hostage, in war, a person handed over by one of two belligerents to the other or seized as security for the carrying out of an agreement or for preventing violation of the law of war.
The practice of taking hostages is very ancient and has been used in cases of conquest, surrender, and armistice. The Romans often took the sons of tributary princes and educated them at Rome, thus holding a security for the continued loyalty of the conquered nation and also instilling a possible future ruler with ideas of Roman civilization. The British adopted this practice in the early period of the occupation of India, as did the French in their relations with the Arab states of North Africa. Hostages were detained as prisoners of war until treaty obligations were carried out (as was the case with John II during the Hundred Years’ War) or a king’s ransom was paid (as with Richard I). In ancient times they were punished or put to death in case of treachery or refusal to fulfill promises. The practice of taking hostages as security for the carrying out of a treaty between civilized states became obsolete in the 18th century. The last occasion was at the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748, when two British peers were sent to France as hostages for the restitution of Cape Breton to France.
In modern wars, hostages have been taken as a measure of reprisal to assure observance by the enemy of the law of war in respect to such matters as the treatment of prisoners and the sick and wounded. The Geneva Convention of 1949 forbade reprisals against prisoners of war, and persons taken as hostages are entitled to the treatment of prisoners of war. Vicarious punishment of enemy individuals for war crimes committed by other enemy persons is not favoured by the modern law of war. Even more doubtful is the practice of taking hostages to assure observance by the civilian population of regulations imposed in occupied territory for the security of the occupant’s forces and communications and for the payment of contributions. This practice was extensively resorted to by the Axis Powers during World War II, but war crimes tribunals after the war found the execution of hostages taken for these purposes to be a war crime except, in the opinion of one tribunal, under very exceptional circumstances.