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Modern nation-states commonly conscripted Jews. Military service ran contrary to the traditional Jewish self-understanding of being a civilian population that even detested war. In spite of ethical concerns, Jewish representatives, authors, and rabbis ultimately recognized involvement in wars as a civic obligation. Furthermore, participation in war often evoked wide-ranging political expectations in matters of the individual or the Jewish people. Jewish military service consistently mirrored the process of emancipation. 1. The military and JudaismThe Jewish self-image as a people for whom the life of a soldier is alien and even anathema originates in the position of Jews in late antiquity and the middle ages, when they were excluded from the warrior elite and were exempt from the obligation of military service. Jewish warriors were also unknown in the Islamic world; the spectacular case of Shmu’el ha-Nagid (Ismāʿ īl ibn al-Naghrīlah, 993–1056), who served as grand vizier and commander of the Emir of Granada’s armed troops, is an exceptio…

Moderne Staaten unterstellten auch Juden gewöhnlich der Wehrpflicht. Der Dienst im Militär lief dem jüdischen historischen Selbstverständnis als einer zivilen, gar den Krieg verabscheuenden Bevölkerung zuwider. Trotz ethischer Bedenken erkannten jüdische Repräsentanten, Autoren und Rabbiner die Beteiligung an Kriegen letztlich als staatsbürgerliche Pflicht an. Darüber hinaus evozierte die Kriegsteilnahme häufig weitgehende politische Erwartungen in Bezug auf den Einzelnen oder das jüdische Volk.…