RG 2898: Military Cultures of Violence - Illegitimate Military Violence from the Early Modern Period to the Second World War

The temporal spectrum of the second project phase again covers the epochs of major interstate conflicts from the late seventeenth century to the end of the Second World War. As promising as the results of the first project phase are, they still need to be refined, deepened and expanded in order to be able to describe in a differentiated way the emergence, changes and mechanisms of military cultures of violence. The research group has therefore decided to continue working historically and to carry out further studies in the same research periods in order to refine and consolidate the findings of the first funding phase through new results and targeted comparisons. The armed forces of the major European powers continue to take centre stage. However, the focus is broadened beyond this core. The analysis of the culture of violence of the young Polish armed forces, the U.S. Army in the age of the World Wars and the violent space of Spain in the Carlist Wars sharpens our understanding of the genesis of military cultures of violence and their history of interdependence. The approach here is based on the first funding phase: we will demonstrate how political and social negotiation processes and the organisational culture of the armed forces shape a culture of violence. A multi-perspective set of instruments will be employed, which includes approaches from political, military and legal history as well as perspectives from the history of emotions, religion and gender. Three ‘arenas’ of violence are examined: 1. the battlefield with violence against (potential) prisoners, 2. the area of occupation with violence against non-combatants, and 3. a new focus is on violence against property (looting, destruction of cultural assets and civilian infrastructure), which could occur both at the front and in the hinterland. The sub-projects are designed in such a way that they are often interlinked. The question of the extent to which the looting and devastation of civilian infrastructure and the targeted destruction of cultural assets shaped a culture of violence will be examined in depth. The role of the public is also strongly emphasised in all projects. The case studies of the second funding phase have been selected in such a way that they deal equally with the discourse and the military practice of violence.