masakr

Masakr, commonly translated as massacre in English, is a term for the deliberate killing of a large number of people, typically civilians or prisoners of war, in a single event or a short series of events. The act is characterized by its brutality, scale, and the apparent intention to kill noncombatants or to terrorize a population. While the precise threshold for what counts as a massacre varies among scholars, it typically involves mass killing outside battlefield conventions, often perpetrated by state actors, paramilitary groups, or mobs.

The term masakr derives from Italian massacro and French massacre, and entered many languages through historical descriptions of battlefield slaughter and religious or political persecution.

International law treats deliberate mass killings as war crimes or crimes against humanity when committed in armed conflict against civilians, or as genocide when there is an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected group. The label "massacre" does not itself specify legal classification and may be applied descriptively by historians or journalists.

Notable historical episodes described as massacres include the Saint Bartholomew's Day Massacre of 1572 in France, the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, and the Wounded Knee Massacre of 1890 in the United States. In 1995 the Srebrenica killings are widely described as a massacre and are legally regarded as genocide by international courts.

Related topics include genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and mass murder.