Skip to main content

From Hitler’s Youth to the British Child Soldier: How the Martial Regulation of Children Normalizes and Legitimizes War

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Discovering Childhood in International Relations

Abstract

The popular slogan of the charity Save the Children that “Every war is a war against children”, attributed to the founder of the organization, Eglantyne Jeb, said to have been stated around one hundred years ago, is a reminder that wars take particular tolls on children and young people. Though often overlooked in scholarly and popular analyses of war, children are especially vulnerable to abuse, exploitation, and trafficking, and are particularly adversely affected by limited access to education and basic services in the chaos that often accompanies warfare. This is all in addition to their vulnerability to the immediate dangers of war itself.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 84.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 109.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Armed Forces Careers Office. 2007. “Application for Service in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces Form.” Accessed 1 March 2019. http://s175741619.websitehome.co.uk/euotc/files/AFCO_Form4_Joint_July07.pdf.

  • Basham, Victoria M. 2011. “Kids with Guns: Militarization, Masculinities, Moral Panic and (Dis)Organised Violence.” In The Militarization of Childhood: Thinking Beyond the Global South, edited by J. Marshall Beier, 175–193. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Basham, Victoria M. 2016. “Raising an Army: The Geopolitics of Militarizing the Lives of Working-Class Boys in an Age of Austerity.” International Political Sociology 10 (3): 258–274. https://doi.org/10.1093/ips/olw013.

  • Beier, J. Marshall, ed. 2011. The Militarization of Childhood: Thinking Beyond the Global South. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Benwell, Matthew C., and Peter Hopkins, eds. 2016. Children, Young People and Critical Geopolitics. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Billig, Michael. 1995. Banal Nationalism. Los Angeles: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • British Army. 2019. “Options: Soldier Junior Entry.” Accessed 1 March 2019. https://apply.army.mod.uk/how-to-join/entryoptions/soldier-junior-entry.

  • Brocklehurst, Helen. 2006. Who’s Afraid of Children? Children, Conflict and International Relations. Aldershot: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Campbell Bartoletti, Susan. 2005. Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow. New York: Scholastic.

    Google Scholar 

  • Child Soldiers International and ForcesWatch. 2013. One Step Forward: The Case for Ending Recruitment of Minors by the British Armed Forces. London: ForcesWatch.

    Google Scholar 

  • Childs, Harwood L. 1938. The Nazi Primer. New York: Harper & Brothers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cunningham, Hugh. 2006. The Invention of Childhood. London: BBC Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Department for Education, UK. 2019. Destinations of Key Stage 4 and 16–18 students, England, 2017/18. London: Department for Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dorling, Danny. 2016. “Brexit: The Decision of a Divided Country.” BMJ 354 (8066): 91.

    Google Scholar 

  • Doty, Roxanne Lynn. 1993. “Foreign Policy as Social Construction: A Post-positivist Analysis of U.S. Counterinsurgency Policy in the Philippines.” International Studies Quarterly 37 (3): 297–320. https://doi.org/10.2307/2600810.

  • Foucault, Michel. 1980. Power/Knowledge: Selected Interviews and Other Writings, 1972–1977. Edited by Colin Gordon and translated by Colin Gordon, Leo Marshall, John Mepham, and Kate Soper. Hemel Hempstead: Harvester Wheatsheaf.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilroy, Paul. 2005. “Multiculture, Double Consciousness and the ‘War on Terror’.” Patterns of Prejudice 39 (4): 431–443. https://doi.org/10.1080/00313220500347899.

  • Harber, Clive, ed. 2004. Schooling as Violence: How Schools Harm Pupils and Societies. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harber, Clive, and Noriko Sakade. 2009. “Schooling for Violence and Peace: How Does Peace Education Differ from ‘Normal’ Schooling?” Journal of Peace Education 6 (2): 171–187. https://doi.org/10.1080/17400200903086599.

  • Higate, Paul. 1998. “The Body Resists: Everyday Clerking and Unmilitary Practice.” In The Body in Everyday Life, edited by Sarah Nettleton and Jonathan Watson, 181–198. London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hobbis Harris, John. 2013. Cadet’s Pocket Book. Newport: Military Pocket Books.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jenks, Chris. 1996. Childhood. New York: Routledge.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Joyce, Eric. 1998. Arms and the Man: Renewing the Armed Services. 2nd ed. London: Fabian Society.

    Google Scholar 

  • Koschorke, Albrecht. 2017. On Hitler’s Mein Kampf: The Poetics of National Socialism. Translated by Erik Butler. Cambridge: MIT Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kulz, Christy. 2017. “Heroic Heads, Mobility Mythologies and the Power of Ambiguity.” British Journal of Sociology of Education 38 (2): 85–104. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1044071.

  • Levy, Yagil. 1998. “Militarizing Inequality: A Conceptual Framework.” Theory and Society 27 (6): 873–904. https://doi.org/10.1023/a:1006962331533.

  • Louise, Rhianna, and Emma Sangster. 2019. Selling the Military: A Critical Analysis of Contemporary Marketing in the UK. London: ForcesWatch and Medact.

    Google Scholar 

  • May, Theresa. 2016. “Theresa May’s Conference Speech in Full.” The Telegraph, 5 October. Accessed 1 March 2019. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/05/theresa-mays-conference-speech-in-full/.

  • Medact. 2016. The Recruitment of Children by the UK Armed Forces: A Critique from Health Professionals. London: Medact.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meissner, Margit. 1947–1948. “Margit Meissner Papers”. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection. Gift of Margit Meissner, Accession Number: 2007.359.1.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Defence. 2013. Policy on Recruiting Under-18s (U18). Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, Ref. FOI2015/00618 by Child Soldiers International.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pagaard, Stephen. 2005. “Teaching the Nazi Dictatorship: Focus on Youth.” The History Teacher 38 (2): 189–207. https://doi.org/10.2307/1555719.

  • Save the Children. 2019. Stop the War on Children: Protecting Children in 21st Century Conflict. London: Save the Children.

    Google Scholar 

  • United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM). 2018. “Holocaust Encyclopedia: Hitler Youth.” Accessed 1 March 2019. https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/hitler-youth-2.

  • Valentine, Gill. 2009. “Children’s Bodies: An Absent Presence.” In Contested Bodies of Childhood and Youth, edited by Kathrin Horschelmann and Rachel Colls, 22–37. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, Alison M.S. 2006. “Children and International Relations: A New Site of Knowledge?” Review of International Studies 32 (2): 237–250. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0260210506007005.

  • Woodward, Rachel. 2005. “From Military Geography to Militarism’s Geographies: Disciplinary Engagements with the Geographies of Militarism and Military Activities.” Progress in Human Geography 29 (6): 718–740. https://doi.org/10.1191/0309132505ph579oa.

  • Young-Bruehl, Elisabeth. 2012. Childism: Confronting Prejudice Against Children. New Haven: Yale University Press.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Victoria M. Basham .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2020 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Basham, V.M. (2020). From Hitler’s Youth to the British Child Soldier: How the Martial Regulation of Children Normalizes and Legitimizes War. In: Beier, J. (eds) Discovering Childhood in International Relations. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46063-1_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics