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21 - Atrocities and war crimes

from Part IV - Rules of Engagement, Laws of War and War Crimes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 December 2013

Jay Winter
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
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Summary

The First World War is a good example of the dialectic of norm, conflict and revision and of the passions and polemics that accompany it. During the war, the habitual charge that the enemy-committed atrocities was translated into charges that could be tried under international law. The norms of warfare in the pre-war period served to judge the escalating violence of the war but also to blame the enemy for the worst transgressions, which occurred in various contexts, war on land, invasions and occupations, the home front, war at sea and war in the air. Land warfare immediately revealed that the protected status of the legitimate combatant, the soldier or sailor who was wounded or taken prisoner, was far from secure. The French accused the Germans of using the Red Cross flag as a ruse in battle and of executing an immense number of wounded soldiers.
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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2014

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  • Atrocities and war crimes
  • Edited by Jay Winter, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: The Cambridge History of the First World War
  • Online publication: 05 December 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9780511675669.027
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  • Atrocities and war crimes
  • Edited by Jay Winter, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: The Cambridge History of the First World War
  • Online publication: 05 December 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9780511675669.027
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Atrocities and war crimes
  • Edited by Jay Winter, Yale University, Connecticut
  • Book: The Cambridge History of the First World War
  • Online publication: 05 December 2013
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CHO9780511675669.027
Available formats
×