The Changing Nature and Rules ofWar
www.perseus.tufts.edu
A Greek Soldier killing a Trojan during the TrojanWar Vase ca 480 BCE
War has been a fact of human history as far back as we can report. Whether for the purpose of expansion, defense, religion or revenge,man has found himself time and again led into armed conlict with his neighbors. Over time, the manner inwhichwar is conducted has changed in many ways. New weapons and technology have been developed, increasing both the accuracy and deadliness with which we may attack one another. These improvements in technology have in turn changed the shape of battleields and strategy. Gone are the ranged armies and cavalry charges which dominated battles through much of history. World War I brought trenches, poison gas, andmachine guns. Today, both low-tech Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and extremely complex long- rangemissile defense systems playmajor roles in the global conduct ofwar.
In ancient Greece there was no formal code of conduct in war. Instead, war was regulated by custom. This customwas bound tightlywith the understanding of honor and with religious beliefs and so seems to have been generally observed, although no codiied manner existed to enforce adherence beyond the retribution of the gods themselves. The recordswe havewhich address this code mostly come from the Classical Period in Greece, over a century after Homer crafted the Iliad, but address many issueswhich arisewithin the epic.
As the traditional codes of war were derived from religious belief, they focused on the maintenance of places, people and traditions
sacred to the gods rather than on the human treatment of those thrown in the way of the ighting. Damaging temples or other religious places or interfering with priests was not permitted, as we see in Agamemnon’s punishment for taking the daughter of a priest of Apollo. The return of the bodies of the slain was also required, though again this derived froma religious requirement of burial. Humane treatment of those captured,whether civilian or military, was not required. In fact, those captured were considered the property of the victors. Upon capturing a city, slaughtering the male population and taking the rest of the population as slaves, as happened in Troy, was the norm.
Over time, the focus of war regulation has shifted from the defense of religious property and tradition to the defense of people and their
livelihoods.As our ability to kill one another has become more eficient, mechanized and far- reaching, so has our desire to regulate the destruction we are permitted to cause. Beginning in the 19th century, a series of international
law codes focusing on
humanitarian concerns were established to govern themanner inwhichwarmay bewaged and the treatment required for those affected by it. Themost famous andwide-reaching of these is the Geneva Convention, which sets out international human rights regulations. The Geneva Convention has been updated several times to relect protection of wider groups affected bywar.
The International Commitee of the Red Cross is an international, neutral human rights organization. It works to help those affected by armed conlict and other
forms of violence. The work of this organization, and others like it, is closely bound to the international code of human rights set out in the Geneva Convention,which also guarantees the safety andneutrality of the organization and those working for it in war zones.
21
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24