Cruelty - in the Age of Chivalry

During 宗教的な 不安 in 13th Century フラン, the Count of Toulouse took 2,000 囚人s.

He ordered one group to have their 注目する，もくろむs gouged out, another their ears or noses slit, and the last, their 手渡すs and feet chopped off. They were then sent 支援する to their homes.

戦争 in the Middle Ages was 極端に violent, where only the エリート few 利益d from the いわゆる age of chivalry.

Sean McGlynn's excellent 調書をとる／予約する 診察するs the 推論する／理由s for this barbarity and reaches the same 結論 that I did during my time as a PoW in the first 湾 War: some 罪，犯罪s might be committed during a 衝突 for sadistic 楽しみ or personal 復讐 but the 大多数 are undertaken with a 明確な／細部 軍の 客観的な.

McGlynn makes a 納得させるing 事例／患者 as he 分析 戦う／戦いs, 包囲s and （選挙などの）運動をするs 行為／行うd まず第一に／本来 in England and フラン. We revisit the 戦う／戦いs of Agincourt and Hattin and the 解雇（する）ing of cities such as Beziers, Lincoln and Limoges. In each 事例／患者, he places the 大虐殺s and 拷問 in the 状況 of 中世 軍の 戦略 and 策略.

As the Count of Toulouse had 推論する／理由d, sending horribly mutilated 軍隊／機動隊s home to tell their stories is a very 効果的な deterrent against others 調印 up to fight.

平等に, 虐殺（する）ing all your 囚人s at the end of a 戦う／戦い, as often happened, 確実にするd they wouldn't be returning to fight again a few years 負かす／撃墜する the line. 普及した 略奪するing 許すd 供給（する）s to be restocked. 強姦ing and butchering the inhabitants of one village meant 隣人ing villages would give up their homes and goods more readily.

McGlynn argues the thinking that held sway in the Middle Ages is not so very different from 態度s held today.

I agree. For all our supposed sophistication, nothing much has changed when it comes to war. You have only to think of some of our 最近の 衝突s..

Look at the Twenties, when the British dropped 化学製品 爆弾s in Iraq, 的ing 非軍事のs, or at the Second World War when American 軍隊／機動隊s in the Far East were told to follow a 'no 囚人' 政策.

Consider the more 最近の 集団殺戮 in Rwanda, or the war 罪，犯罪s of ex-Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic, whose 活動／戦闘s gave the world a new 称する，呼ぶ／期間／用語, '民族の 洗浄するing'.

Remember the 大虐殺 of 7,000 or more イスラム教徒 men and boys in Srebrenica in the Nineties - a very 効果的な way of 減ずるing the enemy's 動員可能数.

Look at Darfur where groups of young children are 軍隊d to bite other youngsters to death. If they don't, they know the same 運命／宿命 will 生じる them. This is an obscenity almost beyond belief. It is also an excellent 手段 for getting young 兵士s to follow orders.

When I was 拷問d by the Iraqis, the dentist, who had trained at Guy's Hospital, wasn't pulling out my tooth with pliers because he was a sadistic psychopath, he was doing it because his boss needed （警察などへの）密告，告訴（状） that I wasn't 用意が出来ている to give. T he last 一時期／支部 供給するs an insight into why individual 残虐（行為）s might be committed without 表明する 命令（する）s to do so. Unlike many 調書をとる／予約するs on 戦争, this 容積／容量 dares to say what others won't: that 兵士ing can be an enjoyable experience. Trained to fight and kill, once 兵士s start doing it for real, some can find it difficult to stop.

McGlynn paints a 荒涼とした but 正確な picture of men at war. War never has been and never will be some sort of 整然とした 演習 carried out によれば a chivalric code of honour. I don't think we can ever hope to stop war 罪，犯罪s 完全に, so if you don't want 残虐（行為）s, don't go to war.

Because the sad truth is, once the 暴力／激しさ begins, it tends to have a terrible 勢い all of its own.