debellation

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Medieval Latin dēbellātiō (“total defeat”), from dēbellō (“conquer, subjugate”).

Noun

debellation (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) The act of conquering or subjugation in war.
2. (international law, uncommon) The annihilation of a sovereign state through its complete destruction in a war.

   Synonym: debellatio

   • 1951, Hersch Lauterpacht, editor, Annual Digest and Reports of Public International Law Cases […] Year 1946, →ISBN, page 189:

     Strupp goes on to speak of transfer of territory ‘by annexation after debellation’.

   • 2009, Michael Howard, “Preface”, in The Making of Peace: Rulers, States, and the Aftermath of War, →ISBN, page xii:

     This time, the arguments of those who favored the total debellation of the defeated adversary were again defeated […]

   • 2017, Michael J. Glennon, “How Not To End War”, in The Lawfare Book Review‎^[1], page 7:

     They exclude […] wars that resulted in surrender or “debellation,” in which one side is completely vanquished […]

Usage notes

(international law): In contrast to an ordinary surrender or defeat, debellation is a condition in which a defeat is so total that the vanquished state no longer functions as an institution and no further resistance is possible, and the state may therefore be said to have become legally extinct.