Swiss Mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies

A Transimperial History of Military Labour, 1848-1914

Author: Philipp Krauer

Book Cover Swiss Mercenaries Krauer

About this book

Between 1848 and 1914 around 5,800 Swiss Mercenaries enlisted in the Dutch Colonial Army (KNIL) to fight in the Dutch East Indies (present-day Indonesia). Following the traces of these mercenaries beyond the confines of the Dutch Empire, this book elucidates the complexities of the nineteenth-century military labour markets and provides an intricate examination of the mercenaries’ socio-cultural backgrounds, their motives, and their engagement with local communities and authorities. In doing so, it reveals the profound effects of colonialism not only on the colonies themselves, but also on the social, economic and cultural landscape of the European hinterland.

Swiss Mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies Co-Winner of the Thomas Welskopp Dissertation Prize by the German Labour History Association

Philipp Krauer graduated from ETH Zurich in 2021 and is currently affiliated with the archives of the Canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. He has widely published on the history of mercenaries, migration, violence and the welfare state in various journals, handbooks and encyclopaedias. Furthermore, he is a cofounder of the public history project zh-kolonial.ch. In recognition of his interdisciplinary research into the colonial entanglements of Swiss mercenaries, he was honoured with the “Young Scholar Award” by the Walter Benjamin Kolleg of the University of Bern in 2023.

Format: Hardback

Pages: 236

Illustrated: Black and White

ISBN Print: 9789087284145

ISBN ePDF: 9789400604599

Published: 29 March 2024

Language: English

Reviews

Georg Kreis, European Institute of the University of Basel in H-Soz-Kult
Krauer’s study uses the case of the Swiss mercenary service in the Dutch East Indies to show how intensive the ties between Switzerland and the colonial world were. This applies not only to the Swiss presence abroad, but also to its contemporary perception in its country of origin. The knowledge about this was lost over time and has now been brought back through historical research. (Quote translated from original German)
Philipp Krauer, however, manages to make the most of European sources to write a history that is attentive to the individual trajectories of the mercenaries as well as to the collective and institutional logics specific to the KNIL.
Swiss Mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies makes a significant contribution towards the historiography of Swiss exceptionalism by revealing Switzerland’s entanglements in European imperialism. In tracing the personal accounts of Swiss mercenaries within the KNIL and the networks that they produced, the author offers compelling evidence that Switzerland was an active and complicit actor in Europe’s colonial history. The book’s strongest contribution lies in its rich multilingual archival work and its ability to connect the Swiss tradition of mercenaryism to the broader debates on the nature and consequences of Dutch and European colonial, racial, and economic entanglements abroad. In this regard, Swiss Mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies serves as a crucial addition to the literature on Switzerland’s global history and her role in the European global imperial networks.
Georg Kreis, European Institute of the University of Basel in H-Soz-Kult
Krauer’s study uses the case of the Swiss mercenary service in the Dutch East Indies to show how intensive the ties between Switzerland and the colonial world were. This applies not only to the Swiss presence abroad, but also to its contemporary perception in its country of origin. The knowledge about this was lost over time and has now been brought back through historical research. (Quote translated from original German)
Philipp Krauer, however, manages to make the most of European sources to write a history that is attentive to the individual trajectories of the mercenaries as well as to the collective and institutional logics specific to the KNIL.
Swiss Mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies makes a significant contribution towards the historiography of Swiss exceptionalism by revealing Switzerland’s entanglements in European imperialism. In tracing the personal accounts of Swiss mercenaries within the KNIL and the networks that they produced, the author offers compelling evidence that Switzerland was an active and complicit actor in Europe’s colonial history. The book’s strongest contribution lies in its rich multilingual archival work and its ability to connect the Swiss tradition of mercenaryism to the broader debates on the nature and consequences of Dutch and European colonial, racial, and economic entanglements abroad. In this regard, Swiss Mercenaries in the Dutch East Indies serves as a crucial addition to the literature on Switzerland’s global history and her role in the European global imperial networks.

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