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‘On Vient de Fusiller un des Nôtres’: A Quantitative Study of Military Executions in the French Army during WW1

Author

Listed:
  • Olivier Guillot

    (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, AgroParisTech)

  • Antoine Parent

    (Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - Département Sciences de l'Éducation - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis, Sciences Po - Sciences Po)

Abstract
This paper explores the issue of French executions during the Great War in a quantitative perspective. Based on the 'Shot in the First World War' database of the Ministry of Defense, we first provide a statistical portrait of the French soldiers who were sentenced to death by courts-martial or summarily executed. Then, we analyze the temporal distribution of executions using a regression approach. More specifically, we investigate whether the variations in the number of executions over time were related to the intensity of engagements. Finally, focusing on the soldiers' place of birth, we examine the differences across counties (departements) in the execution rate. Our results suggest that the vast majority of the executed soldiers were 'poilus' like the others who found themselves before a firing squad for having committed a fault in a moment of weakness, often after being involved in particularly bloody fighting, and sometimes under the influence of alcohol. Their acts were probably, in most cases, much more driven by survival instinct than by pacifist motives or other political considerations.

Suggested Citation

  • Olivier Guillot & Antoine Parent, 2024. "‘On Vient de Fusiller un des Nôtres’: A Quantitative Study of Military Executions in the French Army during WW1," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03833828, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:spmain:hal-03833828
    DOI: 10.1080/10242694.2022.2120234
    as

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