Against Massacre looks at the rise of humanitarian intervention in the
nineteenth century, from the fall of Napoleon to the First World War.
Examining the concept from a historical perspective, Davide Rodogno
explores the understudied cases of European interventions and
noninterventions in the Ottoman Empire and brings a new view to this
international practice for the contemporary era. While it is commonly
believed that humanitarian interventions are a fairly recent
development, Rodogno demonstrates that almost two centuries ago an
international community, under the aegis of certain European powers,
claimed a moral and political right to intervene in other states'
affairs to save strangers from massacre, atrocity, or extermination. On
some occasions, these powers acted to protect fellow Christians when
allegedly "uncivilized" states, like the Ottoman Empire, violated a
"right to life." Exploring the political, legal, and moral status, as
well as European perceptions, of the
Ottoman Empire, Rodogno investigates the reasons that were put forward
to exclude the Ottomans from the so-called Family of Nations. He
considers the claims and mixed motives of intervening states for aiding
humanity, the relationship between public outcry and state action or
inaction, and the bias and selectiveness of governments and campaigners.
An original account of humanitarian interventions some two centuries
ago, Against Massacre investigates the varied consequences of European
involvement in the Ottoman Empire and the lessons that can be learned
for similar actions today.