Contenu du sommaire : Valeurs et vertus

Ethics are concerned with the duties and virtues pertaining to each human state. The ethics of the warrior are determined by what defines that state, namely the risk of being killed and the right to kill. To put one's life in danger in the service of the common good is to sacrifice oneself to the point of heroism and with a sense of honour. Exercising the right to kill requires doing so without hatred, sparing non-combatants and respecting the humanity of the enemy.

Denounced by Mao Zedong, who regarded the “old society” with contempt, traditional values are now exploited by the Chinese regime to legitimise itself with the population, to fight any foreign influence, but also to reassure foreigners of its intentions. Beijing does not seem to implement a strategy based on values, contrary to what is claimed, but promotes values according to its strategy.

Modern armed jihad is a quest for the “salvation of humanity” through and for Islam. To this end, it applies virtues to support values that are often universal, but which are rendered exclusive to a community of believers or followers. This is true even in describing its as so-called terrorism, a term that jihadists boast of and which is in keeping with their “duty to terrorise the enemies of Allah”.

Why is moral action so often represented as an internal struggle? There is a link between war and virtue: to behave morally is to struggle against one's impulses, which requires courage. However, the soldier, more than anyone else, is not the only one to see his actions. The eyes of his brothers in arms, and sometimes even those of his enemies, remind him that war is not only a fight to the death, but also a sharing of humanity.

The epic does not have a monopoly on the evocation of war in ancient Greek poetry. Some elegiac poets of the late eighth and mid-seventh centuries BCE also place this subject at the core of their songs. But rather than celebrating heroes and recounting past battles, they call soldiers to action, never praising virtues such as courage or sacrifice for their own sake, but only insofar as they serve the public interest, the community, the city, the people.

The values and virtues of the Roman army were first and foremost those of an army born of a warlike, tenancy-based and aristocratic city. Military valour (virtus) and victory ensured prestige (honos) in the city. The empire reorganised this cultural framework in favour of the prince and his links to the soldiers, without abandoning the civic framework. Soldiers were expected to show courage (virtus), respect (pietas), loyalty (fides), competence (disciplina), obedience (obsequium) and effort (labor)). For the Roman soldier, the army was the place of civic integration and the affirmation of masculine valour. The Roman aristocracy also used values to show its dignity in the face of the prince and to deny soldiers a political role.

Over the last 20 years, the word and the notion of “values” have acquired a remarkable place in France, both in public discourse and in private conversations. The military has not been exempt from this enthusiasm for the word. Over the decades, much-vaunted “military values” have become increasingly popular to the point of invading public debate. Brandished as an emblem or as a solution to all the dysfunctions of society, the expression nevertheless calls for critical examination: while French society perceives itself as a society undergoing an acute crisis of cohesion and while the armed forces have re-established their place within it, it seems that this success is based on a persistent misunderstanding, the corollary of which is the absence of the word virtue in these same debates.

The European Union is at a crossroads: in the face of the health, social and economic crisis, it can either strengthen itself or fall apart and disappear. If it is to be equal to the challenges of the 21st century and,, to the expectations of the peoples of Europe, it must rediscover the courage of solidarity and redefine its in the light of the new challenges. Thus, this article identifies solidarity as a value and founding principle of the EU, and courage as the original virtue of European construction, which it is becoming urgent to remobilise.

The values of the Republic are enshrined in the first article of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (“Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”) and have been inscribed on the pediment of public buildings since 1880: liberty, equality, fraternity. Fundamentally, they enshrine human dignity. And because of their universal scope, they are not restricted to the history of France. To defend these values, the military cultivate virtues that guarantee their operational effectiveness.

War is too serious a matter to be left to people without values or virtues. To go into battle, one needs a predefined mental framework, which indicates roughly how things should happen and what role one should play. This mental framework is, however, in constant tension between the terrible necessities of the battlefield and the socio-cultural obligations of the “rear”, both of which are unstable. Harmonising all these sometimes contradictory needs is therefore most often a matter of chance and transience.

In 1906, on the grounds of conscience, honour and religion, some soldiers refused to carry out orders to ensure the proper conduct of the church inventories prescribed by the French law on the Separation of the Churches and the State; others, the majority, obeyed, invoking respect for discipline and duty. Let us examine how references to the notions of value and virtue can shed light on these different attitudes.

In January 2013, the Malian president asked France to intervene to protect his country from a jihadist attack that threatened Bamako. The Special Forces were engaged, followed by a brigade. The 5th RHC will be the rotary wing combat component. But who are these enemies? In the name of which values are they fighting? With which virtues? In what way are they different from those which motivate and are implemented by French soldiers? Testimony.

Three officers from the —a fighter and UAV pilot, an anti-submarine warfare specialist and an infantryman—have taken on the difficult exercise of drawing from their experiences the basic values and virtues that guide them or on which they rely. Their texts give three visions of what one must have within oneself to act in a given domain. Everything is focused on the action to be accomplished. So much so that “excellence”, “team spirit” or “brotherhood of arms” seem to progress from the status of virtues to that of collective values, in the service of a higher ethic. The soldier accepts the service of this higher ethic and therefore elevates his practical virtues, those he acquires and then embodies on a daily basis, to the rank of real values to be shared.

The initial training of leaders reveals much more than a technical method of preparation for the first job. The institution also expresses its profound nature, the meaning of its social function and the political framework for the use of legitimate force. Beyond the practical aspects of the profession, this initial training also lays down the ethical foundations of the profession—in different forms depending on the level. The values that bind units together, motivate and justify the engagement, are juxtaposed with the military virtues that set the framework for the modalities of engagement. The Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan Military Academy and the Saint-Maixent National School for active Non-Commissioned Officers (NCOs) reveal how the French Army integrates this dimension into its training programmes.

In choosing the famous motto for his reign in 1662, Louis XIV expressed a true political philosophy: a system of virtues and values coherent with the science of ruling. A “sun king” as well as a “providence king”, he allowed ethical concepts to enter the political field. In doing so, he proclaimed his willingness to be as committed to the State as to God, and confirmed the irreversible process of secularisation of politics. He thus proved to be one of the most decisive modernisers in our history.

During the inter-war period, de Gaulle theorised the question of the link between thought and action, before putting it into practice, from the rallying call of 1940 to the twilight of 1969, and drawing lessons from it, in the form of a true political testament that is among the most remarkable of all. So how is the decision conceived? What is the driving force that leads from the comprehension of a problem to its solution? What are De Gaulle's particular qualities in action? How does military leadership influence political leadership? It is by this means, and through a few examples, that we understand the link between values (how to comprehend a problem and what strategy to solve it?) and virtues (what qualities to mobilise?).

Nietzsche's genealogy method looks at war from the point of view of the impulses it mobilises. In this sense, it is an ordeal for the type of man who goes to war. This is why a careful and rigorous reading of his work, which goes beyond its Nazi misrepresentation, should lead us to reflect on the way in which war, if we know how to choose it, creates values and implies the exercise and appropriation of certain virtues.

The fact that the became the docile instrument of the war of annihilation waged in the East calls into question the foundations of its “values” and “virtues”. The old legacies actually paved the way for the radical application of Nazi ideology. Corruption and honours facilitated compliance. The spectre of defeat finally led to the ultimate disavowals with the explosion of coercive violence and the institutionalisation of deceit to cover up acts of disobedience.

Virtue brings soul and action into line. Value is a force driving mind and action together. Misfortune results from the disproportion between these two polarities. Major extravagances therefore emerge. Balance is mandatory.

Historical research today is not immune to the phenomenon of digital transformation. The possibilities offered by the digital humanities are revolutionising the methods and practices of historians. This article looks at this transformation by presenting several concrete cases of the creation, exploitation, enhancement and sharing of data sets related to military history.

By placing hearing at the centre of the senses mobilised in modern combat, we assert that the battlefield is first and foremost a sound field that influences the bodies of combatants and engages auditory sensitivity ahead of any other sensory mobilisation. It is therefore appropriate to question the importance of auditory perception in the “physicality” of warfare.

The values of the Republic are enshrined in the first article of the 1789 Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (“Men are born and remain free and equal in rights”) and have been inscribed on the pediment of public buildings since 1880: liberty, equality, fraternity. Fundamentally, they enshrine human dignity. And because of their universal scope, they are not restricted to the history of France. To defend these values, the military cultivate virtues that guarantee their operational effectiveness.

During the inter-war period, de Gaulle theorised the question of the link between thought and action, before putting it into practice, from the rallying call of 1940 to the twilight of 1969, and drawing lessons from it, in the form of a true political testament that is among the most remarkable of all. So how is the decision conceived? What is the driving force that leads from the comprehension of a problem to its solution? What are De Gaulle's particular qualities in action? How does military leadership influence political leadership? It is by this means, and through a few examples, that we understand the link between values (how to comprehend a problem and what strategy to solve it?) and virtues (what qualities to mobilise?).