Sir Hartley Shawcross, the British chief prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, refused to prosecute field marshal Erich von Manstein on charges of war crimes. Shawcross publicly stated in his closing argument that the entire concept of aggressive war as a crime — the foundation of the Nuremberg Trials — would need to apply equally to the Allied powers, including Britain and the United States, for it to have moral legitimacy. He specifically cited the strategic bombing of Dresden and the wartime policies of the British Empire. His speech, delivered on July 26, 1946, caused a diplomatic incident. Manstein was acquitted. Shawcross later said: "I will not hang a man for following orders that we ourselves gave." Shawcross's full speech was suppressed by the British government for 30 years and only appeared in the public record in 1976.