In this chapter, I deal with the development of the laws of armed conflict from the 1864 Geneva Convention to the Additional Protocols of 1977 along with the impact of the political economy on the form and content of the instruments. I try to demonstrate how since the very inception, selective humanitarianism was at work in terms of its content and scope. I reemphasize how the imperialist motives kept the colonies away from the making and application of the law. While discussing these developments, I intensely talk about the trade rivalry, colonial competition and imperialism, and also the impact of these historical events on the formulation of the laws of war. I also argue that the law facilitated colonial expansion.