Why Are “Savage Wars” So Brutal?
Author: Chia-ming Chen
Abstract / Chinese PDF Download
From the early modern period to the beginning of the 20th century, when wars occurred between European and non-European countries, the European armies often exhibited exceptional cruelty towards the non-European populations. During these conflicts, European forces frequently refused to adhere to the laws of war, indiscriminately attacking villages, food supplies, women, the elderly, children, and even executing prisoners of war without restraint. Why, for several centuries, did Europeans persist in treating non-European peoples so brutally on the battlefield? Previous research has often focused on specific regions or time periods without attempting to comprehensively explain this prolonged phenomenon across time. This paper attempts to synthesize common characteristics from four periods of “savage” warfare, seeking to explain the systemic violence perpetrated by Europeans against non-European peoples on the battlefield. Non-European populations across different eras found themselves in similar structural social positions, which exposed them to long-term, unrestrained violence from Europeans in war.