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…uncovering the facts of a conflict; monitoring of border or buffer zones after armistice agreements have been signed; verification of agreed-upon force disengagements or withdrawals;
supervision of the disarming and demobilization of local forces; maintenance of security conditions essential to the conduct of elections; and even the temporary transnational administration of countries (Durch 1993:3-4.).
In this regard, peacekeeping is designed to be a confidence building initiative that provides a means and opportunity for nations or factions “exhausted of war, but suspicious of one another’s intentions to live in relative peace whilst they explore lasting and durable areas of agreement to live in peace after the withdrawal of the peacekeepers” (Ibid.).
The term ”peacekeeping” was first used during the deployment of the first United Nations armed peacekeeping mission in Egypt in 1956, the United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF).
The exact origins of peacekeeping operations remain contested (Goulding 1993:452). In terms of having developed a systematic approach to solving interstate and intrastate disputes, it is commonly agreed that the UN invented peacekeeping missions although the phenomenon did not originate with UN or even its predecessor, the League of Nations. Pre-UN prototype
“peacekeeping” was a system originally designed to deal with interstate conflicts as part of the broader conflict and dispute management systems applied by powerful nations dating back to ancient times (Heldt and Wallensteen 2007:4). The next section attempts to trace the origins of peacekeeping from ancient times up to the formation of the League of Nations.
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and limit the spread and effect of war. This was a Catholic Church European medieval movement that applied spiritual sanctions to limit the violence of private war in the feudal societal system of governance and conflict prevention and management (Ibid).
Heldt and Wallensteen (Op.Cit:4) trace the origins of peacekeeping to the 19th Century during the years 1849-50 when Sweden and Norway deployed a 4 000 strong military contingent to conduct a “peacekeeping” operation following an armistice between Denmark and German to resolve the political issue of whether or not the Schleswig – Holstein region should be divided.
The multinational military troops deployed were tasked to maintain law and order in the contested region until a comprehensive peace agreement had been established. Withdrawal of these troops in July 1850 took effect following the successful conclusion of a peace treaty between affected countries (Ibid.).
At the end of the 19th Century, European powers began a scramble to feel the vacuum left by the crumbling Ottoman Empire. According to Pasqualini (2006:23) a multinational military force was deployed to Crete during period 1897-1906 following riots between Christians and Muslims, a situation that was aggravated by contestation for absolute control of the island between Athens and Constantinople. The Great European Powers deployed a multinational force “to sedate the riots and above all to keep a situation of security in the island and the equilibrium in the Mediterranean Sea” (Ibid.). European powers were keen to ensure that no single power dominated the Mediterranean Sea hence the multinational “collective security/peacekeeping” effort was undertaken to keep the balance of power in the geo-strategic Mediterranean region (Ibid). At face value, it would appear as if the multinational military deployment was simply meant to assist the Cypriots settle their differences yet the geo-strategic importance of Cyprus and the strategic need to deny any regional powers to dominate this region were the actual motives hence the deployment was designed to serve the interests of the big European powers and not those of affected populations. In order to effectively pacify the post-Ottoman Empire geo-strategic situation and fill in the vacuum created by the declining empire, a regiment of International ‘Gendarmerie’ composed of European -military personnel was formed and deployed in Cyprus to replace the local Turkish regiment that was dominated by the majority Muslim elements viewed as “highly corrupted and above all unable to secure public order” (Pasqualini (2006). Thus the international regiment effectively replaced the Turkish regiment in order to effectively pacify the volatile situation in a characteristic modern day peacekeeping and regime change fashion.
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Pasqualini (2006) further observed that the Cyprus multinational mission had significant similarities with contemporary modern peacekeeping missions in that:
…the mission was multinational; the area of the island was divided into Areas of Responsibility (AOR) for the countries participating in it; the mission wanted to have the consent of the two armed parties; the military command was unified in order to reach the political and diplomatic strategies sought for by the Powers involved; involvement of the military components of the mission in activities not strictly military like the administration of justice, local disarmament, building and reorganizing the local police, this task particularly given to the Italians, to the Carabinieri (Pasqualini 2006:24).
The 19th century multinational military deployments with characteristics similar to those of modern peacekeeping operations can indeed be classified as prototypes and forerunners of UN peacekeeping missions. Based on the facts above it is evident that military deployments in support of political and diplomatic initiatives to resolve conflicts or consolidate peace following the signing of peace treaties date back to pre-modern times when the idea of having the UN was not even on the horizon.
Jakus (2005:81) observed that indeed peace support and crisis management through military operations are not novel initiatives and undertakings as the military has been involved in similar activities such as diplomatic, police, administrative and humanitarian tasks. He highlights the fact that during the 19th and early 20th centuries prior to the establishment of the UN, the armed forces of the Austro- Hungarian Monarch (AHM) were involved in crisis prevention and crisis management missions which were known as “fire extinguisher missions.” Examples include troop deployments in Crete 1897-1909 and in Skutar 1912-1913 (Ibid.). Evidence of these deployments give further credence to the argument that military peacekeeping operations were not invented by the UN Organization. The purposes of these missions were never meant to serve the interests of affected populations but rather those of the big powers sanctioning the deployments.
James (1990) posited that the rationale for European powers’ participation in conflicts within Europe and on the periphery was to serve European self-interests by ensuring the maintenance of the balance of power on the European continent or to promote the newly achieved balance of power where the outcome of the conflict had weakened the opposing power bloc. He further concluded that European powers deployed “fire extinguisher” missions to conflict areas because the conflicts had taken place on European soil hence they aimed at mitigating the spread of the conflict (James 1990:82). James further pointed out that one of the major reasons for the deployment of military contingents was that they served to facilitate the establishment
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of European spheres of regional influence and interests designed to fill the vacuum left by the collapsing and shrinking Ottoman Empire (Ibid).
Based on the facts above, it is clear that prior to the establishment of the League of Nations, the Great Powers of Europe indeed participated in military deployments synonymous with modern day peacekeeping missions. The Concert of Great Powers in Europe decided where and when peace should be maintained in order to maintain international peace and security at the same time promoting and safeguarding their own interests primarily the maintenance of the Balance of Power Concept (James 1990). These military deployments were therefore not primarily meant to promote the interests of the host countries but rather, those of the intervening states, a practice we will keep encountering during operations undertaken by the League of Nations during the 1920s as well as UN peacekeeping missions since 1948.
The next section examines “fire extinguisher” military deployments that seem to define military commissions deployed under the League of Nations during the inter-war period.