Talk: Rules of Warfare

(There are many subjects of war that are regulate by rules of warfare including blockading ports and the treatment of POWs.  Here, we are only concerned with the treatment of civilians by an enemy army.)


Irregular (Guerrilla) Warfare

    Raiding
    Ambushing
    Sabotage  

All types of irregular fighters were considered war criminals except for Partisan Rangers.  Partisan rangers were:

1)  recognized by their governments
2)  wore the uniform or other garb that identified them as combatants. 
3)  reported into their country's military chain of command.
4)  followed the rules of warfare (e.g. took prisoners as POWS instead of executing them 

Other types of irregular fighters (e.g. bushwhackers were subject to execution).  

During the Second Seminole War, American military commanders responded to Indian guerrilla tactic by burn their towns and holding Indian woman and children hostage to persuade Indian warriors to surrender.  

During the Mexican-American War, American military commanders acted harshly towards the families of Mexican guerillas, including killing them.  

 Confederate Partisan Ranger Act

On April 21, 1862, the Confederate Congress passed the Partisan Ranger Act. The law was intended as a stimulus for recruitment of irregulars for service into the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War. The Act reads as follows:

Section 1. The congress of the Confederate States of America do enact, That the president be, and he is hereby authorized to commission such officers as he may deem proper with authority to form bands of Partisan rangers, in companies, battalions, or regiments, to be composed of such members as the President may approve.

 Section 2. Be it further enacted, that such partisan rangers, after being regularly received in the service, shall be entitled to the same pay, rations, and quarters during the term of service, and be subject to the same regulations as other soldiers. 

Section 3. Be its further enacted, That for any arms and munitions of war captured from the enemy by any body of partisan rangers and delivered to any quartermaster at such place or places may be designated by a commanding general, the rangers shall be paid their full value in such manner as the Secretary of War may prescribe.  (source -Wikipedia)

The Confederate leadership, like the Union leadership, later opposed the use of irregular warfare, fearing that the lack of discipline among rival guerrilla groups could spiral out of control. On February 17, 1864 the Partisan Ranger Act was repealed after pressure from Robert E. Lee and other Confederate regulars persuaded Congress to repeal the act.  Only two partisan rangers groups were exempt and allowed to continue to operate to the very end of the war: Mosby's Raiders and McNeill's Rangers.  Both of these independent partisan rangers operated in the western counties of Virginia and were known to exercise military discipline when conducting raids.

___________________________________________________________ 

Just War Theory (the rules of warfare)

IEP Article - Just War Theory

JustWarTheory.com

Wikipedia - Just War Theory


Some writers on the nature and rules of Warfare: 

    Augustine of Hippo  (354 - 430)   Classical
    Thomas Aquinas  (1225 - 1274)   Medieval
    Francisco de Vitoria  (1483-1546)  Renaissance
    Hugo Grotius  (1583 - 1645)   Early Modern

    Emer de Vattel  (1714 - 1767)  Enlightenment - "Humane Warfare"  The Laws of Nations  (1758) 


 The following two are military theorists from the Napoleonic Wars.  There theories were based on political realism (realpolitik). 

    Carl von Clausewitz  (1770 - 1831) 19th century - "realism" w/ Enlightenment rationalism
        On War  (1832)

War must never be seen as having any purpose in itself, but should be seen as an instrument of Politik - a German word that conflates the meanings of the English words policy and politics: "War is not merely a political act, but also a real political instrument, a continuation of political commerce, a carrying out of the same by other means."

The military objectives in war that support one's political objectives fall into two broad types: "war to achieve limited aims" and war to "disarm" the enemy: "to render [him] politically helpless or militarily impotent."

All else being equal, the course of war will tend to favor the party with the stronger emotional and political motivations, but especially the defender (contrary to the common prejudice that soldiers generally endorse aggressive warfare).

   Antoine Henri Jomini  (1779 - 1869) 19th century.  The Art of War (1838)   

Jomini took the view that the amount of force deployed should be kept to the minimum in order to lower casualties and that war was not an exact science. Specifically, Jomini stated in his book:

War in its ensemble is NOT a science, but an art. Strategy, particularly, may indeed be regulated by fixed laws resembling those of the positive sciences, but this is not true of war viewed as a whole. Among other things, combats may be mentioned as often being quite independent of scientific combinations, and they may become essentially dramatic, personal qualities and inspirations and a thousand other things frequently being the controlling elements. The passions which agitate the masses that are brought into collision, the warlike qualities of these masses, the energy and talent of their commanders, the spirit, more or less martial, of nations and epochs, - in a word, every thing that can be called the poetry and metaphysics of war, - will have a permanent influence on its results.  While in Russian service, Jomini tried hard to promote a more scientific approach at the general staff academy he helped to found.

Prior to the American Civil War, the translated writings of Jomini were the only works on military strategy that were taught at the United States Military Academy at West Point. His ideas, as taught by professor Dennis Hart Mahan permeated the Academy and shaped the basic military thinking of its graduates. 

General Order № 100 - Lieber Code
 
The Lieber Code of April 24, 1863, also known as Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field, was an instruction signed by President Abraham Lincoln to the Union Forces of the United States during the American Civil War that dictated how soldiers should conduct themselves in wartime. Its name reflects its author, the German-American legal scholar and political philosopher Francis (Franz) Lieber. (Full text of the Lieber Code)


Lieber Codes:  Article 16:

Military necessity does not admit of cruelty - that is, the infliction of suffering for the sake of suffering or for revenge, nor of maiming or wounding except in fight, nor of torture to extort confessions.  It does not admit of the use of poison in any way, nor of the wanton devastation of a district.  It admits of deception, but disclaims acts of perfidy; and, in general, military necessity does not include any act of hostility which makes the return to peace unnecessarily difficult.

War Crimes? during the Civil War