Project
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Swiss 'Tools of Empire'. A transnational history of mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies, 1814-1914
English title |
Swiss 'Tools of Empire'. A transnational history of mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies, 1814-1914 |
Applicant |
Schär Bernhard
|
Number |
172613 |
Funding scheme |
Project funding (Div. I-III)
|
Research institution |
Geschichte der modernen Welt Institut für Geschichte ETH Zürich
|
Institution of higher education |
ETH Zurich - ETHZ |
Main discipline |
General history (without pre-and early history) |
Start/End |
01.05.2017 - 30.06.2021 |
Approved amount |
287'844.00 |
Show all
All Disciplines (2)
General history (without pre-and early history) |
Keywords (7)
New Imperial History; Military History; Colonialism; Swiss History; Imperialism; Southeast Asian History; Dutch East Indies
Lay Summary (English)
Lead
|
Between 1814 and 1914 around 7.600 Swiss Mercenaries fought for the Dutch Colonial Army (KNIL) in South East Asia. The KNIL recruited up to 40% of its European soldiers outside the Netherlands. In relation to the size of its population, Switzerland was one of the main suppliers of 'foreign' European troops to KNIL. So far, historians of Switzerland and the Dutch Colonies have hardly ever studied these Swiss 'living tools of empire' (Bossenbroek). This project puts these men on centre-stage, by examining them as agents of historical entanglements and asking: How did they help build the Dutch Empire in South East Asia, and how did their imperial careers shape 19th century Switzerland?
|
Lay summary
|
The aim of this research project, which is designed for four years, is firstly, to create a database with Swiss mercenaries from large yet hitherto unexplored holdings in the Swiss Federal Archives, and from Dutch Colonial Archives. From this database, patterns and changes with regard to the social and geographical origins of these men can be reconstructed, as well as regarding their theatres of deployment in the Dutch Indies. These insights prompt, secondly, inquiries into the structural causes and individual motivations to serve in the Indies, their actions and experiences there, as well as into their life and career trajectories as veterans in Switzerland or elsewhere. To this aim, the project shall collect additional source materials that have likewise remained largely unexplored: newspaper reports, government reports in cantonal and communal archives concerning the fate of Swiss KNIL veterans, and published as well as (mostly) unpublished veterans’ memoires, diaries, and letters. Insights into the local contexts of the Swiss contributions to colonial wars, 'punitive expeditions' and other military activities shall be examined in the colonial records held in the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) in Jakarta, as well as with published Dutch Colonial Sources (e.g. the Koloniaal verslag). Thirdly, the project seeks to use these newly created source collections to examine entanglements created by some exceptionally well documented groups and individuals: How did they engage economically, culturally, socially, or sexually with societies in the Indies—and how did those experiences affect their later career trajectories in Switzerland or elsewhere?
|
Responsible applicant and co-applicants
Employees
Project partner
Publications
Schär Bernhard C. (2019), Introduction: The Dutch East Indies and Europe, ca. 1800-1930. An Empire of Demands and Opportunities, in
BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 134(3), 4-4.
Krauer Philipp (2019), Welcome to Hotel Helvetia! Friedrich Wüthrich’s Illicit Mercenary Trade Network for the Dutch East Indies, 1858-1890, in
BMGN - Low Countries Historical Review, 134(3), 122-122.
SchärBernhard C. (2018), Rösti und Revolutionen. Zur Postkolonialen Relektüre der Schweiz, in
Widerspruch, 72, 9-20.
Scientific events
Active participation
Title |
Type of contribution |
Title of article or contribution |
Date |
Place |
Persons involved |
Understanding Modern Switzerland
|
Individual talk
|
Colonial Mercenaries: Swiss military labour & the Dutch East Indies, 1848-1914,
|
27.11.2019
|
EPFL Lausanne, Switzerland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
Research Colloquium on History after 1800
|
Individual talk
|
‘Koloniale Söldner: Die Schweiz und Niederländisch-Ostindien’, 1848-1914
|
23.10.2019
|
Universität Bern, Switzerland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
Regionalität und Globalität in der jüngsten Zeitgeschichte Europas Vermessung eines neuen Forschungsfeldes
|
Talk given at a conference
|
(DIS-)CONNECTED. DIE FAMILIE WYRSCH ZWISCHEN NIDWALDEN UND BORNEO
|
12.09.2019
|
München, Germany
|
Schär Bernhard;
|
Schweizerische Geschichtstage
|
Talk given at a conference
|
‘Flucht vor der Armut – Schweizer Söldnermigration nach niederländisch Indien, 1848-1914’
|
06.06.2019
|
Universität Zürich, Switzerland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
Graduate Workshop: European History across Boundaries
|
Talk given at a conference
|
Money for Mercenaries – Relocating the Dutch Colonial Empire in Swiss Archives, 1848–1914?
|
13.03.2019
|
Faculty of history, University of Oxford, Great Britain and Northern Ireland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
at Workshop of the Doctoral Programme 'Migration and Postcoloniality Meet Switzerland'
|
Talk given at a conference
|
‘Swiss “Tools of Empire”. Eine transnationale Geschichte von Schweizer Söldnern in Niederländisch-Ostindien, 1814–1914’
|
25.10.2018
|
Murten, Switzerland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
“Europe and the World: Between Colonialism and Globalization”
|
Talk given at a conference
|
‘A Swiss Soldier, the Dutch East Indies & the Alps: Ingredients of colonial identity formation in the hinterland of Europe, 1859–1916’
|
19.06.2018
|
German-Italian Center for European Excellence Villa Vigoni , Italy
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
Interdisziplinäres South East Asia Meet Up, Univeristät Zürich
|
Talk given at a conference
|
Swiss Tools of Empire
|
08.06.2017
|
Zürich, Switzerland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
Self-organised
An Empire of Demands and Opportunities. The Dutch Indies in European History, International conference at ETH Zurich
|
01.08.2019
|
Zürich, Switzerland
|
New Approaches to Swiss Colonial and Global History
|
01.11.2018
|
zürich, Switzerland
|
Knowledge transfer events
Active participation
Title |
Type of contribution |
Date |
Place |
Persons involved |
Plenarsitzung der Eidgenössischen Kommission gegen Rassismus
|
Workshop
|
03.04.2019
|
bern, Switzerland
|
Schär Bernhard;
|
‘Gottfried Keller. Staatschreiber und Dichter’
|
Performances, exhibitions (e.g. for education institutions)
|
21.03.2019
|
Museum Strauhof, Zürich, Switzerland
|
Krauer Phillipp;
|
Self-organised
Communication with the public
Communication |
Title |
Media |
Place |
Year |
Media relations: print media, online media
|
Tod in Surabaya
|
WOZ
|
International
|
2019
|
Awards
- 3-Month Senior Research Fellow at the LMU Munich Centre for Global History
|
2019
|
- 4-month Senior Research Fellow at Asia Research Institute,
National University of Singapore
|
2018
|
Associated projects
Number |
Title |
Start |
Funding scheme |
184290
|
Tropenliebe - An immersive theatre, exhibition and public discussion project at the Theater Basel |
01.04.2019 |
Agora |
Abstract
Between 1814 and 1914 around 7.600 Swiss Mercenaries fought for the Dutch Colonial Army (KNIL) in South East Asia. The KNIL recruited up to 40% of its European soldiers outside the Netherlands. In relation to the size of its population, Switzerland was one of the main suppliers of 'foreign' European troops to KNIL. So far, historians of Switzerland and the Dutch Colonies have hardly ever studied these Swiss 'living tools of empire' (Bossenbroek). This project puts these men on centre-stage, by examining them as agents of historical entanglements and asking: How did they help build the Dutch Empire in South East Asia, and how did their imperial careers shape 19th century Switzerland?The aim this research project, which is designed for four years, is firstly, to create a database with Swiss mercenaries from large yet hitherto unexplored holdings in the Swiss Federal Archives, and from Dutch Colonial Archives. From this database, patterns and changes with regard to the social and geographical origins of these men can be reconstructed, as well as regarding their theatres of deployment in the Dutch Indies. These insights prompt, secondly, inquiries into the structural causes and individual motivations to serve in the Indies, their actions and experiences there, as well as into their life and career trajectories as veterans in Switzerland or elsewhere. To this aim, the project shall collect additional source materials that have likewise remained largely unexplored: newspaper reports, government reports in cantonal and communal archives concerning the fate of Swiss KNIL veterans, and published as well as (mostly) unpublished veterans’ memoires, diaries, and letters. Insights into the local contexts of the Swiss contributions to colonial wars, 'punitive expeditions' and other military activities shall be examined in the colonial records held in the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) in Jakarta, as well as with published Dutch Colonial Sources (e.g. the Koloniaal verslag). Thirdly, the project seeks to use these newly created source collections to examine entanglements created by some exceptionally well documented groups and individuals: How did they engage economically, culturally, socially, or sexually with societies in the Indies-and how did those experiences affect their later career trajectories in Switzerland or elsewhere? This project hence contributes to three fields of research: 1) While the rich literature on the history of the Swiss Mercenary Trade has limited itself to examining only European ‘military labour markets’ during the Early Modern Period, the proposed project will study the continuities of this trade in non-European theatres of violence in the 19th and early 20th century. 2) It contributes to new approaches in Dutch and Swiss historiography inspired by postcolonial and new imperial history. 3) It joins efforts within Global history to replace euro-centric and nationalistic narratives in European history by narratives of 'trans-imperial' entanglements created, in particular, through social networks cutting across national and imperial state-boundaries. Cooperation with the Dutch Royal Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV) in Leiden, the 'Bronbeek' Museum for the Dutch Colonial Army in Arnhem, and the National Archives of the Republic of Indonesia (ANRI) in Jakarta will support and facilitate the proposed research.
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