Pictures of young people preparing Molotov cocktails to oppose Vladimir Putin’s armies have been on the Internet for days and weeks after Russia’s “military operations” in Ukraine began. If the whole world has been traumatized by certain images of child soldiers looking exhausted and armed, modern history, and more recently the conflict in the East, has revealed another phenomenon, that of teenage fighters. At the crossroads between childhood and adulthood, the fear of war and the desire for peace, how do some young people decide to resist? 20 minutes interview Manon PinhoProfessor of Contemporary History at the University of Picardy and historian specializing in children’s war experiences.
What is this notion of “juvenile attachment” that we find at the heart of your book, The Call of War: Adolescents in Battle, 1914-1918?
The idea was to get rid of the concept of child soldier and make the expression more complex to define a more diverse typology. According to Unicef, there are between 250,000 and 300,000 child soldiers in the world today. Indeed, most of them were abducted, subjected to forced fighting and the condition of slaves. But there are also teenagers who, under certain circumstances, choose to join the armed forces. The reasons? They are ideological and pragmatic: I am fighting for a cause that is dear to me and / or I am just fighting not to die.
Ukrainians make cocktails Molotov, Uzhgorod, Transcarpathian region, Western Ukraine. – UKRINFORM / SIPA AGENCY
Is such a commitment possible in Ukraine today?
At the moment we do not have data on the number of young people involved in the conflict, it is too early. But if we watch the news and especially social networks, we notice real civil resistance on the Ukrainian side, it also drives young people. In the context of guerrilla warfare that Ukraine has experienced in recent days, the sense of mortal danger is everywhere. And the Kremlin president’s speeches are not helping. Vladimir Putin uses real Stalinist vocabulary, which suggests a fatal outcome for the country. Therefore, the fear arising from these threats can be very motivating for these young generations and encourage many of them to join the resistance in person.
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Is this “desire for adventure” that you make effective in your work also the reason for this attraction?
In times of war we are in a very specific temporality, which gives us the feeling that we are living in an extraordinary moment. War violates social norms and creates chaos with it. But with this chaos comes the effect of opportunity, of unexpected gain. Thus, those teenagers who often look for themselves in their daily lives will find some meaning in recording. Going to war is an opportunity to experience adventure, to be a part of history in some way.
But what are the implications of this commitment for the development of these adolescents?
German psychogeriatricians have shown after World War II that young people who enrolled suffer surprisingly less from post-traumatic stress disorder than those who do not enroll. In the event that the young person does not lose his life or has no physical consequences, paradoxically, participation in the conflict can be beneficial or at least less traumatic. Sometimes the burden of commitment and belonging to a cause is less severe than the trauma that war can cause.