What makes things like poisonous gas or some firearms banned? Most importantly, why would nations play by the rules?
Bonus question: what exactly is a war crime and how is it punishable?
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Certain weapons are banned under the Geneva Conventions. I might not be 100% correct on this, but this is for nations that go to war with other nations. This stuff doesn’t really apply to civil wars and guerrilla warfare.
A lot of these weapons are banned because they have an adverse effect on the civilian population.
Anti personnel mines
Chemical agents
Nerve agents
Incendiary weapons
Nuclear weapons
Expanding ordinance (hollow points)
Cluster bombs
Etc.
Nuclear weapons are a big one because of the whole mutually destruction thing. Example: you nuke a country and they nuke you…well now no one wins and everyone loses.
In terms of war crimes: war crimes are crimes that fall under international law. Most of these came about after World War II, because of what nazi Germany and Japan did to surrounding countries and their civilian population.
War crimes are punishable after the war has concluded. Investigations are then put in motion by the nations involved. After that the trials are held which follow similar guidelines as a trial you’d see in a regular courtroom. Evidence is provided and a sentence is handed down.
Side note: During WWII pacific theater, US combat medics would often take off their Medic identifiers (the Red Cross) because Japanese soldiers would actually target medics which is against the Geneva Conventions and is considered a war crime.
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