SNARE. - The ambush (from the Latin insidiae and insideo) is the deceit secretly prepared against someone, and it takes different names according to the different ends to which it is directed: fraud, deception, inducement to sin, infamy, injury, homicide, temptation; here it is considered insofar as it signifies the deceit directed at disorienting the enemy, especially in time of war.

On the morality of such ambushes, St. Augustine already in his time asserted that to fight, even not openly, but by means of ambushes does not mean violating the virtue of justice; examples from the Old Testament, sufficiently numerous, prove this doctrine, admitted not only by the gentiles but also by the chosen people. God himself commanded Joshua to use ambushes against the inhabitants of the city of Ai (Jos., 8, 2, 4 etc.). Therefore the ambush is not intrinsically dishonest, although the means by which it is laid may be, for example, when one lies or violates agreements: which is certainly forbidden, being against charity when it is not also against justice (Sum. Theol., 2ᵃ-2ᵃc, q. 40, 3 and q. 71, 3 ad 3).

INSIDIA - Child defending the dove from the i. of a serpent. Roman copy from a Hellenistic original - Rome, Capitoline Museum.(phot. Anderson)

It is, however, possible that the enemy himself is deceived because something has been kept hidden from him (for example, war plans or troop movements), or he believes true troop movements in one direction, while they are simulated. Moreover, in modern international law, whether by custom or by express convention, ruses, stratagems, ambushes, feigned retreats, and bivouac fires are customarily used to induce the enemy to think that opposing troops are encamped there. In all these cases there is no violation either of justice or of charity, except apparently; because well-ordered charity begins with oneself. On the other hand, the use of the enemy's military uniform, the raising of the enemy's war flag on the field, demanding surrender by deception, and sending war materiel and military personnel toward the enemy's battlefield under the insignia of the Red Cross are unlawful.

Unfortunately, every war weakens the moral principles that ought to regulate relations even between enemies, nor do international laws and conventions suffice to eliminate this effect: for this reason it is easy to pass from simple i. to clear and open violations even of natural laws.

Bibliography3 works

BIBL.: T. Ortolan, Guerre, in DThC, VI, II, col. 1932; L. Olivi, Diritto internazionale pubblico, Milan 1933, pp. 479-83; M. Monterisi, Diritto di guerra, ibid. 1938, pp. 160-78 and passim.

Lorenzo Simeone

@incollection{ec7_insidia, author = {Simeone, Lorenzo}, title = {Insidia}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {VII}, pages = {53--54}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1951}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/insidia} }

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Snare

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