debellation
nounEtymology Borrowed from Medieval Latin dēbellātiō (“total defeat”), from dēbellō (“conquer, subjugate”).
1
Obsolete The act of conquering or subjugation in war.
2
Uncommon The annihilation of a sovereign state through its complete destruction in a war.
International law
- Strupp goes on to speak of transfer of territory ‘by annexation after debellation’.1951, Hersch Lauterpacht, editor, Annual Digest and Reports of Public International Law Cases […] Year 1946, →ISBN, page 189:
- This time, the arguments of those who favored the total debellation of the defeated adversary were again defeated […]2009, Michael Howard, “Preface”, in The Making of Peace: Rulers, States, and the Aftermath of War, →ISBN, page xii:
1 more example
- They exclude […] wars that resulted in surrender or “debellation,” in which one side is completely vanquished […]2017, Michael J. Glennon, “How Not To End War”, in The Lawfare Book Review, page 7: