Violence is at the core of war – first as a means to create „order“ between states or to discipline soldiers inside the army. Second, violence tends to destroy the only capital of the „soldier“, his healthy body. In this talk I shall focus on this destructive aspect of violence. Higher military ranks to the general command report laconically horrifying numbers of killed or injured „soldiers“. To get closer to the experience of the individual „soldier“ it is necessary to use other sources such as diaries, autobiographies and letters. I shall analyze a corpus of these „ego documents“. No doubt, injuries may have direct effects on the masculinity of these soldiers as warriors or providers. Beyond this evidence one may wonder whether the representation of experienced violence varies between text genres – and during the three centuries of the early modern period. The different positions of the authors inside the hierarchy of the armies might be a further clue to explain their attitudes toward violence. Whether this might also hint to different types of masculinity has to be discussed.

Prof. Dr. Martin Dinges is adjunct professor of modern history at the University of Mannheim and was until 2019 deputy director of the Institute for the History of Medicine of the Robert Bosch Foundation, Stuttgart. His research interests cover the history of the health and gender history.

He has widely published on these topics, recently: Männlichkeiten in der Frühmoderne: Körper, Gesundheit und Krankheit (1500-1850), Stuttgart 2020 (ed. with Pierre Pfütsch); Gewalterfahrungen von Jungen und Männern und Folgen für ihre Gesundheit. Sechster Deutscher Männergesundheitsbericht der Stiftung Männergesundheit, Gießen 2025 (ed. with A. M. Möller-Leimkühler). https://martindinges.de/

Moderator - dr. Kirill Lewinson (Max Weber Netzwerk Osteuropa)

The lecture will take place at Vilnius University Faculty of History, auditorium no. 211

Start: 17:00 / 5pm

The lecture is organized by our branch office in Vilnius in cooperation with the Max Weber Netzwerk Osteuropa, Kirill Lewinson.