From Total to Minimal Transformation: German Oaths of Loyalty 1871-2014
2016 (English)In: Transforming Warriors: The Ritual Organization of Military Force / [ed] Peter Haldén och Peter Jackson, London: Routledge, 2016, p. 163-182Chapter in book (Refereed)
Abstract [en]
This chapter studies how three successive German societies constructed the boundary between peace and war: The German Empire (1871-1918), Nazi German (1933-45), and the Federal Republic of Germany (1949 –present). In each case the ritual of taking an oath of allegiance was central act, both collective and individual, in making an individual into a warrior. Oaths of allegiance have been a standard instrument in creating individual warriors and groups of warriors since at least antiquity. They are powerful tools of governmentality since they are means of controlling the conscience of a subject and linking personal salvation to compliance. In the Imperial and the Nazi period, taking the oath was considered a binding deed that transformed the individual and commanded his loyalty.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
London: Routledge, 2016. p. 163-182
Keywords [en]
Modernity, German History, Military Sociology, Rituals, Oaths, Bundeswehr, Wehrmacht, SS
Keywords [de]
Modernität, Bundeswehr, Wehrmacht, Deutsches Heer, SS, Fahneneid
National Category
Sociology
Research subject
Krigsvetenskap
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:fhs:diva-6485Libris ID: 19478682ISBN: 9781138642836 (print)OAI: oai:DiVA.org:fhs-6485DiVA, id: diva2:1064040
2017-01-112017-01-112017-01-13Bibliographically approved