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127-450: Scorched earth against non-combatants has been banned under the 1977 Geneva Conventions . It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove, or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs, agricultural areas for the production of foodstuffs, crops, livestock, drinking water installations and supplies, and irrigation works, for the specific purpose of denying them for their sustenance value to

254-811: A Celtic tribe or tribal confederation occupying most of the Swiss plateau at the time of their contact with the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC. According to Julius Caesar , the Helvetians were divided into four subgroups or pagi . Of these, Caesar names only the Verbigeni and the Tigurini , while Posidonius mentions the Tigurini and the Tougeni ( Τωυγενοί ). They feature prominently in

381-457: A belligerent country and co-belligerent (i.e., allied) persons as long their state of nationality maintains diplomatic relations with a belligerent power. Article 42 of Protocol I states that aircrews who are parachuting from aircraft in distress cannot be attacked regardless of what territory they are over. If aircrews land in territory controlled by the enemy, they must be given an opportunity to surrender before being attacked unless it

508-470: A coup d'état in his own country, after which the three new kings would collaborate. When word of his aspirations to make himself king reached the Helvetii, Orgetorix was summoned to stand trial, facing execution on the pyre should he be found guilty. For the time being, he averted a verdict by arriving at the hearing set for him with ten thousand followers and bondsmen; yet before the large force mustered by

635-554: A Helvetian uprising, was executed. In spite of the extensive damage and devastations the civitas had already sustained, according to Tacitus the Helvetii were saved from total annihilation owing to the pleas of one Claudius Cossus, a Helvetian envoy to Vitellius, and, as Tacitus puts it, "of well-known eloquence". Roman occupation in the aftermath of the Gallic Wars had pacified the Celtic-Germanic contact zone along

762-411: A Roman army under L. Cassius Longinus near Agendicum in 107 BC, in which the consul was killed. According to Caesar, the captured Roman soldiers were ordered to pass under a yoke set up by the triumphant Gauls, a dishonour that called for both public as well as private vengeance. Caesar is the only narrative source for this episode, as the corresponding books of Livy 's histories are preserved only in

889-414: A Roman detachment. Aulus Caecina Alienus , a former supporter of Galba who was now at the head of a Vitellian invasion of Italy, launched a massive punitive campaign, crushing the Helvetii under their commander Claudius Severus and routing the remnants of their forces at Mount Vocetius , killing and enslaving thousands. The capital Aventicum surrendered, and Julius Alpinus , head of what was now seen as

1016-615: A campaign in the Hejaz and Yemen to ravage territory loyal to Muawiyah's opponent Ali ibn Abi Talib . According to Tabari , 30,000 civilians are estimated to have been killed during that campaign of the civil war. Muawiyah also sent Sufyan ibn Awf to Iraq to burn the crops and homes of Ali's supporters. During the Viking invasion of England , the Viking chieftain Hastein tried to occupy

1143-516: A certain inner autonomy, including the defence of certain strongholds by their own troops. In the civil war which followed Nero's death, the civitas Helvetiorum supported Galba ; unaware of his death, they refused to accept the authority of his rival, Vitellius . The Legio XXI Rapax , stationed in Vindonissa and favouring Vitellius, stole the pay of a Helvetian garrison, which prompted the Helvetians to intercept Vitellian messengers and detain

1270-478: A day. Caesar himself does not appear as a triumphant victor in turn, being unable to pursue the Helvetii for three days, "both on account of the wounds of the soldiers and the burial of the slain". However, it is clear that Caesar's warning to the Lingones not to supply his enemies was quite enough to make the Helvetii leaders once again offer peace. On what terms this peace was made is debatable, but as said before,

1397-459: A direct part in hostilities, i.e., participate in the use of a weapon or a weapon-system in an indispensable function.” Furthermore, it specifies that "persons who are members of the armed forces but do not have any combat mission, such as judges, government officials and blue-collar workers, are non-combatants." Helvetii The Helvetii ( Latin : Helvētiī [hɛɫˈweːti.iː] , Gaulish : * Heluētī ), anglicized as Helvetians , were

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1524-860: A king. During the Wars of Scottish Independence , Robert the Bruce adopted a strategy of slighting Scottish castles to prevent them from being occupied by the invading English. A strategy of slighting castles in Palestine was also adopted by the Mamlukes during their wars with the Crusaders . Stephen the Great used scorched earth in the Carpathians against the Ottoman Army in 1475 and 1476. In 1462,

1651-533: A large number of fused Celtic coins, which are mixed with charcoal remnants. Some of the 18,000 coins originate from the Eastern Gaul , others are of the Zürich type, that were assigned to the local Helvetii , which date to around 100 BC. The find is so far unique, and the scientific research assumes that the melting down of the lump was not completed, therefore the aim was to form cultic offerings. The site of

1778-634: A massive Ottoman army, led by Sultan Mehmed II , marched into Wallachia. Vlad the Impaler retreated to Transylvania . During his departure, he conducted scorched-earth tactics to ward off Mehmed's approach. When the Ottoman forces approached Tirgoviste , they encountered over 20,000 people impaled by the forces of Vlad the Impaler, creating a "forest" of dead or dying bodies on stakes. The atrocious, gut-wrenching sight caused Mehmed to withdraw from battle and send instead Radu, Vlad's brother, to fight Vlad

1905-567: A peaceful passage through the Provincia . Caesar stalled them by asking for some time for consideration, which he used to assemble reinforcements and to fortify the southern banks of the Rhône . When the embassy returned on the agreed-upon date, he was strong enough to bluntly reject their offer. The Helvetii now chose the more difficult northern route through the Sequani territory, which traversed

2032-509: A result of war. After World War II ended, countries got together with the aim to give rights to non-combatants, and created the 1949 Geneva Conventions, built off the 1907 Hague Convention. The Vietnam War is one war in the mid-20th century in which many civilians were killed. Many civilians were not specifically identified as whether they are non-combatants or ordinary civilians, which might have been directly or indirectly killing hundreds and thousands of Vietnamese civilians. However, there

2159-512: A scorched earth campaign that threatened the population with starvation and deported many civilians into slavery in Egypt . The fires of burning villages and fields were clearly visible from Allied ships standing offshore. A British landing party reported that the population of Messinia was close to mass starvation. Ibrahim's scorched-earth policy caused much outrage in Europe , which was one factor for

2286-573: A scorched-earth policy and so the Spaniards advanced into a wasteland. Belgrano's army destroyed everything that could provide shelter or be useful to the Royalists. In 1827, Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt led an Ottoman-Egyptian combined force in a campaign to crush Greek revolutionaries in the Peloponnese . In response to Greek guerrilla attacks on his forces in the Peloponnese , Ibrahim launched

2413-772: A scorched-earth policy in the Palatinate , Baden and Württemberg . The French were intent on denying enemy troops local resources and on preventing the Germans from invading France. By 20 December 1688, Louvois had selected all the cities, towns, villages and châteaux intended for destruction. On 2 March 1689, the Count of Tessé torched Heidelberg , and on 8 March, Montclar levelled Mannheim . Oppenheim and Worms were finally destroyed on 31 May, followed by Speyer on 1 June, and Bingen on 4 June. In all, French troops burnt over 20 substantial towns as well as numerous villages. In

2540-794: A state or government during a time of peace. The location an individual is tried in a court of law is the determining factor between combatant and non-combatant terrorists. Individuals like the San Bernardino shooters, the Tsarnaev brothers and the people responsible for the September 11 attacks would be characterized as non-combatant terrorists. Groups like Al-Qaeda are considered combatant terrorists or may also be called unlawful combatants. Non-combatants can also be looked at as radical civilians and combatants can be seen as military soldiers. As of 2017, there are inconsistent ways in which

2667-608: A suitably-rugged container had not yet been invented.) The command was obeyed as a result of French plundering and general ill-treatment of civilians in the previous invasions. The civilians would rather destroy anything that had to be left behind, rather than leave it to the French. When the French armies reached the Lines of Torres Vedras on the way to Lisbon, French soldiers reported that the country "seemed to empty ahead of them". Low morale, hunger, disease and indiscipline greatly weakened

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2794-435: Is apparent that they are engaging in a hostile act or attempting to escape. Airborne forces who are descending by parachute from an aircraft, whether it is disabled or not, are not given the protection afforded by this Article and, therefore, may be attacked during their descent unless they are hors de combat . Article 50 of Protocol 1 defines a civilian as a person who is not a privileged combatant. Article 51 describes

2921-568: Is confirmed by the Alexandrian geographer Claudius Ptolemaios (c. 90–168 AD), who tells us of an Ἐλουητίων ἔρημος (i.e. "Helvetic deserted lands") north of the Rhine . Tacitus knows that the Helvetians once settled in the swath between Rhine , Main , and the Hercynian forest . The abandonment of this northern territory is now usually placed in the late 2nd century BC, around the time of

3048-560: Is generally interpreted as (h)elu-ētioi ('rich in land'), from elu - ('numerous', cf. OIr. il ) attached to etu - ('grassland'; cf. OIr. iath ). The presence of the initial h -, remnant of a previous p - ( PIE *pelh 1 u- > Celt. helu- > elu- ), attests of an archaic formation. The earliest attestation of the name is found in a graffito on a vessel from Mantua , dated to c. 300 BC. The inscription in Etruscan letters reads eluveitie, which has been interpreted as

3175-459: Is necessary to pursue a great aim: the destruction of the enemy army, either by battle or by rendering its subsistence extremely difficult. Thus we shall disorganize it and force it into a retreat, during which it will necessarily suffer great losses. Wellington's campaign in 1810 and 1811 is a good example. Clausewitz wrote in On War : All that the country yields will be taken for the benefit of

3302-546: Is no exact proportion of the number of the non-combatants have or were specify the exact figure, the statistics that has been given were all the estimates on how many civilians and combatants were killed. Most of the recorded number of people missing or killed were not specific, but all were casualties , meaning there is/was no exact figure or combatants or non-combatants. Military records in the National Archives do not specify how many non-combatants were killed during

3429-532: Is now Jujuy and Salta Provinces to the south. The Jujuy Exodus was conducted by the patriot forces of the Army of the North , which was battling a Royalist army. Belgrano, faced with the prospect of total defeat and territorial loss, ordered all people to pack their necessities, including food and furniture, and to follow him in carriages or on foot together with whatever cattle and beasts of burden that could endure

3556-451: Is presented as the instigator of a new Helvetian migration, in which the entire tribe was to leave their territory and, according to Caesar, to establish a supremacy over all of Gaul. This exodus was planned over three years, in the course of which Orgetorix conspired with two noblemen from neighbouring tribes, Casticus of the Sequani and Dumnorix of the Aedui , that each should accomplish

3683-483: Is the counsel and intent Of gud King Robert's testiment. A slighting is the deliberate destruction, whether partial or complete, of a fortification without opposition. Sometimes, such as during the Wars of Scottish Independence and the English Civil War , it was done to render the structure unusable as a fortress. In England, adulterine (unauthorised) castles would usually be slighted if captured by

3810-519: The Commentaries on the Gallic War , with their failed migration attempt to southwestern Gaul (58 BC) serving as a catalyst for Caesar's conquest of Gaul . The Helvetians were subjugated after 52 BC, and under Augustus , Celtic oppida , such as Vindonissa or Basilea , were re-purposed as garrisons. In AD 68, a Helvetian uprising was crushed by Aulus Caecina Alienus . The Swiss plateau

3937-829: The Pax Romana ended with the Crisis of the Third Century . In 260, when the Gallic Empire briefly seceded from Rome, emperor Gallienus withdrew the legions from the Rhine to fight the usurper Ingenuus , allowing the Alemanni to invade the Swiss plateau. There, cities, villages and most villae were raided or sacked by marauding bands. The numerous caches of coins recovered from the period between 250 and 280 attest to

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4064-651: The Etruscan form of the Celtic elu̯eti̯os ("the Helvetian"), presumably referring to a man of Helvetian descent living in Mantua. Of the four Helvetian pagi or sub-tribes, Caesar names only the Verbigeni ( Bell. Gall. 1.27) and the Tigurini (1.12), Posidonius the Tigurini and the Tougeni ( Τωυγενοί ). There has been substantial debate in Swiss historiography (beginning with Felix Stähelin 1927) on whether

4191-566: The Fourth Geneva Convention defines that civilians who "find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals" are protected persons . Not included in the status of protected persons are the belligerent's own citizens and nationals of a state not party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and neutral citizens living in

4318-788: The Geneva Conventions , adopted in June 1977); combatants who are placed hors de combat ; and neutral persons, such as peacekeepers , who are not involved in fighting for one of the belligerents involved in a war . This particular status was first recognized under the Geneva Conventions with the First Geneva Convention of 1864. Under international humanitarian law, certain non-combatants are classified as protected persons , who are to be protected under laws applicable to international armed conflict at all times. The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were one of

4445-697: The Great Powers ( United Kingdom , the Kingdom of France and the Russian Empire ) decisively intervening against him in the Battle of Navarino . In the American Civil War , Union forces under Philip Sheridan and William Tecumseh Sherman used the policy widely: supplies within the reach of Confederate armies I regarded as much contraband as arms or ordnance stores. Their destruction

4572-558: The Humber to Tees and slaughtered the inhabitants. Food stores and livestock were destroyed so that anyone surviving the initial massacre would soon succumb to starvation over the winter. The destruction is depicted in the Bayeux Tapestry . The survivors were reduced to cannibalism , with one report stating that the skulls of the dead were cracked open so that their brains could be eaten. Between 100,000 and 150,000 perished, and

4699-605: The Iroquois decisively during the American Revolutionary War with the Sullivan Expedition . General John Sullivan used a scorched earth campaign by destroying more than 40 Iroquois villages and their stores of winter crops resulting in many deaths by starvation and cold in the following winter. In a letter to Jean-Jacques Dessalines , Toussaint Louverture outlined his plans for defeating

4826-526: The Jura Mountains via a very narrow pass at the site of the modern Fort l'Écluse , but bypassed the Provincia . After ravaging the lands of the Aedui tribe, who called upon Caesar to help them, they began the crossing of the Saône , which took them several days. As only a quarter of their forces were left on the eastern banks, Caesar attacked and routed them. According to Caesar, those killed had been

4953-566: The Latin terms civitas ("state" or "tribe") and magistratus ("officials"). In his Natural History (c. 77 AD), Pliny provides a foundation myth for the Celtic settlement of Cisalpine Gaul in which a Helvetian named Helico plays the role of culture hero . Helico had worked in Rome as a craftsman and then returned to his home north of the Alps with a dried fig, a grape, and some oil and wine,

5080-689: The Limmat on Zürichsee lake shore. The Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and Ambrones probably reached southern Germany around the year 111 BC, where they were joined by the Tigurini , and, probably the Teutoni-Toutonoi-Toygenoi. (The precise identity of the latter group is unclear). The tribes began a joint invasion of Gaul, including the Roman Provincia Narbonensis , which led to the Tigurini's victory over

5207-480: The Maratha Empire , Shivaji Maharaj had introduced scorched-earth tactics, known as Ganimi Kava . His forces looted traders and businessmen from Aurangzeb 's Mughal Empire and burnt down his cities, but they were strictly ordered not to rape or hurt the innocent civilians and not to cause any sort of disrespect to any of the religious institutes. Shivaji's son, Sambhaji Maharaj , was detested throughout

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5334-687: The Periochae , short summarising lists of contents, in which hostages given by the Romans, but no yoke, are mentioned. In 105 BC, the allies defeated another Roman army near Arausio and went on to harry Spain, Gaul, Noricum , and northern Italy. They split up in two groups in 103 BC, with the Teutones and Ambrones marching on a western route through the Provincia and the Cimbri and Tigurini crossing

5461-662: The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court also prohibits attacks directed against civilians. While not all states have ratified Protocol I or the Rome Statute, these provisions reiterated existing customary laws of war which is binding of all belligerents in an international conflict. Article 3 in the general section of the Geneva Conventions states that in the case of armed conflict not of an international character (occurring in

5588-443: The Shenandoah Valley of Virginia and then in the Indian Wars of the Great Plains . When General Ulysses Grant 's forces broke through the defenses of Richmond, Virginia , Confederate President Jefferson Davis ordered the destruction of Richmond's military supplies. The resulting fires quickly spread to other buildings, as well as to the Confederate warships docked on the James River . Civilians in panic were forced to escape

5715-437: The Tigurini , on whom he had now taken revenge in the name of the Republic and his family. After the battle, the Romans quickly bridged the river, thereby prompting the Helvetii to once again send an embassy, this time led by Divico , another figure whom Caesar links to the ignominious defeat of 107 BC by calling him bello Cassio dux Helvetiorum (i.e. "leader of the Helvetii in the Cassian campaign"). What Divico had to offer

5842-433: The United Kingdom , United States , Russia and Japan . Despite many nations signing at the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, a number of the agreements were broken during World War I , including sections from Treaty IV involving poisons and the attacking of undefended towns and villages. While some Geneva Conventions occurred before the Hague Conventions, none touched on the rights of protected non-combatants in

5969-510: The 1899 Convention maintains that surrendering belligerent fighters are to be treated as prisoners of war unless they are out of proper uniforms (i.e. spies ). Article 13 of the same section declares that any other non-combatant or civilian affiliated with but not part of the belligerent military, such as reporters and contractors, have the same right to be treated as a prisoner of war. Article 25 of Treaty II states that undefended communities are protected from any form of attack. In addition to

6096-571: The 5th and 6th centuries, resulting in the early medieval territories of Alemannia (Swabia) and Upper Burgundy . The Helvetii were largely assimilated by their new rulers, contributing to the ethnogenesis of modern Swiss people . They are mentioned as Helvetii by Cicero (mid-1st c. BC), Caesar (mid-1st c. BC) and Tacitus (early 2nd c. AD), in the genitive case as Helvetiorum by Livy (late 1st c. BC), as Helveti by Pliny (mid-1st c. AD), and as Elouḗtioi (Ἐλουήτιοι) by Ptolemy (2nd c. AD). The Gaulish ethnic name Helvetii

6223-433: The Aeduan oppidum Bibracte , Caesar caught up with the Helvetii and faced them in a major battle , which ended in the Helvetii's retreat and the capture of most of their baggage by the Romans. Leaving the largest part of their supplies behind, the Helvetii covered around 60 km in four days, eventually reaching the lands of the Lingones (the modern Langres plateau). Caesar did not pursue them until three days after

6350-400: The Duke of Pomerania, the imperial general permitted his troops, upon his retreat, to exercise every barbarity on the unfortunate inhabitants of Pomerania, who had already suffered but too severely from his avarice. On pretence of cutting off the resources of the Swedes, the whole country was laid waste and plundered; and often, when the Imperialists were unable any longer to maintain a place, it

6477-479: The French army and compelled the forces to retreat, see also Attrition warfare against Napoleon . In 1812, Emperor Alexander I was able to render Napoleon's invasion of Russia useless by using a scorched-earth policy. As Russians withdrew from the advancing French army, they burned the countryside over which they passed ( and allegedly Moscow ), leaving nothing of value for the pursuing French army. Encountering only desolate and useless land Napoleon's Grande Armée

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6604-521: The French in the Haitian Revolution starting in 1791 using scorched-earth: "Do not forget, while waiting for the rainy reason which will rid us of our foes, that we have no other resource than destruction and fire. Bear in mind that the soil bathed with our sweat must not furnish our enemies with the smallest sustenance. Tear up the roads with shot; throw corpses and horses into all the foundations, burn and annihilate everything in order that those who have come to reduce us to slavery may have before their eyes

6731-413: The Gallic alliance showed that the ravaging alone was not to be enough to save Gaul from subjugation by Rome. In the year CE 363, the Emperor Julian 's invasion of Persia was turned back by a scorched-earth policy: The extensive region that lies between the River Tigris and the mountains of Media ...was in a very improved state of cultivation. Julian might expect, that a conqueror, who possessed

6858-460: The Helvetians who had not participated in the raids. The Helvetii were the first Gallic tribe of the campaign to be confronted by Caesar. He narrates the events of the conflict in the opening sections of Commentarii de Bello Gallico . Due to the political nature of the Commentarii , Caesar's purpose in publicizing his own achievements may have distorted the significance of events and the motives of those who participated. The nobleman Orgetorix

6985-450: The Helvetians, both the historical and archaeological records are sparse. Ptolemy (2.4.11) in the 2nd century uses the term Eremus Helvetiorum (also rendered Heremus Helvetiorum ) "desolation of the Helvetians" to refer to this area (largely corresponding to modern Baden ). The term was adopted by Aegidius Tschudi in the 16th century, and remains in use in modern historiography (German: Helvetier-Einöde ). It has been proposed that

7112-466: The Helvetii did not have kings at the time of their clash with Rome but instead seem to have been governed by a class of noblemen (Lat. equites ). When Orgetorix , one of their most prominent and ambitious noblemen, was making plans to establish himself as their king, he faced execution at the stake if found guilty. Caesar does not explicitly name the tribal authorities prosecuting the case and gathering men to apprehend Orgetorix, but he refers to them by

7239-443: The Helvetii in the Swiss plateau, with the Emme as being one of the gold-yielding rivers mentioned by Posidonius. This interpretation is now generally discarded, as Posidonius' narrative makes it more likely that the country some of the Helvetians left in order to join in the raids of the Teutones , Cimbri , and Ambrones was in fact southern Germany and not Switzerland . That the Helvetians originally lived in southern Germany

7366-428: The Helvetii withdrew from the battle at nightfall, abandoning, as it seemed, most of their wagons, which they had drawn up into a wagon fort ; they retreated northwards in a forced night march and reached the territory of the Lingones four days after the battle. What Caesar implies to have been a desperate flight without stopping could actually have been an ordered retreat of moderate speed, covering less than 40 km

7493-444: The Helvetii would settle on their own territory as allies in the oppidum Gorgobina . The nature of Caesar's arrangement with the Helvetii and the other tribes is not further specified by the consul himself, but in his speech Pro Balbo of 56 BC, Cicero mentions the Helvetii as one among several tribes of foederati , i.e. allied nations who were neither citizens of the Republic nor her subjects, but obliged by treaty to support

7620-414: The Impaler. Further use of scorched-earth policies in war was seen during the 16th century in Ireland , where it was used by English commanders such as Walter Devereux and Richard Bingham . The Desmond Rebellions were a famous case in Ireland. Much of the province of Munster was laid waste. The poet Edmund Spenser left an account of it: In those late wars in Munster ; for not withstanding that

7747-428: The Knights, the Maltese militia and a Spanish relief force. In 1630, Field-Marshal General Torquato Conti was in command of the Holy Roman Empire 's forces during the Thirty Years' War . Forced to retreat from the advancing Swedish army of King Gustavus Adolphus , Conti ordered his troops to burn houses, destroy villages and cause as much harm generally to property and people as possible.: To revenge himself upon

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7874-434: The Mughal Empire for his scorched-earth tactics until he and his men were captured by Muqarrab Khan and his Mughal Army contingent of 25,000. On 11 March 1689, a panel of Mughal qadis indicted and sentenced Sambhaji to death on accusations of casual torture , arson , looting and massacres but most prominently for giving shelter to Sultan Muhammad Akbar, the fourth son of Aurangzeb, who had sought Sambhaji's aid in winning

8001-415: The Mughal throne from the emperor, his father. Sambhaji was particularly condemned for the three days of ravaging committed after the Battle of Burhanpur. During the Great Northern War , Russian Emperor Peter the Great 's forces used scorched-earth tactics to hold back Swedish King Charles XII 's campaign towards Moscow in 1707–1708. In 1779 Congress decided to defeat the four British allied nations of

8128-422: The Rhine frontier against the Germans, he then allowed the Helvetii, Tulingi and Latobrigi to return to their territories and to rebuild their homes, instructing the Allobroges to supply them with a sufficient supply of grain. Caesar does not mention the Raurici , who seem to have built a new oppidum at Basel-Münsterhügel upon their return. The Aedui were granted their wish that the Boii who had accompanied

8255-464: The Rhine. The Suebi and Marcomanni who under Ariovistus had planned to invade Gaul were pushed back beyond the Black Forest , where they amalgamated into the future Alemanni . The Romans allowed Germanic tribes such as the Ubii , Triboci , Nemetes and Vangiones to settle in the deserted areas left of the Rhine. On the right bank of the Upper Rhine, which according to the testimony of Tacitus ( Germania 28) had formerly also been occupied by

8382-442: The Roman defeat at Lake Trasimene , Quintus Fabius Maximus instructed those living in the path of the invading Carthaginians to burn their houses and grain. After the end of the Third Punic War in 146 BCE, the Roman Senate also elected to use this method to permanently destroy the Carthaginian capital city, Carthage (near modern-day Tunis ). The buildings were torn down, their stones scattered so not even rubble remained, and

8509-435: The Roman military leader. In general, numbers written down by ancient military authors have to be taken as gross exaggerations. What Caesar claims to have been 368,000 people is estimated by other sources to be rather around 300,000 ( Plutarch ), or 200,000 ( Appian ); in the light of a critical analysis, even these numbers seem far too high. Furger-Gunti considers an army of more than 60,000 fighting men extremely unlikely in

8636-600: The Romans with a certain number of fighting men. According to the victor, tablets with lists in Greek characters were found at the Helvetian camp, listing in detail all men able to bear arms with their names and giving a total number for the women, children and elderly who accompanied them. The numbers added up to a total of 263,000 Helvetii, 36,000 Tulingi , 14,000 Latobrigi , 23,000 Rauraci , and 32,000 Boii , all in all 368,000 heads, 92,000 of whom were warriors. A census of those who had returned to their homes listed 110,000 survivors, which meant that only about 30 percent of

8763-507: The Tougeni may or may not be identified with the Teutones mentioned by Titus Livius . According to Caesar, the territory abandoned by the Helvetii had comprised 400 villages and 12 oppida (fortified settlements). His tally of the total population taken from captured Helvetian records written in Greek is 263,000 people, including fighting men, old men, women and children. However, the figures are generally dismissed as too high by modern scholars (see hereafter ). Like many other tribes,

8890-435: The Vietnam War. Thousands of people were killed: civilian, casualties, combatants and non-combatants and so as ordinary civilians (citizens) in Vietnam but also in Laos and Cambodia. Thus, all figures do not specify how many non-combatants were killed or injured. Although there is no clear definition of terrorism , a terrorist can be explained as an individual who is a non-state actor who engages in armed hostilities toward

9017-467: The above, Article 27 states that if any sieges do occur, places devoted to religion, charity or hospitals should be avoided if possible, as long as they have no strategic affiliations. Article 28 states that even when a village is captured through war, pillaging is not allowed by any party. That is repeated in Article 47, Section III. The articles above were reaffirmed by Convention IV of the 1907 Convention. Many nations signed, including delegates from

9144-640: The area inhabited by the Helvetians had extended beyond the Swiss plateau, far into what is now Baden-Württemberg , but had been displaced in the course of the Cimbrian War , some two generations prior to Caesar's invasion of Gaul. The Swiss plateau was gradually romanized during the 1st to 3rd centuries. The principal Roman settlements were the cities of Iulia Equestris ( Nyon ), Aventicum ( Avenches ), Augusta Raurica ( Augst ) and Vindonissa ( Windisch ). Evidence has also been found of almost twenty Roman villages ( vici ) and hundreds of villas . In

9271-654: The area took centuries to recover from the damage. During the Hundred Years' War , both the English and the French conducted chevauchée raids over the enemy territory to damage its infrastructure. Robert the Bruce counselled using scorched earth to frustrate the invasion of Scotland by Edward I of England , according to an anonymous 14th-century poem: in strait places gar keep all store, And byrnen ye plainland them before, That they shall pass away in haist What that they find na thing but waist. ... This

9398-598: The authorities could apprehend him, he died under unexplained circumstances, the Helvetii believed by his own hand. Nevertheless, the Helvetii did not give up their planned emigration, but burned their homes in 58 BC. They were joined by a number of tribal groups from neighbouring regions: the Raurici, the Latobrigi , the Tulingi and a group of Boii , who had besieged Noreia . They abandoned their homes completely with

9525-549: The battle, while still sending messengers to the Lingones warning them not to assist the Helvetii in any way. The Helvetii then offered their immediate surrender and agreed both to providing hostages and to giving up their weapons the next day. In the course of the night, 6000 of the Verbigeni fled from the camp out of fear of being massacred once they were defenceless. Caesar sent riders after them and ordered those who were brought back to be "counted as enemies", which probably meant being sold into slavery. In order for them to defend

9652-497: The carrions, happy where they could find them, yea, and one another soon after, in so much as the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out of their graves; and if they found a plot of water-cresses or shamrocks, there they flocked as to a feast for the time, yet not able long to continue therewithal; that in a short space there were none almost left, and a most populous and plentiful country suddenly left void of man or beast. In early 1565, Grandmaster Jean Parisot de Valette ordered

9779-482: The city as it quickly burned. Non-combatant Non-combatant is a term of art in the law of war and international humanitarian law to refer to civilians who are not taking a direct part in hostilities; persons, such as combat medics and military chaplains , who are members of the belligerent armed forces but are protected because of their specific duties (as currently described in Protocol I of

9906-624: The civilian population or to the adverse Party, whatever the motive, whether in order to starve out civilians, to cause them to move away, or for any other motive. The term was found in English in a 1937 report on the Second Sino-Japanese War . The retreating Chinese forces burned crops and destroyed infrastructure including cities to sabotage the logistics of the advancing Japanese forces. Clausewitz wrote in Principles of War : In defensive just as in offensive warfare, it

10033-508: The conclusion of a foedus casts some doubt on the totality of the defeat. As Caesar's account is heavily influenced by his political agenda, it is difficult to determine the actual motive of the Helvetii movement of 58 BC. One might see the movement in the light of a Celtic retreat from areas which were later to become Germanic; it can be debated whether they ever had plans to settle in the Saintonge , as Caesar claims (Bell. Gall. 1,10.). It

10160-545: The country's contemporary Neo-Latin name, Confoederatio Helvetica (abbreviated CH), are derived from this tradition. In 2015, the star 51 Pegasi , the first main-sequence star found to have an exoplanet , was named Helvetios after the Helvetii as part of the IAU 's NameExoWorlds contest. The distribution of La Tène culture burials in Switzerland indicates that the Swiss plateau between Lausanne and Winterthur

10287-471: The course of Romanization, the Celtic polytheism of the Helvetians was syncretized with Roman religion . The Celtic deities came to be worshiped under the names of their Roman counterparts, and Roman gods acquired the names of local gods, such as Mars Caturix , Mercurius Cissonius and Jupiter Poeninus . A major cultic center of Gallo-Roman religion , consisting of eight chapels or small temples,

10414-672: The course of the war. This number, however, is largely debated. Despite the understanding that over 18 million were killed in the Holocaust and as a result of other Nazi persecution, the exact number will likely never be determined. There is also difficulty of estimating the numbers for events such as the Nanjing massacre , though it is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 civilians and prisoners of war were slaughtered. This does not necessarily include military, non-combatant or civilian peoples killed by radiation, disease or other means as

10541-546: The defector's properties. Belgrano labored to win the support of the populace and later reported that most of the people had willingly followed him without the need for force. The exodus started on 23 August and gathered people from Jujuy and Salta . People travelled south about 250 km and finally arrived at the banks of the Pasaje River, in Tucumán Province in the early hours of 29 August. They applied

10668-547: The depths of the steppes after they had destroyed food supplies and poisoned wells . The Greek general Xenophon recorded in his Anabasis that the withdrawing enemy burnt up the grass and everything else that was good for use in front of the Ten Thousand . During the Second Punic War in 218–202 BCE , both Carthaginians and Romans used the method selectively during Hannibal's invasion of Italy . After

10795-496: The desirability of which caused his countrymen to invade northern Italy . The Greek historian Posidonius (c. 135–50 BC), whose work is preserved only in fragments by other writers, offers the earliest historical record of the Helvetii. Posidonius described the Helvetians of the late 2nd century BC as "rich in gold but peaceful," without giving clear indication to the location of their territory. His reference to gold washing in rivers has been taken as evidence for an early presence of

10922-525: The eastern Alps (probably by the Brenner Pass ). While the Teutones and Ambrones were slaughtered in 102 BC by Gaius Marius near Aquae Sextiae , the Cimbri and the Tigurini wintered in the Padan plain . The following year, Marius virtually destroyed the Cimbri in the battle of Vercellae . The Tigurini, who had planned on following the Cimbri, turned back over the Alps with their booty and joined those of

11049-462: The emigrants had survived the war. Caesar's report has been partly confirmed by excavations near Geneva and Bibracte . However, much of his account has not yet been corroborated by archaeology, whilst his narrative must in wide parts be considered as biased and, in some points, unlikely. For a start, only one out of the fifteen Celtic oppida in the Helvetii territory so far has yielded evidence for destruction by fire. Many other sites, for example

11176-635: The fields were burned. However, the story that they salted the earth is apocryphal . The system of punitive destruction of property and subjugation of people when accompanying a military campaign was known as vastatio . Two of the first uses of scorched earth recorded happened in the Gallic Wars . The first was used when the Celtic Helvetii were forced to evacuate their homes in Southern Germany and Switzerland because of incursions of unfriendly Germanic tribes : to add incentive to

11303-465: The find was at that time at least 50 metres (164 ft) from the lake shore, and probably 1 metre (3 ft) to three meters deep in the water. There's also an island sanctuary of the Helvetii in connection with the settlement at the preceding Oppidi Uetliberg on the former Grosser Hafner island, as well as the settlement Kleiner Hafner at the Sechseläuten square on the effluence of

11430-769: The first Germanic incursions into the Roman world, when the Tigurini and Toygenoi/Toutonoi are mentioned as participants in the great raids. At the later Vicus Turicum , probably in the first 1st century BC or even much earlier, the Celts settled at the Lindenhof Oppidium . In 1890, so-called Potin lumps were found, whose largest weights 59.2 kilograms (131 lb) at the Prehistoric pile dwelling settlement Alpenquai in Zürich, Switzerland. The pieces consist of

11557-516: The first multi-country treaties to agree on rights for non-combatants. These meetings occurred in 1899 and in 1907. Three treaties were signed and put into effect in 1899, including the treatment of prisoners of war and the protection of hospital ships . In 1907 thirteen additional treaties were signed. These cover regulations concerning war on land, the declaration of war , the rights and responsibilities of neutral countries , and rights and restrictions during naval war . Treaty II, Article 3 of

11684-402: The former territories of the Helvetii and their inhabitants were as thoroughly romanised as the rest of Gaul. What seems to have been the last action of the Helvetii as a tribal entity happened shortly after the death of emperor Nero in 68 AD. Like the other Gallic tribes, the Helvetii were organised as a civitas ; they even retained their traditional grouping into four pagi and enjoyed

11811-451: The giving of hostages by the defeated Romans at Agen . In the cavalry battle that followed, the Helvetii prevailed over Caesar's Aedui allies under Dumnorix ' command, and continued their journey, while Caesar's army was being detained by delays in his grain supplies, caused by the Aedui on the instigations of Dumnorix , who had married Orgetorix ' daughter. A few days later, however, near

11938-627: The harvesting of all the crops in Malta, including unripened grain, to deprive the Ottomans of any local food supplies since spies had warned of an imminent Ottoman attack. Furthermore, the Knights poisoned all of the wells with bitter herbs and dead animals. The Ottomans arrived on 18 May, and the Great Siege of Malta began. The Ottomans managed to capture one fort but were eventually defeated by

12065-652: The heat of combat . The Geneva Conventions recognizes and expands on many of the treaties signed at the Hague Conventions, particularly those involving the treatment of non-combatants. As a result, the regulations are still in effect today. The Geneva Conventions started on April 21, 1949 and were concluded on August 12. The purpose of the Conventions was to establish protections afforded to protected non-combatants in wartime, including civilians under military occupations and prisoners of war. Article 4 of

12192-480: The image of the hell which they deserve". During the third Napoleonic invasion of Portugal in 1810, the Portuguese population retreated towards Lisbon and was ordered to destroy all the food supplies the French might capture as well as forage and shelter in a wide belt across the country. (Although effective food-preserving techniques had recently been invented, they were still not fit for military use because

12319-648: The intention of settling among the Santones ( Saintonge ). The easiest route would take them through the Rhône valley , and thus through the Roman Provincia Narbonensis . When they reached the boundaries of the Allobroges , the northernmost tribe of the Provincia , they found that Caesar had already dismantled the bridge of Geneva to stop their advance. The Helvetians sent "the most illustrious men of their state" to negotiate, promising

12446-414: The journey. The rest (houses, crops, food stocks and any objects made of iron) was to be burned to deprive the Royalists of resources. The strict scorched-earth policy made him ask on 29 July 1812 the people of Jujuy to "show their heroism " and to join the march of the army under his command "if, as you assure, you want to be free". The punishment for ignoring the order was execution, with the destruction of

12573-429: The many civilian casualties, including the killing of 150 men, Brigadier General Thomas Ewing Jr. , Sherman's brother-in-law, issued US Army General Order No. 11 (1863) to order the near-total evacuation of three-and-a-half counties in western Missouri , south of Kansas City, which were subsequently looted and burned by US Army troops. Under Sherman's overall direction, General Philip Sheridan followed that policy in

12700-507: The march of Julian, he beheld the melancholy face of a smoking and naked desert. This desperate but effectual method of defence can only be executed by the enthusiasm of a people who prefer their independence to their property; or by the rigor of an arbitrary government, which consults the public safety without submitting to their inclinations the liberty of choice. During the First Fitna (656–661), Muawiyah I sent Busr ibn Abi Artat to

12827-594: The march, the Helvetii destroyed everything they could not bring. The second case shows actual military value: during the Great Gallic War the Gauls under Vercingetorix planned to lure the Roman armies into Gaul and then trap and obliterate them. They thus ravaged the countryside of what are now the Benelux countries and France. This caused immense problems for the Romans, but the Roman military triumphs over

12954-474: The numerous creditors he owed money to, but also to further strengthen his position within the late Republic. In this sense, even the character of Divico , who makes his appearance in the Commentarii half a century after his victory over L. Cassius Longinus, seems more like another hackneyed argument stressing Caesar's justification to attack, than like an actual historical figure. That the victor of Agen

13081-532: The prosecutions of terrorists are conducted. Possible solutions would be to take all individuals classified as non-combatants and have them charged as criminals and prosecute the individuals who are considered combatants and engage in warfare attacks under military commissions. Combatant terrorists are captured and detained in order to put an end to their hostilities and are labeled as prisoners of war, and non-combatants are considered criminals. Germany's Military Manual states that “combatants are persons who may take

13208-399: The protection that must be given to civilians (unless they are unprivileged combatants ) and civilian populations. Article 54 deals with Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, and is categorical that "Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited." Chapter III of Protocol I regulates the targeting of civilian objects. Article 8(2)(b)(i) of

13335-542: The quartermaster or commissary departments to be issued as if furnished from our Northern depots. But much was destroyed without receipts to owners when it could not be brought within our lines and would otherwise have gone to the support of secession and rebellion. This policy I believe exercised a material influence in hastening the end. General Sherman used that policy during his March to the Sea . Another event, in response to William Quantrill 's raid on Lawrence, Kansas , and

13462-476: The retreating army first, and will be mostly consumed. Nothing remains but wasted villages and towns, fields from which the crops have been gathered, or which are trampled down, empty wells, and muddy brooks. The pursuing army, therefore, from the very first day, has frequently to contend with the most pressing wants. Notable historic examples of successful scorched-earth tactics include the failed Swedish , French and German invasion of Russia , Sherman's march to

13589-668: The ruined Roman fortress of Chester in late summer 893, planning to raid northern Mercia from the refortified fortress. But the Mercians destroyed all crops and livestock in the surrounding countryside and expelled the Vikings successfully. In the Harrying of the North , William the Conqueror 's solution to stop a rebellion in 1069 was the brutal conquest and subjugation of northern England . William's men burnt whole villages from

13716-482: The same was a most rich and plentiful country, full of corn and cattle, that you would have thought they could have been able to stand long, yet ere one year and a half they were brought to such wretchedness, as that any stony heart would have rued the same. Out of every corner of the wood and glens they came creeping forth upon their hands, for their legs could not bear them; they looked Anatomies [of] death, they spoke like ghosts, crying out of their graves; they did eat of

13843-455: The sanctuary at Mormont , do not exhibit any signs of damage for the period in question, and Celtic life continued seemingly undisturbed for the rest of the 1st century BC up to the beginning of the Roman era, with an accent rather on an increase in prosperity than on a "Helvetic twilight". With the honourable status as foederati taken into account, it is hard to believe that the Helvetii ever sustained casualties quite as heavy as those given by

13970-484: The scorched-earth policy came into effect again because even though some large supply dumps had been established on the advance, the route between them had both been scorched and marched over once already. Thus, the French army starved as it marched along the resource-depleted invasion route. In August 1812, Argentine General Manuel Belgrano led the Jujuy Exodus , a massive forced displacement of people from what

14097-727: The sea during the American Civil War , Kit Carson 's campaign during the Navajo Wars in 1863 and Lord Kitchener 's methods in the Anglo-Boer War . The Scythians used scorched-earth methods against the Persian Achaemenid Empire , led by King Darius the Great , during his European Scythian campaign . The Scythians, who were nomadic herders, evaded the Persian invaders and retreated into

14224-539: The severity of the crisis. The Helvetii were re-discovered as the forebears of the Swiss in the early historiography of Switzerland , in the late 15th to early 16th century. Their name was adopted as the Latin equivalent of the designation Switzer , and the Swiss Confederacy was given the Latin name of Republica Helvetiorum . The name of the national personification of Switzerland , Helvetia , and

14351-509: The site of the Helvetian settlement Noviodunum (modern Nyon ), and around 44 BC the Colonia Raurica on Rauracan territory. These colonies were probably established as a means of controlling the two most important military access routes between the Helvetian territory and the rest of Gaul , blocking the passage through the Rhône valley and Sundgau . In the course of Augustus ' reign, Roman dominance became more concrete. Some of

14478-457: The size of the baggage train that an exodus of 368,000 people would have required: Even for the reduced numbers that Furger-Gunti uses for his calculations, the baggage train would have stretched for at least 40 km, perhaps even as far as 100 km. In spite of the now much more balanced numerical weight we have to assume for the two opposing armies, the battle seems far less glorious a victory than Caesar presented it to be. The main body of

14605-577: The territory of one of the High Contracting Parties) that each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions to "persons taking no active part in the hostilities" (non-combatants). Such persons shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, with the following prohibitions: In World War II , non-combatants were more affected than they were in previous wars. Sources claim that over forty-five million civilians and non-combatants lost their lives over

14732-614: The traditional Celtic oppida were now used as legionary garrisons, such as Vindonissa or Basilea (modern Basel ); others were relocated, such as the hill-fort on the Bois de Châtel, whose inhabitants founded the new "capital" of the civitas at nearby Aventicum . First incorporated into the Roman province of Gallia Belgica , later into the Germania Superior and finally into the Diocletian province of Maxima Sequanorum ,

14859-399: The two forcible instruments of persuasion, steel and gold, would easily procure a plentiful subsistence from the fears or avarice of the natives. But, on the approach of the Romans, the rich and smiling prospect was instantly blasted. Wherever they moved ... the cattle was driven away; the grass and ripe corn were consumed with fire; and, as soon as the flames had subsided which interrupted

14986-441: The view of the tactics described, and assumes the actual numbers to have been around 40,000 warriors out of a total of 160,000 emigrants. Delbrück suggests an even lower number of 100,000 people, out of which only 16,000 were fighters, which would make the Celtic force about half the size of the Roman body of c. 30,000 men. The real numbers will never be determined exactly. Caesar's specifications can at least be doubted by looking at

15113-401: Was accomplished without bloodshed and tended to the same result as the destruction of armies. I continued this policy to the close of the war. Promiscuous pillaging, however, was discouraged and punished. Instructions were always given to take provisions and forage under the direction of commissioned officers who should give receipts to owners, if at home, and turn the property over to officers of

15240-432: Was almost a surrender, namely to have the Helvetii settle wherever Caesar wished them to, although it was combined with the threat of an open battle if Caesar should refuse. Caesar demanded hostages to be given to him and reparations to the Aedui and Allobroges. Divico responded by saying that "they were accustomed to receive, not to give hostages; a fact the Roman people could testify to", this once again being an allusion to

15367-419: Was at first incorporated into the Roman province of Gallia Belgica (22 BC), later into Germania Superior (AD 83). The Helvetians, like the rest of Gaul, were largely Romanized by the 2nd century. In the later 3rd century, Roman control over the region waned, and the Swiss plateau was exposed to the invading Alemanni . The Alemanni and Burgundians established permanent settlements in the Swiss plateau in

15494-539: Was certainly in the latter's personal interest to emphasise any kind of parallel between the traumatic experience of the Cimbrian and Teutonic incursions and the alleged threat that the Helvetii were to the Roman world. The Tigurini 's part in the destruction of L. Cassius Longinus and his army was a welcome pretext to engage in an offensive war in Gaul whose proceeds permitted Caesar not only to fulfil his obligations to

15621-611: Was found in Allmendingen near Thun . Deities worshipped at the site included Mars (presumably in lieu of Caturix ) and Rosmerta as well as Mithras . Although the Gaulish language had mostly been ousted by Latin by the 3rd century, many Celtic toponyms have survived in Switzerland. Of the ten largest present-day Swiss cities, at least six have Celtic placename etymologies, and most major Swiss rivers have either Celtic or pre-Celtic names. The order and prosperity of

15748-641: Was laid in ashes, in order to leave the enemy nothing but ruins. In 1688, France attacked the German Electoral Palatinate . The German states responded by forming an alliance and assembling a sizeable armed force to push the French out of Germany. The French had not prepared for such an eventuality. Realising that the war in Germany was not going to end quickly and that the war would not be a brief and decisive parade of French glory, Louis XIV and War Minister Marquis de Louvois resolved upon

15875-513: Was prevented from using its usual doctrine of living off the lands that it conquered. Pushing relentlessly on despite dwindling numbers, the Grand Army met with disaster as the invasion progressed. Napoleon's army arrived in a virtually-abandoned Moscow , which was a tattered starving shell of its former self, largely because of scorched-earth tactics by the retreating Russians. Having conquered essentially nothing, Napoleon's troops retreated, but

16002-549: Was relatively densely populated. Settlement centres existed in the Aare valley between Thun and Bern , and between Lake Zurich and the river Reuss . The Valais and the regions around Bellinzona and Lugano also seem to have been well-populated; however, those lay outside the Helvetian borders. Almost all the Helvetic oppida were built in the vicinity of the larger rivers of the Swiss midlands. Not all of them existed at

16129-499: Was still alive in 58 BC or, if yes, that he was physically still capable of undertaking such a journey at all, seems more than doubtful. The Helvetii and Rauraci most likely lost their status as foederati only six years after the battle of Bibracte, when they supported Vercingetorix in 52 BC with 8,000 and 2,000 men, respectively. Sometime between 50 and 45 BC, the Romans founded the Colonia Iulia Equestris at

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