No man's land#Israel-Jordan

According to Alasdair Pinkerton, an expert in human geography at Royal Holloway, University of London, the term is first mentioned in Domesday Book (1086), to describe parcels of land that were just beyond London's city walls.{{cite news| url=https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34319540| title=Adventures in No Man's Land |work= BBC News| access-date=30 September 2015| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150930134937/http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34319540| archive-date=30 September 2015}}{{cite web |title=Nomansland |work=Open Domesday |url=https://opendomesday.org/place/XX0000/nomansland/ |access-date=15 November 2021 }} The Oxford English Dictionary contains a reference to the term dating back to 1320, spelled nonesmanneslond, to describe a territory that was disputed or involved in a legal disagreement.Persico p. 68Levenback p. 95 The same term was later used as the name for the piece of land outside the north wall of London that was assigned as the place of execution. The term is also applied in nautical use to a space amidships, originally between the forecastle, the living quarters of ordinary sailors, and the masts in a square-rigged vessel where various ropes, tackle, block, and other supplies were stored.Hendrickson, Robert Facts on File Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins (2008) In the United Kingdom, several places called No Man's Land denoted "extra-parochial spaces that were beyond the rule of the church, beyond the rule of different fiefdoms that were handed out by the king … ribbons of land between these different regimes of power".

{{Further|Trench warfare|Western Front (World War I)}}File:No-man's-land-flanders-field.jpg, Belgium, 1919]]

The British Army did not widely employ the term when the Regular Army arrived in France in August 1914, soon after the outbreak of World War I.{{cite web |first=David |last=Payne |title=No Man's Land |publisher=Western Front Association |date=8 July 2008 |access-date=20 November 2009 |url=http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/battlefields/308-no-mans-land.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091029164137/http://www.westernfrontassociation.com/great-war-on-land/battlefields/308-no-mans-land.html |archive-date=29 October 2009 }} The terms used most frequently at the start of the war to describe the area between the trench lines included 'between the trenches' or 'between the lines'. The term 'no man's land' was first used in a military context by soldier and historian Ernest Swinton in his 1908 short story "The Point of View".{{cite news |last1=Zimmer |first1=Ben |title='No Man’s Land': The Name for the Danger Zone in '1917' is Almost 1,000 Years Old |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/no-mans-land-the-name-for-the-danger-zone-in-1917-is-almost-1-000-years-old-11579275773 |access-date=28 April 2025 |work=Wall Street Journal |date=17 January 2020}} Swinton used the term in war correspondence on the Western Front, with specific mention of the terms concerning to the Race to the Sea in late 1914. The Anglo-German Christmas truce of 1914 brought the term into common use, and thereafter it appeared frequently in official communiqués, newspaper reports, and personnel correspondences of the members of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF).

File:111-SC-111 - Canadian Troops on Somme Battlefield - NARA - 55161651 (cropped) (cropped).jpg

In World War I, no man's land often ranged from several hundred yards to less than {{Convert|10|m|0|adj=off}}, in some cases.{{citation |first=John|last=Hamilton|title=Trench Fighting of World War I|publisher=ABDO|year=2003|page=8|isbn=1-57765-916-3}} Heavily defended by machine guns, mortars, artillery, and riflemen on both sides, it was often extensively cratered by exploded shells, riddled with barbed wire, and littered with rudimentary land mines; as well as the corpses and wounded soldiers who were unable to make it through the hailstorm of projectiles, explosions, and flames. The area was sometimes contaminated by chemical weapons. It was open to fire from the opposing trenches and hard going generally slowed any attempted advance.Weapons of the western front. National Army Museum. (n.d.). https://www.nam.ac.uk/explore/weapons-western-front

Not only were soldiers forced to cross no man's land when advancing, and as the case might be when retreating, but after an attack the stretcher-bearers had to enter it to bring in the wounded.{{Cite web |last=Dunleavy |first=Brian |orig-date=April 26, 2021 |date=April 23, 2018 |title=Life in the Trenches of World War I |url=https://www.history.com/news/life-in-the-trenches-of-world-war-i |access-date=April 15, 2024 |website=History}} No man's land remained a regular feature of the battlefield until near the end of World War I when mechanised weapons (i.e., tanks and airplanes) made entrenched lines less of an obstacle.

Effects from World War I no man's lands persist today, for example at Verdun in France, where the Zone Rouge (Red Zone) contains unexploded ordnance, and is poisoned beyond habitation by arsenic, chlorine, and phosgene gas. The zone is sealed off completely and still deemed too dangerous for civilians to return: "The area is still considered to be very poisoned, so the French government planted an enormous forest of black pines, like a living sarcophagus", comments Alasdair Pinkerton, a researcher at Royal Holloway University of London, who compared the zone to the nuclear disaster site at Chernobyl, similarly encased in a "concrete sarcophagus".

During the Cold War, one example of "no man's land" was the territory close to the Iron Curtain. Officially the territory belonged to the Eastern Bloc countries, but over the entire Iron Curtain, there were several wide tracts of uninhabited land, several hundred meters (yards) in width, containing watch towers, minefields, unexploded bombs, and other such debris. Would-be escapees from Eastern Bloc countries who successfully scaled the border fortifications could still be apprehended or shot by border guards in the zone.

The U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba is separated from Cuba proper by an area called the Cactus Curtain. In late 1961, the Cuban Army had its troops plant a {{convert|13|km|mi|adj=on}} barrier of Opuntia cactus along the northeastern section of the {{convert|28|km|mi|adj=on}} fence surrounding the base to prevent economic migrants fleeing from Cuba from resettling in the United States.{{cite web |url=http://www1.american.edu/TED/guantan.htm |title=Guantanamo Bay Naval Base and Ecological Crises |work=Trade and Environment Database |publisher=American University |access-date=2009-04-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090327053019/http://www.american.edu/TED/guantan.htm |archive-date=2009-03-27 }} This was dubbed the "Cactus Curtain", an allusion to Europe's Iron Curtain{{cite magazine |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940656,00.html |title=Yankees Besieged |magazine=Time |date=1962-03-16 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100828155348/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,940656,00.html |archive-date=2010-08-28 }} and the Bamboo Curtain in East Asia. U.S. and Cuban troops placed some 55,000 land mines across the no man's land, creating the second-largest minefield in the world, and the largest in the Americas. On 16 May 1996, President Bill Clinton ordered the U.S. land mines to be removed and replaced with motion and sound sensors to detect intruders. The Cuban government has not removed the corresponding minefield on its side of the border.{{citation needed|date=July 2020}}

{{see also|No man's land (Latrun)}}

File:JerusalemNoMansLand-v.jpg , between Israel and Jordan, circa 1964|alt=Largely empty land near the Old City wall, Dormition Abbey (on the far right), and Tower of David (centre-left).]]

From 1949 to 1967 the border between Israel and Jordan contained a few small regions that were considered "no man's land" because neither side had jurisdiction. The 1949 Armistice Agreements between Israel and Jordan were signed in Rhodes with the help of UN mediation on 3 April 1949.{{cite web |url=https://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F03D55E48F77AB698525643B00608D34 |title=S/1302/Rev.1 of 3 April 1949 |access-date=2017-06-28 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514030830/http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/F03D55E48F77AB698525643B00608D34 |archive-date=2011-05-14 }} Armistice lines were determined in November 1948. Between the lines territory was left that was defined as no man's land.{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/CD41289E-0875-4D84-A2D1-5BBF34BCF91A/0/mapstorypart2.pdf |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-09-22 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710142050/http://www.mfa.gov.il/NR/rdonlyres/CD41289E-0875-4D84-A2D1-5BBF34BCF91A/0/mapstorypart2.pdf |archive-date=2012-07-10 }}{{cite web |url=http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/Israel+in+Maps/1949+Armistice+Agreement+with+Jordan.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-09-26 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008045859/http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/Israel+in+Maps/1949+Armistice+Agreement+with+Jordan.htm |archive-date=2012-10-08 }} Such areas existed in Jerusalem in the area between the western and southern parts of the Walls of Jerusalem and Musrara.{{cite news|url=http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/reclaiming-jerusalem-s-no-man-s-land-1.392671|title=Reclaiming Jerusalem's No-man's-land|first=Nir|last=Hasson|date=30 October 2011|newspaper=Haaretz|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140209165447/http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/reclaiming-jerusalem-s-no-man-s-land-1.392671|archive-date=9 February 2014}} A strip of land north and south of Latrun was also known as "no man's land" because it was not controlled by either Israel or Jordan between 1948 and 1967.{{cite web|url=http://www.p4pd.org/?do=m6|title=Palestinians for Peace and Democracy|website=www.p4pd.org|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141111061312/http://www.p4pd.org/?do=m6|archive-date=2014-11-11}}

The no man's land regions were eliminated when Israel conquered them during the Six-Day War.

File:Battle of Bakhmut 1.jpg

The battle of Bakhmut, during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has been labeled as one of the bloodiest battles of the 21st century, with the battlefield being described as a "meat grinder" and a "vortex" for both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries.{{Cite news |last1=Gibbons-Neff |first1=Thomas |last2=Yermak |first2=Natalia |last3=Hicks |first3=Tyler |date=27 November 2022 |title=In Ukraine, Bakhmut Becomes a Bloody Vortex for 2 Militaries |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/27/world/europe/ukraine-war-bakhmut.html |access-date=2 December 2022 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=28 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221128133428/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/27/world/europe/ukraine-war-bakhmut.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news|url=https://atalayar.com/en/content/maria-senovilla-bakhmut-blackest-point-ukrainian-war-400-ukrainian-soldiers-day-are-being|title=Maria Senovilla: 'Bakhmut is the blackest point of the Ukrainian war. Up to 400 Ukrainian soldiers a day are being killed'|date=12 December 2022|work=Atalayar|access-date=12 December 2022|archive-date=12 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221212190542/https://atalayar.com/en/content/maria-senovilla-bakhmut-blackest-point-ukrainian-war-400-ukrainian-soldiers-day-are-being|url-status=live}}

With extremely high casualties, costly ground assaults with very little ground gained, and shell-pocked landscapes, volunteers, media, and government officials alike compared fighting in Bakhmut to battlefield conditions on the western front of World War I.{{cite web |last=Altman |first=Howard |date=29 November 2022 |title=Ukraine Situation Report: The Bloody Battle For Bakhmut |url=https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-the-bloody-battle-for-bakhmut |access-date=2 December 2022 |website=The Drive |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202190921/https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/ukraine-situation-report-the-bloody-battle-for-bakhmut |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last=Ellyatt |first=Holly |title=Trenches, mud and death: One Ukrainian battlefield looks like something out of World War I |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/trenches-endless-mud-and-death-the-battle-of-bakhmut.html |access-date=2 December 2022 |website=CNBC |date=30 November 2022 |archive-date=2 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221202175525/https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/30/trenches-endless-mud-and-death-the-battle-of-bakhmut.html |url-status=live }}

Retired U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Andrew Milburn, the leader of a foreign volunteer group in Ukraine called the Mozart Group and an eyewitness to the battle, compared conditions in the Bakhmut countryside to Passchendaele and the city itself to Dresden in World War II.{{cite news|url=https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-group-targeting-volunteers-ukraine-mozart-group-russia-andy-milburn-1765321|work=Newsweek|title=Notorious Wagner Group Targeting Volunteers in Ukraine, U.S. Trainer Says|date=7 December 2022|access-date=10 December 2022|archive-date=10 December 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221210005136/https://www.newsweek.com/wagner-group-targeting-volunteers-ukraine-mozart-group-russia-andy-milburn-1765321|url-status=live}} On 11 January 2023, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak described the fighting ongoing at Bakhmut and Soledar as the bloodiest since the start of the invasion.{{cite news|url=https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11029|title=Fighting for Soledar and Bakhmut is the 'Bloodiest' of the War|newspaper=Kyiv Post|date=11 January 2023|access-date=11 January 2023|archive-date=16 February 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230216152615/https://www.kyivpost.com/post/11029|url-status=live}} Comparisons have also been made between Bakhmut and the battles of Verdun, the Somme and Stalingrad by both Western and Ukrainian officials.{{Cite web|url=https://news.yahoo.com/fighting-soledar-bakhmut-comparable-battle-205100742.html|title=Fighting in Soledar and Bakhmut comparable to Battle of Verdun, Zelenskyy's chief-of-staff says|website=Yahoo News|date=13 January 2023 |access-date=7 May 2023|archive-date=7 May 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230507223156/https://news.yahoo.com/fighting-soledar-bakhmut-comparable-battle-205100742.html|url-status=live}}[https://mwi.usma.edu/how-long-should-ukrainian-forces-defend-bakhmut-lessons-from-stalingrad/ How Long Should Ukrainian Forces Defend Bakhmut? Lessons From Stalingrad] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230427112322/https://mwi.usma.edu/how-long-should-ukrainian-forces-defend-bakhmut-lessons-from-stalingrad/ Archive]) [https://tvpworld.com/68551130/horrifying-stories-of-ukraine-war-by-wagners-convicts Horrifying stories of Ukraine war by Wagner’s convicts] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20230423093710/https://tvpworld.com/68551130/horrifying-stories-of-ukraine-war-by-wagners-convicts Archive])

• The Agreement on Disengagement signed by Israel and Syria after the Yom Kippur War in 1974 established a United Nations Disengagement Observer Force-patrolled buffer zone in the Golan Heights, including Quneitra.
• No man's land in the Latrun area (NML) between Israel and Palestine following the 1949 Armistice Agreements.
• United Nations Buffer Zone in Cyprus (The Green Line) and abandoned Varosha has acted as a no man's land between Cyprus and Northern Cyprus since 1974.

{{Div col|colwidth=20em}}

• Bir Tawil
• Demilitarized zone
• Exclusion zone
• Kill zone
• List of established military terms
• No-go area
• Terra nullius

{{Div col end}}

;Notes

{{reflist}}

;Bibliography

{{commons category|No Man's Land}}

• {{cite book|ref=Reference-Coleman|last1=Coleman|first1=Julie |title=A History of Cant and Slang Dictionaries |volume=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press | year=2008|isbn=978-0-19-954937-5}}
• {{cite book|ref=Reference-Persico|last1=Persico|first1=Joseph E. |title=Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour: Armistice Day, 1918 World War I and Its Violent Climax|publisher=Random House | year=2005|isbn=0-375-76045-8}}

Category:Land warfare

Category:Metaphors referring to places

Category:Territorial disputes

Category:Trench warfare

Category:Exclusion zones