Militarism and militarization. National models about relationship between civil power and army in contemporary Europe

di Marco Mondini
in Memoria e Ricerca n.s. 28 (2008), p. 9

The categories of “militarism” and “militarization” have often been used by historians to describe situations in which the relationships between civil power and the army are subverted, with the military ruling over the politicians. In fact, the civil-military relationships in the context of contemporary Europe are much more complex than a schematic use of these categories might suggest. The picture of “militarized” Europe between the Nineteenth and the Twentieth centuries presents extremely different national cases, in which Germany seems to offer the most evident example of a militaristic state. But even within such national cases it is necessary to highlight the various cultural and political periods, which are marked by the mobilization for the world wars.