
, nation
s, or other parties typified by extreme aggression
, social
disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities, and therefore is defined as a form of political violence
. The set of techniques used by a group to carry out war is known as warfare.
War is not a pathology that, with proper hygiene and treatment, can be wholly prevented. War is a natural condition of the State, which was organized in order to be an effective instrument of violence on behalf of society. Wars are like deaths, which, while they can be postponed, will come when they will come and cannot be finally avoided.
War is a quarrel between two thieves too cowardly to fight their own battle; therefore they take boys from one village and another village, stick them into uniforms, equip them with guns, and let them loose like wild beasts against each other.
War will never yield but to the principles of universal justice and love, and these have no sure root but in the religion of Jesus Christ.
War is fought by human beings.
War is a continuation of politics by other means.
To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war.
, nation
s, or other parties typified by extreme aggression
, social
disruption, and usually high mortality. War should be understood as an actual, intentional and widespread armed conflict between political communities, and therefore is defined as a form of political violence
. The set of techniques used by a group to carry out war is known as warfare. An absence of war is usually called peace
.
In 2003, Nobel Laureate Richard E. Smalley identified war as the sixth (of ten) biggest problems facing the society of mankind for the next fifty years. In the 1832 treatise
"On War
", Prussian military general and theoretician Carl Von Clausewitz
defined war as follows: "War is thus an act of force to compel our enemy to do our will."
While some scholars see warfare as an inescapable and integral aspect of human culture, others argue that it is only inevitable under certain socio-cultural or ecological circumstances. Some scholars argue that the practice of war is not linked to any single type of political organization or society. Rather, as discussed by John Keegan
in his History Of Warfare, war is a universal phenomenon whose form and scope is defined by the society that wages it. Another argument suggests that since there are human societies in which warfare does not exist, humans may not be naturally disposed for warfare, which emerges under particular circumstance. The ever changing technologies and potentials of war extend along a historical continuum. At the one end lies the endemic warfare
of the Paleolithic
with its stones and clubs, and the naturally limited loss of life associated with the use of such weapons. Found at the other end of this continuum is nuclear warfare
, along with the recently developed possible outcome of its use, namely the rather sobering potential risk of the complete extinction of the human species
.
Etymology

werre; the Frankish
werra; and the Proto-Germanic
werso. The denotation of war derives from the Old Saxon
werran, Old High German
werran, and the German verwirren: “to confuse”, “to perplex”, and “to bring into confusion”. Another posited derivation is from the Ancient Greek
barbaros, the Old Persian varhara, and the Sanscrit varvar and barbara. In German
, the equivalent is Krieg; the equivalent Spanish
, Portuguese
, and Italian
words for war is guerra, derived from the Germanic werra (“fight”, “tumult”). Etymologic legend has it that the Romanic peoples adopted a foreign, Germanic word for war, to avoid using the Latin
bellum, because, when sounded, it tended to merge with the sound of the word bello (beautiful).
History of warfare
Before the dawn of civilization, war likely consisted of small-scale raiding. One half of the people found in a Nubian cemetery dating to as early as 12,000 years ago had died of violence. Since the rise of the state
some 5,000 years ago, military activity has occurred over much of the globe. The advent of gunpowder
and the acceleration of technological advances led to modern warfare. According to Conway W. Henderson, "One source claims 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, costing 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace (Beer 1981: 20)."
In War Before Civilization
, Lawrence H. Keeley, a professor at the University of Illinois
, says that approximately 90–95% of known societies throughout history engaged in at least occasional warfare, and many fought constantly.
William D. Rubinstein wrote that "Pre-literate societies, even those organised in a relatively advanced way, were renowned for their studied cruelty . . . in 1826 Shaka
and an army of 50,000 literally destroyed the Ndwandwe
, a rival tribe. This report stated that the Ndwandwe numbered at least 40,000: 'they were all put to death' ".
In Western Europe, since the late 18th century, more than 150 conflicts and about 600 battles have taken place.
The Human Security Report 2005
documented a significant decline in the number and severity of armed conflicts since the end of the Cold War
in the early 1990s. However, the evidence examined in the 2008 edition of the Center for International Development and Conflict Management's "Peace and Conflict" study indicated that the overall decline in conflicts had stalled.
Recent rapid increases in the technologies of war, and therefore in its destructiveness (see Mutual assured destruction
), have caused widespread public concern, and have in all probability forestalled, and may hopefully altogether prevent the outbreak of a nuclear World War III. At the end of each of the last two World Wars, concerted and popular efforts were made to come to a greater understanding of the underlying dynamics of war and to thereby hopefully reduce or even eliminate it all together. These efforts materialized in the forms of the League of Nations
, and its successor, the United Nations
.
Shortly after World War II
, as a token of support for this concept, most nations joined the United Nations.
During this same post-war period, with the aim of further delegitimizing war as an acceptable and logical extension of foreign policy, most national governments also renamed their Ministries or Departments of War as their Ministries or Departments of Defense, for example, the former US Department of War was renamed as the US Department of Defense .
In 1947, in view of the rapidly increasingly destructive consequences of modern warfare, and with a particular concern for the consequences and costs of the newly developed atom bomb, the initial developer of the concept of this bomb, Albert Einstein
famously stated, "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."
Fortunately, the anticipated costs of a possible third world war are currently no longer deemed as acceptable by most, thus little motivation currently seems to exist on an international level for such a war.
Still since the close of World War II, limited non-nuclear conflicts continue, and surprisingly enough, some outspoken celebrities and politicians have even advocated for the proclamation of another world war. Mao Zedong
urged the socialist camp not to fear nuclear war with the United States since, even if 'half of mankind died, the other half would remain while imperialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist'.
Ten largest wars (by death toll)
Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in the last century. These are of course the two World Wars, then followed by the Second Sino-Japanese War(which is sometimes considered part of World War II
, or overlapping with that war). Most of the others involved China or neighboring peoples. The death toll of World War II, being 60 million plus, surpasses all other war-death-tolls by a factor of two. This may be due to significant recent advances in weapons technologies, as well as recent increases in the overall human population.
- 60,000,000–72,000,000 - World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
(1939–1945), (see World War II casualtiesWorld War II casualtiesWorld War II was the deadliest military conflict in history. Over 60 million people were killed, which was over 2.5% of the world population. The tables below give a detailed country-by-country count of human losses.-Total dead:...
) - 36,000,000 - An Shi RebellionAn Shi RebellionThe An Lushan Rebellion took place in China during the Tang Dynasty from CE December 16, 755 to CE February 17, 763, beginning when general An Lushan declared himself emperor, establishing the rival Yan Dynasty in Northern China...
(China, 755–763) - 30,000,000–60,000,000 - Mongol ConquestsMongol EmpireThe Mongol Empire , initially named as Greater Mongol State was a great empire during the 13th and 14th centuries...
(13th century) (see Mongol invasionsMongol ConquestsMongol invasions progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire which covered much of Asia and Eastern Europe by 1300....
and Tatar invasionsTatar invasionsThe Mongol invasion of Europe from the east took place over the course of three centuries, from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.The terms Tatars or Tartars are applied to nomadic Turkic peoples who, themselves, were conquered by Mongols and incorporated into their horde...
) - 25,000,000 - Qing dynastyQing DynastyThe Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
conquest of Ming dynastyMing DynastyThe Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
(1616–1662) - 20,000,000 - World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
(1914–1918) (see World War I casualtiesWorld War I casualtiesThe total number of military and civilian casualties in World War I were over 35 million. There were over 15 million deaths and 20 million wounded ranking it among the deadliest conflicts in human history....
) - 20,000,000 - Taiping RebellionTaiping RebellionThe Taiping Rebellion was a widespread civil war in southern China from 1850 to 1864, led by heterodox Christian convert Hong Xiuquan, who, having received visions, maintained that he was the younger brother of Jesus Christ, against the ruling Manchu-led Qing Dynasty...
(China, 1850–1864) (see Dungan revolt) - 20,000,000 - Second Sino-Japanese WarSecond Sino-Japanese WarThe Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
(1937–1945) - 8,000,000–12,000,000 - Dungan revolt (China, 1862 –1877)
- 7,000,000–20,000,000 Conquests of Tamerlane (1370–1405)
- 5,000,000–9,000,000 - Russian Civil War and Foreign InterventionRussian Civil WarThe Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...
(1917–1922)
Types of Warfare
War, to become known as one, must entail some degree of confrontation using weapons and other military technology and equipment by armed forcesemploying military tactics
and operational art within the broad military strategy
subject to military logistics
. War Studies
by military theorists throughout military history
have sought to identify the philosophy of war
, and to reduce it to a military science
.
In general, modern military science considers several factors before a National defence policy is created to allow a war to commence: the environment in the area(s) of combat operations, the posture national forces will adopt on the commencement of a war, and the type of warfare troops will be engaged in.
Conventional warfare
is an attempt to reduce an opponent's military capability through open battle. It is a declared war between existing states in which nuclear, biological, or chemical weapons are not used or only see limited deployment in support of conventional military goals and maneuvers.

, is an attempt to achieve military victory through acquiescence, capitulation, or clandestine support for one side of an existing conflict.
Nuclear warfare
is warfare in which nuclear weapon
s are the primary, or a major, method of coercing the capitulation of the other side, as opposed to a supporting tactical or strategic role in a conventional conflict.
Civil war
is a war where the forces in conflict belong to the same nation or political entity and are vying for control of or independence from that nation or political entity.
Asymmetric warfare
is a conflict between two populations of drastically different levels of military capability or size. Asymmetric conflicts often result in guerrilla
tactics being used to overcome the sometimes vast gaps in technology and force size.
Intentional air pollution in combat is one of a collection of techniques collectively called chemical warfare
. Poison gas as a chemical weapon
was principally used during World War I
, and resulted in an estimated 91,198 deaths and 1,205,655 injuries. Various treaties have sought to ban its further use. Non-lethal chemical weapons, such as tear gas and pepper spray
, are widely used, sometimes with deadly effect.
Warfare environment
The environment in which a war is fought has a significant impact on the type of combat which takes place, and can include within its area different types of terrain. This, in turn, means that soldiers have to be trained to fight in a specific types of environments and terrains that generally reflects troops' mobility limitations or enablers.These include:
Warfare by objective
- Defensive warfareStrategic defenceA Strategic defence is a type of military planning doctrine and a set of combat activities used for the purpose of deterring, resisting and repelling a strategic offensive, conducted as either a territorial or airspace invasion, or a naval offensive to interrupt shipping lane traffic as a form of...
- Offensive warfare
Warfare by doctrine
- Attrition warfareAttrition warfareAttrition warfare is a military strategy in which a belligerent side attempts to win a war by wearing down its enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and matériel....
/Fabian warfare - Maneuver warfareManeuver warfareManeuver warfare, or manoeuvre warfare , is the term used by military theorists for a concept of warfare that advocates attempting to defeat an adversary by incapacitating their decision-making through shock and disruption brought about by movement...
- Guerilla warfareGuerrilla warfareGuerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare and refers to conflicts in which a small group of combatants including, but not limited to, armed civilians use military tactics, such as ambushes, sabotage, raids, the element of surprise, and extraordinary mobility to harass a larger and...
- Static warfare/Positional warfare
- InsurgencyInsurgencyAn insurgency is an armed rebellion against a constituted authority when those taking part in the rebellion are not recognized as belligerents...
warfare - Counterinsurgency warfare
Warfare by terrain
- Jungle warfareJungle warfareJungle warfare is a term used to cover the special techniques needed for military units to survive and fight in jungle terrain.It has been the topic of extensive study by military strategists, and was an important part of the planning for both sides in many conflicts, including World War II and the...
- Desert warfareDesert warfareDesert warfare is combat in deserts. In desert warfare the elements can sometimes be more dangerous than the actual enemy. The desert terrain is the second most inhospitable to troops following a cold environment...
- Mountain warfareMountain warfareMountain warfare refers to warfare in the mountains or similarly rough terrain. This type of warfare is also called Alpine warfare, named after the Alps mountains...
- Arctic warfareArctic warfareArctic warfare or winter warfare is a term used to describe armed conflict that takes place in an exceptionally cold weather, usually in snowy and icy terrain, sometimes on ice-covered bodies of water...
- Naval warfareNaval warfareNaval warfare is combat in and on seas, oceans, or any other major bodies of water such as large lakes and wide rivers.-History:Mankind has fought battles on the sea for more than 3,000 years. Land warfare would seem, initially, to be irrelevant and entirely removed from warfare on the open ocean,...
- Littoral warfare
- Urban warfareUrban warfareUrban warfare is combat conducted in urban areas such as towns and cities. Urban combat is very different from combat in the open at both the operational and tactical level...
Behaviour and conduct in war
The behaviour of troops in warfare varies considerably, both individually and as units or armies. In some circumstances, troops may engage in genocide, war rape
and ethnic cleansing
. Commonly, however, the conduct of troops may be limited to posturing and sham attacks, leading to highly rule-bound and often largely symbolic combat in which casualties are much reduced from that which would be expected if soldiers were genuinely violent towards the enemy. Situations of deliberate dampening of hostilities occurred in World War I
by some accounts, e.g., a volley of gunfire being exchanged after a misplaced mortar hit the British line, after which a German soldier shouted an apology to British forces, effectively stopping a hostile exchange of gunfire. Other examples of non-aggression, also from World War I
, are detailed in "Good-Bye to All That." These include spontaneous ceasefires to rebuild defences and retrieve casualties, alongside behaviour such as refusing to shoot at enemy during ablutions and the taking of great risks (described as 1 in 20) to retrieve enemy wounded from the battlefield. The most notable spontaneous ceasefire of World War I
was the Christmas truce
.
The psychological separation between combatants, and the destructive power of modern weaponry, may act to override this effect and facilitate participation by combatants in the mass slaughter of combatants or civilians, such as in the bombing of Dresden in World War II
. The unusual circumstances of warfare can incite apparently normal individuals to commit atrocities.
Effects of war
On soldiers
Soldiers subject to combat in war often suffer psychological and physical casualties, including depression, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, disease, injury, and death.During World War II, research conducted by US Army Brigadier General S.L.A. Marshall found that, on average, only 15% to 20% of American riflemen in WWII combat fired at the enemy. In Civil War Collector’s Encyclopedia, F.A. Lord notes that of the 27,574 discarded muskets found on the Gettysburg battlefield, nearly 90% were loaded, with 12,000 loaded more than once and 6,000 loaded 3 to 10 times. These studies suggest that most soldiers resist firing their weapons in combat, that- as some theorists argue- human beings have an inherent resistance to killing their fellow human beings. Swank and Marchand’s WWII study found that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98% of all surviving soldiers will become psychiatric casualties. Psychiatric casualties manifest themselves in fatigue cases, confusional states, conversion hysteria, anxiety, obsessional and compulsive states, and character disorders.
Additionally, it has been estimated that anywhere from 18% to 54% of Vietnam war veterans suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white American males aged 13 to 43 died in the American Civil War
, including about 6% in the North and approximately 18% in the South. The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, resulting in the deaths of 620,000 soldiers. United States military casualties of war since 1775 have totaled over two million. Of the 60 million European soldiers who were mobilized in World War I
, 8 million were killed, 7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured.
.jpg)
's retreat from Moscow
, more French soldiers died of typhus
than were killed by the Russians. Felix Markham thinks that 450,000 crossed the Neman
on 25 June 1812, of whom less than 40,000 recrossed in anything like a recognizable military formation. More soldiers were killed from 1500-1914 by typhus than from all military action during that time combined. In addition, if it were not for the modern medical advances there would be thousands of more dead from disease and infection. For instance, during the Seven Years' War
, the Royal Navy
reported that it conscripted 184,899 sailors, of whom 133,708 died of disease or were 'missing'.
It is estimated that 378 000 people died due to war each year between 1985 and 1994.
On civilians
Many wars have been accompanied by significant depopulations, along with destruction of infrastructure and resources (which may lead to famine, disease, and death in the civilian population). Civilians in war zones may also be subject to war atrocities such as genocide
, while survivors may suffer the psychological aftereffects of witnessing the destruction of war. During the Thirty Years' War
in Europe, for example, the population of the German
states was reduced by about 30%. The Swedish
armies alone may have destroyed up to 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany, one-third of all German towns.
Estimates for the total casualties of World War II
vary, but most suggest that some 60 million people died in the war, comprising around 20 million soldiers and 40 million civilians. The Soviet Union
lost around 27 million people
during the war, about half of all World War II casualties. Since a high proportion of those killed were young men, the postwar Soviet population was 45 to 50 million fewer than post–1939 projections would have led one to expect. The largest number of civilian deaths in a single city was 1.2 million citizens dead during the 872-day Siege of Leningrad
.
On the economy
Once a war has ended, losing nations are sometimes required to pay war reparationsto the victorious nations. In certain cases, land is ceded to the victorious nations. For example, the territory of Alsace-Lorraine
has been traded between France and Germany on three different occasions.
Typically speaking, war becomes very intertwined with the economy and many wars are partially or entirely based on economic reasons such as the American Civil War
. In some cases war has stimulated a country's economy (World War II is often credited with bringing America out of the Great Depression
) but in many cases, such as the wars of Louis XIV, the Franco-Prussian War
, and World War I
, warfare serves only to damage the economy of the countries involved. For example, Russia's involvement in World War I took such a toll on the Russian economy that it almost collapsed and greatly contributed to the start of the Russian Revolution of 1917
.
World War II
One of the starkest illustrations of the effect of war upon economies is the Second World War. The Great Depressionof the 1930s ended as nations increased their production of war materials to serve the war effort
. The financial cost of World War II is estimated at about a $1944 billion U.S. dollars worldwide, making it the most costly war in capital as well as lives.
By the end of the war, the European economy had collapsed with 70% of the industrial infrastructure destroyed. Property damage in the Soviet Union inflicted by the Axis invasion
was estimated to a value of 679 billion rubles. The combined damage consisted of complete or partial destruction of 1,710 cities and towns, 70,000 villages/hamlets, 2,508 church buildings, 31,850 industrial establishments, 40,000 miles of railroad, 4100 railroad stations, 40,000 hospitals, 84,000 schools, and 43,000 public libraries.
Factors ending a war

. Where evenly matched adversaries decide that the conflict has resulted in a stalemate
, they may cease hostilities to avoid further loss of life and property. They may decide to restore the antebellum territorial boundaries, redraw boundaries at the line of military control, or negotiate to keep or exchange captured territory. Negotiations between parties involved at the end of a war often result in a treaty
, such as the Treaty of Versailles
of 1919, which ended the First World War
.
A warring party that surrenders
or capitulates
may have little negotiating power, with the victorious side either imposing a settlement or dictating most of the terms of any treaty. A common result is that conquered territory is brought under the dominion of the stronger military power. An unconditional surrender
is made in the face of overwhelming military force as an attempt to prevent further harm to life and property. For example, the Empire of Japan
gave an unconditional surrender to the Allies of World War II
after the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
(see Surrender of Japan
), the preceding massive strategic bombardment of Japan and declaration of war and the immediate invasion of Manchuria by the Soviet Union. A settlement or surrender may also be obtained through deception
or bluffing.
Many other wars, however, have ended in complete destruction of the opposing territory, such as the Battle of Carthage of the Third Punic War
between the Phoenicia
n city of Carthage
and Ancient Rome in 149 BC. In 146 BC the Romans burned the city, enslaved its citizens, and razed the buildings.
Some wars or aggressive actions end when the military objective of the victorious side has been achieved. Others do not, especially in cases where the state structures do not exist, or have collapsed prior to the victory of the conqueror. In such cases, disorganised guerilla warfare
may continue for a considerable period. In cases of complete surrender conquered territories may be brought under the permanent dominion of the victorious side. A raid for the purposes of looting
may be completed with the successful capture of goods. In other cases an aggressor may decide to end hostilities to avoid continued losses and cease hostilities without obtaining the original objective, such as happened in the Iran–Iraq War.
Some hostilities, such as insurgency
or civil war
, may persist for long periods of time with only a low level of military activity. In some cases there is no negotiation of any official treaty, but fighting may trail off and eventually stop after the political demands of the belligerent groups have been reconciled, a political settlement has been negotiated, the combatants are gradually killed or decide the conflict is futile, or the belligerents cease active military engagement but still threatens each other. An example is the Chinese Civil War
which essentially ceased by 1950 but the People's Republic of China
fought diplomatically to isolate Taiwan, but it still threatens Republic of China
(commonly, "Taiwan
") with an invasion. For this reason,some historians consider the war not ended but continuing.
List of ongoing wars
Conflicts in the following list are currently causing at least 1,000 violent deaths per year, a categorization used by the Uppsala Conflict Data Program and recognised by the United Nations. The UN also use the term "low intensity conflict
," which can overlap with the 1,000 violent deaths per year categorisation.
Start of conflict | War/conflict | Location | Cumulative fatalities | Fatalities in 2010/11 |
---|---|---|---|---|
1964 | Colombian Armed Conflict | ![]() |
50,000+ | 1,000+ |
1967 | Naxalite-Maoist insurgency Naxalite-Maoist insurgency The Naxalite-Maoist insurgency is an ongoing conflict between Maoist groups, known as Naxalites or Naxals, and the Indian government.In 2006 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh called the Naxalites "The single biggest internal security challenge ever faced by our country."... |
![]() |
~11,200 | 1,174+ |
1978 | Afghan civil war | ![]() |
600,000–2,000,000 | 10,461+ |
1991 | Somali Civil War Somali Civil War The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces... |
![]() |
300,000–400,000 | 2,318+ |
2003 | Iraq War | ![]() |
102,344–1,455,590 | 4,571+ |
2004 | War in North-West Pakistan War in North-West Pakistan The War in North-West Pakistan is an armed conflict between the Pakistan Armed Forces and armed religious groups such as the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan , Lashkar-e-Islam, TSNM, Arab and Central Asian militants including Al-Qaeda, regional armed movements and elements of organized crime.The armed... |
![]() |
30,452 | 7,435 |
2004 | Shia Insurgency in Yemen | ![]() ![]() |
25,000 | 8,000 |
2006 | Mexican Drug War Mexican Drug War The Mexican Drug War is an ongoing armed conflict taking place among rival drug cartels who fight each other for regional control, and Mexican government forces who seek to combat drug trafficking. However, the government's principal goal has been to put down the drug-related violence that was... |
![]() |
39,392+ | 24,374 |
2009 | Sudanese nomadic conflicts | ![]() |
2,000–2,500 | 708 |
2011 | Sudan–SPLM-N conflict Sudan–SPLM-N conflict (2011) The Sudan–SPLM-N conflict is an ongoing conflict in 2011 between the Army of Sudan and the Sudanese Revolutionary Front, particularly the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North , a northern affiliate of the Sudan People's Liberation Army/Movement in South Sudan... |
![]() |
1,500+ | 1,500+ |
2011 | 2011 Syrian uprising 2011 Syrian uprising The 2011 Syrian uprising is an ongoing internal conflict occurring in Syria. Protests started on 26 January 2011, and escalated into an uprising by 15 March 2011... |
![]() |
3,000+ | 3,000+ |
Efforts to stop wars

, World War II
, and the Vietnam War
. In the 21st century, worldwide anti-war movements occurred ever since the United States declared wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In 2001, the US government decided to invade Afghanistan to fight against international terrorism that caused the September 11 attacks. Opposition to the War in Afghanistan spread all over the world. Protests occurred in cities in Europe, Asia, and all over the United States, criticizing its ineffectiveness and illegitimacy. However, they did not stop the US engagement in the war. As of now, the public view worldwide does not seem to favor the war. Organizations like Stop the War Coalition
, based in the United Kingdom, keep working on campaigning against the War. They raise awareness of the war, organize demonstrations, and lobby the governments.
There also exist significant worldwide opposition to the Iraq War
. The US engaged in the war to eliminate the weapons of mass destruction that the Iraqi government allegedly had developed. Critics oppose the war based on the argument of violation of sovereignty, civilian deaths, absence of the UN approval, and lack of justification. However, they did not stop the involvement again. Since then, the US government has been harshly criticized by the public, domestically and internationally, for its conduct during the war, especially in the killings of civilians. Even though the government has been counting the US soldiers up until now, they have refused to release numbers on the civilian deaths. Individual projects like Iraq Body Count project
tries to reveal the actual number of deaths from the war based on journalistic data, showing the civilian effort to face the truth of war.
Mexican Drug War
, with estimated casualty of 40,000 since December 2006, has been recently facing a fundamental opposition. In 2011, the movement for peace and justice has started a popular middle-class movement against the war. It has won the recognition of President Calderon who started the war, but has not ended the war.
Governments also use the method of disarmament
to stop and prevent the cost of war.
Motivations
Motivations for war may be different for those ordering the war than for those undertaking the war. For example, in the Third Punic War, Rome's leaders may have wished to make war with Carthage
for the purpose of eliminating a resurgent rival, while the individual soldiers may have been motivated by a wish to make money. Since many people are involved, a war may acquire a life of its own from the confluence of many different motivations.
The Jewish Talmud
describes in the BeReshit Rabbah commentary on the fight between Cain and Abel
(Parashot BeReshit XXII:7) that there are three universal reasons for wars: A) Economic, B) Ideological/religious, and C) Power/pride/love (personal).

, the author points out that both sides will claim that morality justifies their fight. He also states that the rationale for beginning a war depends on an overly optimistic assessment of the outcome of hostilities (casualties and costs), and on misperceptions of the enemy's intentions
.
As the strategic and tactical aspects of warfare are always changing, theories and doctrines relating to warfare are often reformulated before, during, and after every major war. Carl Von Clausewitz
said, 'Every age had its own kind of war, its own limiting conditions, and its own peculiar preconceptions.'. The one constant factor is war’s employment of organized violence and the resultant destruction of property and/ or lives that necessarily follows.
Psychoanalytic psychology
Dutch psychoanalyst Joost Meerlooheld that, "War is often ... a mass discharge of accumulated internal rage (where)... the inner fears of mankind are discharged in mass destruction." Thus war can sometimes be a means by which man's own frustration at his inability to master his own self is expressed and temporarily relieved via his unleashing of destructive behavior upon others. In this destructive scenario, these others are made to serve as the scapegoat of man's own unspoken and subconscious frustrations and fears.
Other psychoanalysts such as E.F.M. Durban and John Bowlby
have argued that human beings are inherently
violent. This aggressiveness is fueled by displacement
and projection
where a person transfers his or her grievances into bias and hatred against other races, religions, nations or ideologies
. By this theory, the nation state preserves order in the local society while creating an outlet for aggression through warfare. If war is innate to human nature, as is presupposed and predetermined by many psychological theories, then there is little hope of ever escaping it.
The Italian psychoanalyst Franco Fornari, a follower of Melanie Klein
, thought that war was the paranoid or projective “elaboration” of mourning. Fornari thought that war and violence develop out of our “love need”: our wish to preserve and defend the sacred object to which we are attached, namely our early mother and our fusion with her. For the adult, nations are the sacred objects that generate warfare. Fornari focused upon sacrifice as the essence of war: the astonishing willingness of human beings to die for their country, to give over their bodies to their nation.
Despite Fornari's theory that man's altruistic desire for self-sacrifice for a noble cause is a contributing factor towards war, in history only a tiny fraction of wars have originated from a desire for war from the general populace. Far more often the general population has been reluctantly drawn into war by its rulers. One psychological theory that looks at the leaders is advanced by Maurice Walsh. He argues that the general populace is more neutral towards war and that wars only occur when leaders with a psychologically abnormal disregard for human life are placed into power. War is caused by leaders that seek war such as Napoleon
and Hitler
. Such leaders most often come to power in times of crisis when the populace opts for a decisive leader, who then leads the nation to war.
Evolutionary theories
Several theories concern the evolutionary origins of warfare. There are two main schools one sees organized warfare as a emerging only in the mesolithic, as a result of the emergence of complex social organization, higher population density and political organization and competition over resources. The other school tends to see human warfare simply as an extension of animal behavior, such as territoriality and sexual competition.
This school argues that since organized warlike behavior patterns are also found in many other primate species such as chimpanzee
s,
as well as in many ant
species, this suggests that between group conflict is a general feature of animal social behavior. Biologists studying primate behavior have added to the debate, documenting warlike activities among several primate species and seeing similarities to humans. Others argue that while war may be a natural phenomenon, the development of technology and complex social organization has accelerated the scale of warfare to exceptional levels among modern humans, starting at some point in the mesolithic, and escalating with the development of weaponry and large-scale state formations.
One line of evidence for violent conflict among the ancestors of humans is sexual dimorphism
. In species that have high levels of male competition over females, males tend to be larger and stronger than females. Humans, have considerable sexual dimorphism, although lower than our nearest primate relatives. The average man is stronger than 99,9% of women. The strength difference is greater for upper-body strength than for lower-body strength. Men are also larger, faster, and more aggressive. Their skeleton, especially in the vulnerable face, is more robust. This suggests that male competition has been an important factor in human evolution.
Steven Pinker
in his book The Blank Slate
argues that raiding or warfare between groups of humans in the ancestral environment was often beneficial for the victors. This includes gaining control over scarce resources as well as the women of the defeated or raided group. Various features of modern warfare such as alliances between groups and preemptive war
s were likely part of these conflicts. In order to have a credible deterrence
against other groups (as well as on an individual level), it was important to have a reputation for retaliation, causing humans to develop instincts for revenge
as well as for protecting a group's (or an individual's) reputation ("honor"). Pinker argues that the development of the state and the police have dramatically reduced the level of warfare and violence compared to the ancestral environment. Whenever the state breaks down, which can be very locally such as in poor areas of a city, humans again organize in groups for protection and aggression and concepts such as violent revenge and protecting honor again become extremely important.
Ashley Montagu
strongly denied universalistic instinctual arguments, arguing that social factors and childhood socialization are important in determining the nature and presence of warfare. Thus, he argues, while human aggression may be a universal occurrence, warfare is not, and would appear to have been a historical invention, associated with certain types of human societies. This argument has been supported by ethnographic research conducted in societies where the concept of aggression seems to be entirely absent - e.g. the Chewong of the Malay peninsula. Crofoot and Wrangham have instead argued that warfare, if defined as group interactions in which "coalitions attempt to aggressively dominate or kill members of others groups", is a characteristic of most human societies. Those in which it has been lacking "tend to be societies that were politically dominated by their neighbors".
Economic theories
War can be seen as a growth of economiccompetition in a competitive international system. In this view wars begin as a pursuit of markets for natural resource
s and for wealth. While this theory has been applied to many conflicts, such counter arguments become less valid as the increasing mobility of capital and information level the distributions of wealth worldwide, or when considering that it is relative, not absolute, wealth differences that may fuel wars. There are those on the extreme right of the political spectrum who provide support, fascist
s in particular, by asserting a natural right of the strong to whatever the weak cannot hold by force. Some centrist, capitalist
, world leaders, including Presidents of the United States and US Generals, expressed support for an economic view of war.
Marxist theories
The Marxisttheory of war is quasi-economic in that it states that all modern wars are caused by competition for resources and markets between great (imperialist
) powers, claiming these wars are a natural result of the free market
and class system
. Part of the theory is that war will only disappear once a world revolution
, over-throwing free markets and class systems, has occurred. German Communist Rosa Luxembourg theorized that imperialism
was the result of capitalist countries needing new markets. Expansion of the means of production
is only possible if there is a corresponding growth in consumer demand. Since the workers in a capitalist economy would be unable to fill the demand, producers must expand into non-capitalist markets to find consumers for their goods, hence driving imperialism.
Demographic theories
Demographic theories can be grouped into two classes, Malthusian theories and youth bulge theories.Malthusian theories
Malthusian theories see expanding population and scarce resources as a source of violent conflict.Pope Urban II
in 1095, on the eve of the First Crusade
, spoke:
This is one of the earliest expressions of what has come to be called the Malthusian theory of war, in which wars are caused by expanding populations and limited resources. Thomas Malthus
(1766–1834) wrote that populations always increase until they are limited by war, disease
, or famine
.
This theory is thought by Malthusians to account for the relative decrease in wars during the past fifty years, especially in the developed world
, where advances in agriculture have made it possible to support a much larger population than was formerly the case, and where birth control
has dramatically slowed the increase in population.
Youth bulge theory

- with a lack of regular, peaceful employment
opportunities as a risk pool for violence.
While Malthusian theories focus on a disparity between a growing population and available natural resources, youth bulge theory focuses on a disparity between non-inheriting, 'excess' young males and available social positions within the existing social system of division of labour
.
Contributors to the development of youth bulge theory include French sociologist Gaston Bouthoul, U.S. sociologist Jack A. Goldstone
, U.S. political scientist Gary Fuller, and German sociologist Gunnar Heinsohn
. Samuel Huntington
has modified his Clash of Civilizations theory by using youth bulge theory as its foundation:
Youth Bulge theories represent a relatively recent development but seem to have become more influential in guiding U.S. foreign policy and military strategy as both Goldstone and Fuller have acted as consultants to the U.S. Government. CIA Inspector General John L. Helgerson
referred to youth bulge theory in his 2002 report "The National Security Implications of Global Demographic Change".
According to Heinsohn, who has proposed youth bulge theory in its most generalized form, a youth bulge occurs when 30 to 40 percent of the males of a nation belong to the "fighting age" cohorts from 15 to 29 years of age. It will follow periods with total fertility rate
s as high as 4-8 children per woman with a 15-29 year delay.
A total fertility rate of 2.1 children born by a woman during her lifetime represents a situation of in which the son will replace the father, and the daughter will replace the mother accounting for a small proportion of deaths to factors such as illness and accidents. Thus, a total fertility rate of 2.1 represents replacement level, while anything below represents a sub-replacement fertility
rate leading to population decline
.
Total fertility rates above 2.1 will lead to population growth and to a youth bulge. A total fertility rate of 4-8 children per mother implies 2-4 sons per mother. Consequently, one father has to leave not 1, but 2 to 4 social positions (jobs) to give all his sons a perspective for life, which is usually hard to achieve. Since respectable positions cannot be increased at the same speed as food, textbooks and vaccines, many "angry young men" find themselves in a situation that tends to escalate their adolescent anger into violence: they are
- Demographically superfluous,
- Might be out of work or stuck in a menial job, and
- Often have no access to a legal sex life before a career can earn them enough to provide for a family. See: HypergamyHypergamyHypergamy is the act or practice of seeking a spouse of higher socioeconomic status, or caste status than oneself....
, WaithoodWaithoodWaithood refers to the period of stagnation in the lives of young unemployed college graduates in the Middle East and North Africa region, described as "a kind of prolonged adolescence"....
.
The combination of these stress factors according to Heinsohn usually heads for one of six different exits:
- EmigrationEmigrationEmigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...
("non violent colonization") - Violent CrimeCrimeCrime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
- Rebellion or putsch
- Civil warCivil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
and/or revolutionRevolutionA revolution is a fundamental change in power or organizational structures that takes place in a relatively short period of time.Aristotle described two types of political revolution:... - GenocideGenocideGenocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
(to take over the positions of the slaughtered) - ConquestConquest (military)Conquest is the act of military subjugation of an enemy by force of arms. One example is the Norman conquest of England, which provided the subjugation of the Kingdom of England and the acquisition of the English crown by William the Conqueror in 1066...
(violent colonization, frequently including genocide abroad).
Religions and ideologies are seen as secondary factors that are being used to legitimate violence, but will not lead to violence by themselves if no youth bulge is present. Consequently, youth bulge theorists see both past "Christianist" European colonialism and imperialism and today's "Islamist" civil unrest and terrorism as results of high birth rates producing youth bulges. With the Gaza Strip
now being seen as another example of youth-bulge-driven violence, especially if compared to Lebanon
which is geographically close, yet remarkably more peaceful.
Among prominent historical events that have been linked to the existence of youth bulges is the role played by the historically large youth cohorts in the rebellion and revolution waves of early modern Europe, including French Revolution
of 1789, and the importance of economic depression hitting the largest German youth cohorts ever in explaining the rise of Nazism
in Germany in the 1930s. The 1994 Rwandan Genocide
has also been analyzed as following a massive youth bulge.
While the implications of population growth have been known since the completion of the National Security Study Memorandum 200
in 1974, neither the U.S. nor the WHO have implemented the recommended measures to control population growth to avert the terrorist threat. Prominent demographer Stephen D. Mumford
attributes this to the influence of the Catholic Church.
Youth Bulge theory has been subjected to statistical analysis by the World Bank, Population Action International
, and the Berlin Institute for Population and Development
. Detailed demographic data for most countries is available at the international database of the United States Census Bureau
. Statistic data about historical development of demographic and economic parameters over the last 200 years for each country can be visualized at Gapminder.
Youth bulge theories have been criticized as leading to racial, gender and age "discrimination".
Rationalist theories
Rationalist theories of war assume that both sides to a potential war are rational, which is to say that each side wants to get the best possible outcome for itself for the least possible loss of life and property to its own side. Given this assumption, if both countries knew in advance how the war would turn out, it would be better for both of them to just accept the post-war outcome without having to actually pay the costs of fighting the war. This is based on the notion, generally agreed to by almost all scholars of war since Carl von Clausewitz, that wars are reciprocal, that all wars require both a decision to attack and also a decision to resist attack.
Rationalist theory offers three reasons why some countries cannot find a bargain and instead resort to war: issue indivisibility, information asymmetry
with incentive to deceive, and the inability to make credible commitments.
Issue indivisibility occurs when the two parties cannot avoid war by bargaining because the thing over which they are fighting cannot be shared between them, only owned entirely by one side or the other. Religious issues, such as control over the Temple Mount
in Jerusalem, are more likely to be indivisible than economic issues.
A bigger branch of the theory, advanced by scholars of international relations such as Geoffrey Blainey
, is that both sides decide to go to war and one side may have miscalculated.
Some go further and say that there is a problem of information asymmetry with incentives to misrepresent. The two countries may not agree on who would win a war between them, or whether victory would be overwhelming or merely eked out, because each side has military secrets about its own capabilities. They will not avoid the bargaining failure
by sharing their secrets, since they cannot trust each other not to lie and exaggerate their strength to extract more concessions. For example, Sweden made efforts to deceive Nazi Germany that it would resist an attack fiercely, partly by playing on the myth of Aryan superiority and by making sure that Hermann Göring
only saw elite troops in action, often dressed up as regular soldiers, when he came to visit.
The American decision to enter the Vietnam War
was made with the full knowledge that the communist forces would resist them, but did not believe that the guerrillas had the capability to long oppose American forces
.
Thirdly, bargaining may fail due to the states' inability to make credible commitments. In this scenario, the two countries might be able to come to a bargain that would avert war if they could stick to it, but the benefits of the bargain will make one side more powerful and lead it to demand even more in the future, so that the weaker side has an incentive to make a stand now.
Rationalist explanations of war can be critiqued on a number of grounds. The assumptions of cost-benefit calculations become dubious in the most extreme genocidal cases of World War II, where the only bargain offered in some cases was infinitely bad. Rationalist theories typically assume that the state acts as a unitary individual, doing what is best for the state as a whole; this is problematic when, for example, the country's leader is beholden to a very small number of people, as in a personalistic dictatorship. Rationalist theory also assumes that the actors are rational, able to accurately assess their likelihood of success or failure, but the proponents of the psychological theories above would disagree.
Rationalist theories are usually explicated with game theory
, for example, the Peace War Game
, not a wargame
as such, rather a simulation of economic decisions underlying war.
Political science theories
The statistical analysis of war was pioneered by Lewis Fry Richardsonfollowing World War I
. More recent databases of wars and armed conflict have been assembled by the Correlates of War Project, Peter Brecke and the Uppsala Conflict Data Program.
There are several different international relations theory
schools. Supporters of realism in international relations argue that the motivation of states is the quest for security.
Which sometimes is argued to contradict the realist view, that there is much empirical evidence to support the claim that states that are democracies
do not go to war with each other, an idea that has come to be known as the democratic peace theory
. Other factors included are difference in moral and religious beliefs, economical and trade disagreements, declaring independence, and others.
Another major theory relating to power in international relations
and machtpolitik
is the Power Transition theory
, which distributes the world into a hierarchy and explains major wars as part of a cycle of hegemons
being destabilized by a great power
which does not support the hegemons' control.
Military adventurism can sometimes be used by political leaders as a means of boosting their domestic popularity, as has been recorded in US war-time presidential popularity surveys taken during the presidencies of several recent US leaders.
Morality of wars

questions, which have been the subject of debate for thousands of years. The debate, generally speaking, has two main viewpoints: Pacifists, who believe that war is inherently immoral and therefore is never justified regardless of circumstances, and those who believe that war is sometimes necessary and can be moral.
There are two different aspects to ethics in war, according to the most prominent and influential thought on justice and war: The Just War Theory. First is Jus ad bellum
(literally translated as "right to war"), which dictates which unfriendly acts and circumstances justify a proper authority in declaring war on another nation. There are six main criteria for the declaration of a just war: first, any just war must be declared by a lawful authority; second, it must be a just and righteous cause, with sufficient gravity to merit large-scale violence; third, the just belligerent must have rightful intentions - namely, that they seek to advance good and curtail evil; fourth, a just belligerent must have a reasonable chance of success; fifth, the war must be a last resort; and sixth, the ends being sought must be proportional to means being used.
Once a just war has been declared, the second standard, or aspect, is put into effect. Jus In bello, which literally translates to "right in war", are the ethical rules of conduct when conducting war. The two main principles in jus in bello are proportionality and discrimination. Proportionality regards how much force is necessary and morally appropriate to the ends being sought and the injustice suffered. The principle of Discrimination determines who are the legitimate targets in a war, and specifically makes a separation between combatants, who it is permissible to kill, and non-combatants, who it is not. Failure to follow these rules can result in the loss of legitimacy for the just war belligerent, and so thereby forfeit the moral right and justice of their cause.
The Just War standard is as old as Western Civilization itself, and still has significant impact on thinking about the morality of wars and violence today. Just War Theory was foundational in the creation of the United Nations
and in International Law
's regulations on legitimate war.
These two positions generally cover the broad philosophical and ethical bents mainstream society. However, there are several theories on and about War which are in the minority in culture, but which, because of the influence they have had in recent history, demand mention here. These strains of thought on human society and war can be broken up into two main camps: Marxist and Fascist, both of which view war as purely practical.
Marxism, and other such historicist ideals, hold that history advances through a set of dialectics (as stated by Heinrich Moritz Chalybäus
: thesis, antithesis, synthesis). Marx, and his followers, in particular held that history advances through violence. Marxism-Leninism
, in fact, held the belief that outright incitement to violence and war was necessary to topple Capitalism
and free the proletariat
. In these theories, the question of ethics has no place, as the value of the war is entirely dependent on whether it advances the revolution or synthesis.
Fascism, and the ideals it encompasses, such as Pragmatism
, Racism
, and Social Darwinism
, hold that violence is good. Pragmatism holds that war and violence can be good if it serves the ends of the people, without regard for universal morality. Racism holds that violence is good so that a master race can be established, or to purge an inferior race from the earth, or both. Social Darwinism thinks that violence is sometimes necessary to weed the unfit from society so that civilization can flourish. These are broad archetypes for the general position that the ends justify the means.
See also
Possible causes- Peak waterPeak waterThe term Peak Water has been put forward as a concept to help understand growing constraints on the availability, quality, and use of freshwater resources...
- Peak uraniumPeak uraniumPeak uranium is the point in time that the maximum global uranium production rate is reached. After that peak, the rate of production enters a terminal decline. While uranium is used in nuclear weapons, its primary use is for energy generation via nuclear fission of uranium-235 isotope in a nuclear...
- Peak oilPeak oilPeak oil is the point in time when the maximum rate of global petroleum extraction is reached, after which the rate of production enters terminal decline. This concept is based on the observed production rates of individual oil wells, projected reserves and the combined production rate of a field...
- Religious warReligious warA religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...
- RacismRacismRacism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
General reference
- Undeclared warUndeclared warAn undeclared war is a conflict that is fought between two or more nations without a formal declaration of war being issued.Since United Nations action in Korea, a number of democratic governments have pursued usually limited warfare by characterizing them as something else, such as a "military...
- Colonial warColonial warColonial war is a blanket term relating to the various conflicts that arose as the result of overseas territories being settled by foreignpowers creating a colony...
- Religious warReligious warA religious war; Latin: bellum sacrum; is a war caused by, or justified by, religious differences. It can involve one state with an established religion against another state with a different religion or a different sect within the same religion, or a religiously motivated group attempting to...
- Breakaway states
- Casus belliCasus belliis a Latin expression meaning the justification for acts of war. means "incident", "rupture" or indeed "case", while means bellic...
- Fault line warFault Line WarA fault line war is one that takes place between two or more identity groups from different civilizations. It is a communal conflict between states or groups from different civilizations that has become violent. These wars may take place between states, between nongovernmental groups, or between...
- Islam and warIslam and warIn the context of warfare, jihad has been used to describe either the fighting or the motives behind it.The beginnings of Jihad are traced back to the words and actions of Muhammad and the Qur'an. This encourages the use of Jihad against non-Muslims...
- Horses in warfareHorses in warfareThe first use of horses in warfare occurred over 5,000 years ago. The earliest evidence of horses ridden in warfare dates from Eurasia between 4000 and 3000 BC. A Sumerian illustration of warfare from 2500 BC depicts some type of equine pulling wagons...
- Sun TzuSun TzuSun Wu , style name Changqing , better known as Sun Tzu or Sunzi , was an ancient Chinese military general, strategist and philosopher who is traditionally believed, and who is most likely, to have authored The Art of War, an influential ancient Chinese book on military strategy...
, The Art of WarThe Art of WarThe Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise that is attributed to Sun Tzu , a high ranking military general and strategist during the late Spring and Autumn period... - War cyclesWar cyclesThe theory of war cycles holds that wars happen in cycles.-The cycles of war:The forerunner of the study of war cycles was Edward R Dewey, with Quincy Wright's monumental A Study of War adding impetus to the discipline...
- Water conflictsWater conflictsWater conflict is a term describing a conflict between countries, states, or groups over an access to water resources. The United Nations recognizes that water disputes result from opposing interests of water users, public or private....
- Nuclear warNuclear warfareNuclear warfare, or atomic warfare, is a military conflict or political strategy in which nuclear weaponry is detonated on an opponent. Compared to conventional warfare, nuclear warfare can be vastly more destructive in range and extent of damage...
- War as metaphorWar as metaphorThe use of war as metaphor is a literary trope of long-standing. An example is the Culture War in the United States. In Metaphors We Live By, George Lakoff and Mark Johnson describe Jimmy Carter's application of "war" as metaphor for the energy crisis of 1974.In discussing the morality of the use...
War-related lists
- List of battles
- List of battles and other violent events by death toll
- List of battles by death toll
- List of invasions
- Lists of wars
- List of military commanders
- List of ongoing conflicts
- List of orders of battle
- List of terrorist incidents
- List of war crimes
- List of wars by death toll
Law of war
- International humanitarian lawInternational humanitarian lawInternational humanitarian law , often referred to as the laws of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus that comprises "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law." It...
- Customary international humanitarian lawCustomary International Humanitarian LawCustomary international humanitarian law is a body of unwritten rules of public international law, which govern conduct during armed conflict.-Customary international law:...
Related Topics
- GenocideGenocideGenocide is defined as "the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group", though what constitutes enough of a "part" to qualify as genocide has been subject to much debate by legal scholars...
- FamineFamineA famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including crop failure, overpopulation, or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accompanied or followed by regional malnutrition, starvation, epidemic, and increased mortality. Every continent in the world has...
- Police BrutalityPolice brutalityPolice brutality is the intentional use of excessive force, usually physical, but potentially also in the form of verbal attacks and psychological intimidation, by a police officer....
- TortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
- Capital PunishmentCapital punishmentCapital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...
External links
- Correlates of War Project
- Correlates of War 2
- Antiwar.com
- Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy entry
- Complex Emergency Database (CE-DAT) - A database on the human impact of conflicts and other complex emergencies.
- The Art of the War
- World War I primary source collection
- Death Tolls for the Major Wars and Atrocities of the Twentieth Century
- International humanitarian law- International Committee of the Red Cross website
- Customary international humanitarian law International Committee of the Red Cross
- International humanitarian law database- Treaties and States Parties
- Customary IHL Database