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Laura Benton discusses how patterns of violence reshaped empires and global dynamics from the 15th to 20th centuries.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 11, 2024

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This video video discusses a research project focused on the history of law within European empires and its impact on global legal history, particularly concerning the regulation of violence. The author argues that historical narratives have often separated the discussions of legal frameworks and the violence enacted by empires, predominantly focusing on Eurocentric perspectives and the evolution of laws of war during the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.

The research aims to explore how violence was regulated in European empires from 1500 to 1900. It notes that legal frameworks often justified violence, leading to atrocities despite attempts to limit warfare. The author highlights the pattern of "perpetual war," where conflicts were ongoing but occasionally punctuated by unstable truces, which, when broken, resulted in increased violence.

This video video also reflects on how these historical insights shed light on contemporary conflicts, linking past imperial justifications for violence to current geopolitical situations, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine and ongoing conflicts in Gaza, emphasizing the tragic continuity of these patterns of violence and the challenges of regulating warfare effectively. Ultimately, the author expresses a desire for relevance in research to lead to better outcomes in understanding and managing these conflicts, highlighting the persistent difficulties in keeping small wars from escalating into greater violence and atrocities.

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I've been thinking for a long time about the history

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of law in European empires

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and what effect that had on global legal history.

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And one of the things that I thought was that we hadn't

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yet taken consideration enough consideration of violence

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and the legal framework for violence, which

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of course is all over European empires.

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Instead, there's tended to be a separation between dealing

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with violence in empires

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and the story about the laws of war

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and how they're developed.

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And that has tended to be a very Eurocentric story, one

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that is focused on juridical writings in Europe

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or the later in the United States.

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And it's a later story.

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It hits these milestones of the development of the laws

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of war in the late 19th century,

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and then again in the middle of the 20th century.

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But it leaves out this whole realm of regulation

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of violence, outside Europe, in

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and on the edges of empires from 1500 to 1900.

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So I just began by asking a very open-ended question about

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what the legal frameworks were, for that kind

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of violence, which as I said,

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was ubiquitous in European empires.

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So I began this, as I said,

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with this very open-ended question about how

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violence was being regulated or attempts to regulate,

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or how it patterns of violence were generating, law

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and legal frameworks in, in European empires.

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So I began by really reading very widely

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and reading into accounts of small wars,

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attempts at peacemaking across the globe

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in European empires.

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And then I selected some case studies

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to dig more deeply into,

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and for those case studies, I did archival research

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in the British, archives

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and also in Spanish archives,

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and really looked hard to try to understand

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through those sources, those primary sources,

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how participants in these conflicts were talking about

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violence, how they were defending their actions, what sorts

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of legal arguments they were making in

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describing those conflicts.

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One of the surprising,

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and I will say also disturbing findings of the book,

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was that efforts to limit war to,

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kind of tamp down violence.

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And those efforts were sometimes very sincere, actually

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set up the conditions for atrocities to occur.

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And this was true in the Spanish Empire, in the,

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Portuguese, French

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and British empires, really across the globe.

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So one of the patterns

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that I discovered in researching this book, I,

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discovered is maybe not the right word.

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One of the patterns that became very clear, is

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that there were legalities of plunder,

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of captive taking and practices of rating

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and describing, the justifications for rating

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that really cut across the globe.

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They were across these empires.

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They operated in similar ways,

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and they were not unfamiliar to indigenous communities.

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And I focus in particular on practices of truce making.

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So you can begin to see in this one pattern,

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what I call a regime of plunder, that conquests

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what we think of as kind of stereotypical

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or central case conquests, the Spanish conquests

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of the Americas, other,

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British imperial conquests in the same period,

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and also later were really structured around

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this stop and go truce making.

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So it's much better to think about these

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as long perpetual wars interrupted by unstable pieces.

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Now, here's what happens when those truces broke down,

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as they almost inevitably did,

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and they really were structured to end, they are

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temporary pauses from war.

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War was often resumed with extra force,

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with an extra emotional charge

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and without any attention to the limits on violence in

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that aftermath of breaking down of truces.

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So that's when you get these very quite spectacular

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and tragic massacres in, in,

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of indigenous peoples in, European empire.

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So I analyzed that relationship in the book

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in a later period in the 19th century,

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things worked slightly differently.

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This is an era of global militarization when

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European empires are sending out armies

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and Nas on patrol around the world,

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and they are charging them with the protection

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of imperial subjects and interests.

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And they're also giving them authorization

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to engage in violence,

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but instructing them

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that they should only engage in a little bit of violence,

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small violence, they should not start major wars.

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Nevertheless, these instructions to keep wars small

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to use only limited force in a number

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of different ways, snowball,

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and you get outbreaks of really horrific campaigns of

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extermination and dispossession with

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Which, which we're all too familiar.

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One of the things I learned from the book was really

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to pay attention to this idea of perpetual war

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and to see perpetual war as a, a, a, a state

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that was existing in,

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empires historically.

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And then we begin to see these small wars

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as actually interrupted by unstable bouts of peace

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At the same time, I do in the book switch back from the

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examination of practices of warfare

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and justifications for conflicts.

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And look at the ways that European juris

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and lawyers were writing about the laws of war.

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And I think when we do that,

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we see something slightly different

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from the usual narratives of the history

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of international law.

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We see a very consistent effort to

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in fact think about how to describe

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and create a framework for limited war.

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It is one of the tragic findings of this book that

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that effort to create a regulatory framework for limited

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war did not work.

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It's still with us.

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And it, I say the other lesson from the book is,

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that we should be extremely humble

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and skeptical about our abilities to keep small wars small.

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You know, historians are always

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or often hopeful that when their books come out,

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they'll turn out to be deeply relevant

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to what's going on in the world so that people will turn

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to those books to try to understand the history

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of these phenomena.

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I would like to say that I wish I,

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my book were much less relevant to the world today.

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It, it had happened that as I was writing the book

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and I was in the middle of researching

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and writing, Russia invaded Ukraine.

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And, just months

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before the publication of the book,

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the War in Gaza broke out.

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And, throughout the period in which I was

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writing, there is this ongoing,

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so-called War on Terror that of course is,

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ubiquitous across, polities in the world today.

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So this history really did help me personally

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to think about some of the continuities

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from imperial warfare into the present in these conflicts.

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So, just to give an example, when Putin, justified

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his invasion of Ukraine,

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or Russia's invasion of Ukraine,

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he was using imperial tropes, imperial languages.

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He was talking about a phenomenon that is

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Covered in the second half of my book, which is the way

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that you, that empires justified violence

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through the protection of subjects.

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So we use this language of protection

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and the language of policing.

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He called it,

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a special military operation rather than a war

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that's very consistent with Empire State's efforts

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to describe what they're doing as,

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as actually police operations

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or, measures short of war.

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So there, that is an example.

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There are other examples too, from the War on Terror

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where there's an attempt to kind of keep tamp down,

09:37.685 --> 09:41.485
violence and keep it at a level that is somehow labeled

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as small, even when

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they accumulate these operations into very significant,

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events and often with a lot of civilian, loss of life.

09:54.545 --> 09:56.485
And of course, in the Gaza War,

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we have atrocities heaped on atrocities.

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And, it is a, a war that falls into, a pattern

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that unfortunately, unfortunately in the long history of,

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humanity is very familiar of an ongoing conflict

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with these unstable bouts of peace in between.

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And when they end, all hell breaks loose.

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And so, I'm sorry to say that the history

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has helped me to think critically about these conflicts

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because I wish that we were now in a very different phase

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and did not have to contend with, these small wars

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that are not so small that have really very big consequences

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and that often lead to atrocities.

Legal Frameworks and Violence in European Empires

00:00:00 - I've been thinking for a long time about the history of law in European empires and what effect that had on global legal history. And one of the things that I thought was that we hadn't yet taken consideration enough consideration of violence and the legal framework for violence, which of course is all over European empires. Instead, there's tended to be a separation between dealing with violence in empires
00:00:34 - and how they're developed. And that has tended to be a very Eurocentric story, one that is focused on juridical writings in Europe or the later in the United States. And it's a later story. It hits these milestones of the development of the laws of war in the late 19th century, and then again in the middle of the 20th century. But it leaves out this whole realm of regulation
00:01:05 - and on the edges of empires from 1500 to 1900. So I just began by asking a very open-ended question about what the legal frameworks were, for that kind of violence, which as I said, was ubiquitous in European empires. So I began this, as I said, with this very open-ended question about how violence was being regulated or attempts to regulate,
00:01:38 - and legal frameworks in, in European empires. So I began by really reading very widely and reading into accounts of small wars, attempts at peacemaking across the globe in European empires. And then I selected some case studies to dig more deeply into, and for those case studies, I did archival research
00:02:07 - and also in Spanish archives, and really looked hard to try to understand through those sources, those primary sources, how participants in these conflicts were talking about violence, how they were defending their actions, what sorts of legal arguments they were making in describing those conflicts. One of the surprising, and I will say also disturbing findings of the book,
00:02:42 - kind of tamp down violence. And those efforts were sometimes very sincere, actually set up the conditions for atrocities to occur. And this was true in the Spanish Empire, in the, Portuguese, French and British empires, really across the globe. So one of the patterns that I discovered in researching this book, I,

Patterns of Plunder in Imperial Conquests

00:03:10 - One of the patterns that became very clear, is that there were legalities of plunder, of captive taking and practices of rating and describing, the justifications for rating that really cut across the globe. They were across these empires. They operated in similar ways, and they were not unfamiliar to indigenous communities.
00:03:44 - So you can begin to see in this one pattern, what I call a regime of plunder, that conquests what we think of as kind of stereotypical or central case conquests, the Spanish conquests of the Americas, other, British imperial conquests in the same period, and also later were really structured around this stop and go truce making.
00:04:14 - as long perpetual wars interrupted by unstable pieces. Now, here's what happens when those truces broke down, as they almost inevitably did, and they really were structured to end, they are temporary pauses from war. War was often resumed with extra force, with an extra emotional charge and without any attention to the limits on violence in
00:04:48 - So that's when you get these very quite spectacular and tragic massacres in, in, of indigenous peoples in, European empire. So I analyzed that relationship in the book in a later period in the 19th century, things worked slightly differently. This is an era of global militarization when European empires are sending out armies
00:05:18 - and they are charging them with the protection of imperial subjects and interests. And they're also giving them authorization to engage in violence, but instructing them that they should only engage in a little bit of violence, small violence, they should not start major wars. Nevertheless, these instructions to keep wars small to use only limited force in a number
00:05:49 - and you get outbreaks of really horrific campaigns of extermination and dispossession with Which, which we're all too familiar. One of the things I learned from the book was really to pay attention to this idea of perpetual war and to see perpetual war as a, a, a, a state that was existing in, empires historically.

Regulating Violence: Lessons from Imperial Warfare

00:06:20 - as actually interrupted by unstable bouts of peace At the same time, I do in the book switch back from the examination of practices of warfare and justifications for conflicts. And look at the ways that European juris and lawyers were writing about the laws of war. And I think when we do that, we see something slightly different
00:06:51 - of international law. We see a very consistent effort to in fact think about how to describe and create a framework for limited war. It is one of the tragic findings of this book that that effort to create a regulatory framework for limited war did not work. It's still with us. And it, I say the other lesson from the book is,
00:07:23 - and skeptical about our abilities to keep small wars small. You know, historians are always or often hopeful that when their books come out, they'll turn out to be deeply relevant to what's going on in the world so that people will turn to those books to try to understand the history of these phenomena. I would like to say that I wish I, my book were much less relevant to the world today. It, it had happened that as I was writing the book
00:07:55 - and writing, Russia invaded Ukraine. And, just months before the publication of the book, the War in Gaza broke out. And, throughout the period in which I was writing, there is this ongoing, so-called War on Terror that of course is, ubiquitous across, polities in the world today.
00:08:28 - to think about some of the continuities from imperial warfare into the present in these conflicts. So, just to give an example, when Putin, justified his invasion of Ukraine, or Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he was using imperial tropes, imperial languages. He was talking about a phenomenon that is
00:08:58 - that you, that empires justified violence through the protection of subjects. So we use this language of protection and the language of policing. He called it, a special military operation rather than a war that's very consistent with Empire State's efforts to describe what they're doing as, as actually police operations or, measures short of war.

Unpacking the Consequences of Small Wars

00:09:30 - There are other examples too, from the War on Terror where there's an attempt to kind of keep tamp down, violence and keep it at a level that is somehow labeled as small, even when they accumulate these operations into very significant, events and often with a lot of civilian, loss of life. And of course, in the Gaza War, we have atrocities heaped on atrocities.
00:10:05 - that unfortunately, unfortunately in the long history of, humanity is very familiar of an ongoing conflict with these unstable bouts of peace in between. And when they end, all hell breaks loose. And so, I'm sorry to say that the history has helped me to think critically about these conflicts
00:10:44 - and did not have to contend with, these small wars that are not so small that have really very big consequences and that often lead to atrocities.

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