Pacification (military action)

For other uses, see pacification (disambiguation).

In a military context, the term pacification refers to a process by which the cooperation or surrender of a population is secured by military force or other means of coercion. The term originated in the Roman Empire where it saw popular usage in the context of the Roman ideal of pax (peace) and Roman imperial expansion. According to historian Myles Lavan, the Latin term pacare (to pacify) evoked to the Romans a grand project of peace-making while, in English, "pacified" has since crystallised as a euphemism for the suppression of resistance to state power.

From 1880 onward the term saw popular usage by colonial empires as a pretext for war under the guise of protecting populations, alongside the colonial concept of protectorates. The term pacification is therefore often presented in quotation marks by contemporary historians.

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