The University of British Columbia Press has just released
Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts Martial in the Great War, by
Teresa Iacobelli (
SSHRC postdoctoral fellow). A description from the Press:
Soldiers found guilty of desertion or cowardice
during the Great War faced death by firing squad. In this revealing look
at military law in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, historian Teresa
Iacobelli examines the cases of 25 Canadian soldiers who were executed
by their own military as well as the untold stories of the 197 men who
were sentenced to death but spared.
Death or Deliverance -- the first book to consider commuted
sentences alongside cases that ended in tragic executions -- offers a
nuanced account of military law in the Great War. Novels, histories,
movies, and television series often depict courts martial as brutal and
inflexible, and social memories of this system of frontline justice have
inspired modern movements to seek pardons for soldiers executed on the
battlefield. Beyond well-known stories of unyielding and callous
generals, however, lies another story, one of a disciplinary system
capable of thoughtful review and compassion for the individual soldier.
Published to coincide with the centennial anniversary of the outbreak of
the First World War, this book reconsiders an important and unexamined
chapter in the history of both a war and a nation.
A few blurbs:
"Death or Deliverance
tells an important story, that of desertion in the First World War and
the ways in which the army reacted. Investigating the later campaign to
pardon the soldiers shot for that offence, Iacobelli adopts an entirely
original approach -- she incorporates the stories of those soldiers
found guilty of desertion but who avoided the firing squad. The book’s
conclusions and its many comparisons between military law and civilian
jurisprudence at the time are sure to spark scholarly debate."
-- Bill Rawling
"Death or Deliverance corrects many misconceptions about the
subject of military justice in the Canadian Corps. While it will have
significant appeal for Canadian and other historians of Great War
military history and legal history, it will also enjoy a popular
readership because of its gripping subject matter."
-- Patrick Brennan
The introduction is available
here.
