Ten Rules of Conquest
The Ten Rules of Conquest (Menghean: 정복의 십 규율, Jŏnbok-e Sib Gyuyul), also translated as the "Ten Points of Discipline in War," was a set of instructions promulgated by Kim Myŏng-hwan in 1937 when the Greater Menghean Empire launched its invasion of Maverica. The general aim of the Ten Rules was to improve the treatment of civilians and prevent Menghean troops from carrying out atrocities in the areas they occupied.
With a few exceptions, Menghean forces generally complied with the Ten Rules of Conquest between 1937 and 1941, but increasingly resorted to summary executions of suspected partisans and retaliatory attacks against rebellious towns and villages under their control later in the conflict. Historians have debated whether this relaxation was an improvised attempt at revenge by retreating ground troops or a deliberate change in policy endorsed by the central government.
Historical context
On May 2nd, 1935, Menghean forces under the orders of General Kwon Chong-hoon invaded Altagracia and the Sylvan colony of Innominada, setting off what came to be known as the Pan-Septentrion War. Altagracia fell in the course of a few days, overwhelmed by a major invasion from the mainland, but Innominada held out longer, in part due to resistance from conquered populations. A major cause of this resistance was the prevalence of looting by Menghean troops, who were often ill-equipped after Menghe's rapid mobilization and had to forage for local supplies to meet their needs.
When Kim Myŏng-hwan came to power as Menghe's Emperor in 1937, one of his first acts was to authorize military action against Maverica, which had invaded the Menghean protectorate of Nersia. Yet Kim was determined to learn from the mistakes of the early Innominadan campaign, and in particular to avoid a surge in violence against civilians as Menghean forces looted conquered areas.
Some historians have also emphasized the role of Kim Myŏng-hwan's own morals; a devoted Chŏndoist of the Sudŏk sect, he believed moral conduct in war was an end in itself. Others, however, have stressed the more immediate and pragmatic motivation of winning local support.
Contents
The most common English translation of the Ten Rules, published in 1962 by Roger Young, is as follows:
- Diligently obey all orders from your commanding officers.
- Treat foreign civilians as well as your own countrymen.
- Treat surrendered captives as well as your own soldiers.
- Do not steal even a single crumb from the masses.
- Do not under any conditions harass or assault women.
- Pay fair compensation for any damage you cause.
- Pay a fair price for any goods you buy.
- If borrowing goods, take with permission and promptly return them after use.
- If capturing military supplies, promptly turn them over to relevant military units.
- Violent attacks on civilians shall in all cases be punishable by death.
Enforcement
Today, there is a consensus among historians that Menghean forces generally adhered to the Ten Rules in the early to middle years of the Pan-Septentrion War. There were a few notable exceptions, such as the sacking of the town of Gazli in 1938, but in all major cases the officers responsible were sentenced to death shortly afterward. This, in turn, has been credited with the relative popularity of Menghean forces in parts of Southeastern Maverica, which had only recently been annexed by Maverican forces.
As the war dragged on, however, Menghean troops increasingly diverged from the Ten Rules of Conquest in practice. As the front lines pushed into solidly Creole-majority areas, local support for Menghean forces dwindled, and popular resistance intensified. Trained to fight a conventional war but faced with insurgent opposition, Menghean troops resorted to heavy-handed measures, such as summary executions of villagers suspected of being partisans or accused of supplying food to enemy guerillas. Many such executions were conducted publicly and indiscriminately, in an attempt to intimidate other locals into submitting.
Later in the war, Menghean forces also carried out atrocities in an attempt to take revenge for recent defeats. Several large units implemented, a scorched earth policy, burning villages and farms as they retreated. Others, under the command of General An Yŏng-nam, carried out ethnic cleansing of Creole settlers.
There is still a contentious scholarly and political debate as to whether this abandonment of the Ten Rules was a deliberate state policy, and whether it had the approval of Kim Myŏng-hwan or other members of the central leadership. Between 1940 and 1942, there was a clear relaxation of enforcement, but this may have signaled the fact that Menghean forces were overstretched in general. For its part, the current Menghean government denies that the Ten Rules of Conquest were ever abolished, and maintains that reports of atrocities carried out in Maverica were distorted or exaggerated as part of an Allied propaganda campaign.
Legacy
During the Menghean War of Liberation, both Nationalist and Communist guerilla forces claimed to follow the Ten Points, though often in one of several revised forms. Villagers were generally treated well, though after the Communist-Nationalist victory, attacks on foreign sympathizers were common.
Today, the oath of service given by all Menghean conscripts finishing their training includes the line "I solemnly swear to uphold the Ten Points in all my conduct, whether on foreign or national soil."
After the Decembrist Revolution, Marshal Choe Sŭng-min told state reporters that he had refused to fire on crowds of protesters "because the order was in direct violation of the Ten Points and the national moral code." Choe Sŭng-min has been particularly influential in promoting the Ten Points as an ideology of military conduct, and in defending the revisionist argument that forces of the Imperial Menghean Army consistently adhered to the Ten Points during the Pan-Septentrion War.