Fighting for a Living: A Comparative Study of Military Labour 1500-2000 (Work around the Globe: Historical Comparisons)

Though fighting is clearly hard work, historians have not paid much attention to warfare and military service as forms of labor. This collection does just that, bringing together the usually disparate fields of military and labor history. The contributors—including Robert Johnson, Frank Tallett, and Gilles Veinstein—undertake the first systematic comparative analysis of military labor across Europe, Africa, America, the Middle East, and Asia. In doing so, they explore the circumstances that have produced starkly different systems of recruiting and employing soldiers in different parts of the globe over the last five hundred years. Contents 8 Preface 10 Introduction: Understanding changes in military recruitment and employment worldwide / Erik-Jan Zurcher 12 Military labor in China, c. 1500 / David M. Robinson 44 From the mamluks to the mansabdars: A social history of military services in South Asia, c. 1500 to c. 1650 / Kaushik Roy 82 On the Ottoman janissaries (fourteenth-nineteenth centuries) / Gilles Veinstein 116 Soldiers in Western Europe, c. 1500-1790 / Frank Tallett 136 The Scottish mercenary as a migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650 / James Miller 170 Change and continuity in mercenary armies: Central Europe, 1650-1750 / Michael Sikora 202 Peasants fighting for a living in early modern North India / Dirk H. A. Kolff 244 “True to their salt” : Mechanisms for recruiting and managing military labour in the army of the East India Company during the Carnatic Wars in India / Robert Johnson 268 “The scum of every county, the refuse of mankind” : Recruiting the British Army in the eighteenth century / Peter Way 292 Mobilization of warrior populations in the Ottoman context, 1750-1850 / Virginia H. Aksan 332 Military employment in Qing dynasty China / Christine Moll-Murata and Ulrich Theobald 354 Military service and the Russian social order, 1649-1861 / Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter 394 The French army, 1789-1914: Volunteers, pressed soldiers, and conscripts / Thomas Hippler 420 The Dutch army in transition: From all-volunteer force to cadre-militia army, 1795 - 1830 / Herman Amersfoort 448 The draft and draftees in Italy, 1861-1914 / Marco Rovinello 480 Nation-building, war experiences, and European models: The rejection of conscription in Britain / Jorn Leonhard 520 Mobilizing military labor in the age of total war: Ottoman conscription before and during the Great War / Mehmet Besikci 548 Soldiering as work: The all-volunteer force in the United States / Beth Bailey 582 Private contractors in war from the 1990s to the present: A review essay / S. Yelda Kaya 614 Collective bibliography 640 Notes on Contributors 688 Content: 1. Introduction: Understanding changes in military recruitment and employment worldwide[-]Erik-Jan Z rcher[-]2. Military labour in China, circa 1500[-]David M. Robinson[-]3. From Mamluks to Mansabdars: a social history of military service in South Asia, circa 1500 to circa 1650[-]Kaushik Roy[-]4. On the Ottoman Janissaries*[-]Gilles Veinstein[-]5. Soldiers in Western Europe, circa 1500-1790[-]Frank Tallett[-]6. The Scottish mercenary as migrant labourer in Europe, 1550-1650[-]James Miller[-]7. Change and continuity in mercenary armies: Central Europe, 1650-1750[-]Michael Sikora[-]8. Peasants fighting for a living in early modern North India[-]Dirk Kolff[-]9. -True to their salt : Mechansims for recruiting and managing military labour in the army of the East India Company during the Carnatic Wars in India[-]Robert Johnson[-]10. The scum of every country, the refuse of mankind: recruiting the British Army in the eighteenth century[-]Peter Way[-]11. Mobilization of warrior populations in the Ottoman context, 1750-1850[-]Virginia H. Aksan[-]12. Military employment in Qing dynasty China[-]Christine Moll-Murata and Ulrich Theobald[-]13. Military service and the Russian social order, 1649-1861[-]Elise Kimerling Wirtschafter[-]14. The French army 1789-1914: Volunteers, pressed soldiers and conscripts[-]Thomas Hippler[-]15. The Dutch army in transition: from an all-volunteer force to a cadre-militia army, 1795-1830[-]Herman Amersfoort[-]16. Draft and draftees in Italy, 1861-1914[-]Marco Rovinello[-]17. Italian colonial troops in East Africa[-]Uoldelul Chelati Dirar[-]18. Nation building, war experiences and European models: the rejection of conscription in Britain[-]J rn Leonhard[-]19. Mobilizing military labour in the age of total war: Ottoman conscription before and during the Great war[-]Mehmet Besik i[-]20. Soldiering as work: the all-volunteer force in the United States of America[-]Beth Bailey[-]21. Private contractors from the nineteen nineties to the present. A review essay[-]Yelda Kaya Fighting for a Living investigates the circumstances that have produced starkly different systems of recruiting and employing soldiers in different parts of the globe over the last 500 years. It does so on the basis of a wide range of case studies taken from Europe, Africa, America, the Middle East and Asia. The novelty of "Fighting for a Living" is that it is not military history in the traditional sense (concentrating at wars and battles or on military technology) but that it looks at military service and warfare as forms of labour, and at the soldiers as workers. Military employment offers excellent opportunities for this kind of international comparison. Where many forms of human activity are restricted by the conditions of nature or the stage of development of a given society, organized violence is ubiquitous. Soldiers, in one form or another, are always part of the picture, in any period and in every region. Nevertheless, Fighting for a Living is the first study to undertake a systematic comparative analysis of military labour. It therefore speaks to two distinct, and normally quite separate, communities: that of labour historians and that of military historians. This title was made Open Access by libraries from around the world through Knowledge Unlatched.--Provided by publisher "Fighting for a living investigates the circumstances that have produced starkly different systems of recruiting and employing soldiers in different parts of the globe, over the last 500 years. Offering a wide range of case studies taken from Europe, America, the Middle East and Asia, this volume is not military history in the traditional sense, but looks at military service and warfare as forms of labour, and at soldiers as workers. Military employment offers excellent opportunities for international comparison: armies as a form of organized violence are ubiquitous, and soldiers, in one form or another, are always part of the picture, in any period and in every region. Fighting for a living is the first study to undertake a systematic comparative analysis of military labour. It therefore will be of interest to both labour historians and military historians, as well as to sociologists, political scientists, and other social scientists"--Page 4 of cover The military, in one form or another, are always part of the picture. This unique and compelling study investigates the circumstances that have produced starkly different systems of recruiting and employing soldiers in different parts of the globe over the last 500 years, on the basis of case studies from Europe, Africa, America, the Middle East and Asia. The authors, including Robert Johnson, Frank Tallett and Gilles Weinstein, conduct an international comparison of military service and warfare as forms of labour, and the soldiers as workers. This is the first study to undertake a systematic comparative analysis of military labour, addressing two distinct, and normally quite separate, communities: labour historians and military historians. Bron: Flaptekst, uitgeversinformatie

A richly illustrated and comprehensive discussion of all the explicit pictorial references in Nabokov's oeuvre and their bearing on the major themes in his novels