Military Review English Edition July-August 2015 | Page 128
A SCRAP OF PAPER: Breaking and Making
International Law during the Great War
Isabel V. Hull, Cornell University Press, Ithaca,
New York, 2014, 384 pages
T
here is an intense national and international
debate underway over the right way to interpret and apply international law. It echoes,
in some respects, a debate during World War I when
Germany shrugged off international law, drew the
United States into the conflict as a consequence, and
eventually lost the war. A century later, U.S. decision
makers strive to apply complex rules in challenging
circumstances; meanwhile, it is losing ground in the
information contest to enemies who have no use for
such rules beyond their propaganda value. Professor
Hull’s book provides a rare opportunity to examine international law as a factor in past decisions that remain
relevant today.
The author has mined an impressive range of
English, French, and German archives. She employs
them to look at the interplay of international law advisors and civilian and military leaders at crucial decision-making points. Readers will find only limited coverage of tactical and operational implementation of the
law. The author, in fact, acknowledges that International
Law and the World War, a study published in 1920, is
still the best source for a survey of legal issues in that
conflict. However, the author sets out to accomplish
several key tasks, and does so effectively, with the evidence set forth in her book.
For modern readers, she demonstrates that international law played a much larger role in the war
than we now remember in that German violations of
international law triggered the war; atrocities committed by German forces enraged popular opinion,
and disdain for international law in strategic decision
making eventually turned much of the world against
the nation. She also favorably compares legal decisions taken by Britain and France with less admirable
decisions by Germany. She presents her evidence in a
series of detailed case studies.
A Scrap of Paper explores French, British, and
German practice in international law as it related
to Belgian neutrality, the outbreak of war, atrocities,
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treatment of civilians, treatment of prisoners of war,
maritime blockade, reprisals, and the introduction of
new technologies of war, including submarines, poison
gas, and air power. In her introduction, the author invites
the expectation that this book will similarly explore U.S.
legal practice during the war and opines that “I must also
admit another motive in writing this book. I have been
deeply dismayed by the lawlessness of my own county in
its pursuit of the war on terror.” However, U.S. practice is
not one of her primary themes, and readers should not
pick up the book with that expectation in mind.
This book will be of interest to serious students of
World War I. It explores important, long-forgotten decision making that influenced some of the best known
and far-reaching operations in military history. A Scrap
of Paper is also a source of unusual case studies for
practitioners who need to understand how diplomacy, operational design, and strategic communications
shape, and are shaped, by international law. This book
illuminates challenges facing practitioners today as
much as those facing their predecessors a century ago.
Michael H. Hoffman, Fort Belvoir, Virginia
WEST POINT 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley,
and the Class the Stars Fell On
Michael Haskew, Zenith Press, Minneapolis,
2014, 224 pages
W
as it their time? Or, was it the men themselves that make this such a compelling
subject? The Class of 1915 had the highest
percentage of U.S. Military Academy graduates reaching
general officer ever: 59 of 164. The author details his case
why this class is the best in military history based upon
“the magnificence of their deeds.” Haskew focuses much
of his attention on the brightest stars, such as Dwight
Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, but he also candidly includes the accounts of officers who fell short of great expectations. This historical study should be read by Army
officers who want to understand the hum an dimension
of their profession—under stress at the highest level.
The book is filled with memorable stories, like
one about a medical board unanimously voting
against commissioning Cadet Eisenhower because
of a knee injury. Ike first injured his knee as a star
July-August 2015 MILITARY REVIEW