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Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More
Prisoners of War and the Geneva Conventions
00:15:47
Learn about how the treatment of prisoners of war have changed over time
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Gary Arndt
If you ever watch a war movie, you might see a scene where a prisoner of war evokes the Geneva Convention to their captors. But what exactly is the Geneva Convention and what does it say? Why did countries sign a treaty covering ethics in war? Of all things, who is and who isn't covered by the Geneva Convention? And what happened to prisoners of war before the Geneva Convention? And what happens if a belligerent party doesn't honor the Geneva Convention? Learn more about prisoners of war and the Geneva Conventions on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. This episode is sponsored by Quince. Finding the perfect gift can be pretty overwhelming. This year I found the perfect spot for timeless gifts made from premium materials. So you gotta check out Quince. Quince lets you treat your loved ones and yourself to true quality at an affordable price. I got a cotton fisherman throw blanket from Quince and I literally use it when I am writing many of the episodes for this podcast. 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Basically, cattle eat what cattle are designed to eat. Grass fed beef tends to have higher levels of omega 3 fatty acids and grass fed beef often contains more antioxidants such as vitamin E. Beyond personal health benefits, choosing grass fed grass finished beef can also improve soil health through natural fertilization and aeration and can also promote greater biodiversity on grazing lands. Consuming grass fed grass finished beef not only contributes to better health but also supports more sustainable farming practices. Sign up@butcherbox.com daily and get a special deal. New users who sign up for Butcherbox will receive 2 pounds of grass fed ground beef in every box for the lifetime of their subscription plus $20 off your first box when you use code daily at checkout. Ever since there has been war, there have been prisoners of war soldiers who were not killed or necessarily gravely wounded, but who came into captivity by their enemies. Today, when nations go to war, the handling of prisoners of war is something that is almost always assumed and prepared for. Assuming, of course, that the conflict is between two nation states. While the history of prisoners of war goes back as far as warfare itself, the treatment of soldiers taken prisoner was very different from that of today. If you remember my episode on the history of prisons in the ancient world, imprisonment was an almost foreign concept. Most people didn't consider spending resources on prisoners. So punishments were either death or some sort of physical punishment. And the same was true for prisoners of war. In ancient civilizations, prisoners of war were either killed, enslaved, or used as human sacrifices. In ancient Egypt, captured soldiers were often enslaved, but their treatment varied depending on the ruler. Pharaoh Ramesses ii, for example, captured thousands of Hittite soldiers at the Battle of Kadesh and used them as forced labor on construction projects. The Romans gained many of their slaves through military conquest. The Roman justification for slavery was that if the people they conquered weren't slaves, then they would be dead. So to them, it was a preferable outcome. To the Romans, there was little distinction between soldiers and civilians. So a conquered people was a conquered people. In rare cases, such as with the Gaulish leader Vercingetorix, they would be paraded through Rome in a triumph, only to be ritualistically strangulated. During the Qin Dynasty in China, large numbers of prisoners were used in massive construction projects such as the Great Wall. And believe it or not, slavery was not the worst thing that could happen to a prisoner of war. When Celtic tribes captured warriors, they were often sacrificed to gods, as evidenced by archaeological findings such as the bog bodies In Europe, the Aztecs frequently captured enemies for use in ritual sacrifices, believing that such acts nourish the gods and sustain the universe. Captured warriors were often kept alive until ceremonial events like the Flowers War were staged to collect sacrificial victims. Of course, slavery and ritual sacrifice assume that you even survived. A much more common option would be to slaughter all the survivors so they didn't have to feed them. There may have been rare exceptions to these outcomes, but they would have been few and far between and usually dependent on the captive state status. One of the most infamous cases of how prisoners of war were treated was after the Battle of Kledion in 1014, which was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Bulgarian Empire. It ended in a decisive Byzantine victory under Emperor Basil ii, earning him the nickname the Bulgar Slayer. After capturing around 15,000 Bulgarian soldiers, Basil II ordered them to be blinded, with one out of every 100 men left with one eye to guide back the others to their ruler, Tsar Samuel. This brutal act was intended to break Bulgarian resistance. Upon seeing his blinded soldiers, Tsar Samuel reportedly suffered a fatal heart attack or stroke, dying shortly afterward. And I should note that there were some exceptions to this. There were cases of Christians, Muslims, and Buddhists who all advocated for the humane treatment of captives. Things began to slowly change in the Middle Ages with the development of chivalry. Things weren't necessarily better for the common foot soldier, but at least for the knights, who usually had some money or some aristocratic station. The Chivalric code dictated that they be held for ransom and not executed. Perhaps the most famous example of this was King Richard I of England. Richard was captured in 1192 while returning from the Third Crusade. Shipwrecked and traveling incognito through Europe, he was recognized near Vienna and taken prisoner by Leopold V, Duke of Austria, with whom he had quarreled during the Crusade. Leopold transferred him to the custody of the Holy Roman emperor, Henry VI, who demanded a colossal ransom of 150,000 marks, approximately three times England's annual revenue. Richard's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, organized the effort to raise the ransom, taxing the kingdom heavily. After more than a year of captivity, the ransom was paid and Richard was released in 1194, allowing him to reclaim his throne. During the 17th century, the Thirty Years War showed the brutal treatment of captives due to both the religious nature of the conflict and the fact that so many of the combatants were mercenaries. The Treaties of Westphalia, which ended the 30 years war, changed the attitude towards prisoners of war. Instead of being the private property of a commander, they became the state's concern. Informal rules regarding the surrender of an officer and his unit were developed where they were given protection in exchange for laying down their arms and avoiding a fight. In the late 18th and 19th centuries, during the American Revolutionary War and the Napoleonic wars, nations also began to do formal prisoner exchanges, and this eventually evolved into the concept of parole. Parole for military prisoners refers to a practice in which captured soldiers are released by their captors under their honor as a gentleman, not to resume hostilities or take up arms again until officially exchanged or otherwise freed from their obligations. Parole was widely used in early modern and Napoleonic wars and relied on the honor system, as breaking one's parole was considered highly dishonorable. Prisoners granted parole might be allowed to return to their home countries or live under restricted conditions, often reporting to designated authorities. The development of modern norms for the treatment of prisoners of war began in 1859. A Swiss businessman by the name of Henri Duneau witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino during the Second Italian War for Independence. Witnessing the horrific suffering of wounded soldiers, Duno organized volunteer relief efforts and later published his Observations in the 1862 book A Memory of Solferino. Dunod's advocacy led to the formation of the International Committee of the red Cross in 1863, which became a cornerstone for humanitarian efforts during conflicts. His ideas also inspired the first Geneva Convention of 1864, which codified many of his ideas regarding treating the wounded and protecting medical staff during combat. Henri Duneau was awarded the very first Nobel Prize for Peace for his efforts. Further treaties which regulated the conduct of war were the Hague conventions of 1899 and 1907. The Hague conventions were foundational international treaties that established rules for the conduct of war, marking an early effort to regulate warfare and reduce its humanitarian impact. These agreements addressed such issues as the treatment of prisoners of war, the prohibition of certain weapons such as poisonous gas, the protection of civilians, and the neutrality of medical personnel and facilities. However, the treaty, which is often referenced in World War II films, is the Geneva Convention of 1929. This treaty explicitly addressed the treatment of prisoners of war. The convention mandated proper food, shelter, and medical care, prohibited physical or psychological abuse, and guaranteed the right of prisoners to communicate with their families and receive aid. It also required capture states to inform the International Committee of the Red Cross about captured individuals and allow neutral inspections of POW camps. Prisoners were also not to be forced to reveal any information beyond their name, rank, and serial number. Despite the Geneva Convention, there were some horrific violations of the treaty. For starters, both the Soviet Union and Japan never signed it. But there were other violations as well. An estimated 3.3 million Soviet prisoners died in German captivity due to starvation, forced labor, and summary executions as the Nazis refused to recognize them under the Geneva Convention. Many German soldiers captured by the Soviets were subject to brutal treatment, including starvation, forced labor, and summary executions. An estimated 1 million German POWs died in Soviet captivity after the fall of the Philippines. During the Bataan Death March, the Japanese forced tens of thousands of American and Filipino prisoners to march over 60 miles without adequate food, water, or medical care, leading to thousands of deaths. Allied POWs held by the Japanese were also subject to starvation, beatings, forced labor, and executions. The treatment of POWs, such as those working on the Burma Railway, were particularly horrific. These gross violations highlighted the inadequacies of existing international laws leading to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which expanded protections for POWs, civilians, and noncombatants, and established stricter enforcement mechanisms. As of today, there are technically four Geneva Conventions, each of which deal with a different area. The first Convention protects wounded and sick soldiers on the battlefield. The second Convention protects wounded, sick, and shipwrecked military personnel at sea. The third convention addresses the treatment of prisoners of war, requiring humane treatment, adequate food, medical care, and communication with their families. The fourth Convention focuses on the protection of civilians in war zones, including prohibitions on taking hostages, torture, and other forms of mistreatment. As of today, every country in the world is a signatory to the four core Geneva Conventions. However, three additional protocols have been established since the 1949 treaties. Protocol 1, ratified in 1977, expands protections for civilians and combatants in international armed conflicts, emphasizing the prohibition of attacks on civilians, the humane treatment of prisoners, and the prohibition of indiscriminate attacks and environmentally destructive weapons. Protocol 2, also ratified in 1977, extends protections to the victims of non international armed conflicts such as civil wars, prohibiting violence against civilians, torture, and slavery, while safeguarding humanitarian aid access and promoting humane treatment of all individuals. Protocol 3, ratified in 2005, introduces the Red crystal as an additional protective emblem alongside the Red Cross and Red Crescent to enhance the neutrality and universality of humanitarian assistance in conflict zones. Not every country has ratified all the Protocols. Most notably, the United States has not ratified the first two. The application of the Geneva Conventions hasn't always been straightforward. There are enough loopholes in the documents that in many conflicts, governments have claimed that they did not have to honor them. During the Vietnam War, North Vietnam claimed that American pilots were not POWs but war criminals due to their involvement in bombing campaigns, which it argued violated international law. This stance was used to justify its treatment of captives, although it contradicted the protections provided under the Geneva Conventions. Currently, there is no real enforcement mechanism for the Geneva Convention unless your side happens to lose in the war. Then you get trials at the Hague, like what happened after the war in Yugoslavia or the Nuremberg Trials. Another major issue today is terrorism. Under the Geneva Conventions, lawful combatants are individuals authorized to engage in hostilities during an armed conflict who are part of a state's armed forces or organized armed groups openly carrying arms to distinguish themselves from civilians and adhere to the laws of war. This would cover a regular national army and also rebel groups acting in an organized manner. However, this does not cover terrorists who do not distinguish themselves and primarily attack civilians One of the major debates of the last several years is how much the rights of the Geneva Conventions should apply to unlawful combatant prisoners who themselves do not abide by the Conventions. One camp believes the spirit of the treaty should be applied in all cases, and others claim that if they are outside the scope of the Geneva Conventions, its courtesies should not be extended to them. Even today, wars are being fought all over the world and the tenets of the Geneva Conventions are expected to be honored by all belligerent parties. Even though this is not always the case, the executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Benji Long and Cameron Keever. I want to give a big shout out to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon, including the show's producers. Your support helps me put out a show every single day and also Patreon is currently the only place where Everything Everywhere Daily merchandise is available to the top tier of supporters. If you'd like to talk to other listeners of the show and members of the Completionist Club, you can join the Everything Everywhere Daily Facebook group or Discord server. Links to Everything are in the show. Notes.