PRISONERS OF WAR are those who are captured from the enemy during naval or military operations. By the laws or recognized principles of war, the entire people of a vanquished town, state• or nation become the absolute property of the victors; but civili zation has greatly modified this stern rule, and except when a country is devastated for reasons, it is rare for non-combatant citizens to be subjected to penalties of con quest, beyond the levying of contributions in money or provisions. The combatants who have laid down their arms become prisoners of war. Their lives and liberty are at the disposal of their conquerors, and even in modern times, their lives are sometimes taken, as, for instance, when Napoleon put the Turkish prisoners to death at Jaffa in 1709; otherwise, prisoners of war are kept in confinement until peace ensues, or they are exchanged for prisoners of their conqueror's nation, held in captivity by their own countrymen. It is unusual to subject prisoners of war to penal discipline; but the loss
of liberty and hard fare (for, of course, they are allowed no more than a bare subsistence) render captivity sufficiently irksome. In ancient times, the treatment of prisoners of war was far more severe. In the Greek wars, it was no uncommon thing to put the whole adult male population of a conquered state to the sword, while the women and children were enslaved. Although the putting to death of prisoners became less fre quent, they and their families were commonly reduced to slavery to as recent a period as the 13th century. About that time, the more humane custom of exchanging prisoners came into practice. Notwithstanding frequent exchanges, large numbers of prisoners accumulate during war. In 1811 about 47,600 French were prisoners in England, while 10,300 English languished in the prisons of France. See PAROLE.