Talk:No man's land

Military history: World War I Start‑class

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No Man's Land has more than this definition and the term predates WWI. The term could mean:

1. An unclaimed or unowned piece of land; a wasteland.
2. Land under dispute by two opposing parties; especially, the field of battle between two opposing entrenched armies.
3. Any area into which a man does not venture because of fear or uncertainty; a realm of danger or ambiguity (this definition probably descends from meaning 2).

I suggest this page be moved to, maybe, No_man's_land_(war), and this name be for a disambiguation page. --12.74.169.88

The current version (changed by myself) implements this suggestion. I'm still not sure whether to keep the disambig marker or not... --Joy [shallot] 13:09, 25 Sep 2004 (UTC)

I don't have much confidence in the land mines remark. Man traps yes.. land mines not the greatest problem. --86.207.40.149 18:13, 4 October 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Yes. Land mines were used atleast by Germany and Britain during World War One. Britain produced land mines during WW1 that used poison gas too. PyrE 12:06, 30 August 2007 (UTC)[reply]

File:who actually claimed the no mans land today?

• Strongly oppose - "the term referring to the unoccupied land between two opposing forces" is not the same as the legal term which allowed alienation of land. Both articles are of sufficient length to stand alone--Matilda ^talk 21:49, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• terra = land Template:La icon

nullius = no man's Template:La icon

Also see it:Terra di nessuno:

Terra di nessuno (in inglese No Man's Land ) [...]

212.247.11.156 (talk) 23:10, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]

• That the two terms can be translated into one in Italian does not make them synonymous in English --Matilda ^talk 23:19, 19 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
  • But terra nullius is just Latin for no man's land... (212.247.11.156 (talk) 16:16, 24 March 2008 (UTC))[reply]
    • Please check what synonomous means per the link above - they may be the same words - they do not mean the same thing as per the articles. Terra nullius is a legal term and a subject of some importance in the dispossession of indigenous Australians, the description of "no man's land" in this article, ie No man's land is a term for land that is not occupied or more specifically land that is under dispute between countries or areas that will not occupy it because of fear or uncertainty. During war (especially World War I), it is a term used as the area of land between two enemy trenches that neither side wishes to openly move on or take control of due to fear of being attacked by the enemy in the process has nothing to do with the concept of Terra nullius, a term by the way that is never translated from the Latin when used in court cases.--Matilda ^talk 21:46, 24 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
• In the absence of further comment I am removing the tags--Matilda ^talk 21:07, 1 April 2008 (UTC)[reply]

I suggest the provincial anecdotical evidence of "no man's land" should be removed. No man's land is indeed the same as terra nullius. However, the article needs to be focused on the war zone and the article on terra nullius on the legal term. Arebenti (talk) 13:27, 12 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It was called 'No man's land' because nether side could occupy the area without the occupiers being killed by the opposing side. With the advent of machine guns such as the Vickers and MG 08, both sides could bring down overwhelming fire on the land making survival without cover impossible. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 213.40.116.56 (talk) 22:23, 19 March 2009 (UTC)[reply]

"The U.S. Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba is separated from Cuba proper by an area called the Cactus Curtain. " Does this sentence sound a little odd?

"The term was applied to a little-used area on ships called the forecastle" is incorrect on two counts. The forecastle was neither little-used nor no man's land. From William Falconer's Dictionary of the Marine: "It probably derives this name from its situation, as being neither on the starboard nor larboard side of the ship, nor on the waist or forecastle; but, being situated in the middle, partakes equally of all those places." James Galloway (talk) 15:23, 16 June 2010 (UTC)[reply]