International Military History Conference discussed laws of war, war crimes, and military justice

On October 30 and 31, the University of Tartu Library hosted a military history conference “Historical Perspectives on the Laws of War and the Implementation of Military Justice,” featuring presentations on the theory of just war and the history and codification of the laws of war, military justice and the punishment of war crimes, as well as the situation of prisoners of war, the activities of occupying powers, relations between the military and civilians, and other topics related to the laws of war from the late Middle Ages to the wars of the early 21st century.

Although the geographical focus of the conference topics was on the Baltic Sea region, there were also presentations on the past of more distant places, starting with Scotland, Scandinavia, and Austria-Hungary and ending with Donbass in Ukraine. Speakers came from Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Sweden, Romania, Germany, Scotland, the Czech Republic, the USA, Ukraine, and Estonia.

The conference ran for two days. Keynote speech was given by Lauri Mälksoo, Professor of International Law at the University of Tartu, on the role of Friedrich Martens (1845–1909), a professor of international law from Estonia, in the origins of 20th-century war and humanitarian law.

On the opening day of the conference, the Bank of Estonia presented a silver coin commemorating the Estonians who fought as volunteers in the Finnish army during World War II. This coin marks the start of a series of commemorative coins issued by the Bank of Estonia dedicated to the history of the resistance movement.

Full recordings of both conference day can be found on the conference website.

The conference was organized by the Estonian War Museum – General Laidoner Museum, the Baltic Defence College, and the Estonian Military Academy, and the organizers’ partners were the Latvian War Museum in Riga and the Vytautas the Great War Museum in Kaunas.