History

Wars have considerably influenced the history of mankind, since battles have been considered for a long time to be the best way of resolving conflicts or acquiring the rights for controlling various resources. Despite the fact that wars are mainly led between military forces of opposing nations, civilians are always involved in the war and suffer greatly mainly because they are not armed and are less equipped with skills of escaping from miseries of war. However, there is a considerable difference between the numbers of civilian casualties in major wars in the history, such as the Vietnam War, the first and the second world wars and the current wars, such as the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars. In the former wars, the numbers of civilian casualties was overwhelming, because the armed forces involved in these wars were not only targeting the soldiers from the opposite war participant, but they were also targeting civilians. Soldiers fighting in such wars were very irresponsible and could cause a lot of harm to the civilians who were not even taking part in the war. However, in the wars that have taken place more recently as well as the ones that are taking place now there have been reported very few cases of civilian casualties. This is perhaps due to the war policies of maintaining the conflict between the soldiers themselves with little interference if any on the civilians (Garfield, 1999).

Civilian casualties in war
Civilians are usually more vulnerable during the times of conflicts as compared to the fighting soldiers. While the fighting soldiers have equipments and weapons required for fighting, the civilians usually have nothing and therefore inflicting harm on them during the periods of conflict is quite easy. They also lack the necessary tactics of taking cover whenever they find themselves in the middle of fighting troops. They end up using hiding and defending tactics that are primitive making them suffer enormously during the conflict. In the past, civilians suffered more than in todays conflicts since the soldiers fighting in such wars targeted the civilians whom they could kill in large numbers without much struggle (Landers, 2004).

During WWI, thirty seven million casualties were recorded, with the total number of sixteen million deaths and twenty one million wounded. Approximately seven million deaths among civilians were recorded in this particular conflict. This was probably the highest number of civilians deaths ever reported in history. Unlike in other conflicts that had occurred in the nineteenth century, most of the civilian deaths that were reported in WWI were as a result of combat and not diseases. Soldiers targeted civilians indiscriminately and hence wounded and killed millions of them. The WWI was the first major conflict that involved several nations and hence the net of war casualties was also high and the most affected were civilians. Unlike in the current conflicts notably Afghanistan and Iraq wars where a lot of medical attention is being offered to the military as well as the civilians, in the past major wars in history, this was not the case and civilians who were wounded in such conflicts could easily die from such wounds (Spear, 1992).

The civilian casualties were high in the past wars since the use of weapons in wars was not regulated at all and the armed forces had the privilege of using any type of weapons at their disposal. In some instances, soldiers of one side could have more superior weapons compared to the ones being used by the other side. Essentially, this meant that since the stronger side cared less about the people it was causing harm to it could easily kill and wound a lot of civilians intentionally. This was the case when a nuclear bomb was dropped in Hiroshima, Japan where thousands of civilians who were not taking part in the war died instantly while thousands more were injured. However, the use of weapons in conflicts today is highly regulated and no military forces of any country are allowed to use weapons that are not permitted by the United Nations. This therefore means that civilians are shielded from being killed or wounded by weapons that are not allowed by the security council of the UN (Tamanoi, 2000).

During the past conflicts, there were no regulations in regards to battle fields and therefore soldiers could attack each other anywhere regardless of whether or not such a place was highly populated or not. This therefore meant that the civilians were highly vulnerable to the fighting between soldiers of both sides of a conflict. In past major wars, there were no policies that were aimed at protecting the civilians from being killed or wounded by the fighting soldiers. The lack of such policies made the soldiers fight in a very irresponsible manner causing a high number of deaths among the civilians. However, the establishment and implementation of policies aimed at protecting the civilians has greatly reduced the number of civilian casualties in more recent wars that appear to be more deadly as compared to the past wars in history. Nowadays, opposing military forces are not allowed to attack each other in areas with high population of civilians. This has in essence reduced the probability of the possible civilian casualties in a conflict as opposed to the past unregulated conflicts (Muse, 1992).
In the current wars, there are less civilian casualties, because the peoples awareness about wars has been increased significantly. Unlike in the past, civilians are aware of their role during the periods of conflicts. There are also a lot of initiatives aimed at sensitizing the public and increasing their knowledge on the best ways they can use to avoid being wounded or killed during periods of conflicts. In the past, there were no such initiatives and the civilians were left on their own without adequate knowledge of how they could protect themselves effectively during the periods of conflicts. As a result, several thousands casualties could occur during the periods of war and several of them could end up dying since very little care if any could be given to the wounded civilians. The increased awareness in the more recent wars have made the civilians running away from war torn zones to use safe routes where they are less likely to be harmed by the fighting soldiers (Garfield, 1999). 

The number of casualties in the past major wars was quite high as compared to the ongoing wars in several regions around the world. While during the past wars very little assistance if any was given to the fleeing civilians, in the present wars, a lot of assistance is given to civilians who are running away from their countries that have turned into battle fields. They are being welcomed in the neighboring countries where they receive a lot of support not just from the country providing them with refuge but also from the international community, which has in the recent past proved to be crucial to civilians thus preventing them from being harmed by the fighting soldiers. This is a complete departure from the past, where fleeing civilians were entirely left without much help from the international community. In fact, in several instances, civilians running away from battle fields could easily be attacked while in the countries or regions they were seeking refuge.  Attacking and inflicting fleeing civilians was a simple task since they were not armed and they were in fact helpless and at the mercy of those attacking them, while on foreign land. This is no longer the case explaining why the numbers of civilian casualties have reduced significantly in the more recent wars. The international community is very much interested in the welfare of the civilians in war torn nations and it has been doing all that is within its powers to protect the lives of these civilians so that very little harm if any can be infringed on the civilians in such nations. Many resources have also been employed by the international community and have been directed to such nations, thus protecting the lives of innocent civilians (Tamanoi, 2000). 

One of the major reasons that led to a high number of civilian casualties during the periods of war was that the fighting sides believed that by killing as many people as possible of the other side, whether civilians or the military personnel, could guarantee them the much needed victory. With such notions ruling the minds of the fighting soldiers and the vulnerability of the civilians, civilian casualties were simply inevitable. Soldiers could wound and kill as many civilians as possible so that they could secure a win by making the other side of the conflict surrender having seen the great numbers of civilian casualties it has suffered. This is no longer the case in most of the current wars and soldiers are less interested with the civilians thus avoiding them in several instances and maintaining the conflict as a matter between them and the soldiers of the other side of the war. In the current wars, the main objective of the soldiers is not to kill and wound civilians but to suppress the opponents military forces. In this case, fewer civilians are likely to suffer, since they are no longer being targeted by the fighting soldiers (Landers, 2004).  

During several wars that took place in the past, such as the WWI, WWII, Vietnam War and other major wars, people without any fighting experience could be captured and recruited as soldiers. Compelling of people to play the role of soldiers was another major reason that led to the increased numbers of civilian casualties. Such soldiers could just shoot and wound or kill civilians recklessly due to their lack of fighting experience. There were also cases of training young boys as soldiers in major wars in history. Giving boys weapons and powers of killing people is perhaps one of the greatest causes of the great numbers of civilian casualties in many of these wars. For these young people with such dangerous weapons killing and wounding civilians was simply fun. They could therefore kill and wound as many civilians as possible without having a second thought about their actions. In the more recent wars and the current ones, such practices have been greatly prohibited and only responsible people are allowed to take part in war thus reducing the chances of young irresponsible people killing and wounding people for fun instead of sticking to the rules of the war (Spear, 1992).  

The issue of human rights has greatly assisted in reducing civilian casualties in war torn nations. Several non governmental organizations together with the international communities have been of much assistance to the civilians in countries devastated by wars. Such organizations work round the clock to ensure that the violation of human rights does not take place at all in countries undergoing periods of conflicts. These organizations therefore apply various mechanisms to ensure that governments or organizations that are reported of violating the rights of human beings are suppressed as much as possible so that everyone whether in a peaceful country or in a war torn nation gets the chance of enjoying the fundamental rights of human beings. The protection of human rights by the international community and several non governmental organizations have been a major cause of reduction in the number of civilian casualties in more recent and ongoing wars around the world. Though the human rights existed in the past, they were less obeyed and hence massive violations of human rights could take place in war torn regions with civilians bearing the greatest burden of such violations. As a result, several civilians could end up suffering greatly (Garfield, 1999). 

The peace keeping troops that are usually employed by the United Nations have several roles in the regions where they are sent. One of their major tasks is ensuring that civilians in such regions are well protected and that as few civilians as possible suffer as a result of the wars taking place. The peacekeeping troops guide the civilians on their ways of escaping from dangerous spots where they are likely to be wounded or even get killed by the fighting soldiers. The peace keeping troops also provide the wounded civilians with medical services and thus prevent such civilians from dying from the wounds. Ever since the peace keeping troops started being employed, they have been very effective in reducing the number of civilian casualties in war torn zones. In virtually all major wars in history, there were no such troops and hence civilians could not receive the assistance they normally receive from these troops. The current war in Somalia is a good example of how the peace keeping troops can assist in reducing the number of civilian casualties. This is the only war in the recent history where the number of civilian casualties is high, compared to other ongoing wars such as the Afghanistan and the Iraq wars there are much more civilian casualties in the Somalia war. This is greatly attributed to the absence of foreign troops in the country to assist the civilians from suffering in the arms of the insurgents. The only troops found in Somalia are the Ugandan troops, which are ill equipped considering the task at hand. Just like in the case of the ongoing war in Somalia, there were no troops that were employed in the major wars in history making it difficult to offer any meaningful assistance to the civilians. The absence of such troops could thus lead to thousands or even millions of civilians being wounded or even killed during periods of conflicts (Landers, 2004). 

Despite the fact that some of the major wars in history just like the on going wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were aimed at perpetrating certain ideologies, most of the wars that were fought in the past were mainly driven by the urge to control resources owned by the enemy. There are no longer any wars that are fought on such grounds and hence less bloodshed is reported in the current wars. In the ongoing wars especially the Iraq and the Afghanistan wars, the American government and its allies who form the stronger side of the war are not interested in killing civilians, if anything they are aimed at protecting them. Instead the American government together with its allies in these wars aim at suppressing regimes that rampantly violates the human rights as well as the terrorist organizations in these two nations. Therefore, while some American troops are fighting the insurgents of these two countries, there are other troops that are protecting the civilians from being hurt by the fighting taking place. It therefore implies that very few civilians if any are hurt as a result of the fighting taking place in their country (Garfield, 1999). 

Perceptions of civilian casualties created by media coverage
Although there were more civilian casualties in most major wars that have taken place in history as compared to the more recent wars, the media has created a perception that the current wars have resulted in more civilian casualties. The first war to receive international media coverage was the gulf war, which took place in the early 1990s. The wars that had taken place before this war received very little if any media coverage. As a result, most of the incidences went unreported and hence there was no impression that was created by the media that there were lots of civilians who were suffering as a result of such wars. However, ever since the CNN was established as an international media house, all major wars taking place in any part of the world and at any time are reported on a continuous basis. This has resulted to the creation of the impression that the more recent wars are resulting into more civilian casualties as compared to the major wars in history (Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch (Organization), 1991).

In the past major wars, very few nations bothered to maintain records of civilian casualties that took place during periods of conflicts. This therefore means that it is not possible to objectively compare the numbers of civilian casualties in the past wars with the more recent and ongoing wars. Due to the fact that there is a lot of data of the more recent wars as compared to the past ones, there is the creation of an impression that there are more civilian casualties in the recent and ongoing wars as compared to the past wars. The statistics provided by the international media houses concerning civilian casualties in both the past and the present wars does not make things any better. This is because they are accused of providing biased data and therefore leading to a wrong perception by the public and all those who cannot access the right data regarding civilian casualties (Human Rights Watch (Organization), 2003).

While reporting the ongoing conflicts around the world, the international media have been accused by several experts and scholars of being biased. The international media houses are said to report in a manner that is aimed at making the public in nations around the world to perceive one of the parties in the conflict negatively. In order to achieve such misguided objectives, some of the media houses provide wrong statistics of civilian deaths and other casualties making the public to believe that civilian casualties in such conflicts is higher than it is actually. At the same time, while the international media houses portray the soldiers of the side of the war they are supporting as very responsible soldiers who are assisting civilians, they portray the soldiers of the other side of the war negatively. Such soldiers are portrayed as the ones causing a lot of civilian casualties. Therefore, the civilian casualties that are caused by the soldiers of side being supported by the international media house are reported to have been caused by the troops of the other side. The international media is also accused of being mum over instances of human rights violations in the wars that have been perpetrated by the side of the war being favored by the international media house (Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Watch (Organization), 1991). 

The international media also create the impression of increased numbers of civilian casualties by reporting unconfirmed news. Reporting in such a manner gives the media a great loophole of manipulating such reports so as to favor the side of the war it desires. Advanced technology has made it possible for the international media houses to report and show actual pictures of all that is happening in the battle fields. Such airing was not possible in the past conflicts and therefore such emotional form of reporting was unacceptable. The use of the advanced technology to show what is actually happening in the battle fields together with the weapons being used makes the public to get the impression that millions of civilians must become casualties of such wars. However, this is just an impression that has been created by the media, but the truth is the numbers of civilian casualties have greatly reduced in the more recent wars as compared to the past major wars in history (Human Rights Watch (Organization), 2003).

The numbers of civilian casualties have been greatly reduced in the more recent and ongoing wars as compared to the past major conflicts in history. The reduction has persisted despite the increased advance in technology used in making modern weapons. Unlike in the past wars, civilian casualties in the recent and ongoing wars have reduced since they are no longer targeted by the fighting troops. There has been a major shift of war objectives from killing as many people as possible in order to win a war to suppressing the insurgents and other organized organizations bringing about conflicts. The civilians are less targeted in the recent wars explaining why the numbers of civilian casualties have greatly reduced over the years. However, despite the remarkable reduction in the number of civilian casualties in wars, the international media is greatly accused by several experts and scholars of reporting in a very biased manner and thereby creating the impression that, there are more civilian casualties in the current conflicts as compared to the conflicts that took place in the past.