A Genealogy of Ultimata

Abstract

This chapter offers an intellectual genealogy of the ultimatum since Antiquity. A long lineage connects Roman reflections on the utility of final warnings to the deliberations at the two Hague conferences of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It runs through the writings of Church Fathers in the early Middle Ages and the attempts of practitioners and legal scholars in the late Middle Ages, the Renaissance, and the Early Modern Period to codify the rules of armed conflict. Ultimata signalled the dividing line between war and peace discussed with reference to war declarations. Ultimata were final warnings that served moral, legal, or strategic purposes—or a combination thereof—offering opponents a way out, or advance notice of the consequences. Ultimata fulfilled procedural notions of justness as required by deities and/or international law but also made it possible to attain objectives without war. Ultimata targeted various audiences to rally support or not to interfere. The rationale for ultimata was sometimes contested since they spoiled the surprise. From the twentieth century onwards, the focus shifted from war declarations to threats of armed force against the background of changing views on the legitimacy of the use of armed force in interstate relations.