Fear, Massacre, and Pre-emptive Strike in Early Modern Spanish Political Discourse

• In Event: Massacre and Genocide in the Early Modern World II

Abstract

The mass-murder of non-combatants or prisoners of war appears a tragically familiar feature of early modern warfare. It commonly occurred in the aftermath of sieges or battles. This paper explores the discussion and divergent conceptualizations of mass-murder or ‘massacre’ in early modern Spanish moral theology, law, military manuals and in political literature more widely. While much of the legal and theological debate is embedded in the established discourse on ‘just war’, evolving notions of reason of state — or ‘reason of war’ — confront contemporaries with alternative points of view. I will focus on the shifting relationship between massacre, preventive strike and fear as a factor legitimizing the slaughter of non-combatants and unarmed or unprepared combatants. The aim is to trace contemporary attempts to find the boundary between acceptable and unacceptable perpetration of massacre in theatres of war.

Author

• Harald E. Braun, University of Liverpool