Military Cultures in Eastern Europe: A Reflection of Historical Memory.

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel starts from the assumption that military cultures, i.e. patterns of habitus and behavior as well as social interaction in military organizations, leadership styles as well as combat doctrines and ways of tactical and strategic thinking are not only the result of purposeful analysis or of the common experience of combat, but also of the influence of (national) historical narratives as well as real and imagined memories of war. Based on these considerations, the panel plans to approach the question whether and how East European experiences and memories of war and combat in combination with narratives of national identity have shaped cultures of the military in different regions of Eastern Europe. The panel will discuss this field of study from the perspective of case studies, i.e. “regular” armies, such as the Tsarist Russian Army and the Red Army, as well as “irregular” – paramilitary – and revolutionary fighting forces, concretely the “Inner Macedonian Revolutionary Organization”. This approach includes the perspectives of outside observers and internal discourses. Ultimately, the panel will raise the question, whether and how common experiences and historical backgrounds, such as imperialistic warfare versus national and revolutionary struggles, have created common East European patterns of military culture.

Sub Unit

• History: 1900-1945

Chair

• Benedict Edward DeDominicis, Catholic U of Korea (South Korea)

Papers

• The 'Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization': The Culture of a 'Non-Governmental' Fighting Force and its Relationship with Bulgarian Power Elites. - Markus Wien, American U Bulgaria (Bulgaria)

• German Perceptions of Military Culture in Tsarist Russia - Luisa Eckert, Bundeswehr Centre of Military History and Social Sciences (Germany)

Discussant

• Benedict Edward DeDominicis, Catholic U of Korea (South Korea)