SUPERIOR RESPONSIBILITY UNDER THE ROME STATUTE AND ITS APPLICABILITY TO CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY: AN APPRAISAL

The doctrine of superior responsibility has been embedded in Article 28 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which enunciates the responsibility of both military commanders and civilian superiors. Although constitutional monarchs are civilians entrusted with the position of commanders in chief, there are States that opposed accession to the Rome Statute on the simple ground that their respective monarchs could be indicted and punished under the Rome Statute. The main objective of this paper, therefore, is to examine whether constitutional monarchs could be responsible under the doctrine of superior responsibility. The paper focuses on the analysis of the elements of superior responsibility by referring to the authoritative commentaries of Article 28 and constitutional practices of three selected constitutional monarchies: the United Kingdom, Japan, and Malaysia. The paper finds that constitutional monarchs could not be held responsible because they have to act on the advice of the government and do not possess the effective and operational control over the armed forces as required under the Rome statute.

Burials of the Fallen in Ancient Greece

The paper evaluates works of ancient authors who mention and provide details of the burial of fallen soldiers in ancient Greece, and then it compares them with preserved archaeological finds. Textual analysis shows a long-term tradition of war graves on battlefields. The commanders of the troops provided funeral services in the first place, as the extradition request of bodies was equal to the recognition of defeat. In most cases both sides had enough time to take care of their fallen after the battle, but there were exceptions when the last honors were rather provisional. In addition to burial directly on the battlefield, it seems that, depending on the circumstances, the removal of the remains to the hometown or burial outside the battlefield and outside the home also applies. The tombstones could have various forms, in the case of collective burials, tumuli with stelae bearing the names of the deceased were preferred, in the case of burial of military commanders, tombstones took the form of a monumental statue. Cremation burial is thought to have prevailed over inhumation.

Should Russian Military Leaders Opt for Tactical Escalation in the Baltic States and Kaliningrad?1

Russia once again pushes its way to emerge as a major power in the international order after losing this status in the modern ‘time of troubles’ in the 1990s. Its political and military strategic leaders demonstrated willingness to employ all instruments of power as means of escalation to achieve this goal. Meanwhile, tactical military commanders are the ones in direct control of military escalation means and therefore their motivations, agility and rationality are also important factor in the Russian escalation processes towards the West. This research will look at these processes through lenses of game and decision-making theories.

The Company State at War

This chapter brings together the distinct constituents of the early colonial order that had been created over the preceding three decades to execute conquest. The final conflict with the Marathas (1803–5) required much more than troops and an unprecedented commitment of financial resources. Disputes between civilian administrators and military officers, between legally subordinate civilian administrations and a politically ambitious Bengal council, and, between military forces mobilized across the shifting boundaries of the Company’s territorial expanse and civil administrators in the locales of western India—all received a more unequivocal response in the Second Anglo-Maratha War. Experiments that had been haltingly devised in response to deep structural problems that routinely surfaced during preceding periods of intensified military conflict were radically addressed. Legal innovations like delegating sweeping unqualified powers to military commanders were combined with the deployment of a politically effective ideology of Francophobia to set the stage for what became the most ambitious political project of conquest crafted in the long eighteenth century—the war against the Marathas.

An ‘Evil State’

This chapter reflects on a 'copy of an intercepted and deciphered letter exchanged between one of the Queen of Bohemia's ladies in waiting, and her cousin, a young lady in England'. It is difficult not to read the letter as implicit criticism of the excesses enjoyed by the two courts in The Hague. The satire is directed at the leading ladies of these courts, and the military commanders infatuated with them, while the common soldiers died in their droves at Breda and beyond for lack of food, with neither Frederick V nor Frederick Henry able to intervene. The fact that there is little evidence that any such 'progress' ever took place merely adds to this feeling, as does the care with which the author appears to have hidden their identity. Though a fabrication, it nevertheless fits the general movement of Elizabeth Stuart's life very closely, as it moves from the deceptive frivolity of the court to the deathly earnestness of the military campaign without pausing to take so much as a breath. Thus, it appears that in some quarters, Elizabeth was held to blame for the dire state of Mansfeld's troops and the disaster that followed at Breda.

Mississippi Valley, 1862

Union victories at Island No. 10 and Forts Jackson and St. Philip in April 1862 allowed the United States to quickly capture New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Natchez, and Memphis. Their advances prompted the U.S. government to initiate Reconstruction policies that included the enlistment of White, Unionist Southerners. The government also worked with free Blacks, freedmen, and military commanders to start enlisting African American volunteers drawn from throughout the Mississippi Valley by passing the Second Confiscation Act. The Confederate government was badly shaken by its military defeats, especially because its troops suffered from widespread apathy, desertions, and mutinies throughout the Mississippi Valley in 1862. A Confederate conscription law was necessary to bolster its sagging army. The Confederate offensive at Baton Rouge in August was fueled in part by the conscription law and was aimed to interrupt Black enlistments and shore up slavery.

Strategy and Command

In Strategy and Command, David Horner provides an important insight into the strategic decisions and military commanders who shaped Australia's army history from the Boer War to the evolution of the command structure for the Australian Defence Force in the 2000s. He examines strategic decisions such as whether to go to war, the nature of the forces to be committed to the war, where the forces should be deployed and when to reduce the Australian commitment. The book also recounts decisions made by commanders at the highest level, which are passed on to those at the operational level, who are then required to produce their own plans to achieve the government's aims through military operations. Strategy and Command is a compilation of research and writing on military history by one of Australia's pre-eminent military historians. It is a crucial read for anyone interested in Australia's involvement in 20th-century wars.

Protagonists of War

Julián Romero, Sancho Dávila, Cristóbal de Mondragón, and Francisco de Valdés were prominent Spanish military commanders during the first decade of the Revolt in the Low Countries (1567–1577). Occupying key positions in this conflict, they featured as central characters in various war narratives and episodical descriptions of the events they were involved in, ranging from chronicles, poems, theatre plays, engravings, and songs to news pamphlets. To this day, they still figure as protagonists of historical novels: brave heroes in some, cruel oppressors in others. Yet personal, first-hand accounts also exist. Archival research into the letters written by these commanders now makes it possible to include their perspectives and the way they describe their own experiences. Looking through the eyes of four Spanish commanders, Protagonists of War provides the reader with an alternative reading of the Revolt, contrasting the subjective experiences of these protagonists with fictionalised perceptions.

Protagonists of War

Julián Romero, Sancho Dávila, Cristóbal de Mondragón, and Francisco de Valdés were prominent Spanish military commanders during the first decade of the Revolt in the Low Countries (1567–1577). Occupying key positions in this conflict, they featured as central characters in various war narratives and episodical descriptions of the events they were involved in, ranging from chronicles, poems, theatre plays, engravings, and songs to news pamphlets. To this day, they still figure as protagonists of historical novels: brave heroes in some, cruel oppressors in others. Yet personal, first-hand accounts also exist. Archival research into the letters written by these commanders now makes it possible to include their perspectives and the way they describe their own experiences. Looking through the eyes of four Spanish commanders, Protagonists of War provides the reader with an alternative reading of the Revolt, contrasting the subjective experiences of these protagonists with fictionalised perceptions.