capitulate

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verb

To give in from or as if from a gradual loss of strength: bow, buckle, submit, succumb, surrender, yield. Informal fold. See resist/yield.

v

Definition: give in
Antonyms: defend, fight

This, in the military sense, means to make terms of surrender; to yield on stipulated terms. Ordinarily used in terms of a general, force, garrison, fortress, town, etc. More simply, to surrender upon terms. The stem of capitulate is capital or chapter, ultimately the same word. Both come via Old French from the Latin capitulum meaning small head. Capitulum, in the sense of ‘head of a discourse or chapter’ produced the derivative capitulare, ‘draw up under separate headings’. When its past participle passed into English in the 16th century as the verb capitulate, it still held this meaning and it did not become the more specific ‘make terms of surrender’ until the 17th century.

Quite apart from its more widely known military meaning, capitulation, the action of the verb to capitulate, is a historical term from international law. Capitulation is any treaty whereby one state permits another to exercise extraterritorial jurisdiction over its own nationals within the former state's boundaries. There was no element of surrender in the early capitulations made between the powerful Ottoman Turk sultans and various European rulers. The sultans simply wished to avoid the expense and burden of administering justice to foreign merchants. However, later capitulations, particularly in the case of China, resulted from military pressure and came to be regarded as humiliating derogations of China's sovereignty, which indeed they were (see Opium war).

In the military sense capitulation provides a means to end conflict, either at local or a wider level. It almost uniformly involves a lesser or higher degree of negotiation although the advantage invariably rests with the party in the strongest position, usually poised on the edge of victory. Surrendering under specific terms has a long tradition in warfare. For example in 878 Alfred ‘the Great’ besieged a Viking camp at Edington and after fourteen days the Vikings sought terms. After Alfred had taken hostages to ensure their good behaviour the Vikings ‘swore … that they would leave his kingdom immediately, and Guthrum, their king promised to accept Christianity’. This is a perfect example of capitulation: the Vikings, hopelessly cut off, accepted Alfred's terms and in return they were able to leave England alive. In medieval times besiegers would often dictate terms to the besieged. Although the term capitulate was not yet in use, refusal to accept these terms led to no quarter being given when the city was taken, the implicit alternative to any capitulation.

In modern warfare capitulation has often been used to refer to a country accepting defeat and disadvantageous terms, particularly territorial concession, to end a war and to secure the removal of the troops of the victorious power from its probably adjusted borders. In 1871 with Paris occupied by the Prussians, the French capitulated and under the terms of the Treaty of Frankfurt were forced to cede Alsace and three-quarters of Lorraine to Germany. In return the by-then newly renamed Germans withdrew from France.

In the era of total war, the accepted pattern of European warfare changed. After being crushed militarily, defeated nations were usually occupied and there was little or no scope to negotiate concessions. The Allied declaration of ‘unconditional surrender’ in WW II was a prime example of this. There could be no Nazi capitulation in its purest form as there could be no bargaining with Hitler and his followers, merely total surrender with no conditions. In contrast the Japanese could be said to have capitulated, in spite of the Allied declaration of ‘unconditional surrender’ in their case as well. They succeeded in obtaining one condition of surrender, the continued rule of Emperor Hirohito.

Bibliography

• Asser's Life of King Alfred (London, 1983)

— Chris Mann

IN BRIEF: To give up or to surrender on terms usually agreed upon in advance.

I will capitulate to your demands to clean my room as long as I can do it after dessert.

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See words rhyming with "capitulate."

  See crossword solutions for the clue Capitulate.

Dansk (Danish)
v. intr. - kapitulere

Nederlands (Dutch)
capituleren

Français (French)
v. intr. - (gén, Mil) capituler (devant)

Deutsch (German)
v. - kapitulieren

Ελληνική (Greek)
v. - συνθηκολογώ, παραδίδομαι (υπό όρους)

Italiano (Italian)
capitolare

Português (Portuguese)
v. - capitular

Русский (Russian)
капитулировать

Español (Spanish)
v. intr. - capitular

Svenska (Swedish)
v. - kapitulera

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
有条件投降, 屈服, 认输

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
v. intr. - 有條件投降, 屈服, 認輸

한국어 (Korean)
v. intr. - 조건부로 항복하다

日本語 (Japanese)
v. - 降伏する

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(فعل) استسلم بشروط معينه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
v. intr. - ‮נכנע בתנאים מוסכמים, נכנע‬

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