#gendarms

[swedebeast]

Oh yeah, fuck, I didn’t tell you guys about the book I was reading when I had no internet, did I?

I was about “Swedes at war from WW1 to the modern day”, and it was a bit of a lie because it included several wars before 1914 in which Swedish volunteers were part of, but also sort of kind of Sweden itself. Not just the odd immigrant in the American Civil War, or the few Swedish sailors stuck in South Africa in the Second Boer War (in which their defeat came at the result of a last stand due to orders of retreat not reaching their group, and it received nation-wide attention back home), but also a military expedition to PERSIA.

1911 to 1915, it came about as Great Britain and Russia were competing for control of strategically important Persia, and local raiders and bandits was threatening British trade in the region so badly it was insisting on sending their own troops into the country. However, the nation of Persia - as it was called at the time - offered a compromise by inviting a neutral country to train its gendarme and military police. And so it asked Sweden. And they agreed.

But they didn’t have their own “gendarme” formations, so instead sent nearly 40 cavalry officers instead to train local talents. And they did a really good job, by all records, and Iran’s police agency can trace its structural and organizational origins to Swedish officers.

The most recent medal for “Valour in the Field” was awarded in 1915 to one of these guys.

[deathstardroid]

Enemies now.

[illustratus]

Elite Gendarme of the Imperial Guard by François Flameng

[mako-neexu]

[fidjiefidjie]

Bonjour, bonne journée ☕ 🛂

Contrôle de routine🗼Paris

Photo de Albert Monier 1950s

[jeanfrancoisrey]

Masque africain…

[smokygluvs]

Faites entrer l'accusé

Recently I have been settling down of an evening with Brian to watch re-runs of Faites Entrer l'Accusé, which has been on French TV since 2000. Each episode covers a real crime from its discovery to trial and features interviews with people involved: police, journalists, witnesses, etc.

This man is Henri Cavalier, a senior Gendarme, investigating a rapist and murderer who turned out to be one of his own team. The young Gendarme was later found to be mentally unfit to stand trial.

Henri puts me in mind of Scottish actor Brian Cox as Bob Servant (see previous posts), with his moustache and leather jacket.

One seriously handsome man. The series is worth watching on yourTube if your French is good enough (or you can just enjoy the regular handsome men that show up). There will be more from this excellent series.

[pegasusdrawnchariots]

What. The Count of Monte Cristo is so good :0

[90s-2000s-barbie]

March 27, 2004

[roscoe-conkling]

A French military policeman sits on a ladder smoking his pipe, c. 1890s.

[scurrile-histrion]

Idk if anyone's talked about this before, but as a French person playing Disco Elysium in English, it really strikes me that people refer to Harry and Kim as "gendarmes".

Police is just police in French, and policeman is policier. Pig is poulet (chicken), and cop could be translated to flic.

DE doesn't use any of these French words, it uses "gendarme", which refers not to civil police (civil servants with guns) but to military police. Gendarmes means "people-at-arms". They're not your typical pig. They're fucking military. (more under the cut bc I'm having Thoughts)

It's so interesting that they use this specific word in the context of Revachol being a Zone of Control under the jurisdiction of the Coalition. The RCM was either formed by the Coalition to "restore order" or it was formed by the citizens of Revachol themselves, right?

So why is it interesting, you ask? Because unlike the police nationale, the gendarmerie nationale has military missions: deterrence and weapon control (which includes nuclear security!!!!!), they're in charge of protecting the territory, especially civilian and military critical points, from external and internal threats, etc. They also intervene in events of catastrophes, like natural or environmental disasters.

So, depending on which creation myth we choose to believe for the RCM: either the citizens of Revachol really wanted to have this militia that could get organised efficiently in the event of, say, a nuclear pile meltdown, or the Coalition really, really wanted to have the people of Revachol in a chokehold. Because, as a general rule, the police is terrifying, but the military are more equipped for actual warfare, yknow?

On a lighter note, one of the main differences between police and gendarmerie is that gendarmerie units are versatile and follow a vertical organisation, wheras police units are highly specialised and have a more horizontal organisation. So it might mean that Harry-boy deals w lots of different cases, even if they're all "major crimes", like infringement on the environment and the public health, hatred crimes, crimes against humanity, etc, which is interesting for his character imo.

(Also gendarmes have to be available at all times since they're military lol)

Sources [in French, but u can check the wikipedia pages for gendarmerie nationale and police nationale, they're ok]: x x x x

[deathstardroid]

Lt. Kitsuragi and Patrol Officer Minot in pursuit.

[hippography]

France, 1720-1724. Louis XV.

From: THE VINKHUIJZEN COLLECTION OF MILITARY UNIFORMS, located in the THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

[illustratus]

Elite Gendarme of the Imperial Guard under the First Empire by François Flameng

[perduedansmatete]

je crois que le peu de garçons qu'il reste dans ma famille est cassé y en a déjà un qui est à moitié militaire il doit finir ses études mais ils veulent grave de lui et maintenant l'autre va peut-être quitter son école hors de prix pour devenir gendarme mais qu'est-ce qu'on a foiré dans leur éducation sérieux je comprends pas (bon au moins eux ils savent ce qu'ils veulent faire de leur vie)

[fidjiefidjie]

Bonjour, bonne journée ☕️ 🛂

Gendarme dans les embouteillages 🗼Paris 1963

Photo de Alfred Eisenstaedt