Does History Repeat Itself? A Comparative Analysis of Private Military Entities

Abstract

Whereas organized groups of men specializing in warfare and serving the highest bidder are a common feature throughout the entire history of warfare, the prerequisite for a historically comparative analysis of private military entities is the existence of states as global players in the international system. The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) and the French Revolution (1789) are regarded as sequences of tenses in this context. After 1648 the idea of (European) sovereigns with equal rights characterized the relations among states. Nonetheless, companies like the English East India Company, the Dutch East India Company and the Companhia de Moçambique played a crucial role in the emergence of the current global trading system and international relations. Even after the revolution of 1789, commonly regarded as the birth date of the citizen-state, the companies did not loose their influence. During the period from 1600 to the beginning of the 20^th century, international relations were shaped to a great extent by the companies. The European states’ power and the worldwide influence the European economies have today are unthinkable without the success of these private military entities.