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A Scrap of Paper: Breaking and Making International Law during the Great War
In A Scrap of Paper , Isabel V. Hull compares wartime decision making in Germany, Great Britain, and France, weighing the impact of legal considerations in each. She demonstrates how differences in state structures and legal traditions shaped the way the three belligerents fought the war. Hull focuses on seven cases: Belgian neutrality, the land war in the west, the occupation of enemy territory, the blockade, unrestricted submarine warfare, the introduction of new weaponry, and reprisals. A Scrap of Paper reconstructs the debates over military decision-making and clarifies the role law played―where it constrained action, where it was manipulated, where it was ignored, and how it developed in combat―in each case. A Scrap of Paper is a passionate defense of the role that the law must play to govern interstate relations in both peace and war.
384 pages, Paperback
First published May 10, 2014
About the author
Isabel V. Hull
6 books2 followersIsabel Virginia Hull is the John Stambaugh Professor of History and the former chair of the history department at Cornell University. She specializes in German history from 1700 to 1945, with a focus on sociopolitics, political theory, and gender/sexuality.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
October 20, 2014
War is often viewed as a state that respects no law but that of might. That is not the state depicted in A Scrap of Paper. It is a study of the role international law played in the Great War and the role the War played in the development of that law. It examines the issues that arose, the theories of law that competed and the men who framed them. The Great War is portrayed as a time when scraps of paper called warriors to the field of battle, swayed international opinion and fueled propaganda duels.
British and, to some extent French, intervention in World War I was driven by The Treaty of 1839 which established an independent Belgium with its neutrality guaranteed by Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia and Russia. This solemn obligation to the British and a “scrap of paper” to the Germans is still debated by historians. Did it obligate its signers or was it an irrelevant anachronism that could have easily been avoided?
With Europe plunged into War the legal disputes turned to balancing the rights and obligations of conquerors and conquered. It distinguishes between a levee en masse, a civilian resistance against advancing enemies, which was generally legal, and an insurrection against an occupying power, which was usually unlawful. This work probes the obligations of the occupier to provide for and govern the occupied territories and the circumstance under which it could impose work requirements and extract taxes. The use that could be made of POWs and the level of subsistence to which they are entitled were not issues that arose along the River Kwai. Military necessity was often invoked to justify actions that were otherwise illegitimate.
The circumstances and the extent that a blockade was permissible were hotly debated by the competing sides. Could food be interdicted even if it caused starvation? How effective must a blockade be to be lawful? Could it be enforced against neutral ports bearing goods to belligerents? Could neutral shipping be stopped or sunk? Would humanitarian aid, such as the food for Belgium raised by American Herbert Hoover be exempt from blockade, even if it did relieve Germany of its obligation to feed its captives? Was it justified as economic warfare? All of these questions were debated by each side.
New weapons called for new laws. Airplanes and zeppelins permitted bombings of enemy cities. Could they be employed against civilian targets? Was a German bombing of London any more illegal or inhumane than British interdiction of supplies directed toward Germany? Could submarines be expected to halt and inspect merchant shipping and make provisions for its crew and passengers before sinking it?
A Scrap of Paper is a study of law in the context of history. The influence of the violations of International Law influenced neutrals differently. German atrocities in Belgium and the rights of neutrals on the high seas were of paramount importance to the United States, while the Netherlands, caught as it was in the middle, and the Scandinavians with their German sympathies, saw things differently. It provides insights into the propaganda campaigns of both sides.
This work is of interest to any student of World War I or International law. Some of the changes in law occasioned by the new conditions of the war were codified during the subsequent peace. A reader possessing a broad familiarity with history will recognize questions that arose during of other wars, both before and after the Great War. The studies of military necessity shine light on Lincoln’s justification for the Emancipation Proclamation. Examination of the legality of sinkings and bombings presaged the much immensely greater scale of indiscriminate destruction of World War II. When I first picked up this book I was of the opinion that the law of war was largely what could be justified by the victor. By its end I realized that there have been efforts to civilize the most uncivil of human activity.
A Scrap of Paper is for determined readers. Author Isabel V. Hull has done an impressive job in her research and writing. For a student of the law of war it is magnificent. A reader will pick up some aspects of the general history but it takes a lot of reading for a few slivers of information. This is a book for experienced and deep students of the Great War, but causal readers should start elsewhere.
I did receive a free copy of this book for review.
British and, to some extent French, intervention in World War I was driven by The Treaty of 1839 which established an independent Belgium with its neutrality guaranteed by Great Britain, Austria, France, Prussia and Russia. This solemn obligation to the British and a “scrap of paper” to the Germans is still debated by historians. Did it obligate its signers or was it an irrelevant anachronism that could have easily been avoided?
With Europe plunged into War the legal disputes turned to balancing the rights and obligations of conquerors and conquered. It distinguishes between a levee en masse, a civilian resistance against advancing enemies, which was generally legal, and an insurrection against an occupying power, which was usually unlawful. This work probes the obligations of the occupier to provide for and govern the occupied territories and the circumstance under which it could impose work requirements and extract taxes. The use that could be made of POWs and the level of subsistence to which they are entitled were not issues that arose along the River Kwai. Military necessity was often invoked to justify actions that were otherwise illegitimate.
The circumstances and the extent that a blockade was permissible were hotly debated by the competing sides. Could food be interdicted even if it caused starvation? How effective must a blockade be to be lawful? Could it be enforced against neutral ports bearing goods to belligerents? Could neutral shipping be stopped or sunk? Would humanitarian aid, such as the food for Belgium raised by American Herbert Hoover be exempt from blockade, even if it did relieve Germany of its obligation to feed its captives? Was it justified as economic warfare? All of these questions were debated by each side.
New weapons called for new laws. Airplanes and zeppelins permitted bombings of enemy cities. Could they be employed against civilian targets? Was a German bombing of London any more illegal or inhumane than British interdiction of supplies directed toward Germany? Could submarines be expected to halt and inspect merchant shipping and make provisions for its crew and passengers before sinking it?
A Scrap of Paper is a study of law in the context of history. The influence of the violations of International Law influenced neutrals differently. German atrocities in Belgium and the rights of neutrals on the high seas were of paramount importance to the United States, while the Netherlands, caught as it was in the middle, and the Scandinavians with their German sympathies, saw things differently. It provides insights into the propaganda campaigns of both sides.
This work is of interest to any student of World War I or International law. Some of the changes in law occasioned by the new conditions of the war were codified during the subsequent peace. A reader possessing a broad familiarity with history will recognize questions that arose during of other wars, both before and after the Great War. The studies of military necessity shine light on Lincoln’s justification for the Emancipation Proclamation. Examination of the legality of sinkings and bombings presaged the much immensely greater scale of indiscriminate destruction of World War II. When I first picked up this book I was of the opinion that the law of war was largely what could be justified by the victor. By its end I realized that there have been efforts to civilize the most uncivil of human activity.
A Scrap of Paper is for determined readers. Author Isabel V. Hull has done an impressive job in her research and writing. For a student of the law of war it is magnificent. A reader will pick up some aspects of the general history but it takes a lot of reading for a few slivers of information. This is a book for experienced and deep students of the Great War, but causal readers should start elsewhere.
I did receive a free copy of this book for review.
January 14, 2026
HIST-6165 class reading. Interesting take on international law role in WWI
January 14, 2015
Masterful examination of International Law and its impact on the First World War, most specifically on how it governed or failed to govern the actions of the combatants ... issues addressed include the German violation of Belgian neutrality, the British blockade, unrestricted submarine warfare ,etc. ... only occasionally does it descend into legal arcana ... a refreshing addition to the burgeoning library of World War I books...
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews