Mapping the Terror: The Paris Revolutionary Tribunal and the Development of a National System of ‚Revolutionary Justice‘ in France, 1793-94
This article draws on extensive research in the Paris Revolutionary Tribunal archives in order to explore the relationship between local and national political, administrative and legal structures in the implementation of ‘revolutionary justice’ during the Terror in the French Revolution. It highlights the extent to which the Paris Tribunal relied on preliminary investigations in the provinces – at the administrative levels of department, district and commune – for both information regarding counter-revolutionary activity and a substantial proportion of its caseload. In so doing, this article offers a reassessment of Donald Greer’s seminal work on the geographical incidence of the Terror, and challenges the stereotype of the Terror as a web of secret denunciation, private investigation and summary injustice. Furthermore, it concludes that a national perspective is vital to any analysis of the work of the Paris Tribunal itself, with the wider system of revolutionary justice regularly impacting on investigations, prosecutions and judgements in the capital.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/44/1/5?rss=1
‚At Least So Long As We Are Talking About Marching, the Inferior Is Not the Black, It’s the White‘: Italian Debate over the Use of Indigenous Troops in the Scramble for Africa
Like other nineteenth-century colonizers, Italy recruited, trained and deployed indigenous troops. These troops represented Italian colonial power, but their use evoked comparisons with Italian soldiers: which were better? A debate over their relative merits occurred in public print between 1885, when metropole troops first seized territory on Africa’s Red Sea coast, and 1891, by which time indigenous troops constituted the majority of Italy’s colonial force and had been incorporated into the royal army. The questions debated were as much cultural and economic as military. This article traces the debate, which revealed not only metropole power but also its limitations and vulnerabilities, thus illustrating colonialism’s ‘long arms and weak fingers’ (Frederick Cooper). The debate centered on four points: first, the considerable difficulties faced by Italian troops in Africa because of the torrid climate and the mass of equipment and supplies – including ice – necessary for their support; second, the cost of such imported troops; third, the greater mobility and lower cost of indigenous troops; and last, questions about the trustworthiness of indigenous troops in combat against other ‘indigeni’. By the end of 1891, public debate recognized that Italy had little choice but to rely on indigenous units for most colonial military and police functions. Contrary to claims of ‘Italianization’, indigenous soldiers were valuable to Italy precisely for certain of their ‘African’ qualities. After a few years of quiescence, the catastrophic 1896 Italian defeat at Adua (‘Adowa’, ‘Adwa’) reawakened debate over indigenous troops, but they emerged unscathed by attempts to scapegoat them. Italy continued to rely heavily on indigenous troops.
Quelle: http://ehq.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/44/1/33?rss=1