Targeting civilians is revolting, but it has been part of
warfare since warfare has existed, and every nation that has ever waged war
has done it, to the extent that it has been expedient.
Actually, my recollection of long ago history is that this was not always true. Often, yes. Usually, probably yes. But I seem to recall having been taught that there were times in history when armies really only fought armies, and left he civilian populations alone. In our Pig War, for example, granted not a major world war, but an armed conflict nonetheless to which the term war has, rightly or wrongly, been applied, tour boat operators brought tours of civilians over from Victoria to watch the fighting (of which there was in fact little if any), and they were not molested or bothered by the "enemy" soldiers. And in the Civil War, before Sherman changed the calculus of war on American soil, civilians used to take their carriages out to watch the battles and picnic while the fighting was going on.
Your rule may be general, but I think not universal. |
