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"Massacre" redirects here. For other uses, see Atrocity (disambiguation) An atrocity (from the Latin ''atrox'', "atrocious", from Latin ''ater'' = "matte black" (as distinct from ''niger'' = "shiny black")) is a term used to describe crimes ranging from an act committed against a single person to one committed against a population or ethnic group. In general use, an atrocity or '''massacre''' designates a politically or ethnically motivated killing of civilians. In International Law , more precise terms are War Crime and Crime Against Humanity . An atrocity can be a single specific event, or a series of events, or can refer to genocide. The defining characteristic of an atrocity is its brutal or systematic nature. It is an act of killing that is in violation of most traditional moral principles, although some societies do not condemn such behavior. Often, hostilities exceed the legitimate mandate of killing enemy Combatant s to include attacks upon unarmed people, upon combatants after their surrender, or upon otherwise non-combative peoples. Thus, nearly every culture has in its history acts of killing which are atrocities. The historical record is clouded by a failure to determine if mutilated bodies represent torture before death, or mutilation of a dead body. In either case, the important effect is the Propaganda value, and its effect on the Morale of the enemy. Even massacre, mass killing, is imposed on civilian populations of no military significance, simply as a warning. For example, Lidice or Hiroshima . In other cases, they are targeted at military sub-groups, such as African-American summary execution in the field by the Confederate Army during the Civil War. Small-scale atrocities may represent anything from disrespect, regional propaganda or both. In modern settings not involving ethnic conflict, atrocities on individual leaders are rare, partially because they tend backfire or simply escalate, as in the case of Breaker Morant . See also
Disambiguation For the german metal band, see Atrocity . For the album by the U.S. Rapper 50 Cent , see '' The Massacre ''. |