In Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century: Far from Jihad, Xavier Bougarel, Raphaëlle Branche and Cloé Drieu offer a collection attending to the everyday experiences and practices of the Muslim combatants who fought in the ranks of various European armies, but have hitherto been neglected in many existing historical studies. The book’s non-Anglocentric approach makes it essential reading for scholars looking to deepen their understanding of the world wars, writes Sneha Reddy

Reddy, Sneha

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2017-6-1Book Review: Combatants of Muslim Origin in EuropeanArmies in the Twentieth Century: Far from Jihad edited byXavier Bougarel, Raphaëlle Branche and Cloé Drieublogs.lse.ac.uk /lsereviewofbooks/2017/06/01/book-review-combatants-of-muslim-origin-in-european-armies-in-the-twentieth-century-far-from-jihad-by-xavier-bougarel-raphaelle-branche-and-cloe-drieu/In Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century: Far from Jihad , XavierBougarel, Raphaëlle Branche and Cloé Drieu offer a collection attending to the everyday experiences andpractices of the Muslim combatants who fought in the ranks of various European armies, but have hitherto beenneglected in many existing historical studies. The book’s non-Anglocentric approach makes it essential reading forscholars looking to deepen their understanding of the world wars, writes Sneha Reddy.Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies in the Twentieth Century: Far from Jihad . XavierBougarel, Raphaëlle Branche and Cloé Drieu (eds). Bloomsbury. 2017.Find this book: Rarely does an edited volume bring scholars with such wide-ranging expertisetogether to critically engage with a subject of popular debate and broaden thediscussion to this effect. Combatants of Muslim Origin in European Armies inthe Twentieth Century: Far from Jihad is a compilation of thirteen essays by adiverse group of contributors ranging from well-known historian Gilbert Meynierto early career researcher Julie Le Gac. Edited by Xavier Bougarel, RaphaëlleBranche and Cloé Drieu, the book explores the everyday experiences andpractices of soldiers of Muslim origin who served in the European armies duringthe two world wars.The book uses the term ‘Muslim’ in acknowledgement of the diverse geographicorigins of the combatants, the varying imperial frameworks and the ‘web oftribal, ethnic or regional identities’ to which the soldiers adhered. The subjects inquestion are combatants of Muslim origin, enrolled in non-Muslim majorityarmies, fighting in the two world wars when the overall numbers ‘reachedunparalleled heights’. The editors argue that before becoming an issue for thearmy, Islam was an issue for the political authorities. However, once thebelligerent European powers identified Islam as a ‘politically significant religiousidentity’, they set out to instrumentalise it for the purposes of war. The editors also point to the history of the twoworld wars as an example of imperial powers overestimating the strength of pan-Islamism and, hence, the relativeineffectiveness of ‘western attempts’.In a bid to understand the military commanders’ broader concerns and the role of religion in inspiring troop loyalty,the book’s contributors throw light on the contested perceptions and self-perceptions of the combatants as well as onthe institutional challenges to military integration and food-related logistics. For instance, Kiril Feferman’s chapter,‘Between ‘‘Non-Russian Nationalities’’ and Muslim Identity’, an analysis of Central Asian soldiers in the Red Army in1941-45, finds that although the soldiers came from various ethnic groups, they developed a coherent religiousidentity and this occurred in the absence of a significant rise in their own religious awareness. This case isparticularly interesting in the context of the Soviet Union, which was a non-Muslim country, facing Nazi Germany,another non-Muslim country, in the Second World War. Feferman explains that it appears quite logical when one1/3considers the extreme conditions and competing identities, the weakening of Bolshevik appeal, the influence of Nazipropaganda and the role played by the perceptions of their comrades-in-arms.Image Credit: Algerian Soldiers During World War I in France (Jules-Gervais Courtellemont,Wikipedia Public Domain)The book’s editors point out that while the ‘modes of institutionalisation of Islam’ have been well documented, thereligious practices of combatants are relatively less understood owing to the dearth of resources and, to a certainextent, a lack of interest among historians. In the chapter ‘Feeding Muslim Troops during the First World War’,Emmanuelle Cronier engages with interesting questions on food practices in the context of the global conflict, itsrole in enforcing discipline and invigorating morale among troops as well as its use in wartime narratives. Whilepaternalistic views were ‘mobilised to justify’ the special treatment of imperial troops through specific foodarrangements, officers were keen to demonstrate that colonial soldiers were treated the same way as the Frenchand British. These attempts were not always consistent. In one case, several postcards from 1914 showed localwomen from the Marne region serving champagne to Algerian and Senegalese troops ‘as if they did not have toabstain from alcohol’. Cronier finds it striking that such postcards went uncensored because not only were theyinconsistent with the official practice of alcohol prohibition, but also such depictions had the potential to arousetensions within the local communities. The chapter draws attention to the differing local traditions and religiouspractices that restrict scholars from making broad comparisons about the situations of Muslim soldiers. However, asthe author argues, these differences provide the scope to highlight variations in wartime experiences. This is in starkcontrast to the colonial representations which, in addition to being far from reality, tended to be vague about suchdifferences and primarily focused on the propagandistic value of the narratives.With the conspicuous absence of the soldiers’ own voices (barring a few testimonies) and perhaps too muchemphasis on administrative sources, it can be argued that this book about the ‘combatants’ treads narrow ground.Nonetheless, it is a uniquely inclusive work of scholarship in that it moves beyond the traditional focus of militaryhistory and uses a comparative framework to examine wartime experiences by studying different armies. TanjaBührer’s chapter, ‘Muslim Askaris in the Colonial Troops of German East Africa 1889-1918′, is one such example. Itdemonstrates that unlike in the French Army (which is discussed by Meynier, Cronier, Claire Miot and Le Gac),German military officials were ‘either indifferent to their soldiers’ religion or even welcomed that most of the Askariswere Muslim’ as they believed that religion had a positive influence on troop discipline. In a departure from thepredominant perception of threat from Islamic propaganda and its ability to undermine colonial rule as understoodby the British and French commanders, German officials felt that the conversion of Africans was not worrisome.2/3Instead, they believed that it was a nominal-pragmatic move rather than one based on ‘genuine-ideologicalconsiderations’. In turn, Bührer argues that Muslims’ motives for supporting German war efforts must be analysed asa continuity of the longstanding cooperation between the Muslims and German authorities in East Africa. Moreimportantly, the chapter points out that the call for Jihad in the First World War did not have a positive appeal to theprofessional mercenaries whose Muslim identities were of a ‘rather regional character’ that reflected a certain socio-cultural lifestyle more than a pan-Islamic ideology.Combatants of Muslim Origin effectively brings the experiences of non-western combatants in European armies tothe forefront and is therefore essential reading for both scholars of military history and international relations who arekeen to deepen their understanding of the world wars. In this regard, Meynier’s chapter on ‘Algerians in the FrenchArmy, 1914-1918’ is exceptional for the valuable insight it provides to the rarely discussed role of Algerian soldiers inWorld War I. For instance, he points out that the solidarity of the trenches created by fighting side-by-side was only a‘temporary form of fraternity in arms’. Following the end of the war, the veterans’ associations in Metropolitan Francewere ‘completely unaware of the colonial situation’ and were hardly inclined to champion any progressive policy inthis area.Far from Jihad is also valuable to researchers seeking works published in English that take a non-Anglocentricapproach to the world wars. It therefore adds to scholarship on related themes, such as Ian Almond’s Two Faiths,One Banner: When Muslims Marched with Christians (2009), which covers the period from eleventh-century Spainuntil the Crimean War of 1853-56, Nile Green’s Islam and the Army in Colonial India: Sepoy Religion in the Serviceof Empire (2009), which studies the particular case of the British Indian Army, and David Motadel’s more recentIslam and the European Empires (2014), an edited volume on the broader subject of Islam and its ‘accommodation’in the Russian, French, Dutch, British and Japanese empires. Specifically, on combatants of Muslim origin, RichardFogarty’s chapter on ‘Islam in the French Army’ in the book Race and War in France  (2008) is an excellent startingpoint.Historians have long lamented the impact of bureaucracy and related restrictions on scholars hoping to use officialarchives. This book’s contributors write of similar obstacles. Feferman, for example, regrets the limitations imposedon his research by a lack of access to the Glavnoe politischeskoe upravlenie (Main Directorate of State Security),which could potentially provide valuable details on the Red Army and the political administrations at a lower level buteven today remains closed to foreign researchers. It is worth noting, therefore, that future works—subject to greateraccess to archives, deeper interdisciplinary engagement and more creative means of exploring combatants’ wartimeexperiences—have the potential to further enrich this area of research.Sneha Reddy is a PhD Candidate at the School of International Relations in the University of St Andrews. Herresearch interests include military history, strategy and political violence. She is on twitter @sneha_tumu. Readmore by Sneha Reddy.Note: This review gives the views of the author, and not the position of the LSE Review of Books blog, or of theLondon School of Economics.   Copyright 2013 LSE Review of Books3/3

Book review: combatants of Muslim origin in European armies in the twentieth century: far from Jihad edited by Xavier Bougarel, Raphaëlle Branche and Cloé Drieu

Book review: combatants of Muslim origin in European armies in the twentieth century: far from Jihad edited by Xavier Bougarel, Raphaëlle Branche and Cloé Drieu

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