of War; and Evans, ‘Foucault’s Legacy’.

2 For a similar perspective on ‘violence’, see, for example, Sandmo, Voldssamfunnets undergang; and Blok, ‘The Meaning of Senseless Violence’. For a discussion of the historical distinctions between ‘the military’ and ‘civilians’, see Münkler, De nya krigen; and Sjöberg, ‘Hur det civila blev kvinnligt’, 131–50.

3 Sandmo, ‘Just Past’, 116.

4 Ibid.

5 Ibid.

6 Ibid., 117.

7 Ibid.

8 Rüsen, History, 190–1.

9 ICRC. The Geneva Convention, 35–6.

10 See also Collstedt, Våldets väsen. For a similar perspective, however focusing on social and interpersonal violence, see Sandmo, Voldsamfunnets undergang.

11 See, for example, Johnson, Ideology; and Brieskorn, Suche nach Frieden.

12 Collstedt, Våldets väsen.

13 Meumann and Niefanger, Ein Schauplatz herber Angst; Ruff, Violence in Early Modern Europe; Sandmo, ‘Volden i hvitøjet’; Ulbrich, Jarzebowski, and Hohkamp, Gewalt in der Frühen Neuzeit; Österberg, ‘Krigens moral och fredens lycka’; Meumann and Rogger, Die besetzte ‘res public’; Lorenz, Das Rad der Gewalt; Collstedt, ‘Kyrkoherden och krigskrönikören’; and Collstedt, Våldets väsen.

14 See, for instance, Sandmo, ‘Volden i hvitøjet’, 228–31.

15 Sandmo, ‘Just Past’, 115.

16 Ibid.

17 Foucault, Tingenes orden; Eco, ‘Denotations’, 43–71; Laqueur, Making Sex; Shapin, Den vetenskapliga revolutionen; and Sandmo, Voldsamfunnets undergang.

18 Foucault, Tingenes orden; Laqueur, Making Sex; Shapin, Den vetenskapliga revolutionen; and Sandmo, Voldsamfunnets undergang.

19 Schmedeman, Kongl. stadgar, 25.

20 Ibid., 26.

21 For the general legal development in Europe, see for instance, Anners, Den europeiska rättens historia. For an important study of the learned judicial discourse in early modern Sweden, see Lindberg, Poena et poenae. For studies of the development of Swedish military justice in the early modern period, see Modéer, Generalauditörer och militiefiskaler; and Modéer, ‘Karolinernas jurister’.

22 Schmedeman, Kongl. stadgar, 192–216.

23 Ibid., 809–10.

24 Ibid., 815–16.

25 Ibid., 816.

26 Ibid., 25.

27 Münkler, De nya krigen, 72.

28 Schmedeman, Kongl. stadgar, 206–8.

29 See, for instance, Anners, Den europeiska rättens historia, 21.

30 See also Johnson, Ideology.

31 Sörlin, Världens ordning, 279–80. See also Lindroth, Svensk lärdomshistoria, 361–2.

32 Johnson, Ideology, 226–32.

33 Ibid.; Collstedt, Våldets väsen, 87–9.

34 Johnson, Ideology, 226–32; Lindroth, Svensk lärdomshistoria, 279–80; and Sörlin, Världens ordning, 279–80.

35 Johnson, Ideology, 226–32.

36 Schmedeman, Kongl. stadgar, 208.

37 Ibid., 206.

38 Ibid., 818.

39 See, for example, General Governor Stenbock and Banér’s official reports about their duties in Scania and Blekinge during the periods 1658–1662 and 1662–1668 respectively. For Stenbock’s accounts on how he handled solders’ violence against the civilian population, see ‘General-Guvernören öfver Skåne’, 325, 327–8, 364–5, 389. For Banér’s accounts on how he handled the same kind of violence, see Banér, Gustaf Banérs Generalguvernörsberättelse, 43, 124. In around 1660, several cases of murder, manslaughter, assaults and looting were handled by the Court Martial in Scania and Blekinge. See, for example, The Regional Archives (Landsarkivet i Lund LLA), Skånska generalguvernementskansliets arkiv (GGK). DIII ba:1, 1658, exact date unknown; GGK DIII ba:1, 1658-05-23; GGK DIII ba:1, 1658-12-17; GGK DIII ba:1, 1659-02-21; GGK DIII ba:1; 1659-04-15; GGK DIII ba:1, 1659-09-30; GGK DIII ba:1, 1660-01-26; GGK DIII ba:1.

40 LLA. GGK DIII ba:1, 1658-05-23.

41 LLA. GGK DIII ba:1, 1658-05-23.

42 LLA. GGK DIII ba:1, 1658-05-23.

43 LLA. GGK DIII ba:1, 1658-05-23.

44 For a similar perspective, see Sandmo, ‘Volden i hvitøjet’, 228–31.

45 See, for example, LLA. GGK DIII ma:1, 1658-12-11.

46 LLA. GGK DIII ba:1, ‘The verdict’, 1658-05-23.

47 LLA. GGK DIII ba:1, ‘The verdict’, 1658-05-23.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Christopher Collstedt

Christopher Collstedt, PhD, Department of History Lund University, Sweden. Published books include Duellanten och rättvisan. Duellbrott och synen på manlighet i stormaktstidens Sverige (diss., Lund, 2007) and Våldets väsen. Synen på militärers våld mot civilbefolkning i 1600-talets Sverige, (Lund, 2012).