Geneva Conventions

The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties and three additional protocols that set the standards in international law for humanitarian treatment of the victims of war. The first three were ratified in Geneva, Switzerland in 1864, 1906, and 1929. The singular term Geneva Convention refers to the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of World War II, updating the terms of the first three treaties and adding a fourth treaty. The language is extensive, with articles defining the basic rights of those captured during a military conflict, establishing protections for the wounded, and addressing protections for civilians in and around a war zone.

Geneva Conventions in Days of Infamy

Japan never signed the Geneva Conventions. This allowed its military to show aggressive and inhumane treatment of soldiers, prisoners of War, and civilians alike, especially during the Second Sino-Japanese War. Their brutality was mainly driven by their native, imperialistic ideology of war.

During Japan's takeover of Hawaii, the Japanese barred no holds in harming Red Cross medics. During the occupation, the Japanese military severely punished the civilian population if they disobeyed Japanese rule, for example if they didn't bow to passing soldiers. In one incident, an elementary school principal named Mr. Murphy was executed via decapitation for secretly keeping a forbidden radio. Furthermore, American POWs were treated badly, as the Japanese were contemptuous of the ideas of surrender and being taken prisoner. They forced the POWs to build defenses and repairing damages caused during the invasion. These labors were specifically used in working the POWs to death.

By the time of Hawaii's liberation, American troops from the mainland were shocked and horrified of the Japanese's brutality that they were willingly to kill any Japanese soldiers and personnel in retribution.

Geneva Conventions in "The Last Word"

The Draka were well-known for obeying the Geneva Convention only when they felt like it.

Geneva Conventions in Southern Victory

A Geneva Convention, ratified in the 1920s or early '30s, informed the conduct of the Second Great War (1941-1944).

Lieutenant Colonel Jerry Dover, C.S. Army, was captured in 1944 and held by the United States at Camp Liberty! He contrasted the camp's sturdy brick prisoner barracks to the flimsy wooden ones at Confederate camps, which bordered on violating Geneva standards on POW care. At the end of the war, Dover received a lump sum payment of the wages he would have received during his captivity, in accordance with the Convention.

Also in 1944, C.S. General Clarence Potter gave his name, rank and pay-number, in accordance with the Convention, when he was interrogated after his capture. He did provide information of C.S. espionage over time, but not everything he knew. He too received a lump sum payout of his wages when he was released, after his acquittal of war crimes.

U.S. Army field doctor Leonard O'Doull and medic Granville McDougald saw the effects of a C.S. "Popping Paula" in 1942. Both men were horrified by the effects and thought it should be put on the list of Conventions to outlaw it.

Literary comment

The Geneva Conventions are referenced on other occasions throughout the series. The only known difference from OTL is that poison gas is still permitted as a weapon.

Geneva Conventions in "Topanga and the Chatsworth Lancers"

Some 30 years after the Change, the Geneva Convention was just one more relic from a bygone age. In war you did what you could get away with. However, armies still often refrained from murdering POWs, more from a fear of retaliation than from any respect for the old document.