Wasnt “messengers sent by one country being attacked by rival they were sent to” a source of a number of historical conflicts? I seem to recall the mongols destroying some empire in revenge over that, at the very least.
Messengers of state and embassadors were considered sacred, sacrosanct or had some kind of official immunity in most states throughout history.
It was a fairly common practise because it’s just really hard to conduct affairs of state if anyone you send fears for their life.
When you want to provoke someone into war, killing their messengers is a tried and true method. I believe that was the goal of the khwarizmian shah when he killed those mongol messengers.
Wasnt “messengers sent by one country being attacked by rival they were sent to” a source of a number of historical conflicts? I seem to recall the mongols destroying some empire in revenge over that, at the very least.
Messengers of state and embassadors were considered sacred, sacrosanct or had some kind of official immunity in most states throughout history.
It was a fairly common practise because it’s just really hard to conduct affairs of state if anyone you send fears for their life.
When you want to provoke someone into war, killing their messengers is a tried and true method. I believe that was the goal of the khwarizmian shah when he killed those mongol messengers.