Civilians at War: Tracing the Line from Partisans to Phone Apps
Introduction
When Ukrainian civilians open their phones to report a missile sighting, which minutes later is intercepted, it seems almost out of science-fiction, or at least revolutionary—ordinary people plunging themselves into the battlefield. The former is the story of ePPO, a Ukrainian app that transforms ordinary people into live sensors on the battlefield. The later, is a moment repeated through the chapters of a long history: the steady, centuries-long pull of civilians into the theater of war.
From the mass mobilizations of the French Revolution to the digital mobilization of Ukraine today, civilians have repeatedly crossed into the theatre of war, reshaping both battlefield practice and the legal frameworks meant to protect them. What makes Ukraine different is not that civilians are fighting, but the scale, speed, and design of their participation.
Stage One: Early Auxiliaries and the Levée en Masse
Civilian involvement in war is hardly new. In the eighteenth century, Hessian auxiliaries—technically civilians under contract—fought for Britain in the American Revolutionary war. But the real turning point came in 1793, when the French Revolution’s National Convention declared the levée en masse: every French citizen was now “in permanent requisition for the service of the armies.” Men were to fight, women to make tents and uniforms, children to tear rags for bandages. For the first time, an entire population was legally mobilized for defense.
This moment was the first of many that blurred the line between soldier and citizen. It also raised questions that international law would wrestle with centuries later. If every man, woman, and child was part of the war effort, who remained protected? The Geneva Conventions, drafted much later in 1949, attempted to restore clarity by defining civilians as those who do not take part in hostilities—and by carving out a critical caveat: civilians lose their protections “unless and for such time as they take a direct part in hostilities.”
In other words, the law recognized what the Revolution had already shown: ordinary persons can become fighters, and when they do, they are no longer shielded by their civilian status.
Stage Two: Resistance and Contractors
The twentieth century witnessed a new wave of civilian involvement. In World War II, resistance movementsacross Nazi-occupied Europe carried out sabotage, espionage, and guerrilla operations. From the French maquis fighters to the Polish Home Army, civilians fought from the shadows—often without uniforms, sometimes without even weapons. Their bravery forced the law to adapt again. Members of resistance groups could be granted prisoner-of-war status if they met certain conditions, such as carrying arms openly and obeying the laws of war.
At the same time, civilian contractors were increasingly pulled into direct combat environments. When Japan attacked Wake Island in 1941, more than half of the defenders were civilian construction workers building a U.S. Naval base. In many conflicts, contractors drove trucks, built fortifications, and repaired weapons—functions indistinguishable from those of enlisted soldiers.
By mid-century, it was clear: civilians could be not only supporters of war, but indispensable actors in its execution.
Stage Three: Post-Cold War Outsourcing
After the Cold War, as Western militaries downsized, they outsourced more and more tasks to the private sector. Contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan eventually outnumbered many national militaries, second only to U.S. troops. They did not just cook meals or transport supplies. Many operated drones, provided intelligence, and even carried weapons.
The consequences were stark. In 2007, Blackwater contractors killed 17 civilians in Baghdad’s Nisour Square. The massacre sparked international outrage, underscoring the dangers of placing combat functions in the hands of civilians who operated in legal gray zones. Were they combatants? Civilians? Something in between? Governments scrambled to regulate private military companies through agreements and codes of conduct, but the deeper trend was already clear: civilians were no longer just near the battlefield; they were inside it.
Stage Four: The Digital Turn
The twenty-first century has brought the most radical shift yet. When previous stages pulled civilians closer to the battlefield, the digital era has brought the battlefield to civilians.
When Steve Jobs introduced us to the iPhone in 2007, he not only brought the world into a new technological era, but created a device that was weapon, sensor, and propaganda tool. In Ukraine, the convergence, of militia, manus, and machina, has reached its full expression.
In Diia, a peacetime e-governance app to store IDs and pay taxes, a wartime repurpose allows civilians to report enemy movements, submit phones of damage, and access wartime information. ePPO enables citizens to point their phones towards missiles or drones, press a button, and feed real-time targeting data into air defense systems. Its first operational success was in October 2022, when civilians reported a Kalibr cruise missile that was subsequently shot down. Or even eVorog or related chatbots which are secure platforms were civilians can send coordinates of Russian tanks or troop movements, integrated into military intelligence systems.
Together, these tools have weaved together what could be called a civilian sensor network. Millions of Ukrainians can contribute to battlefield awareness from where they stand. Unlike WWII resistance groups, they do not need training or weapons. Unlike contractors in Iraq, they are not formally hired. All they need is a smartphone, and an internet connection. The former harder to not own today, and the later, made accessible through Starlink.
This is the essence of Ukraine’s digital war: civilianization at scale, remote participation from anywhere, and the state’s formal encouragement.
The Eurasian Dimension
Ukraine is not alone in experimenting with digital civilian mobilization, but it is the first to scale it nationally. For Russia, which has historically relied on conscription and state propaganda to mobilize its population, Ukraine’s “whole-of-society” approach represents both a tactical threat and a conceptual challenge.
The precedent could spread. Other states in Eurasia—from the Baltics to the Caucasus—may look at Ukraine’s experience and ask: should civilians become part of a permanent national defense network, ready to detect, report, and even fight digitally in the next war? The answer could reshape security across the region.
Conclusion
Ukraine’s digital mobilization is not an aberration but a preview. Civilians have always found themselves swept into war, but the smartphone has made that participation instantaneous, scalable, and often state sponsored. As other countries in Eurasia and beyond observe Ukraine’s example, the challenge will be not just military but legal and ethical: how to harness civilian energy without erasing the protections international law was built to preserve. The next chapter of civilian participation will be written not only on the battlefield but also in courtrooms, parliaments, and international institutions.