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Hegseth Didn’t Revive an Ancient Warrior Ethos. He Repeated an American Pattern.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s recent use of the phrase “no quarter” revives a longstanding American rhetorical tradition that emerges when an enemy is portrayed as racially or civilizationally inferior. The article traces the expression from 17th‑century colonial massacres through the Civil War’s Fort Pillow, the Philippine‑American War, and World War II, showing how it signals a willingness to abandon the protections afforded to lawful combatants. Modern humanitarian law, from the Lieber Code to the Hague Regulations, expressly forbids such language, marking it as a diagnostic of dangerous dehumanization. Hegseth’s remarks therefore echo a pattern that threatens to erode legal restraints on U.S. military conduct.