CRI386H1 Lecture : CRI386 Impact of Military and Voluntary Service on Crime University of Toronto notes
University of Toronto
CRI386
Military and Voluntary Service & Crime
Introduction
● Broad periods of history we have been identifying → connecting these to miltiary issues
● Will not try to link this to religious we addressed last week, but it does pop up
● Gov’t tried insisting that going to Christian-only ecumenical chaplains was the “army
model” → says something about how military is currently seen in relation to criminals
● Key persistent issue → whether military service channels & disciplines young men’s
aggression & need for adventure, result in less crime
● Or whether aggression is encouraged
● Linked to this → whether it is a good idea for every man (or everyone) to experience
military service
● Question of who & how much of population should serve militarily is an age old
one, basic to human societies
● As we look at history → will see these themes pop up
● Does military training & service produce rough or polished individuals?
● In what sense does the military represent the people or stand over against it?
● Represent community vs being arm of gov’t that represses community
● How much of the population should be involved, and how should their
involvement be organized?
● How is the relationship btw “officers” and “men” conceptualized & organized?
● Officers (those who lead) or men (general soldiers)
● Traditionally → primary vehicles of class distinction in society
● Officers → not drawn from same classes as the “men”
● Historically important source of deep class division
Military History
● Previous class, starting 1000 years ago
● When operations of state become centralized under monarch in Britain & some
other parts of Europe (France/Spain)
● Involved chain of relations of lordship & vassalage → overlordship & lordship
● King as overlord, lower lords below
● Overlord receives wealth & promise of military assistance (particular # of
men & arms) in return for protection
● These military units consisted of knights (cavalry/chivalry) & men-at-arms
● Knights → horseback, minor nobles
● Cavalry
● Men at arms → simpler weapons
● Infantry
● Trained
● In some circumstances of defence → other men might be called to fight w/ crude
weapons
● Not trained men → in times of need, just pulled off the fields
● System grown out of less formal military systems where wider population also
used in defence
● This “professionalization” had occurred before
● Citizen military vs separate professional military
● Greek holites & early Roman military → citizen militias
● Note → highly disciplined & trained
● Eventually later Roman military was essential feudal → subject states providing
military support
● Cavalry & infantry relating to classes
● Then the use of foreign mercenaries, not at all fighting w/ Roman discipline, but
often acquiring it
● All this collapses but cycle reemerges → feudal relations, emerging from struggles btw
warlords & warrior bands, involve disciplined professional military
● Warfare involves knights & men-at-arms → cavalry & infantry
● Reflects roman military organization itself
● Code of chivalry emerges → links martial prowess & courage of knighthood w/ ideals of
spiritual & secular virtue
● Something like code of samurai, connected to Christian theology
● The Crusades → about 1,100 CE, for 100 years (limping on or 200)
● Closely entwined w/ European chivalry → although crusaders could be brutal to
civilians & prisoners, engaged in plunder
● Participation in Crusades modelled as act of religious devotion → Popes granted
absolution for past sins to those willing to go on Crusade
● Can write off criminality through military service
● Prefiguring ideas of miltiary service substituting for punishment
● During & after the Crusades → what is now Britain & France locked in frequent warfare
● Various kings & princes fought for hereditary rights to rule parts of France →
many English kings asserted these rights
● Follows 1066 Franco-Norman invasion of Britain w/ Norman claim to the
English throne
● At some points → English forces temporarily very successful
● Becoming part of English mythology
● Crucially, success came from men-at-arms rather than knights
● Esp at Agincourt (1415, October 25, St. Crispin’s day)
● The “flower of French chivalry” cut down by English and Welsh longbowmen →
using longbow took huge skill & strength
● Legal requirements for men to practice
● The elite of france being destroyed by english men at arms
● Writing c1599, Shakespeare gives Henry V a famous speech where he contrasts these
soldiers w/ sins absolved by war, w/ gentlement at home
● Inherent nobility & “enoblement” through sacrifice of ordinary English & Welsh
soldiers → part of profound English mythology
● No record of anything king actually said → perhaps says more about
Shakespeare’s time
● “This story shall the good man teach his son;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered -
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brotherl be he ne’er so vile
This day shall gentle his conditional
And gentlement in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves occurs’d they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.”
● Articulation of idea that military activity turns ordinary english & welsh soldiers
into brothers of king/prince → miltiary service rises them above social superiors
who didn’t go and fight
● By this time, European warfare increasingly fought w/ mercenary armies → professional
soldiers who knew what they were doing
● But also hard to control & frequently changed sides for money
● By time of Renaissance (Machiavelli) → this was the norm, esp in Italy
● In terms of battlefield discipline → Swiss mercenary men-at-arms were esp famed &
feared
● Fighting as pikemen in close formation
● English Renaissance, starting under Henry VIII in mid 16th c → beginning of Britain’s
rise to international military preeminence, w/ an established Navy
● Britain establishing navy that becomes most powerful navy in world
● Also time of European interdenominational war after the Reformation
● Henry’s daughter, Elizabeth I → responsible for guiding Britain somewhat away from
interreligious strife (it would return)
● Defended Britain as growing Protestant power rivalling Catholic French &
Spanish
● Deep political & religious conflict
● In 1588 (Shakespeare’s time, Henry V speech) → threatened Spanish-led invasion
● See reliance on Britain’s navy & coming together of land-based miltiary units &
subjects prepared for battle
● Famous speech by Elizabeth I under threat of “Spanish Armada”
Document Summary
Broad periods of history we have been identifying connecting these to miltiary issues. Will not try to link this to religious we addressed last week, but it does pop up. Gov"t tried insisting that going to christian-only ecumenical chaplains was the army model says something about how military is currently seen in relation to criminals. Key persistent issue whether military service channels & disciplines young men"s aggression & need for adventure, result in less crime. Linked to this whether it is a good idea for every man (or everyone) to experience military service. Question of who & how much of population should serve militarily is an age old one, basic to human societies. As we look at history will see these themes pop up. Represent community vs being arm of gov"t that represses community. Officers (those who lead) or men (general soldiers) Traditionally primary vehicles of class distinction in society. Officers not drawn from same classes as the men .
