A History of Military Morals

Know about the book -

A History of Military Morals is written by Brian Smith and published by BRILL. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 9004515488 (ISBN 10) and 9789004515482 (ISBN 13).

The history of noncombatant immunity is well established. What is less understood is how militaries have rationalized violating this immunity. This book traces the development of how militaries have rationalized the killing of the innocent from the thirteenth century onward. In the process, this historiography shows how we have arrived at the ascendant convention that assumes militaries should not intentionally kill the innocent. Furthermore, it shows how moral arguments about the permissibility of killing the innocent are largely adaptations to material changes in how wars are fought, whether through technological innovations or changes in institutional structures.