Lieber Code facts for kids

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The Lieber Code, also known as General Orders No. 100, was a set of rules for soldiers during the American Civil War. It was signed by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln on April 24, 1863. This code told soldiers how they should act during war. It was named after its author, Franz Lieber, who was a legal expert from Germany.

Why the Code Was Created
Main Rules of the Lieber Code
What the Code Left Behind
See also

Why the Code Was Created

Franz Lieber had fought in wars himself, including for Prussia in the Napoleonic Wars. He was even wounded at the Battle of Waterloo. Later, he lived in South Carolina for 20 years, where he saw the terrible things about slavery.

In 1861, Lieber started teaching about "The Laws and Usages of War" at Columbia Law School. He believed that how a war was fought should match its goals.

During the American Civil War, soldiers faced many tough choices. Lieber knew about these problems from his own war experiences. His sons also fought in the war; two for the Union and one for the Confederacy.

As the war went on, it became hard to decide how to treat spies, guerrilla warriors, and people who secretly supported the enemy. Also, there were rules about not returning escaped slaves to their owners.

In 1862, General Henry Halleck and Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton asked Lieber for his ideas. Lieber wrote a report about guerrilla warfare. He also gave advice on how to use African American soldiers.

By the end of 1862, Lieber was asked to help update the military's rules. He mostly wrote the instructions for Union soldiers. General Halleck checked them to make sure they fit with Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation. President Lincoln then issued these rules in April 1863.

Main Rules of the Lieber Code

The Lieber Code covered important topics like martial law (military rule), military jurisdiction (who has power), and how to treat spies, deserters, and prisoners of war.

Treating People Fairly

The code demanded that people in areas taken over by the army be treated kindly and fairly. It was the first written law that said prisoners of war should not be killed. The only exception was if keeping them alive put the capturing unit in danger.

It also said that using poisons was forbidden. It stated that using poison would make a fighting force seem uncivilized. The code also banned torture to get information.

It explained the rights and duties of prisoners and the soldiers who captured them. It talked about what war is, what it means to take over land, and what the goals of war are. It also discussed what actions are allowed or not allowed to reach those goals.

Many people see the Lieber Code as the first written version of the traditional rules of war. These rules had been followed by civilized nations for a very long time. The code was a big step towards modern war laws, like the Hague Convention of 1907.

Military commanders were responsible for making sure soldiers followed these rules. They had the power to punish soldiers right away if they broke them.

Slavery and Black Soldiers

The Lieber Code was likely created by Lincoln's government to deal with issues caused by the Emancipation Proclamation. The Confederacy said this proclamation broke the rules of war.

Confederate leaders, like Jefferson Davis, even said they would treat black Union soldiers as criminals. They threatened to execute or re-enslave them if captured.

The Lieber Code said that the Emancipation Proclamation was legal under the laws of war. It also insisted that these same laws meant there should be no unfair treatment based on race among soldiers.

Some experts say the code was so closely tied to Emancipation and the issue of black Union soldiers that it should be called "Lincoln's Code." This is because it was a key part of Lincoln's most important decision as president.

Tougher Measures Allowed

Both the Lieber Code and the Hague Convention of 1907 (which used many ideas from the Lieber Code) allowed some practices that would be against the law today.

For example, if an enemy broke the rules of war, the Code allowed for reprisals against their captured prisoners. It also allowed for the quick execution of spies, saboteurs, and guerrilla fighters if they were caught in the act.

These practices were later banned by the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions in 1949, after World War II.

These rules showed Lieber's interest in the ideas of Prussian military thinker Carl von Clausewitz. They also helped the code achieve one of its main goals: not just to limit the war, but to support its expansion, especially with the move to Emancipation.

The code also expected a fair relationship between the people living in an area and the army. If the people did not fight against the military, they were to be treated well. But if they took up arms or helped guerrilla groups, then tougher actions could be taken.

These tougher actions included fines, taking or destroying property, jailing or removing civilians who helped guerrillas, moving people, taking hostages, and possibly executing guerrillas who did not follow the laws of war. It also allowed for shooting people not in uniform who acted as soldiers or tried to commit sabotage.

Here is a part of the Code:

14. Military necessity, as understood by modern civilized nations, means the necessary actions needed to achieve the goals of war, which are also lawful under modern war laws.

15. Military necessity allows for directly harming or killing armed enemies. It also allows for harming others if it cannot be avoided during fighting. It permits capturing any armed enemy, or any enemy important to the enemy government, or dangerous to the captor. It allows for destroying property and blocking roads or communication. It also allows for taking away food or supplies from the enemy. It permits taking whatever an enemy country has that is needed for the army's survival and safety. It also allows for deception, as long as it does not break promises made during the war, or break trust expected by modern war law. [...] People who fight each other in a public war are still moral beings, responsible to each other and to God.

16. Military necessity does not allow cruelty—meaning causing suffering just for the sake of it or for revenge. It does not allow harming or wounding except in a fight, nor torture to get confessions. It does not allow using poison in any way, nor destroying an area without reason. It allows deception, but not acts of betrayal. In general, military necessity does not include any act of hostility that makes returning to peace harder than needed.

What the Code Left Behind

Impact in the Civil War

Historians sometimes overlook how important the Code was during the Civil War. However, commanders like William Tecumseh Sherman used the code to guide their actions. For example, his Special Field Orders Number 120 for the March through Georgia said that if the army was not bothered, property should not be destroyed. But if guerrillas or locals caused trouble, then destruction could be ordered.

The code also provided a plan for many future war crimes trials. Even though only two war crime trials happened during the Civil War, the code set a standard. Its rules about black soldiers also supported the Union's decision to stop exchanging prisoners. This was because the South refused to exchange black prisoners on equal terms with white ones.

Influence on International Law

People at the international Hague Peace Conferences used Lieber's text to create the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. These agreements set rules for land and naval warfare.

Later, during World War I and World War II, many of these laws were broken. After World War II, judges at the Nuremberg Trials and the Tokyo Trials decided that by 1939, the rules for armed conflicts were known by all civilized nations. This meant these rules could apply to officials even from countries that did not sign the Hague Conventions. Some parts of the Lieber Code are still found in the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

Philippine–American War

A shorter version of the Lieber Code was published in 1899. Lieber's son, Guido Norman Lieber, was the main legal advisor for the U.S. Army from 1895 to 1901. This was during the Spanish–American War and Philippine–American War. Because of this, the Lieber Code was used a lot during this time. It helped guide decisions and legal cases about actions taken by American forces against the local people and Filipino revolutionaries.

U.S. Law of War Manual

In 2015, the United States Department of Defense published its Law of War Manual. It was updated in 2016. This manual clearly mentions the Lieber Code. The Code's influence on the Law of War Manual is clear throughout the document.