Dr. Evaristo C. Martínez-Radío Garrido is a researcher-collaborator of the CITCEM, in the research group TV-Trading Value. He has coordinated a special dossier on prisoners of war in the Ancien Régime, with Dr. Antonio José Rodríguez Hernández, called La figura del prisionero de guerra en la Edad Moderna: fuentes, percepciones, vivencias y sociabilidad, which was published by the Revista Universitaria de Historia Militar (RUHM). With recognized authors and through first hand research and documents from different countries, it is evident that the topic arouses interest in social History, History of Law and War and Human Rights and, thus, is an important contribution to the bibliography related. In this way, in a war, more in a battle, it is evident that we deal with victors and losers. At this point, and despite also being protagonists, the latter are not as well known since they depend on the former. Among these, we take into account those soldiers who put their lives at stake in defending their cause or their king and who were captured in combat action. It is true that they were not the only ones, as there were also other non-combatant captives, including civilians and, of course, women and children. Despite being a large contingent in all conflicts, we still do not know well this phenomenon between the 16^th and the 18^th centuries. And this is a truly transcendent stage, considering the political and philosophical effervescence that took place in it. The period covered here moves in that frame, although it includes from the 17^th to the beginning of the 19^th century, moments of significant changes both in military treatises, strategy and tactics in the practical, as well as in the philosophical field, also reflected in diplomacy, which exceeds its own time. The advances and conceptions that arose then are still perceived today. Being, therefore, an interesting period by itself, the contributions are presented in a chronological order with respect to the historical situation in which the particular aspects addressed are inserted. In this way we consider that it leads to a better understanding of both the specific event and the moment alluded, covering aspects such as a better comprehension of what a POW was, his living conditions or the relationship with the captors.

The special dossier can be accessed here.