In the challenge to understand “war”, I offer some definitions from people brighter than myself, none of which, however, comform to past or present conflicts perfectly.
War as an Act of Violence
- “War is a violent contact of distinct but similar entities” – Quincy Wright, A Study of War, 1942
- “War is an act of violence intended to copel our opponents to fulfill our will…” – Clausewitz, On War
- “War is a contest or contention carried on by force” – Cicero
- “War is that state in which men constantly exercise acts of indeterminate violence against each other.” – Martens, Precis du Droit des Gens, 1788
War as an Absence of Peace
- “… the death of the insured on board the Lusitania must be conceded to be a result of war.” – Vanderbilt v Travelers Insurance Co., New York Supreme Court, 1920
- “War is nothing but a continuation of political intercourse, with a mixture of other means.” – Clausewitz, On War
- “War hath no fury like a non-combatant.” – Charles Edward Montague, Disenchantment, 1922
- “The State of War is a State of Enmity and Destruction: And therefore declaring by Word or Action, not a passionate and hasty, but a sedate settled Design, upon another Mans Life, puts him in a State of War with him whom he has declared such an Intention, and so has exposed his Life to the Others Power to be taken away by his…” – Locke, Two Treatises of Government, 1690
