“Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius” – “Kill them all. For the Lord knows those that are His” first said by Arnaud Amalric, a Papal legate, Cistercian abbot, and leader of the Albigensian Crusade before the massacre of Béziers in 1209. 800-years of human suffering have succeeded.
kill 'em all
Artist, Unknown - Pope Innocent III & the Albigensian Crusade - World History Encyclopedia
The Cathars and the Massacre of Béziers
The Albinesian Crusade was a brutal 20-year military campaign initiated by the Roman Catholic Church to eliminate the Cathars in the south of France. The Cathars were a Christian sect who were considered heretics by the Church, and were sentenced to death by Pope Innocent III in 1209.
The crusade was a brutal and bloody affair. The violence crescendoed at the massacre at Béziers, which was home to over 20,000 baptized Catholics and only 300 baptized Cathars. Arnaud Amalric, the leader of the Albigensian Crusade and abbot, was asked by a soldier before the massacre how to distinguish between the Cathars and the Catholics. Amalric’s answer was as simple as ruthless: “caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius” – “kill them all. For the Lord knows those that are His.” The crusaders descended upon the city, and the massacre began.
The result was devastating. In Amalric’s own word written in a letter to Pope Innocent III,
“Our men spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex or age, and put to the sword almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter the whole city was despoiled and burnt, as divine vengeance miraculously raged against it.”
A majority of the city’s population was killed, and the city was razed to the ground. Most of the victims were Catholics.
Artist, Unknown - Massacre at Beziers during the Albigensian Crusade
Raphael Lemkin, the lawyer who coined the word “genocide,” referred to the Albigensian Crusade as “one of the most conclusive cases of genocide in religious history.”
The U.S. Invasion of Vietnam and the My Lai Massacre
Fast-forward to March 16th, 1968. Around 100 U.S. soldiers part of Charlie company descended on the village of My Lai. They were ordered to kill everyone in the village. Between 347 and 504 unarmed civilians were murdered. On the eve of the massacre, commanding officer Captain Ernest Medina, was asked by a subordinate “who are the enemy?”
He replied,
“Anybody that was running from us, hiding from us, or appeared to be the enemy. If a man was running, shoot him, sometimes even if a woman with a rifle was running, shoot her.”
After the massacre, some, including platoon leaders, testified their orders were to kill all enemy combatants and “suspects,” including women and children as well as all animals, to burn the village, and to pollute the wells.
Warrant Officer Hugh Thompson Jr., a helicopter pilot providing support but unaware of Charlie company’s orders, landed his helicopter to try to provide aid to the wounded. He would later compare the violence to that of the Nazis: “It’s mass murder out there. They’re rounding them up and herding them in ditches and then just shooting them.”
William Thomas Allison, a professor of Military History at Georgia Southern University, wrote, “By midmorning, members of Charlie Company had killed hundreds of civilians and raped or assaulted countless women and young girls. They encountered no enemy fire and found no weapons in My Lai itself.”
Ronald L. Haeberle, My Lai war crime - wikimedia
During the Vietnam war, many soldiers recall the saying “’[kill them all and] let God sort them out’ … from the battlefields of Vietnam.” I can’t help but wonder if any member’s of Charlie company echoed abbot Amalric’s infamous words the day of the massacre.
Palestine
As Gaza, and Palestine as a whole, lays under Israeli siege, many ask Israeli and U.S. representatives how combatants are identified from civilians.
Some, like Republican Representative Andy Ogles of Tennessee when questioned about the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza say “we should kill ‘em all."
