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Seminar: Frank Eisermann M. A.

Prisoners of War in Early 19th Century (Europe and Nothern Africa)

 

Course description:

In 1814, after the fall of Napoleon, started a public discussion about ending the "enslavement" of european captives, made by the Maghrebian states, all over Europe. A debatte wich is still influantial for the perception of the "Barbary States".

Aim of the seminar is the integration of this debatte into the context of politics and the history of ideas of that time.

The first lecture will amplify to the disputes about the abolition of slavery and, mainly, the legal and the real status of prisoners of war at the Napoleonic Wars. This topics will be deepened by reading some articles of contemporary newspapers, which thematize the situation of prisoners of war in different European and Maghrebian states.

A second lecture will sketch out the following disputes on this topics: the fruitless efforts, to codify an international binding legal status of prisoners of war, at the Congress of Vienna, and the 1816 forced self-commitement of the Maghrebian states, to treat the captives from every European countries acording "European standards".

The consequences of these new legal situation for the involved captives will be discussed again by some newspaper articles and letters.

 

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