The Laws of War: Constraints on Warfare in the Western World

by Michael Eliot Howard, George Andreopoulos (Editor), Mark R. Shulman (Editor)

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, eminent 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 honor, 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.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Military Fiction, International Relations

312 pages, Paperback

First published December 28, 1994

About the author

Sir Michael Eliot Howard was an English military historian, formerly Chichele Professor of the History of War, Honorary Fellow of All Souls College, Regius Professor of Modern History at the University of Oxford, Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military and Naval History at Yale University, and founder of the Department of War Studies, King's College London.

In 1958, he co-founded the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

In 2013, Howard was described in the Financial Times as "Britain's greatest living historian". The Guardian described him as "Britain's foremost expert on conflict".

Reviews

[Tom Andersson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eftersom jag främst är historiskt intresserad av krigets lagar så dalar mitt intresse när man kommer in på 1900-talet och höll på att göra att jag la ned läsningen när jag kom in på kärnvapenkapitlet. Kärnvapenprotokoll är verkligen det tråkigaste man kan läsa om. Desto intressantare är det att läsa om lagar och traditioner av begränsningar av krig från antiken till 1800-talet. Det är verkligen intressant att se hur samhällen genom historien försökt begränsa krigföring.