Then they’d be falling on their own swords. Literally the whole company was ready to walk away. Never in history has that ever happened, as far as I know.
Your position is challenged by military brass, so you imprison/execute them. Anyone charismatic enough to take you on is going to have been popular with the soldiers, so now a heavily-armed mob with tanks and artillery is pissed at you. Now you have two problems, with only two solutions-- eat some shit and hope to make peace, or die.
Putin played it safe in flipping the script-- negotiate surrender, appear to resolve the dispute peacefully, then stage an "accident" of the rabblerouser once tensions are lower. Cooler heads always prevail.
Or you could do the King Hassan II strategy which is basically bury them in underground pits with not even enough room to stand up in for 24 hours a day until the first Bush comes knocking and needs a favor and tells you to clean up your PR.
