151: A Returning Medieval Ethic of War

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Much of how we describe ethics in war comes from a tradition that was born relatively recently in comparison to the history of warfare. In premodern times, before the renaissance or the enlightenment, the scale of warfare often extended well beyond the warfighter, even as different creeds and belief systems set limitations on the man wielding the sword. 

During the enlightenment, as Europe inched closer to the idea of a balance of power, various nations, kingdoms, and warriors began to place limitations on the warfare they waged, at least until they reached a certain level of desperation. 

In some ways, that tradition of limited warfare never really manifested, and in others, what was left very well died on the battlefields of World War 1. 

Now, we are here in an age of decentralization, where not only nations go to war against each other in every way but the official way, and grey zone between combatant and non-combatant is the most lively battlefield at play. 

So, in this episode we address how the idea of warfare has changed from age to age, and how it looks to be rhyming, if not returning to a pre-modern, but more genuine format, partially by breaking down the barrier between the professional warfighter, and the citizen capable for becoming a warrior. 

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