The Laws of Land Warfare: A Guide to the U.S. Army Manuals

While it is generally assumed that there were limits to what soldiers were permitted to do in war, it was not until 1863, in the heat of the Civil War, that the United States issued its first army manual. Subsequently, manuals of land warfare were issued in 1914, 1934, 1940, 1944, 1956 and 1976 by the American military. In this volume, Wells provides a systematic examination of the evolution of American rules of warfare. In addition to providing the texts of key elements of the manuals and analysing them, Wells relates the manuals to the international attempts to set limits to war practices. The volume should be of interest to those concerned with military law, here and abroad, to students of international law, and to military policy-makers.