can't get over how cr this poast is. WWII was unprecedented in every conceivable way. it's amazing how no one talks about the nazi inventions of siege warfare and city occupation.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48888837)

what the hell are you talking about

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48888842)

The problem with that is anyone can claim their rule came from God. "I won this battle, therefore God is on my side." It's circular logic.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48888879)

Conversely, nomadic tribes were sources of human labor and talent. As the population centers grew, there was more demand for their labor, so they got hunted down and enslaved over time. Now we call them "Ukrainians" but they're just leftover slaves who escaped along the way to Baghdad.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48888992)

Yes, your statement is broadly correct—the indiscriminate killing of civilians, including entire villages, has occurred repeatedly throughout European warfare, especially during the Middle Ages. While modern laws of war (like the Geneva Conventions) seek to protect civilians, such protections were largely absent or inconsistently applied in earlier centuries.

Here are some notable historical examples from medieval European warfare:

1. The Harrying of the North (1069–1070) – England

After William the Conqueror faced rebellion in northern England, he ordered a brutal campaign to suppress it. Villages were burned, crops destroyed, and entire populations massacred or starved.

Chronicler Orderic Vitalis wrote that over 100,000 people may have died, though modern estimates are lower.

This was a deliberate act of terror and punishment targeting civilians.

2. Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) – Southern France

Launched by the Catholic Church against the Cathar heretics, this crusade featured notorious atrocities:

Massacre at Béziers (1209): An estimated 15,000–20,000 civilians, both Cathars and Catholics, were slaughtered.

The infamous quote attributed to a papal legate: "Kill them all; God will know His own."

3. Hundred Years' War (1337–1453) – France and England

Civilians regularly suffered during chevauchées—raids designed to terrorize the countryside:

English forces under Edward the Black Prince conducted destructive raids across

Chevauchées in the Hundred Years' War (e.g., Black Prince in 1355):

English forces systematically burned villages across southern France.

Chroniclers mention hundreds of settlements destroyed in just weeks.

German Peasants’ War (1524–1525):

After rebellion, thousands of villages were devastated by princely armies.

Tens of thousands of peasants were slaughtered, and villages were left in ruin.

Feudal Feuds (10th–13th centuries):

Localized wars between barons routinely involved ravaging each other’s lands, including killing and enslaving peasants.

These were part of the unwritten "rules" of power projection.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48889106)

would you agree that conquering forces sometimes massacred/enslaved a sizeable portion of conquered peoples for thousands of years before ww2 such that NSAM asserting that ww2 was the first time civilians were targeting is insane and stupid?

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48889029)

but you can't read about any empire without coming across stuff like avaricum pretty frequently. of course amateurs focus on the most important and notable events. i'm sure you're right that more often brutality against the conquered was limited to incidental deaths from pillaging.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48889117)

What is certain is that civilians as a protected class of non combatant didn't exist formally until after 1949

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5717770&forum_id=2],#48889018)