Punitive Expedition Research Articles

Columns of Vengeance: Soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864

Review of: Columns of Vengeance: Soldiers, Sioux, and the Punitive Expeditions, 1863-1864, by J. T. Murphy.

Untangling Aboriginal resistance and the settler punitive expedition: the Hawkesbury River frontier in New South Wales, 1794–1810

The Australian frontier wars have only recently emerged as an accepted part of the history of Australia. But there is still a reluctance to accept that settler massacre was widespread across the frontier and that it made deep inroads into the Aboriginal population. This article reviews the debate about settler massacre in relation to Aboriginal resistance and finds that the punitive expedition is most likely a euphemism for massacre. It then establishes a new framework, which combines both aspects of frontier violence to explore a variety of published sources about Australia's first frontier at the Hawkesbury River in New South Wales 1794–1810. The article finds that as an agricultural frontier where the settlers' produce was vital to the colony's survival, the British deployed large numbers of troops to disperse the Bediagal Aborigines from the region, when they resisted the invasion of the agricultural settlers. It cites numerous examples of the punitive expedition and how it operated to force a rapid Aboriginal population decline and concludes that the dynamic of resistance and massacre was a defining feature of the Australian frontier.

CLASSICAL CONFUCIANISM, PUNITIVE EXPEDITIONS, AND HUMANITARIAN INTERVENTION

Building on the authors' previous work regarding the classical Confucian position on the legitimate use of military force as represented by Mencius and Xunzi, this paper probes their understanding of punitive expeditions undertaken against tyrants in particular – aims, justification, preconditions, and limits. It compares this understanding with contemporary Western models of humanitarian intervention, and argues that the Confucian punitive expedition aligns most closely with the emerging ‘responsibility to protect’ model in Western discussions, although it also differs from the latter in certain respects. For example, the Confucian expedition explicitly forwards as legitimate aims regime change and the punishment of tyrants, in addition to rescue of an abused population and assistance in rebuilding a decent society. The Confucian understanding also appears to set a lower threshold standard (well short of genocide, ethnic cleansing, or large-scale massacre) for what counts as severe tyranny warranting intervention, and it explicitly speaks of an obligation (beyond mere permissibility) to intervene when that threshold is exceeded. In its concluding section, the paper discusses some possible contemporary implications of the classical Confucian understanding of a punitive expedition against tyrants.

THE CLASSICAL CONFUCIAN POSITION ON THE LEGITIMATE USE OF MILITARY FORCE

ABSTRACTFocusing on the thought of Mencius and Xunzi, this essay reconstructs and examines the classical Confucian position on the legitimate use of military force. It begins by sketching historically important political concepts, such as types of political leaders, politics of the kingly way versus politics of the hegemonic way, and the controversial role of lords‐protector. It then moves on to explore Confucian criteria for justifying resort to the use of force, giving special attention to undertaking punitive expeditions to interdict and punish aggression and tyranny. Following this discussion, the essay then attends to important Confucian moral constraints on how military force is properly employed, including prohibitions on attacking the defenseless, indiscriminate slaughter of enemy forces, destruction of civilian infrastructure, prisoner abuse, and non‐consensual annexation of territory. The essay concludes by first discussing an illustrative case from Mencius and then comparing its reconstruction of the Confucian position to those offered by other scholars.

Reactions to Australian Colonial Violence in New Guinea: The 1926 Nakanai Massacre in a Global Context

On 1 November 1926 an Australian-led force left Rabaul bent on ‘justice’. This punitive expedition was in response to the recent killing of four Australian men in the Nakanai district of New Britain seventy miles from Rabaul. Called the ‘Nakanai massacre’, it was the bloodiest attack on whites in New Guinea for twenty years. This article explores the ‘Nakanai massacre’ and examines the revealing responses to it. It argues that the Nakanai massacre generated different levels of concern and anxiety about violence on Australian frontiers than contemporary mainland massacres because it occurred within New Guinea and under the intense international scrutiny of the League of Nations. This incident not only brings to the fore public debate about what Australia's rule in New Guinea was or should be. It argues it had consequences extending to retention of this territory and Australia's national prestige in the highly charged international setting in of 1926.

The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920 (review)

Reviewed by: The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920 Manuel Callahan The Secret War in El Paso: Mexican Revolutionary Intrigue, 1906-1920. By Charles H. Harris III and Louis R. Sadler. (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2009. Pp. 504. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. ISBN 9780826346520, $37.50 cloth.) Charles Harris and Louis Sadler's The Secret War in El Paso examines the "revolutionary intrigues" of the US-Mexico border, providing an important perspective to "the first great revolution of the twentieth century" (ix). Intervening in the historiography of the U.S.-Mexico border, Mexican Revolution, and, most importantly, [End Page 456] the rise of policing in the Southwest, they reveal how El Paso was "the base of operations for constant intrigue" for a variety of actors from all parts of the political spectrum. Political turmoil made El Paso a "veritable mecca for hustlers, swindlers, and confidence men of every stripe eager to cash in on the opportunities arising from the Mexican Revolution" (368). Their careful use of the underused archives of the Federal Bureau of Investigation exposes the "mechanics of rebellion" and substantiates their claim that the Mexican Revolution "could not have succeeded without the U.S." (xi). Moreover, according to Harris and Sadler the complications of rebellion transformed the pre-1935 Bureau and converted El Paso into a military town. We also learn about the critical role of detective agencies such as the Theil and Western Detective Agency, but at times the massive volume seems to be the history of the Bureau. The volume opens predictably with the Taft-Díaz summit and ends with the rise of Álvaro Obregón and the Northern Dynasty not long after Prohibition marked a critical turning point in the fortunes of the border. A primer on the revolution, the text covers key events such as the Punitive Expedition, the Plan de San Diego, and the Fall Investigation as well as a variety of revolutionary groups such as red-flaggers, magonistas, orozquistas, maderistas, huertistas, villistas, and even the Mexican Liberal Alliance. All the major figures of the revolution who passed through Ciudad Juárez and El Paso are present in Harris and Sadler's narrative; unfortunately their views and motivations are not as fully covered, leaving much of the intrigue to be explained by "the complexity of factionalism" (378). The authors carefully narrate how the revolution affected El Paso, including how many El Pasoans occasionally enjoyed revolutionary battles from rooftops. One such instance, as Villa's fortunes waned in June 1919, resulted in injury to "spectators" and provided the pretext for the little-known U.S. military intervention, underscoring the impact the United States had in selectively applying arms embargoes, diplomatic recognition, and neutrality laws. Despite the dangers, the intrigue centered in El Paso generated a robust trade in arms, ammunition, and other supplies, further revealing how shifting U.S. strategic interests affected various revolutionary factions and filibusters on both sides of the international divide. Although smuggling was already a critical economic activity for the border before and after the revolution, the movement of arms dramatically increased El Paso's economic fortunes, even fostering economic dynasties. Some readers might be uncomfortable with an occasionally dismissive tone. At times the authors derisively refer to "the obligatory revolutionary manifesto" (250). More disappointing still, Harris and Sadler are not so deft in handling the question of race, declaring for example that "since racism is of such great concern these days," they feel obligated to briefly mention Carranza's and Villa's anti-Chinese violence (184). Unfortunately, their attitude also leads to an uncritical use of the term Hispanic when referring to the diverse Mexican origin community on the U.S. side of the border. In both instances, they leave racial hostility and its impact on the region largely unexamined. However, these are small quarrels hardly overshadowing the success of such a massive undertaking that introduces important new data on the political intrigues that plagued the border during the Mexican Revolution. [End Page 457] Manuel Callahan University of California, Santa Barbara Copyright © 2011 The Texas State Historical Association

An Accidental Cryptologist: The Brief Career of Genevieve Young Hitt

Genevieve Young Hitt, wife of Colonel Parker Hitt, was one of the first women to perform cryptologic functions for the U.S. Army, first as an unpaid amateur during the Punitive Expedition and later as a paid cryptographer during World War I. Official documents and recently discovered family papers shed light on Mrs. Hitt's brief career and overlooked role as a female cryptologic pioneer.

American cars, trucks and motorcycles of World War I: illustrated histories of 225 manufacturers

World War I had an enormous impact on American civilian motor vehicle manufacturers, contributing to the success of some and the failure of others. Beginning with the 1916 Punitive Expedition against Pancho Villa, this history shows how over 200 manufacturers contributed to the war effort, many benefiting strongly from government contracts to produce vehicles for military use. It examines how military mechanization and the automotive industry developed symbiotically, each affecting the other in profound ways. Industrialized warfare didn't necessarily mean efficient production - standardization and mass production techniques were still in their infancy, and some manufacturers were better positioned to take advantage of the crucible of war.

On Behalf of the Emperor: The Finnish Guard's Campaign to Poland, 1831

The Russian military units assembled for the punitive expedition against Poland in 1831 included the Finnish Sharp-Shooter Battalion of the Imperial Guard. The participation of the Finnish Guard in the campaign against Poland was the first concrete testimony of Finnish loyalty towards the Russian Empire, and played a key part in securing Imperial favour for Finnish autonomy. Thus, the November Rising determined the fates of both Poland and Finland for the rest of the nineteenth century, and the continuation of Finnish autonomy was, ironically, partly based on the destruction of Polish autonomy.

Confucian Views on War as Seen in the Gongyang Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals

This essay explores Confucian views on war as seen in the Spring and Autumn Annals. The interpretation is based mainly on the Gongyang Zhuan, supplemented by other authoritative sources in the Gongyang tradition, such as Dong Zhongshu (179-104 BCE) and He Xiu (129-182). The Spring and Autumn Annals contains three components: facts, words, and principles. This essay explicates the principles for going to war and the principles for conducting a war. The Confucian perspective sheds light on war against enemies of civilization, conditions for waging a preemptive war, punitive expedition, as well as the use of weapons of mass destruction. The Confucian views as presented here are realistic and pragmatic in nature but are also compatible with the humanistic concern of Confucianism. This essay ends with a summary of the salient and sophisticated features of the Confucian views on war.

The Battles of the Finnish Guard in Mazovia, 1831

The Russian military units assembled for the punitive expedition against Poland in 1831 included also the Finnish Sharp-Shooter Battalion of the Imperial Guard. The Finnish Guard experienced its hardest battles in the rearguard action against general Skrzynecki's Polish forces in Mazovia in May 1831. Aside the primary records of the Battalion, testimonies of these encounters were also given in the memoirs of Polish officers. The battles in Mazovia were the first time in history when Finnish soldiers had fought and died in service of the Russian Empire, and thus played a part securing the Imperial favor for the Finnish autonomy.

The Fire Inside

Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Roots of Resistance: A History of Land Tenure in New Mexico (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2007), 239 pages, paperback, $19.95.Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. The cover art of Roots of Resistance is powerful and angry. The stark geometric design, formed by swatches of blazing orange and slashes of smoldering earth tones all descending from cosmos into chaos, highlights abstract images of the suffering, enslavement, and death of the Acoma people at the hands of a Spanish punitive expedition in 1599: falling bodies, inverted crosses, dismembered feet—the punishment inflicted on all the male residents of the pueblo over the age of twenty-five. The original 2005 oil painting by Acoma Indian artist and activist Maurus Chino, titled Acoma 1599, Acoma, Beloved Acoma, Ancient of Days, contains more than enough raw energy to illuminate the history it recalls.This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website, where most recent articles are published in full.Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.

Medical Support for Pershing's Punitive Expedition in Mexico, 1916–1917

Pershing's Punitive Expedition had adequate medical support despite deliberately limited in-theater resources. The few casualties did not strain the inadequate number of forward providers. Preventive medicine was highly successful due to significant medical and command emphasis. New technologies were useful and helped minimize the medical footprint. National Guard troops mobilized to support the Expedition had troublesome medical readiness rates.

“You would not add to my suffering if you knew what I have seen”: Holocaust Testimony and Contemporary African Trauma Literature

The aim of this article is to explore possible correlations between literature of Holocaust, widely defined, and recent works about genocide, mass-murder, and atrocity in Africa. It will focus on number of texts that concern both Rwandan genocide (Gil Courtemanche's novel/memoir Sunday at Pool in Kigali [2003] and Paul Rusesabagina's memoir An Ordinary Man [2006]) and victims of numerous conflicts on continent (Uzodinma Iweala's Beasts of No Nation [2005], Dave Eggers's What Is What: The Autobiography of Valentino Achak Deng [2006], and Ismael Beah's Long Way Gone [2007]). However, as both initial hypothetical linkage and object of discussion (African trauma literature) are problematic concepts, I will offer an introductory account of how and why this might be fruitful comparison. The and Postcolonial In his study of discourse of Third Reich, Victor Klemperer writes that Strafexpedition [punitive expedition] is first term which I recognised as being specifically National Socialist.... For me word Strafexpedition was embodiment of brutal arrogance and contempt for people who are in any way different, it sounded so colonial, you could see encircled Negro village, you could hear cracking of hippopotamus whip. Later, but unfortunately not for very long, this memory had something comforting about it despite all bitterness. A mild dose of castor oil. (43) In this fragment, two things become proleptically clear for future understanding of and twentieth-century history. The first--it sounded so colonial--is complex interweaving between discourses of empire and colonialism on one hand and discourses of Third Reich and on other. The second--A mild dose ...--is immediate diminution of these complex interweaving histories. Working though what Dirk Moses calls conceptual blockages as well as issues of prejudice and layers of collective memory, historians, cultural thinkers, and philosophers are now turning with more interest to exploring complex and contentious relationship between Holocaust, colonialism, and genocide; and they are finding this relationship more than a mild dose.' Mark Mazower, for example, notes how Hitler's imagination was caught by example of British in India. Their model of imperial rule, such as he conceived it, struck him as admirable ... for him Ukraine was 'that new Indian Empire': Eastern Front would become Germany's North-West frontier (150). Yet those who develop these historiographical congruencies tread delicate path. As Jurgen Zimmerer and others point out, they should try to avoid using as paradigm or benchmark for genocide and atrocity: yet, as Moses's account of recent historical research suggests, this is very hard. He cites historians of Armenian and Cambodian genocides who use as heuristic device and others who develop concepts of cumulative radicalization, race branding (The Holocaust 547-49), and more diffuse and complex links between violence, modernity, and state building, all drawing from study of Holocaust. Other approaches trace impact of colonial policy, or wider European imperial discourses, on development of genocidal operations of Reich. And others, too, explore contrasts between different genocides. Despite desire not to let small number of examples from Europe, taken without context, set agenda, pull of is sometimes simply too strong. Those making these comparisons must also avoid opposite risk of collapsing into history of colonialism contra Aime Cesaire's famous comment on Nazism: the people of Europe tolerated Nazism before it was inflicted on them ... because, until then, it had been applied only to non-European peoples (14). …

The Punitive Expedition Military Reform and Communications Intelligence

In the wake of poor performance in the Spanish-American War, the United States created the basis for a modern military intelligence organization. This included communications intelligence (COMINT). The first major use of the nascent COMINT capability was along the Mexican Border during the Mexican Revolution. When General John Pershing commanded a punitive expedition to chase down Pancho Villa, he took COMINT facilities with him.

Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and the Fate of the British Empire in North America (review)

Never Come to Peace Again: Pontiac's Uprising and Fate of British Empire in North America. By David Dixon. (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2005. Pp. xiii, 284. Cloth, $34.95.)David Dixon's new monograph joins William R. Nester's Haughty Conquerors (2000) and Gregory Dowd's War under Heaven (2002) in growing body of new scholarship on Pontiac's War. Impatient with what he describes as largely works more concerned with perspective than the British and American military, political, and social experiences (xi), Dixon sets out to provide corrective that integrates this Native American conflict into broader context of late colonial and revolutionary America. While Dixon succeeds in providing detailed, thoroughly researched, and coherent narrative of Pontiac's War, his interpretive analysis of war's significance is unconvincing.Dixon begins his account of Pontiac's War in 1758, when British secured withdrawal of many Great Lakes and Ohio Valley Algonquian Native American warriors from active support of French by means of promise to depart from trans-Appalachian region after conquest of Fort Duquesne. The failure of British to keep that promise sowed seeds of an Indian war that witnessed fifteen months of active hostilities between 1763 and 1764, eliminated or forced abandonment of nine interior forts, and cost lives of an estimated two thousand Anglo-American settlers and four hundred British soldiers. Dixon reiterates standard contemporary interpretation of several factors underlying development of conflict between 1758 and 1763: land encroachment, indigenous revitalization movements calling for pan-national unity and action, and British Commander in Chief Jeffery Amherst's decision to cut off diplomatic presents to allied Native American peoples in peacetime. While author eschews an explicit attempt to assess relative significance of these respective causes, he does overstate rapaciousness (72) of British for Indian land prior to 1763. The military takings he describes (such as Niagara portage) tended to be targeted specifically for strategic purposes. The interior forts established during this period were thinly garrisoned and left light footprints. With exceptions of Detroit and Fort Pitt, these wooden outposts were as much hostages to Native American communities surrounding them as they were symbols of British occupation. The initial influx of settlers into Susquehanna Valley, while matter of great concern for region's Native American people, did not amount by 1763 to a suffering press of English attempting to root themselves in land that tribes (72).Considered in light of scholarship published in last twenty years, Dixon breaks no significant new archival ground in his study, but his extended accounts of key battles, such as Bushy Run (184-98) are well crafted and valuable. The author is also unusually attentive to complex role of French settlers in conflict, detailing their multiple and shifting collaborations with Native Americans and British at different times. Some shortcomings with narrative remain, however. Stereotypical descriptions of Native American warriors are regrettably common in this book. When not lurking (145), Indians are often found prowling (108, 139, 163) or swooping down (3, 23, 202) on their unsuspecting enemies. Additionally, author misapprehends role of Iroquois Confederacy in conflict, accepting as historical fact Sir William Johnson's claimed successes in employing them as his personal goon squad to bring Ohio Valley nations to heel (218-20). Finally, Dixon's claims that Pontiac's War was unprecedented for its awful violence and that both Native American peoples and British engaged in it were intoxicated with genocidal fanaticism (xiii) are inconsistent with his own portrayals of kindness shown by some Ohio Valley Native Americans to certain settlers during early months of conflict (140) and of almost bloodless punitive expeditions of John Bradstreet and Henry Bouquet in 1764 (227-42). …

“No labirinto dos rios, furos e igarapés”: camponeses negros, memória e pós-emancipação na Amazônia, c. XIX-XX

This article approaches the narratives about the memories and the formation of communities of mocambos and fugitives in the 19th and 20th centuries Brazilian Amazonia. Special emphasis is given to the lower region of the Tocantins River. The text is based on historical documents, such as police records and narratives of the 1800’s punitive expeditions, and ethnographic researches, carried out from 1996 through 1999. These sources made possible to analyze the constitution of some villages and towns of black peasants, many of those originated from mocambos and quilombos. It was also possible to study the villagers’ experiences and socioeconomics joints, as well as the events that took place in the period post emancipation. Key words: mocambos, quilombos, memory, black peasants, Tocantins River.

Elisha's True Prophecy in 2 Kings 3

2 Kings 3 recounts the story of rebellion against Israel by the king of Moab. Israel, together with its allies Judah and Edom, leads punitive expedition that invades and occupies most of the rebel territory. The rebellion is ultimately successful, however, after Israel abruptly breaks off its siege of the Moabite king's last stronghold and returns home. The reason given is great anger that befell them after the Moabite king sacrificed his son on the city wall. The biblical account leaves two mysteries unsolved: why Israel, on the brink of victory, gave up the fight, and why the prophet Elisha, who had foretold and on whose predictions the allied armies relied, made false prophecy. It is the second question that I wish to address in this note.1 The discomfort of commentators with the failed prophecy is illustrated by Burke O. Long, who writes that certain thematic inconsistencies, or tensions, lurk beneath the surface of the narrative. He then invokes the customary stock-in-trade of the biblical commentator-the incompetent redaction of two inconsistent traditions. The oracleactualization narrative, which demanded total victory, shaped but failed to eliminate the stubborn vestige of an earlier tradition recounting incomplete victory.2 Incomplete victory is euphemism, as is Long's earlier description of the outcome as a less than total defeat of Moab.3 The plain fact is that Israel lost the war. For Joe M. Sprinkle, this does not mean that Elisha's prophecy failed. His reasoning is that Israel was being punished for violating the rules of law laid down in Deut 20:1-20 by cutting down fruit trees and not offering peace terms. What Elisha did not say was that after Israel fulfilled these prophecies, YHWH would judge them for doing what Elisha predicted they would do.4 Assuming that Sprinkle is correct in regarding Israel's conduct as violation of the rules of war, and assuming that Deuteronomy's laws applied,5 his interpretation is still to be rejected, because it does not conform to the text of the prophecy. Sprinkle states: Indeed, the narrator does portray Elisha's prophecies as coming true: the trenches dug by the Israelites did fill with water apart from rain. . . . Moreover, Israel did strike and destroy cities, [emphasis added] cut down fruit trees, stop up wells, and ruin fields with stones just as Elisha predicted (3,19.25).6 That is not what is predicted in 2 Kgs 3:19. The text explicitly refers to every fortified city, and Qir-Hareshet was certainly fortified city. The prophecy as explained by Sprinkle did not come true, because divine punishment intervened too soon, when the last stronghold was still standing. It is my view that Elisha's prophecy was fulfilled to the letter. Given Elisha's patent hostility to King Jehoram, it is not surprising that he wished to see Israel's campaign fail.7 He did not, however, offer deliberately false prophecy. Such tactic was possible on the part of YHWH, but would have been explicitly stated, as in the case of the prophet Micaiah in 1 Kgs 22:19-23. Elisha made true prophecy: it was the misfortune, or misguidedness, of King Jehoram, that he failed to interpret the words of the prophecy correctly. Elisha made number of consecutive predictions: 1. The wadi will fill with water lor you to drink (v. 17). 2. He shall give Moab into your hand (v. 18). 4. You will fell every good tree (v. 19). 5. You will stop up all the wells (v. 19). 6. You will spoil all the good fields with stones (v. …

Punitive Expeditions and Divine Revenge: Oral and Colonial Histories of Rebellion and Pacification in Western Borneo, 1886-1902

I present different accounts of two events in the efforts of Dutch and British colonial authorities to pacify the Iban within their respective territories on the island of Borneo; namely, I present both the Dutch and British reports of the punitive expeditions in 1886 and 1902 against rebellious Iban headhunters and the oral historical narratives of the Iban today. In addition to providing historical and cultural background to Iban resistance to pacification, I spell out the Iban conception of the past and fragmentation of related narratives. The weight that the oral accounts place on these two events is discussed in that light, with the Iban viewing their colonial experience as the struggle of spiritual forces allied with both the Iban and the European.

Passion and Nation: War, Crime, and Guilt in the Individual and the Collective

Riffing off of George Fletcher's theory of Romanticism and war, the article reviews Fletcher's arguments, which received derisive reviews during the War against Iraq in 2003. The article takes Fletcher's approach seriously in considering the problem of war as a Romantic impulse, and the difficulties caused by that understanding. The article then derives arguments on the limits of the laws of war to apply to military actions against terrorism. The article considers the nature of collective guilt as a mitigating element in the crimes of one individual, and it considers the nature of non-state enemies in war. This last point is illustrated through detailed contrast between the U.S. experiences in the Barbary Wars and the Punitive Expedition to Mexico.