Prisoners of War

Early POW Practices

Prior to the modern era, prisoners were typically killed or enslaved, according to the whim of the victor. Both the Greeks and the Romans kept physically healthy prisoners for the slave markets, while the Romans also used prisoners for rowing galleys and in gladiatorial contests. In the Middle Ages, captured common soldiers still risked death or enslavement, while the knightly class protected them selves with a code of chivalry that occasionally allowed prisoners to ransom themselves, although this custom was not followed in wars with non-European populations. The idea of humane prisoner treatment was not commonplace until Dutch jurist Hugo Grotius created a system of rules governing the treatment of POWs. His arguments were not universally accepted, but his work publicized the plight of POWs.

[Page 652]As nationalist impulses led to the creation of mass armies, soldiers were no longer individuals fighting for glory and wealth, but an arm of the nation-state, and therefore prisoners were no longer responsible for negotiating their own release. At the end of the Thirty Years' War, the Treaty of Westphalia (1648) included the release of prisoners by all captors without ransom. Despite this isolated incident, the holding of captives for ransom remained a popular practice. Many attempts were made to codify the value of prisoners, usually based upon military rank. Prisoner exchanges soon became common, as enemy nations offset the ransom of prisoners of equal value by simply exchanging them. For the first time, common soldiers could hope for release during a conflict, although exchange was more likely for officers. During the Seven Years' War, England and France estab-lished the first POW cartels—agreements that allowed pris-oner exchanges on a rank-for-rank basis. Unfortunately, the clumsy systems required equal numbers of prisoners at specific rank. While awaiting exchange, officers were often allowed to give their parole and return to their lines, but enlisted men usually remained in captivity until exchanged.

Colonial powers transplanted European ideas about POWs to the New World. The European cartel systems were occasionally applied to the fighting in North America, but colonial militias and their Native American allies greatly complicated the issue. Native Americans recruited by both the French and the English did not follow the rules of European warfare and refused to submit to the European system. Generally, the accepted rules of POW treatment applied only between forces of European descent. Europeans who surrendered to Native American auxiliaries could not expect quarter (the merciful treatment of helpless captives) even when the auxiliaries were commanded by European officers.

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