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Collateral damage
"Collateral damage" is a term for 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 negative unintended consequences of 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 and Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure openly described as "retaliatory" and intended to "make towns uninhabitable").[9][10][11][12]
- ^ Holland, Joseph (2007). "Military Objective and Collateral Damage: Their Relationship and Dynamics". Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law. 7: 35–78. doi:10.1017/S1389135904000352 (inactive 1 November 2024). ISSN 1389-1359.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of November 2024 (link) - ^ "Collateral Damage". Merriam-Webster Dictionary. Merriam Webster. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
- ^ "The meaning and origin of the expression: Collateral Damage". Phrase Finder UK. Retrieved 17 February 2021.
- ^ "Defense.gov News Article: U.S. Military Works to Avoid Civilian Deaths, Collateral Damage". Defenselink.mil. Retrieved 25 February 2010.
- ^ "The Political Psychology of Collateral Damage". Archived from the original on 4 March 2016.
- ^ 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.
- ^ Magedah Shabo (2008). Techniques of Propaganda and Persuasion. Prestwick House Inc. p. 134. ISBN 978-1-58049-874-6.
- ^ George Monbiot (22 October 2014). "'Cleansing the stock' and other ways governments talk about human beings". Comment is Free.
- ^ Macintyre, Ben (21 March 2014). "'The Bombers and the Bombed,' by Richard Overy". The New York Times.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
- ^ 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.
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