The Laws of War
Constraints on Warfare in the Western World
Yale University Press
Published on 28. December 1994
Book
Hardback
320 pages
978-0-300-05899-4 (ISBN)
Description
This book explores not only the formal constraints on the conduct of war throughout Western history but also the unwritten conventions about what is permissible in the course of military operations. Ranging from classical antiquity to the present, historians discuss the legal and cultural regulation of violence in such areas as belligerent rights, the treatment of prisoners and civilians, the observing of truces and immunities, the use of particular weapons, siege warfare, codes of honour, and war crimes. The book begins with a general overview of the subject by Michael Howard. The contributors then discuss the formal and informal constraints on conducting war as they existed in classical antiquity, the age of chivalry, early modern Europe, colonial America, and the age of Napoleon. They also examine how these constraints have been applied to wars at sea, on land, and in the air, planning for nuclear war, and national liberation struggles, in which one of the participants is not an organized state. The book concludes with reflections by Paul Kennedy and George Andreopoulos on the main challenges facing the quest for humanitarian norms in warfare in the future.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
index
Dimensions
Height: 243 mm
Width: 161 mm
Weight
580 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-05899-4 (9780300058994)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Editor
Lecturer in History, Yale University, USA
Preface
Content
Constraints on warfare, Michael Howard; classical Greek times, Josiah Ober; the age of chivalry, Robert C. Stacey; early modern Europe, Geoffrey Parker; colonial America, Harold E. Selesky; the age of Napoleon, Gunther Rosenberg; maritime conflict, John B. Hattendorf; land warfare - from Hague to Nuremberg, Adam Roberts; air power, Tami Davis Biddle; nuclear war planning, David Alan Rosenberg; the age of national liberation movements, George J. Andreopoulos; the laws of war - some concluding reflections, Paul Kennedy and G.J. Andreopoulos.