Contenu du sommaire : Combattants irréguliers

Both historical representations and legal traditions have helped to shape the image of unlawful fighters according to what they are not. The history of the opposing categories of regular and irregular combatants reveals how these two are fundamentally connected, which consequently means that we must exercise caution when it comes to the words we use to describe or question such classifications. In order to study irregular combatants, this article adopts a grassroots approach, leaving predominant norms aside. It focuses on the motives, recruitment procedures and internal operations of unlawful combatant groups, as well as how they interact with their environment. From this perspective, the article highlights the importance of irregular combatants' relationships with civilians and forces us to reconsider their use of arms and the acts of violence they commit.

This article examines piracy in the Tonkin region of Indochina in the late 19th century, as seen through the eyes of the French military. It first considers the limitations of using the sources provided by an imperial agent in an in-depth study of privacy, and then looks at the transformations and continuities that existed in the world of banditry before and after the arrival of the French. It then focuses on the composition of pirate groups, as well as their activities and modes of action. Finally, this article examines the role played by confrontation and negotiation with regard to the demise of this form of opposition to French rule.

The article looks at the history of paramilitary violence after the First World War in Germany and the Baltic states. By using a quantitative approach, the article sheds new light on the social structure of three German Freikorps, information which calls into question how these paramilitary forces have traditionally been understood. It describes the emergence and the operations of the Freikorps during the 1918-1919 revolution, their daily routines and the violent behaviour of their members. It is argued that common explanations for postwar violence, such as George L. Mosse's theory of brutalization, or the argument that a generation of young men were radicalized because they had not experienced the front, are not sufficient to fully account for the German Freikorps.

Atamans were warlords who increased in number in Ukraine during the Civil War that followed the 1917 revolution. At the helm of armed groups of peasant insurgents, they profoundly weakened State power and authority. This article takes a ground-up approach to analysing the modalities of ataman action in this long-standing irregular war and examines the political dimension of their struggles. Distancing themselves from the major political parties, atamans nevertheless tried to significantly reform the Ukrainian countryside. The article assesses the systematic anti-Semitic dimension of their actions: constant looting and violence against the Jewish population was both a means to provide these armed groups with supplies and a political position.

In the former Palestine mandate territory, conflict between the Jewish communities known as the Yishuv and the British Empire bookended the violence of the Second World War. During the War, the two populations closely cooperated. This paper explores the motivations of the paramilitary groups of the Yishuv and their members to understand the beginning of cooperation, its continuation, and its end – all of which unfolded during the Second World War. It highlights the importance of Yishuv structures as well as the historical experiences of its members.

The image of France's youth, freeing their occupied country during the summer of 1944 armed only with Sten guns, dominates public memory of the maquis. However, this combatant identity was a careful construction. At the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, the maquis, or armed members of the Resistance operating as militias, were gradually militarized, a process which was somewhat constrained by the clandestine nature of their existence. While the occupying Vichy government denounced them as irregular troops, Free France recognised them as members of its national forces and as such, integrated them into the Allies' chain of command. Since neither of these two processes was a foregone conclusion, they allow us to examine the fighting practices of these armed civilians as they improvised on the ground, and as they were perceived by military headquarters.

During World War II, Taiwan, Korea and Manchuria were mobilised by Japan. The collapse of the Japanese Empire in 1945 left colonial fighters in a power vacuum. In Taiwan, where Chinese authorities operated unchecked, the Japanese legacy of militarisation manifested itself during a short uprising, in which veterans from the army and paramilitary groups drew on their war experience. In South Korea, political tensions led to internecine violence, with former colonial soldiers and Japanese-inspired militias playing a major role. As for ex-Manchukuo fighters, they became entangled in a civil war where their ambiguous status was wielded as a political weapon by both sides.

How was it possible for a poorly armed movement to resist the French Army for over seven years? While the asymmetrical nature of the Algerian War of Independence provides some context regarding the forms of combat, only a close study of the fighters of the Algerian National Liberation Army (ALN) can truly answer this question. Published memoirs as well as interviews with former insurgents, in addition to contemporary documents from the war period, can help us to understand the resistance fighters on the ground. While those fighting for Algerian independence presented themselves as liberators – as the new army of a sovereign people – a study of the ties that bound them to the civilian population shows that they first and foremost had to be men of honour and remain loyal to the values of the society to which they belonged.

With the support of apartheid South Africa, Renamo carried out 16 years of war (1977–1992) against the “Marxist-Leninist” Frelimo regime. New light is shed on this war by drawing on heretofore untapped sources: transcriptions of radio exchanges between the Renamo commander-in-chief and the group's local branches from 1983 to 1985 – i.e. just before, during, and after the first negotiations between the Maputo regime and apartheid South Africa. This article explores the characteristics of this guerrilla war, one which was supported by a segment of the country's peasantry. It also scrutinises the group's guerrilla warfare methods, the complex relationships it cultivated with civilians, especially women, and examines the nuanced identities that these relationships helped to shape, for both individuals and the group as a whole.

`titrebBob Denard's presidential guard`/titreb
Between Africa's decolonisation and the end of the Cold War, a French model of mercenarism was developed. This model was elaborated over the decades, starting with the Congolese Civil War and then with the constitution of presidential guards, based on the Gabonese model after the latter's 1964 coup. Over time, the “lost soldiers” of the French Colonial Wars were replaced by a new generation of mercenaries – the Bob Denard Company, whose saga culminated with the end of the Cold War. Infatuated with action, these mercenaries gradually acquired more and more of the French military ethos.

This article examines the contribution of women to the armed struggle led by the Peruvian Communist Party, Shining Path. By incorporating women's emancipation into its revolutionary platform, the Maoist party that took up arms against the Peruvian State in 1980 was able to attract a significant female militant presence. However, contradictions emerged between its challenge to traditional gender roles in Peruvian society and the lived experience of women who participated in the group's activities. Indeed, Shining Path female activists have primarily been mobilised in activities related to propaganda, logistics, military intelligence, medical care and reproductive and sexual health, thus limiting the gains otherwise produced by the armed struggle.