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  • Military Executions During World War I
  • Joseph Ryan
Military Executions During World War I. By Gerard Christopher Oram. New York: Palgrave, 2004. ISBN 1-4039-0694-7. Tables. Figures. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. Pp. ix, 228. $66.50.

Professor Oram suggests in Military Executions During World War I that discipline, rather than justice, was the primary consideration of World War I commanders. He also writes that discipline is designed as much, if not more pour encourager les autres than to punish an individual offender. The convention that "men are not hanged for stealing horses, but that horses may not be stolen" was reflected in contemporary criminal statutes, and this and other ideas help Oram to explain the 361 British, over 600 French, 750 Italian, 48 German, and other military executions of the Great War.

Although Oram's book might perhaps be more accurately titled British Military Executions in World War I, his use of Russian, German, American, and French comparisons is more than cursory, and his scholarship is excellent. He is familiar with the major primary and secondary sources, and his review of the literature is masterful. He writes to further knowledge, and to demonstrate that "military discipline was a complex issue and the simplistic view that soldiers were repressed by incompetent generals far from the front is no longer good enough" (p. 15). [End Page 978]

Complexity and nuance are the hallmarks of his work, as he wisely proceeds "beyond purely military considerations" to "social and cultural structures" (p. 2). Oram notes that British executions amount to ten percent of those sentenced to death across all theatres, and concludes that this uniformity reveals policy rather than chance. Additionally, he discusses at length the position of the military in the societies of the nations he considers: In Prussia military service is an honorable profession, and in France soldiers are seen as "intelligent bayonets," while the British tend to view their Army as a refuge for criminals. He notes also how this status changes as the war progresses, particularly with the creation of the Kitchener Army. Military statutes themselves also loom large in his work. He explains that desertion as a capital crime was defined differently from nation to nation, as were appeal processes and final approval authorities. For example, sleeping on post was punishable by death in the British Army, but not in the French or German.

To place these complexities in context, Dr. Oram demonstrates the tension between winning the war and individual rights. He also considers closely the "influence of the parent societies on armies" (p. 19), tracing the evolution of civilian criminal codes (Britain abolishes public whippings in 1862, and public executions in 1868). Additionally, he highlights punishments available to commanders short of execution, which in the British Army include branding ("D" for Deserter, "BC" for Bad Character).

Military Executions in World War I achieves Oram's goal of illuminating executions as an instrument of control rather than of justice. It is clearly written, full of useful evidence, example, and analysis, and is significant as a synthesis of the major issues revolving around the firing squad. Serious scholars of World War I, as well as those of military jurisprudence and sociology, will want to add Oram's book to their libraries.

Joseph Ryan
Leavenworth, Kansas
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