The Dutch fighters that defended the Pontifical States (1860-1870): Problem and solution perceptions of the then Dutch government Bauke, Douwe, and Matthijs Walta from Friesland, the Netherlands Roos Machielse – s1746103 Crisis and Security Management Master Thesis 10 June 2018 Thesis supervisor: Dr. C.W. Hijzen Second reader: Dr. G.G. de Valk Word amount: 30.993 Dutch fighters in the defense of the Pontifical States (1860-1870): a familial connection In 1860, the Pontifical States under Pope Pius IX were threatened by Italians fighting for unity of the Mediterranean island. A multinational fighting force consisting of thousands of young Catholics from various continents left their homes to fight for the Pope.1 Between 1866 and 1870, my great-great-great grandfather Matthijs Walta and his two brothers Bauke and Douwe Walta (see front page) left Friesland, the Netherlands, to participate in the defense of the Pontifical States. With my ancestors leaving the Netherlands to join an armed struggle abroad 150 years ago, a phenomenon that is still highly relevant today, the topic raised my interest to research the defense of the Pontifical States as a historical case more in depth in this Master Thesis. Matthijs Walta Bauke Walta Douwe Walta ° 17-04-1845 ° 23-11-1844 ° 21-12-1842 † 24-06-1918 † 28-12-1899 † 17-8-1922 Ida Walta (Bekema) ° 02-05-1878 † 08-12-1957 Gesina Bekema ° 19-05-1901 † 17-06-1976 Tjebbe Oud °12-01-1936 †25-12-2005 Pauline Oud ∞ Wijnand Machielse ° 10-03-1963 ° 06-11-1963 Roos Machielse ° 09-09-1992 1 Howard Marraro, ‘Canadian and American Zouaves in the Papal Army, 1868-1870’, Canadian Catholic Historical Association (CCHA) Report 12 (1944-45), 83-102, 83. TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................... 4 1. ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK & RESEARCH DESIGN .............................................................. 8 1.1 BODY OF KNOWLEDGE AND RESEARCH GAP ........................................................................................................ 8 1.2 ANALYTICAL FRAMEWORK ..................................................................................................................................... 10 1.3 RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGICAL JUSTIFICATIONS ......................................................................... 19 2. CASE DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................................................... 29 2.1 THE RUN-UP TO THE DEFENSE OF THE PONTIFICAL STATES ........................................................................... 29 2.2 THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE POPE’S ARMY ....................................................................................................... 32 2.3 CONSTITUTIONAL AND RELIGIOUS DEVELOPMENTS IN THE NETHERLANDS ............................................... 33 2.4 RECRUITMENT, MOTIVATIONS, AND FIGHTING .................................................................................................. 36 2.5 AFTERMATH: THE FALL OF ROME ........................................................................................................................ 39 3. PERCEPTIONS OF THE THEN DUTCH GOVERNMENT: THREE DIMENSIONS ......... 42 3.1 THE PROCEDURAL DIMENSION ............................................................................................................................. 42 3.2 ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................................... 47 3.3 THE PRESS DIMENSION .......................................................................................................................................... 50 3.4 ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................................... 58 3.5 THE PARLIAMENTARY DIMENSION ...................................................................................................................... 61 3.6 ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................................................... 68 3.7 PERCEPTIONS OF THE THEN DUTCH GOVERNMENT ON THE (RETURNING) DUTCH FIGHTERS FROM THE PONTIFICAL STATES ....................................................................................................................................................... 72 3.8 PERCEPTIONS: THEN AND NOW ............................................................................................................................ 80 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................. 86 BIBLIOGRAPHY ........................................................................................................................................ 89 ANNEX (SEPARATE) ................................................................................................................................ 97 3 Introduction With the rise (and by now military defeat) of the so-called ‘caliphate’ in Syria/Iraq of terrorist network ISIL/Daesh2 in 2014, thousands of young people from all over the world left their home countries to join ISIL/Daesh and to defend and expand the proclaimed caliphate in a struggle against the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.3 In the 1860s Pope Pius IX saw the territory over which he ruled, the Pontifical States, threatened by Italian fighters battling for unity of the various kingdoms and duchies that we now call Italy. Therefore in 1860, pope Pius IX called on young Catholic men across the world to defend the Pontifical territory against this enemy. Between 1860 and 1870, young men from a wide variety of countries including but not limited to Belgium, Canada, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United States formed a multinational fighting force of thousands of men that aimed to defend the Pontifical States from their demise.4 Between 1860-1870, a little over 3.000 Dutch men volunteered and left their homes to fight for the Pontifical territory.5 Thus, the phenomenon of people leaving their home country to fight for a cause abroad is not a recent development; the past has known similar events, as shown by the case of the Pontifical States in the 1860s. As a response nowadays, governments across the world actively develop local, national, and international policies to counter the recruitment, departure and return of ‘foreign fighters’, who can be defined as “noncitizens of conflict states who join insurgencies during civil conflicts”.6 Research shows that the contemporary foreign fighter phenomenon to ISIL/Daesh in Syria/Iraq has led to the implementation of certain policies. In the case of 2 According to the Global Coalition against Daesh, an international coalition of 75 members formed in 2014 to degrading and defeating Daesh, Deash spreads an ideology of destructive and hateful messages, which e.g. attract people from all over the world travelling to the Syria/Iraq region to join Daesh. See: The Global Coalition against Daesh, ‘Mission’, http://theglobalcoalition.org/en/mission-en/#preventing-the-movement-of- foreign-fighters (30 May 2018). 3 United States Department of State, ‘Update: Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS’ (version 4 August 2017), https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2017/08/273198.htm (27 March 2018). 4 Marraro, ‘Canadian and American Zouaves in the Papal Army, 1868-1870’, 83. 5 Zouavenmuseum, ‘Zouavenregister’, http://zouavenmuseum.nl/museum-documentatie/zouavenregister/ (20 February 2018). 6 David Malet, Foreign Fighters: Transnational Identity in Civil Conflicts (New York 2013) 9. 4 European countries, these include establishing prevention policies and reintegration programs, as well as judicial measure, such as prosecution.7 With up to 280 Dutch persons since 2012 leaving for Syria/Iraq8, the government of the Netherlands actively intervenes in the early stages of (alleged) foreign fighters to prevent them from leaving their homes to join a terrorist network. In addition, the Dutch government possesses a range of policies to deal with these individuals in case they return to their home country.9 These current policies illustrate to a large extent the current perception of the Dutch government: the (alleged) joining of Dutch persons with a terrorist group poses an issue that requires a solution from the government. This leads to the question whether, in the case of the (returning) Dutch fighters to the Pontifical States (1860-1870), the then Dutch government perceived a problem and solution. To a large extent we can illustrate the phenomenon of the (Dutch) fighters that defended the Pontifical States between 1860-1870, as previous research has focused on religious aspects, motivations, recruitment, and the course of events of the fighters’ defence of the Pontifical States. What has, however, remained underexposed in the research are the perceptions of the then Dutch government in relation to the (returning) Dutch fighters that defended the Pontifical States. Previous research on the then Dutch government in relation to the (returning) Dutch fighters has focused only on the procedures applied by the then government.10 These procedures, which will be explored in this research, do not state the problem and solution perception of the then