Collateral damage

Ruins from the Allied accidental bombing of the Bezuidenhout in 1945 included the deaths of more than 500 Dutch civilians.
Tokyo after the massive firebombing attack on the night of 9–10 March 1945, the single most destructive raid in military aviation history. The Tokyo firebombing killed around 100,000 civilians, but the city's industrial productivity—the primary target of the bombing—was cut in half.

Collateral damage is any incidental and undesired death, injury or other damage inflicted, especially on civilians, as the result of an activity. Originally coined to describe military operations,[1] it is now also used in non-military contexts to refer to any unwanted fallout from an action.[2][3]

Since the development of precision guided munitions in the 1970s, military forces often claim to have gone to great lengths to minimize collateral damage.[4]

Critics of use of the term "collateral damage" see it as a euphemism that dehumanizes non-combatants killed or injured during combat, used to reduce the perceived culpability of military leadership in failing to prevent non-combatant casualties.[5][6][7][8]

Collateral damage does not include civilian casualties caused by military operations that are intended to terrorize or kill enemy civilians (e.g., the bombing of Chongqing during World War II).[9][10][11][12]

  1. ^ Holland, Joseph (2007). "Military Objective and Collateral Damage: Their Relationship and Dynamics". Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law. 7: 35–78. doi:10.1017/S1389135904000352. ISSN 1389-1359.
  2. ^ "Collateral Damage". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam Webster. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  3. ^ "The meaning and origin of the expression: Collateral Damage". Phrase Finder UK. Phrase Finder UK. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
  4. ^ "Defense.gov News Article: U.S. Military Works to Avoid Civilian Deaths, Collateral Damage". Defenselink.mil. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
  5. ^ "The Political Psychology of Collateral Damage". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
  6. ^ Peter Olsthoorn (21 September 2010). Military Ethics and Virtues: An Interdisciplinary Approach for the 21st Century. Routledge. p. 125. ISBN 978-1-136-89429-9.
  7. ^ Magedah Shabo (2008). Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion. Prestwick House Inc. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-58049-874-6.
  8. ^ George Monbiot (22 October 2014). "'Cleansing the stock' and other ways governments talk about human beings". Comment is Free.
  9. ^ Macintyre, Ben (21 March 2014). "'The Bombers and the Bombed,' by Richard Overy". The New York Times.
  10. ^ Ivan Arreguín-Toft (19 December 2005). How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict. Cambridge University Press. pp. 30–35. ISBN 978-0-521-54869-4.
  11. ^ Ivan Arreguín-Toft (19 December 2005). How the Weak Win Wars: A Theory of Asymmetric Conflict. Cambridge University Press. pp. 41–42. ISBN 978-0-521-54869-4.
  12. ^ Beau Grosscup (22 August 2006). Strategic Terror: The Politics and Ethics of Aerial Bombardment. Zed Books. pp. 165–166. ISBN 978-1-84277-543-1.