Waging war for peace
Sylvain Venayre
Sylvain Venayre has been a professor of Contemporary History at the University of Grenoble Alpes since 2013. A specialist in 19th century history, his work focuses on the history of movement (travel, tourism, military expeditions), as well as the history of the imagination, sensibilites and emotions. His publications include Une guerre au loin (Les Belles Lettres, 2016), Jardin des colonies (with Thomas B. Reverdy, Flammarion, 2017), Histoire du monde au XIXe siècle (with Pierre Singaravélou, Fayard, 2017) and Les Guerres lointaines de la paix (Gallimard, 2023). Also a comic book writer, his latest book was published by Delcourt: Les crieurs du crime, with Hugues Micol (2024). He edits the series "Histoire dessinée de la France" (La Découverte/La Revue dessinée), for which he co-authored the first volume with Etienne Davodeau: La Balade nationale in 2017, and the "La Découverte-Delcourt" series of humanities and social sciences books in comic book form.
© Claire Delfino
On Tuesday, May 5th, 2026, at the headquarters of MSF (14-34 avenue Jean Jaurès, 75019), the CRASH team was delighted to welcome Sylvain Venayre, professor of contemporary history and writer, for a conference on the distant wars of the 19th century and the debates they continue to spark today. This exchange was prepared and moderated by Rony Brauman.
The first humanitarian conventions and conferences took place in a Europe that had, to some extent, moved away from wars. Contrary to their predecessors, Europeans of the 19th century, or at least most of them, did not directly experience war. The telegraph and the printing press, however, provided them with the means to be informed, with the emergence of the daily press and war correspondents.
A founder of the Red Cross, Gustave Moynier, wrote in 1899, as if to describe a new sensibility towards war: “The descriptions provided by the daily news place, as it were, the dying on the battlefields before the readers’ very eyes and make resound in their ears, alongside the songs of victory, the agonising cries of the poor, mutilated men who fill the ambulances.”
The ‘century of peace’, as it appeared to Europeans at the time, was in reality a century of never-ending wars led by the Europeans in the rest of the world – wars of which they themselves became mere spectators.
Some of these “peacetime” wars were also, in certain instances, “humanitarian wars,” carried out by coalitions whose justifications resonate familiarly in our own ears: restoring order, bringing peace, eradicating slavery, etc. Free trade, often praised as a factor of peace, was in practice enforced at gunpoint.
In Les Guerres lointaines de la paix. Civilisation et barbarie depuis le XIXe siècle (Gallimard), Sylvain Venayre, a historian specialised in the 19th century, recounts these expeditions and reports on the fierce controversies they gave rise to. The author of numerous scholarly works, as well as graphic novels and historic comic books, he will give a conference on these distant wars of the 19th century and the debates they continue to elicit today.
To cite this content :
Sylvain Venayre, “Waging war for peace”, 5 mai 2026, URL : https://msf-crash.org/en/conferences-debates/waging-war-peace
If you would like to comment on this article, you can find us on social media or contact us here:
Contribute
Benoit Finck
Analysis
War and humanitarian aid
07/25/2016Rony Brauman focuses on the humanitarian environment and practices in war, in order to try to understand and analyze its political and ethical stakes. Starting with the creation of the Red Cross at the end of the XIXth century, he then focused on the contemporary postcolonial period, switching between various scales and reporting on contradictory points of view and issues.
Book
In the Shadow of Just Wars
09/01/2003During the planning stages of military intervention in Iraq, humanitarian organizations were offered U.S. government funds to join the Coalition and operate uneder the umbrella of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Muhammed Said
Book
Humanitarian wars ? Lies and brainwashing
04/18/2019In the eyes of Rony Brauman of Médecins sans Frontières, wars are always triggered in the name of morality. Today’s “humanitarian” interventions are little more than new moral crusades – and their justifications are based on lies.
Past events
Conference
Reconstructing Lives
02/17/2022 - 06:30 PM 08:30 PMThe members of the Crash team were happy to welcome you all to an conference-debate with anthropologist Vanja Kovačič, on Thursday 17th of February. The author introduced her recently-published book "Reconstructing lives Victims of war in the Middle East and Médecins Sans Frontières" (Manchester University Press, translated in French and Arabic). This event, prepared with Jean-Hervé Bradol, was moderated by Michaël Neuman.
Conference
Another approach to well-being at work
12/09/2021 - 06:30 PM 08:30 PMThe members of the Crash were very happy to welcome you all to this conference-debate with occupational psychologists Yves Clot and Jean-Yves Bonnefond, two of the authors of “Le prix du travail bien fait – La coopération conflictuelle dans les organisations” (Paris, La Découverte, 2021 ; co-written with Antoine Bonnemain and Mylène Zittoun). This event, prepared with Judith Soussan, was moderated by Clément Perrin.
msf
Conference
Book launch event - Violences extrêmes. Enquêter, secourir, juger République démocratique du Congo, Rwanda, Syrie
11/17/2021 - 06:30 PM 08:30 PMWe were happy to welcome Claudine Vidal, sociologist (CNRS) and Crash scientific committee member, and Jean-Hervé Bradol, doctor, former President of the French section of MSF and current director studies at the Crash, for the launching event of the newly-published book “Violences extrêmes. Enquêter, secourir, juger République démocratique du Congo, Rwanda, Syrie” (Éditions de la Maison des sciences de l’homme, Paris 2021). The event was hosted by Rony Brauman.
Conference
Round Table - 50 years of Doctors without borders (Médecins sans frontières)
11/03/2021 - 07:30 PM 09:00 PMMédecins Sans Frontières celebrated its 50th anniversary. On this occasion and in the framework of the International Humanitarian Studies Association (IHSA) conference, the Crash organized a Round Table on the history of the organization, the myths surrounding it, and its recent evolution. This meeting, prepared with Elba Rahmouni, was moderated by Bertrand Taithe.
Conference
Asylum and exile. A history of the distinction between migrants / refugees
04/12/2021 - 06:30 PM 08:30 PMOn April 12 2021, we were delighted to welcome Karen Akoka, political scientist and sociologist, fresh from her publication in November of “Asylum and Exile. A History of the Refugee/Migrant Distinction" (La Découverte, 2020). The author described and analyzed the trajectory of OFPRA, the French institution founded in 1952 and responsible for granting refugee status; she provided an insight into how the history of the distinction between migrants and refugees was established in France. This conference was prepared and moderated by Michaël Neuman.
Conference
The quantification of needs
12/10/2020 - 06:00 PM 08:00 PMCombining historical research and ethnographic investigations, the Africanist historian Joël Glasman plunges us into the factory of the homo humanitarianus, the average individual, on the basis of which "needs" and aid projects today are assessed. This conversation took place on December 10th 2020, during a conference-debate at Crash prepared and moderated by Michaël Neuman.