This collection of articles, combined with the sector of ritual search, tries to investigate the phenomenon of initiation rituals during the early modern ages. Our point of view has been very unusual so far but should help to gain new insights about the early modern society in the military. These articles investigate in detail what effect those rituals had in connection with group dynamics. Further more, it will be described how these rituals helped with day to day tasks as well as exceptional situations, like war. It should also be stated who actually initiated the rituals. The way this part of reasearch was approached should be seen as a first step into this kind of research für the military during the early modern ages.
Prof. Dr. Ralf Pröve lehrt Neuere und Neueste Geschichte am Historischen Institut der Universität Potsdam.
Carmen Winkel ist Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeiterin am Lehrstuhl für Militärgeschichte der Universität Potsdam. Seit 2008 arbeitet sie als DFG-Stipendiatin an ihrer Dissertation zum Thema »Netzwerke und Patronage im preußischen Offizierkorps des 18. Jahrhunderts«.