Rules of Air Warfare

[Vin]

In the light of the “once a Hun” and “Voss a non person” threads, it is interesting to look at “The Hague Rules of Air Warfare” formulated in 1992 but never adopted. They can be seen at

http://www.lib.byu.edu/~rdh/wwi/1918p/hagair.html

Does anyone know the background to their formulation and why they were not adopted ?


Vin

[Mac]

Do you mean 1922? The war was over. Why bother with rules.

[Graeme]

Or do you mean the Hague Peace Conference of 1899 which dealt, primarily, with arms limitation? While it failed in that objective, the conference succeeded in laying down conventions defining the conditions of a state of belligerency and other customs relating to war on land and sea. Three declarations were agreed prohibiting the use of asphyxiating gas, expanding (dum dum) bullets and the dropping of explosive projectiles from balloons.

A second conference was held in 1907 but again failed to obtain a limitation of arms but made changes to the "Rules of War". The clause banning the dropping of explosives from balloons was renewed but those relating to gas and dum dum bullets were not.

Some account was taken of heavier than air machines but the clauses relating to the use of aircraft were vague and ambiguous and not accepted by many of the principal powers.

[Barrett]

1) Always cheat
2) Always win

Vin,
Uhhhh .... Rules of Air Warfare .... lessee ....

1. - If it looks suspicious - it probably is.
2. - Shoot it down if it ain't one of your side's planes.
3. - Don't let the opponent get the advantage on you.
4. - Turn his 'kite' into a flaming coffin -remember there are no "nice guy opponents" when you are in a fight for your life. (Kill or be Killed)
5. - Finally, be sure you have a radar lock, good tone, and squeeze the trigger. ; )

Regards,
Jim 'ACE'

[Vin]

Graeme

I was looking at the post war treaties. I know even less about the pre war ones. Apart from Versailles, there appear to have been a number of treaties entered into after the war, Neuilly, 1919; Trianon 1920; Sevres, 1920; Washington, 1922; Lausanne 1923, Geneva 1925. They dealt with the use of submarines, noxious gases and bacteriological warfare in addition to the one which caught my eye, the Hague rules.


Vin

[Ginger.]

Rule number one.
It's better to cheat and lose,than play fair and win.

[stephen]

That must be under the "Rules To Die By" section.

My curiosity at this query led me to search under "Geneva Convetions" which in turn led to my discovering http://www.icrc.org/ihl. This has lists of numerous international agreements, both before and after the First Great Unpleasantness. I did not follow through by pursuing the site links, but there is clearly a lot to explore. Of course, one must distinguish between "rules of warfare" and the mythical "chivalry" which appears to have had more to do with journalist's fanatsies than with the realities of war.

Hugh, while it is true that war is hell, there are countless examples of chivalry extended to the enemy in both WWI and WWII. There is a nice book on this subject, whose title and author I never seem able to recall. Therefor, I dont think that chivalry in war should be described as mythical.

Our friend Ira seems to have read just about everything regarding air warfare. No doubt he will be able to list the title and author mentioned above. It is hell getting old; 39 and I can barely remember my own name.