The Laws of War in Global History

What are the laws of war and how have they changed since they appeared on the global stage in the 1860s? What does it mean to wage a lawful war? Readings cover persistent themes that have afflicted the laws of war since the nineteenth century and continue to do so today: colonial hierarchies and violence, the problem of new weaponry, law as wartime morality, and the conflict between humanity and military necessity. Discussions will range from the 1864 Geneva Conventions to the role of international humanitarian law in the Syrian Civil War and the war in Ukraine today.