Article

Out of sight, out of reach : moral issues in the globalization of the battlefield

Eric Germain

• International review of the Red Cross, Vol. 97, no. 900, Winter 2015, p. 1065-1097 : photogr., fac-sim.

English

The Great War ushered in a new era of long-distance combat. For the first time, weapons with a very long range were massively deployed, in previously unheard-of places: under the sea and in the air. Stealth fighting also included espionage and propaganda, now orchestrated on a global scale. In reaction to the carnage in the trenches, a degree of moral rehabilitation came to be conferred on the weapons initially associated with a "cowards' war". This in turn encouraged experimentation with the new, unmanned technology that would lead to the first prototypes of guided munitions and drones.

• Full text

• International review of the Red Cross / ICRC
• International review of the Red Cross [Vol. 97, no. 900 (The evolution of warfare), Winter 2015] / ICRC