L’humanisation du droit de la guerre : une utopie combattue par la doctrine allemande ?

This paper investigates the responses of the German jurists to the evolution of the law of war at the outset of the 20th century. The attempts to humanize war, mainly through international conferences, did not go unnoticed in Germany during a time of militarism at the turn of the century, the First World War, and the rise of Nazism. To this end, the paper is in two parts. The first part is divided into three sections and looks into the period prior to the First World War, during which The Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907 took place, followed by an examination of the war years and finally of the post-war period, respectively. In the second part, Carl Schmitt requires special attention. His discriminatory concept of war, as well as his other theories relating to the law of war, are the subject of several developments.