The purpose of this article is to reconstruct the process of evolution of military captivity in Western Europe and the United States in the post-feudal period. The methodological basis of the study consisted mainly of historical-comparative and historical-typological methods. In the course of achieving this purpose, the factors that had the greatest impact on the transformation of the medieval model of captivity were identified. The reasons for the abolition of such phenomena as private captivity and ransom were specified. New institutions and practices of captivity, which have not yet been covered in Russian historiography, are systematized and presented. In particular the assertion of the principles of humanity and reciprocity; the preservation of the status of a personally free person by a prisoner; the formation of systems of interstate and intra-state control over the situation of prisoners; their mandatory post-war repatriation, etc. It is emphasized that these positive changes mainly affected ordinary soldiers, who in previous periods were practically unprotected from the arbitrariness of their invaders.
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