Wars have essentially been the backbone of history. A war can make or break a country. As a result of a war, a country can lose or gain territory, and a war has a direct impact on a country's economy. When we learn about wars in schools, we are usually taught when they start, the main events/battles, and when they end. It would take a year or two to cover a war if we wanted to know everything. One thing that is commonly overlooked and taken for granted is prisoners of war. Most people think of concentration camps and the millions of Jews who suffered when prisoners and war are mentioned in the same sentence. Yes, it's terrible what happened during World War II, but what about our troops who were captured and potentially tortured trying to save the Jews? How did they suffer? Being captured as a prisoner of war is just an occupational hazard. In this article I will explain what POWs experienced and how it changed between countries, and I will only scratch the surface. Taking prisoners of war has been a battle tactic for centuries. Capturing an enemy troop could be done for many reasons. Mostly enemy soldiers are captured for interrogation to obtain unknown information about the enemy. There were usually common rules and procedures for taking a prisoner of war, whether they were followed or not really depended on the country. By 1929, a document was in the works that established rules regarding prisoners of war. More than 40 countries have come together to sign and agree on this new set of rules (“Life” 11). The signing of the Geneva Convention was held in Geneva, Switzerland. This ninety-seven article document defined a prisoner of war as a member of a regular military unit, wearing a uniform (so spies were excluded). The Convention declared…half of the document…Red Cross and learning the facts about the brutality, General Eisenhower stopped sending prisoners of war to the French. (Tarczal)Works CitedBowman, Michael. "World War II Prison Camps - Arkansas Encyclopedia." The Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture. October 29, 2009. Web. March 23, 2015..Hutchinson, Daniel. Us. . . They are the luckiest prisoners": The experience of Axis prisoners of war at Camp Opelika during World War II. Publishing. Alabama Review, 2011. Print. Tarczal, Bela. Hungarian prisoner of war in French captivity. Publishing. Trans . Eva B. Bessenyey. Print. "World War II - Japanese Prison Camps." Web. 23 March 2015. Wukovits, John F. Life as a Prisoner of War, California: Lucent, 2000.