Transcript War Crimes

What Are War Crimes?
War crimes violate the laws of war:
a body of law concerning acceptable
justifications to engage in war (jus
ad bellum) and the limits to
acceptable wartime conduct
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What Are War Crimes?
Some of the central principles underlying laws of war
are:
 Wars should be limited to achieving the political
goals that started the war (e.g., territorial control)
and should not include unnecessary destruction.
 Wars should be brought to an end as quickly as
possible.
 People and property that do not contribute to the
war effort should be protected against unnecessary
destruction and hardship.
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What Are War Crimes?
To this end, laws of war are intended to mitigate the
hardships of war by:
 Protecting both combatants and noncombatants
from unnecessary suffering.
 Safeguarding certain fundamental human rights of
persons who fall into the hands of the enemy,
particularly prisoners of war, the wounded and sick,
and civilians.
 Facilitating the restoration of peace.
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Who Committed War
Crimes?
Virtually every country that participated in WWII
committed war crimes:
 Axis Powers: Germany, Italy, Japan
 Allied Powers: Russia, UK, USA, …
The bulk of war crime claims against US and UK are
due to bombing of civilian populations and US
treatment of Japanese prisoners in the Pacific
Axis war crimes and war crimes by Russia involve
virtually every category
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Geneva Convention
The Geneva Convention (1929) described what was
acceptable in war and what was not. All W W 2
warring nations signed the Geneva Convention
except the USSR and Japan. USSR agreed to
terms of (earlier) Hague Convention. In 1942 Japan
agreed to abide by Geneva Convention terms.
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POWs
Death rates of POWs held is one measure of adherence to the standards of
the treaties because substandard treatment leads to death of prisoners. The
democratic states generally provide good treatment of POWs
Held by Axis powers
• Chinese POWs held by Japan: 56 reported survivors at the end of the
war
• U.S. and British Commonwealth POWs held by Germany: ~4%
• Soviet POWs held by Germany: 57.5%
• Western Allied POWs held by Japan: 27% (may be misleading, as
sources indicate that either 10,800 or 19,000 of 35,756 fatalities among
Allied POW's were from "friendly fire" at sea when their transport ships
were sunk. Nonetheless, the Geneva convention required the labeling of
such craft as POW ships, which the Japanese did not to do.
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POWs
Death rates of POWs held is one measure of adherence to the standards of
the treaties because substandard treatment leads to death of prisoners. The
democratic states generally provide good treatment of POWs
Held By The Allies
• German POWs in East European (not including the Soviet Union) hands 32.9%
• German soldiers held by Soviet Union: 15–33% (14.7% in The Dictators by
Richard Overy, 35.8% in Ferguson)
• Japanese POWs held by Soviet Union: 10%
• German POWs in British hands 0.03%
• German POWs in American hands 0.15%
• German POWs in French hands 2.58%
• Japanese POWs held by U.S.: relatively low, mainly suicides according to
James D. Morrow.
• Japanese POWs in Chinese hands: 24%
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POWs
Death rates of POWs held is one measure of adherence to the standards of
the treaties because substandard treatment leads to death of prisoners.
The democratic states generally provide good treatment of POWs
Being Held
By
POWs from
USSR
US/UK/…
China
USSR
Germany
Japan
15% - 36%
10%
UK
0.03%
US
0.15%
France
2.6%
East Europe
33%
Germany
Japan
58%
4%
~100%
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27%
varying
Death Tolls
The total number of deaths during WWII is somewhere between 33 and 94
million with most estimates around 61 million. Civilians are the largest
fraction for every estimate. Approx 85% of the deaths were incurred by the
Allies; the USSR alone suffer approx 33% of all deaths.
Deaths in Millions
Low
Axis Countries
Allied Countries
Median
High
6.4
26.5
9.0
51.4
12.2
81.9
32.9
60.4
94.1
15%
85%
These are totals for all countries that suffered 100,000 or more deaths
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Axis Death Tolls
Deaths in millions
Low
Median
High
Germany
3.8
5.5
7.8
Japan
2.0
2.6
3.2
Austria
0.4
0.5
0.6
Italy
0.2
0.4
0.6
6.4
9.0
12.2
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Allied Death Tolls
Low
Median
High
USSR
12.5
21.0
40.0
China
2.5
10.5
20.5
Poland
4.4
6.0
7.7
Dutch East Indies
3.0
4.0
4.0
French Indo China
1.0
4.0
3.0
Yugoslavia
1.0
1.5
2.0
Rumania
0.4
0.7
1.0
France
0.4
0.6
0.7
Hungary
0.3
0.6
0.7
Phillipines
0.1
0.5
0.6
UK
0.3
0.4
0.5
USA
0.3
0.4
0.4
Korea
0.4
Czech
0.2
0.4
0.4
Greece
0.1
0.3
0.4
Netherlands
0.2
1126.5
51.4
81.9
Deaths in
millions
20th Century Megadeaths
20th Century Megadeaths
Event
Period
WW II
1939 - 1945
34.0
61.0
95.0
China (Mao)
1949 - 1975
32.0
50.0
72.0
USSR: Stalins Regime
1924 - 1953
6.6
20.0
60.0
Hitler Totals (murders)
1933 - 1945
10.0
15.5
25.0
WW I
1914 - 1918
13.0
15.0
17.0
Russian Civil War
1917 - 1922
1.0
9.0
10.0
Congo Free State
1886 - 1908
2.1
8.0
21.0
Holocaust (Jews)
1939 - 1945
5.5
6.0
6.3
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Low
Avg
High
20th Century Megadeaths
20th Century Megadeaths
Event
Period
1st Chinese Civil War
1928 - 1937
2nd Indo China War
1960 - 1975
4.2
Kinshasa Congo
1998 et seq.
3.8
Korean War
1950 - 1954
2.4
3.0
3.5
North Korea
1948 et seq
1.5
3.0
3.0
2nd Chinese Civil War
1945 - 1949
0.1
2.5
6.1
Post WW2 Germans
1945 - 1947
1.8
2.1
3.0
Eithiopia
1962 - 1992
(includes Vietnam War)
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Low
0.4
Avg
5.0
2.0
High
8.0
20th Century Megadeaths
20th Century Megadeaths
Event
Period
Afghanistan
1979 - 2001
1.8
Sudan
1983 - 2005
1.8
Cambodia
1975 - 1978
1.6
Armenian Massacres
1915 - 1923
0.4
1.5
2.2
Ruwanda / Burundi
1959 - 1995
0.7
1.5
1.7
0.5
1.3
5.0
0.3
1.0
2.3
Bangladesh
1971
Mexican Revolution
1901 - 1920
Nigeria
1966 - 1970
14
Low
Avg
1.0
High
20th Century Megadeaths
20th Century Megadeaths
Event
Period
Brazil
1900 et seq
0.8
China
1917 - 1928
0.8
Mozambique
1975 - 1992
0.8
Iran - Iraq War
1980 - 1988
0.8
Tibet
1950 et seq
0.6
Algeria
1954 - 1962
0.5
India
Sudan
Low
1947
1955 - 1972
15
0.2
Avg
0.5
0.5
High
1.0
20th Century Megadeaths
20th Century Megadeaths
Event
Period
Angola
1975 - 2002
0.5
Somalia
1991 et seq
0.5
Greco-Turkish War
1919 - 1922
0.4
Abyssinian Conquest
1935 - 1941
0.4
First Indochina War
1945 - 1954
0.4
Indochina
1965 - 1966
0.4
Spanish Civil War
1936 - 1939
0.4
Vietnam
1975 et seq.
0.4
16
Low
Avg
High
20th Century Megadeaths
20th Century Megadeaths
Event
Period
Portuguese Colonies
1900 - 1925
0.3
Uganda (Idi Amin)
1972 - 1979
0.3
Iraq (Hussein)
1979 - 2003
0.3
Ugandan Bush War
1979 - 1984
0.3
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Low
Avg
High
Data Sources
Data for W W 2 Deaths by Nationality and 20th Century
Megadeaths mostly from:
http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/ww2stats.htm
http://necrometrics.com/20c5m.htm
Also referenced from club’s web site:
Daily Items, 09-Mar-2011, “ W W 2 Deaths”
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Unit 731
• covert biological and chemical warfare R&D unit
• undertook lethal human experimentation
• initially set up to develop weapons of mass
destruction
• responsible for some of the most notorious war
crimes carried out by the Japanese.
• 580,000 direct deaths
• bio weapons researched at Unit 731 resulted in
200,000 additional deaths of military personnel
and civilians in China.
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