Pardon (military jargon)
To give pardon (in the 17th century also quarters ) meant in earlier times that the victor spared the life of the vanquished if the latter yielded to mercy and disgrace. “Give no pardon” meant killing the enemy even if he surrendered. There were units which, in order to make themselves particularly feared, neither gave nor took pardons.
Since ancient times, before battles, orders were given not to give, take, or both. A well-known example of this is the so-called Huns speech by Wilhelm II in 1900 before the Boxer Rebellion was put down : “Pardon will not be given! Prisoners are not taken! ”. In some cases this was also agreed beforehand by both sides, for example in 1461 before the Battle of Towton - “no quarter would be given nor asked”.
With the Hague Land Warfare Regulations of 1899/1907, the order not to give pardons was forbidden under international law. After that, this practice decreased, at least among the signatory states. This principle of land warfare is now also binding as customary international law for non-member states and non-state parties to the conflict. The declaration that no pardon will be given is now a war crime according to Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and Section 11 of the German International Criminal Code .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ The speeches of Kaiser Wilhelm II. In: Johannes Penzler. Vol. 2: 1896-1900. Leipzig undated, pp. 209-212. 1922, Retrieved November 21, 2019 .
- ↑ War Crimes. In: United Nations Office on genocide prevention and the responsibility to protect. 2019, accessed November 21, 2019 .
