{"id":14779,"date":"2016-04-25T22:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T03:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hcstx.org\/?p=14779"},"modified":"2016-04-25T22:00:07","modified_gmt":"2016-04-26T03:00:07","slug":"military-history-six-astounding-18th-century-rules-of-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/2016\/04\/25\/military-history-six-astounding-18th-century-rules-of-war\/","title":{"rendered":"Military History: Six Astounding 18th Century Rules of War"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"D1\"<\/h3>\n

\u201cYes, the objective of any general is to defeat the enemy, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should be a boor about it.\u201d<\/em><\/h3>\n

Editor\u2019s Introduction<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

THE GENEVA CONVENTION<\/a><\/em><\/strong> is in the news of late, thanks to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump.<\/em><\/p>\n

The bombastic billionaire-turned-politician has been\u00a0taking aim at international laws<\/a>governing the use of military force, characterizing them as impediments to the war on terror.<\/em><\/p>\n

His\u00a0remarks, along with earlier vows to\u00a0implement torture programs<\/a> and order the killing of terrorists\u2019 families<\/a>\u00a0if elected, have drawn fire from a gamut of former commanders.<\/em>\u201cThe problem is we have\u2026 all sorts of rules and regulations, so the soldiers are afraid to fight,\u201d Trump said during a campaign speech in Wisconsin last month.<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier this year, retired USAF general and CIA director <\/em>Michael Hayden\u00a0<\/a><\/em>suggested that the U.S. military would likely ignore orders if a Trump White House directed the Pentagon commit war crimes.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThe armed forces would refuse to act,\u201d<\/em> he said <\/em>in an interview on HBO\u2019s <\/em>Real Time with Bill Maher<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The continuing controversy has ignited discussions about\u00a0both the Geneva Convention and the \u2018rules of war\u2019<\/a> in general.<\/em><\/p>\n

Of course, laws governing the conduct of armies in the field are nothing new. As far back as the Old Testament<\/a>, there have been attempts to regulate how combatants fight each other. Later during the Medieval period<\/a>, the Code of Chivalry<\/a> established the \u2018proper\u2019 way for knights to behave both on and off the battlefield. By the 18th<\/sup> Century, a surprisingly comprehensive set of principles for commanders of armies emerged that instructed officers\u00a0on how to fight like gentlemen. <\/em>Military history writer\u00a0Josh Proven of the site Adventures in Historyland<\/a> explores some of these widely followed conventions, many of which may seem hard to believe to modern readers. Consider the following:<\/em><\/p>\n

\"D2\"<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Don\u2019t Make It Personal<\/h2>\n

During the wars of 18th Century\u00a0Europe, it was usual for armies to campaign in set seasons \u2014 usually from March to September. With the onset of autumn, armies would go into winter quarters and many\u00a0officers would head home. Some\u00a0would have to cross long distances and oftentimes travel through enemy territory.In such cases, officers would apply to their foes for passes of safe conduct. Usually, their\u00a0requests would be granted.<\/p>\n

Even with a permission to travel, it could still be dangerous to move through hostile country.\u00a0In fact,\u00a0the Duke of Marlborough<\/a>\u00a0himself was once held up by enemy troops while making for home. Yet inconveniencing an enemy that had fallen into your hands was further seen as bad form. Marlborough was known for his chivalry. After capturingMarshal Tallard<\/a> at the Battle of Blenheim<\/a>\u00a0in 1704, the duke offered up his own coach for the\u00a0enemy\u00a0commander to recuperate while he continued the battle.<\/p>\n

\"D3\"<\/div>\n

Give Fair Warning<\/h2>\n

On May 11, 1745, the Duke of Cumberland<\/a>\u2018s allied army engaged that of the French under Marshal de Saxe<\/a> at the Battle of Fontenoy<\/a>. As the coalition\u00a0launched its\u00a0attack against the French positions, the British 1st Foot Guards<\/a> approached the enemy\u2019s eliteGardes Fran\u00e7aises<\/a><\/em>. Upon closing to within musket range, elegantly dressed officers from both sides walked out in front of their men and an exchange of hat doffing occurred.\u00a0Lord Charles Hay<\/a> was the first to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are the English Guards, and we hope you will stand till we come up to you, and not swim the Scheldt as you did the Main at Dettingen,\u201d he gibed, after which he invited the enemy to fire the first volley.\u00a0\u201cGentlemen of the French Guards, fire,\u201d he called. Comte d\u2019Auteroche<\/a> replied. \u201cWe never fire first; fire yourselves.\u201d As it turned out, the French did let fly\u00a0the first shots, after which the British closed advanced to within a few paces\u00a0and delivered a devastating fusillade that killed or wounded as many as 700 enemy soldiers.<\/p>\n

\"D4\"<\/div>\n

Don\u2019t Be an Inconvenience<\/h2>\n

Yes, the objective of any general is to defeat the enemy, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should be a boor about it. It did a general\u2019s reputation no end of good if, during a long siege he displayed some sportsmanship. During the 1758 blockade of Louisbourg<\/a>,General Geoffrey Amherst<\/a> called several truces with the enemy commander, Chevalier de Drucourt<\/a>. While offering the services of his doctor to tend the French wounded, it had come to Amherst\u2019s attention that Madame Drucourt had been firing the fort\u2019s guns at him in retaliation for British shot striking her quarters. Impressed, he offered his apologies and sent her some West Indian Pineapples to make amends. It was also entirely common for opposing commanders to keep up a lively correspondence in between battles and during sieges. The French were duly offered the Honours of War<\/a> when they capitulated.<\/p>\n

Read the Remainder at Military History Now<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cYes, the objective of any general is to defeat the enemy, but that doesn\u2019t mean you should be a boor about it.\u201d Editor\u2019s Introduction THE GENEVA CONVENTION is in the news of late, thanks to Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump. The bombastic billionaire-turned-politician has been\u00a0taking aim at international lawsgoverning the use of military force, characterizing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[475,1286,6899,5660,1898],"tags":[11386,11387,11388,3823,11389],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14779"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14779\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14779"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14779"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thetacticalhermit.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14779"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}