Treason: A Global History

The concept of ‘traitors’ has been a constant in human history, with the crime of treason viewed as the most heinous, prosecuted in most states from the ancient world until the present day. This crime usually involves a power struggle since treason means breaking a bond of loyalty owed to a state or community, challenging the existing order and often trying violently to overthrow it. This can occur in the domestic arena, or through allegiance with some foreign force hostile to the home community of the traitor.

Examples of domestic treason are the assassins of Caesar, the Gunpowder Plot, or the assassination attempt on Hitler in 1944. Example of foreign treachery are renegades in times of war (Roger Casement), nationalists with foreign allegiance (the Sarajevo assassins of 1914), or traitor-spies after the Second World War (the Rosenbergs; the Cambridge spies). As this reveals, the domestic and foreign threads are often interlinked (e.g. Quisling in Norway). How they are interpreted tells us much about any regime’s relationship to its citizens, its (in)stability, and the evolving threats posed to its domestic and foreign security. The scale of punishment for traitors also reflects how far the regime feels threatened. Although most concretely defined as a crime, treason is also a subjective concept, best conceived in the eye of the beholder and often specific to one era or the security needs of a particular regime.

Our network aims to show that the phenomenon of treason is a highly useful touchstone for measuring the social stability, as well as the nature of power struggles under a range of regimes. Therein lies the past and the contemporary relevance of the topic. Indeed, the historic phenomenon of treason still surfaces regularly in the present even if modern states and regimes may now term it ‘terrorism’ or ‘whistle-blowing’. Yet conceptual thinking about treason is singularly undeveloped, often relying on simple public stereotypes. Academic scholarship is also fragmented and skewed towards case studies about particular historical periods. The current network of scholars will rectify this by deepening our understanding of treason as a phenomenon surfacing in every century, while aiding a wider public understanding of the present relevance of the subject.

The principal aim of the network is to establish an academic framework for facilitating an enduring discussion between scholars of treason from a range of disciplines. The primary discipline is History, but there is special value in drawing in lawyers, political philosophers, literary specialists and heritage experts. We will be focusing on the following three themes:

1. The evolving legal framework:

• How has the legal definition of treason evolved through the centuries under different regimes?
• How precise or imprecise is the legal concept? Is due legal process observed?
• How has the crime been prosecuted and punished?
• How have ‘traitors’ behaved in the judicial context (court and scaffold)?

2. The cultural representation of traitors:

• How far has the language about treason/traitors differed transnationally?
• To what extent has treason been gendered and with what results?
• Is the negative stereotype of the traitor similar across the centuries? How far is it regularly upended by different interpretations?
• What reasons – religious, political or secular – are given for the emergence of treason in particular social and cultural contexts.

3. The impact and heritage of treason:

• What is the short and long-term impact of different types of treason?
• How has new technology affected the discovery or dissemination of treason?
• Why do some spaces resonate as special sites of treason (e.g. Tower of London)?
• Why have some traitors been forgotten, remembered or rehabilitated?
• Which traditions are invoked by today’s populist movements in order to defame opponents as traitors? And what concrete dangers do such defamations pose?
• Have ethical concerns about treason surfaced in the pre-modern/modern eras?

Contact Details

Prof. Mark Cornwall
Emeritus Professor of Modern European History
School of Humanities,
University of Southampton
Southampton
SO17 1BF

Prof. André Krischer
University of Freiburg
Rempart Str. 15 / KG 4
79098 Freiburg im Breisgau
Contact: krischer@geschichte.uni-freiburg.de