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In the 17th and 18th centuries, hundreds of thousands of Swedish men went to war, and a large part of them died. How did you get them to expose themselves to the nature of life-threatening struggle? A new book turns the old truths around.
Being a soldier in the 17th and 18th centuries carried a very high risk of being killed. During the periods, on average, only one in ten men returned to the field unscathed. Still, the state power managed to find new soldiers the entire time, and most of them even remained on duty without trying to defect. How was that possible?
An image that has long dominated indicates that this was forced recruitment, and that the soldiers were controlled by brutal discipline. Soldiers could often be more afraid of their own officers than of enemy bullets, it has been called. But that picture is not entirely correct, writes productive Defense University professor Lars Ericson Wolke in his new book, “The Reality of Battle. Death on the Battlefield in Swedish History 1563-1814.”
to get started he says that those who became soldiers during this period, when Sweden as a nation was involved in more than 30 different wars, generally did not belong to the lower strata of society, which was previously often assumed. Rather, they were people who often chose to become free will soldiers. The salary was something that attracted, but also the status that the life of a soldier brought, with an aura of adventure and masculinity.
Constant wars were declared to be God’s will, particularly his way of punishing man for his sins.
When it came to practically preparing soldiers for the brutal reality of battle, drills and drills formed the basis. Officers were also expected to set a good example by exposing themselves to the same dangers as civilian soldiers. Added to this was a culture that focused on the importance of each soldier fighting for his own glory and being brave and masculine.
Furthermore, the field priests sought to comfort and strengthen the soldiers with the idea that God was watching over them. Constant wars were declared to be God’s will, particularly his way of punishing man for his sins. That thought also had the advantage that it was not worth complaining about the outbreak of war or, for example, accusing a king devastated by war.
Then it was the battle itself They wanted to tell the soldiers that only God could decide who would live and who would die, and that therefore it was better to think no more. How many who really let themselves be comforted is unclear. For example, the Swedish army threatened to severely punish those soldiers who blasphemed God or did not take service seriously, suggesting that such unbelief should have been relatively common.
Probably more important than divine belief was peer pressure, writes Lars Ericson Wolke at last. This, in turn, reflects an experience that still applies today: loyalty to comrades-in-arms is often what soldiers themselves claim to be the main reason they can continue to fight. When it came to the Swedish army in the past, it was made up of companies where all the men came from the same geographic area, which meant that the soldiers often knew each other well. This community was seen as crucial in keeping the bandages together and in preparing individual soldiers to risk their lives.
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