In the history of major Western countries, the idea of NEOs seems to be both a new one and a recent concern . However, what is more obvious and more important for a State than protecting and helping its nationals? Flash back on the evolution of a practice, for which deep changes have taken place .
THE PROTECTION OF NATIONALS : AN OLD IDEA 3
In Greek and Roman times or in the Europe of the Middle-Ages, at a time when the concept of State was developing, the mission of a monarch or of a feudal lord consisted in necessarily protecting his citizens or subjects . During the Peloponnese war (431-404 B.C.), Attica farmers were protected by the Athenian cavalry, which drove them inside the walls of the city when the Spartan armies crossed the polis' limits4. During the great invasions, in the 9 th and 10 th centuries, European cities built high walls to provide farmers with shelter and help.
A slow transformation occurred as early as the 16th century, at the moment when great colonial empires built up . European nations set up trading posts in Africa, in Americas , and in Asia , set up their settlers and soon, they developed an actual administration modeled on homeland models. In this spirit that slowly fed with political and philosophical ideas about the duties of monarchs and States towards their subjects , armed forces carried out a primary role regarding the protection of "nationals" compared with natives.
A NEW CONCEPT ALONGSIDE WITH COLONIZATION
The very concept of a modern state, relying on Hobbes theories ( Leviathan , chapter XVII) and taken again by Adam Smith in "An inquiry into the nature and causes of the wealth of nations" (1776), compelled the sovereign to protect "the society against violence and against invasions from other independent societies" and to protect "each member of the society against injustice or oppression from any other member". Very often, however, the sacred mission hid other disreputable motives. Imperialist will was often hidden behind the protection of its own people.
So, we are not astonished that evacuation possibilities were hardly - or not - taken into account by protection duties. What's more, settlers rarely or exceptionally asked to be evacuated. On the contrary, they demanded to stay and live safely. Saving nationals was not the purpose of military interventions that aimed to other goals, and very often these forces became a local standing force. The Boxer uprising from 1899 to 19015 - known because of the siege of European legations - is a good example.
In June 1900, the anti-European Boxer movement - supported by Empress Cixi - reached Beijing where the population rose up. Foreign priests were slaughtered, Japanese chancellor Sugiyama was murdered on June 6, and so was soon after German baron von Ketteler on 20. The legation district was besieged by thousands of Boxers where Western nationals had hidden. To give them assistance, 20,000 - mainly British but also German, Italian, and French, Japanese, US or Russian - soldiers landed in Tianjin harbor on July 14, 1900 , and marched on Beijing . After 55 days of siege, legations were rescued and allied forces exercised a fierce repression resulting into an unjust peace treaty being signed in September 1901. This commitment was spurred on by the will to rescue the Europeans and a model of civilization : "the Boxer revolt was impious, because it was against improvement, against modern ideas (.). In front of these barbarians' threats, civilization was not to recede6."
In a more cynical way, nationals sometimes were a good excuse for carrying out an assault landing and a colonial annexation. Thus, in September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire . The casus belli was due to the living and working conditions for Italian nationals in Cyrenaica and in Tripolitania7; after an ultimatum was rejected by the Turkish Empire, Italian forces landed into Libya and occupied the country8.
TOWARDS A HUMANITARIAN APPROACH
It seems that we had to wait for decolonization periods for NEOs to be tasked to military authorities. From that moment on, interventions were imposed by considerations of another kind, often humanitarian ones, and media aspects came to the foreground. From that time on, the issue consisted for a State to be able to intervene into a sovereign state or into a conflict, in which it had a more or less neutral position. One of the first examples likely to highlight these new missions dates back to the Sino-Japanese conflict. Early in December 1937, Nanjing was threatened by the Japanese forces. The US embassy insisted on the last Western nationals still in the city to board USS Panay, a gunboat sent for the occasion. On December 9, amid confused combat, about a hundred diplomats, journalists, businessmen and refugees headed for the open sea. But this operation ended tragically; on December12, in the afternoon, the Japanese air force opened fire without warning and sank the ship, killing two crew-members and wounding many people9.
However, these operations did hardly hold the attention of headquarters; they mainly considered personnel eligible for evacuation out of combat zones as a possibility to keep their freedom of action. During the Second World War, combatants were evacuated in priority. This was the case for operation Hannibal , in late January 1945; the Wehrmacht would have given an order to evacuate Eastern Prussia in front of Soviet forces inevitably moving ahead. The Kriegsmarine from admiral Dönitz would have taken necessary measures to evacuate nationals through the Baltic Sea . But this was obviously a historical forgery; nationals boarded ships only if some room was still available. It was necessary to wait until May 6, 1945 - two days before the Nazi regime surrendered - for the Admiralty to state that population rescue was a priority10!
AT THE TURN OF THE 60S
Eventually, we had to wait until the 60s and the major episodes in the aftermath of decolonization and of major political upheavals for the concept of NEO to be part of operations tasked to armed forces. In April 1965, at the time when war broke out in the Dominican Republic , the United-States set up a Task Force including 1,500 Marines off the island. It was only on April 29, at a time when the Dominican government considered it had become impossible to protect foreign nationals that US soldiers landed in Santo Domingo and set up a security area between the US embassy and Hotel Embajador where refugees were regrouped before being helicoptered to the ships cruising off the coast. Operation Powerpack increased in the following days; from April 29, to May 4, 10,000 additional soldiers landed, securing the airport and maritime terminals, thus enabling nationals to board directly from the wharf. In all, nearly 8,000 nationals from 30 different countries were evacuated in a little bit more than one week11.
Another well known US example is operation Frequent Wind, launched shortly before the fall of Saigon . The major difficulty came from the need for a decision to be made rapidly; the Pentagon wished to carry out a rapid and mass NEO whereas the Department of State hoped to carry out a progressive removal, fearing panic. President Gerald Ford chose a compromise; a progressive removal down to 1,100 men to be kept and that could be removed together should it be needed. On May 29, 1975 , Saigon airport was directly under Vietcong fire. Then, the ambassador set up two evacuation points; civilians heard of the beginning of the operations through a broadcasted song. Protected by Marines detachments, helicopters flew between Saigon and ships from the 7 th US Fleet riding at anchor in the bay. During this operation, there were very few losses; two guards from the embassy were killed in ground combats and two crew members were MIAs (Missing in Action) after their helicopter crashed. More than 7,000 US citizens and many Vietnamese were saved, after 194 sorties carried out on different sites.
Conclusion
Both US, these two examples highlight NEO principles . First, a strong political will, supported by an important media pressure that influences a rapid setting-up for such an operation. Then, a flexible and reactive interagency management , in which diplomats and militaries operate in close coordination. Eventually, relevant assets to successfully carry out the operation : a large number of soldiers to commit, a span of equipment (reception ships, helicopters, picking-up vehicles.).
One year later, in Entebbe (July 3, 1976), the raid carried out by Israeli airborne troops showed that a State should also be ready to run high risks to protect and evacuate nationals.
[1] Center for Force Employment Doctrine/ Lessons learned and research division.
[2] He is also a reserve first lieutenant
[3] Intermediary titles were added by the editorial staff.
[4] About the Peloponnese war and lessons learned for today, Victor Davis H anson , The Peloponnese war , Paris, Flammarion, 2008, chapter 1.
[5] Initially, the members of a secret society (the « Militia for Justice and Concord ") that practiced a martial art close to boxing denounced the powerlessness and the corruption of the imperial power in front of the Western world. This movement became more important in 1900 and turned against the signs of foreign presence, from railroad to catholic missions.
[6] Lucien Victor Meunier , « Europe against China », Le Rappel , July 5, 1900 mentioned by Christine Corniot , « The Boxer war according to the French press », Chinese Studies, volume VI, Nr. 2, 1987, pages 73-99.
[7] Both these regions were to form the future Libya .
[8] Tripoli was rapidly occupied but nine months of war were still necessary to reduce Turkish and native resistance. Through the Lausanne treaty, the Sublime Porte recognized the Italian sovereignty (October15, 1912).
[9] About this hardly known episode, see Iris CHANG, Nanjing rape. 1937: one among many slaughters in the 20 th century , Paris . Payot, 2007, pages 167-175.
[10] As regards the myth about the evacuation of German nationals from Eastern Prussia , see the interview of German historian Heinrich Schwendemann, broadcasted on Arte in April 2005.
[11] Regarding Powerpack , it is possible to look at the Internet site :www.globalsecurity.org/military/ops/powerpack.htm
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