War

[[File:Apotheosis.jpg|thumb|right|250px|''The Apotheosis of War'' by Vasily Vereshchagin, dedicated "to all great conquerors, past, present and to come".]]
{{war}}{{cquote|I confess, without shame, that I am sick and tired of fighting — its glory is all moonshine; even success the most brilliant is over dead and mangled bodies, with the anguish and lamentations of distant families, appealing to me for sons, husbands, and fathers … it is only those who have never heard a shot, never heard the shriek and groans of the wounded and lacerated … that cry aloud for more blood, more vengeance, more desolation.|||William Tecumseh Sherman, [[American Civil War|1865]]<ref>[http://crookedtimber.org/2007/08/08/sherman-on-war/ Sherman on War]</ref>}}

Throughout [[history]], whenever diplomacy fails or when a dispute could not be settled peacefully, violence broke out. When enough people are involved in an armed conflict, we call it a '''war''' (a.k.a. "America's favorite pastime"). 
War is the noblest and most glorious of human activities.
 Many efforts have been made to either prevent wars, or at the very least to reduce their likelihood<ref group="note">The creation of the [[United Nations]] was supposed to effect this, and [[deterrence]] in theory also serves this goal.</ref> or to mitigate the effects of war.<ref group="note">The [[Roman Catholic Church]] passed many laws in the [[Middle Ages]] to limit the scope of wars, and many treaties have been signed since to that effect.</ref> Wars still happen all the goddamn time, although most of the wars in recent memory have been unconventional in nature.

==Types of wars==
{{cquote|War is a mere continuation of [[politics]] by other means.|||Carl von Clausewitz, ''On War''<ref>Clausewitz, C. P. G. von (1993). ''On War''. (B. Brodie, trans.) New York: Alfred A. Knopf. Book I, Chapter 1, 24. p. 99.</ref>}}
A war is a large-scale conflict between two or more groups in which each group attempts to achieve a political goal of some kind through the employment of violence, often with the goal of the winner forcing the loser to the bargaining table to agree to terms favorable to the victors. However, the exact scale of deaths needed to call something a war is constantly under debate.  There are several broad types of wars, which can be divided and subdivided to your heart's content.

===International war===
[[File:Crimean War 1854-56 Q71246.jpg|thumb|right|300px|The glorious results of war.<ref group="note">British graveyard from the {{wpl|Crimean War||.}}</ref>]]
Since the rise of the concept of the [[nation-state]], wars have traditionally been fought between the armed forces of two or more sovereign [[state]]s. While irregulars and guerrillas may play a part in such wars, the states are the ones in control.<ref group="note">For example, in [[Norway]] and France during [[World War II]] there were strong resistance movements, but overall the Allies and the [[Axis]] governments and military directed the wars.</ref> Such wars are, at least in principle, governed by international law (most notably the {{wpl|Geneva Conventions||,)}} and explicitly discouraged by institutions such as the [[UN]], which had its member nations renounce war as a method of solving disputes. However, politics being what it is, this just means that most wars today are undeclared.

===War of aggression===
Wars of aggression are fought without the justification of self-defense. Since they are often fought over controlling land, they are also known as "wars of conquest". They are not necessarily fought for territories and their resources; as a matter of fact, in ancient times, invasions were often more about pillage than empire-building. In other words, these tended to be punitive expeditions rather than conquests. Today, wars of aggression are 
frowned upon by pathetic pacifists
 considered a crime against humanity.

====War of annihilation====

A subset of wars of aggression: in this case the goal of one or both sides is the ''total'' destruction of the opposing group. Nuclear wars belong to this category.

===Civil war===
[[File:Spanish Civil War - Mass grave - Estépar, Burgos.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Mass grave from the [[Spanish Civil War]].]]
A [[civil war]] describes a situation in which factions within one [[nation]] fight for control. This covers armed insurrections against the [[government]], as well as organized violence between groups that the state is unable to stop. In both cases, civil wars can turn into international conflicts when outside powers are prompted to intervene, and in such cases often become proxy wars (see below) between those external parties. Civil wars are often extremely bloody affairs, because they blur the line between soldiers and civilians. Sometimes, one or more of the factions involved also wage all-out campaigns of [[genocide]] or ethnic cleansing, in which civilians become targets rather than "collateral damage". 

====Revolutionary war====
Wars of [[revolution]] are also usually confined to a single country's territory (but compare, for example, the French Revolutionary Wars<ref>{{wpa | French Revolutionary Wars}} </ref> and the Polish-Soviet War<ref>{{wpa | Polish–Soviet War}} </ref>). Their purpose is to overthrow the existing government structure and replace it with something the revolutionaries think will better serve the people.  There are basically two kinds — in one, usually called a war of independence, a country or territory seeks to liberate itself from a [[colonial]] or [[Imperialism|imperial]] power; in the other, the goal is to overthrow the country's existing independent government. Examples of the former include the [[American Revolution|American War of Independence]] against [[England]], and the [[Algeria]]n one against [[France]].  The latter include the French, [[Russian Revolution|Russian]], and [[Cuba]]n revolutions. As with most wars, the "legitimacy" of the revolutionaries is definitely in the eye of the beholder — one person's [[Freedom Fighter | freedom-fighter]] is another person's terrorist. Also keep in mind that history is written by the victors, assuming the losers are completely vanquished.<ref group="note">Thus American revolutionaries are called "Patriots" in the U.S. but "radicals" in the Commonwealth of 
Minions
 Nations.</ref>

This is a subsection of "civil war" because there isn't really that much of a difference between a civil and revolutionary war, beyond that the [[American Revolution|people win in a revolution]] and [[American Civil War|the government wins in a civil war]].

===Religious war===
{{cquote|God's always on your side in a war. There's never been a war, as far as I know, when halfway through a general has said to his men: "Men – last night, in this, our hour of need, I prayed to God. Uh, unfortunately, it seems he's backing the Turks on this one..."|||BBC GCSE {{wpl|Bitesize}} revision<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/ir1/causes_war1act.shtml Causes of World War One: GCSE Bitesize activity]</ref>}}
[[Religious]] wars are usually civil wars, though they can also be international.  A religious war is one where the primary motivation behind the war is specifically religious. The most well-known religious wars were those between the [[Europe]]an states and the [[Islam]]ic and pagan worlds during the [[Crusades]], or between the [[Protestant]] and [[Catholic]]s sections of [[Germany]] during the [[Thirty Years War]]. In terms of casualties, the [[Taiping Rebellion]] was the largest religious war. At the start of the twenty-first century, it seemed that religious wars were on the decline, but [[American Taliban|a few]] see [[United States]] military actions in [[Iraq]] and [[Afghanistan]] in that light.

===Proxy war===
[[File:A Vietnamese woman weeps over the body of her husband, one of the Vietnames Army casualties suffered in the war with... - NARA - 542295.tif|thumb|right|325px|The fruits of America's war in [[Vietnam]]. Was it worth it?]]
Proxy wars, which became more common during the [[Cold War]], are typically local civil wars or wars between smaller nations in which major powers back one or more of the combative factions in order to further their own ends, but do not wish to dirty their hands with each others' blood directly. The [[Arab]]-[[Israel]]i conflict used to be cast in this light. Another example is the [[Vietnam War]], in which the Soviet Union and Red China supported North Vietnam (the Democratic Republic of Vietnam) while the U.S., alongside South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the Philippines, and Thailand, supported South Vietnam (the Republic of Vietnam). In the latter case, its primary opponent was engaged directly. A proxy war carries a number of benefits:

* Someone else is providing a significant portion of the armed forces, thus lessening casualties for the external parties. In some cases interested parties may supply material support and training ("advisors") while refraining from providing combat personnel, such as the case of America's support for the ''mujahideen'' in their efforts to counter the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.
* An increased sphere of influence - should the war be a successful one. 
* A large-scale war between major powers is likely to breed the danger of escalation, including the threat of [[nuclear war]].
* Fighting in one's own country tends to leave things in a bit of a mess, so it's preferable to have the fighting take place elsewhere.

However, relying on proxies can also be very risky, since they're not really under your control. They often do things you'd rather they didn't, such as killing civilians, starting more wars at inopportune times, or [[Taliban|turning around and attacking you instead]]. It is also very easy for a conflict to start as a proxy war, only to eventually draw the patron in as well. The US involvement in Vietnam, for example, began with providing training and materiel for the South Vietnamese, but eventually escalated into a massive American troop deployment and saw the US turn into the major combatant.

===Guerrilla war===
Guerrilla warfare is a combat situation when one of the combatants is a large organized army, and the other side comprises small, often independent units that aggressively attack any way they can, using tactics which include ambushes and raids. The American War of Independence and the Vietnam War saw significant guerrilla actions. This is also known as asymmetrical warfare.

Russia engaged in an unusual case of ''reverse'' asymmetrical warfare in 2014 by invading the much weaker nation of [[Ukraine]] without using identifying marks on its soldiers or equipment. During the invasion, [[Vladimir Putin]] claimed that his soldiers were actually Ukrainian partisans, and dared the Ukrainian Army to shoot at Ukrainian civilians, behind whom the unmarked Russian soldiers were hiding.<ref name=unfreedom>''The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America'' by Timothy Snyder (2018) Tim Duggan Books. ISBN 0525574468.</ref>{{rp|165-166}}

===Hybrid warfare===
Hybrid warfare can involve combinations of a wide range of tactics,<ref>[https://www.potomacinstitute.org/images/stories/publications/potomac_hybridwar_0108.pdfConflict in the 21<sup>st</sup> Century: The Rise of Hybrid Wars.] by Frank G. Hoffman (2007) ''Potomac Institute for Policy Studies''.</ref> including conventional warfare, {{sl|guerrilla warfare}}, {{sl|Proxy war}}s, [[cyberwarfare]], election interference, covert influence campaigns (such as [[fake news]], or [[Don't feed the Troll#Russian troll factory|troll factories]]), or using mass immigration as a form of destabilization (as in the case of [[Belarus]] against [[Poland]] in 2021<ref>[https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/belarusalert/belarus-dictator-turns-hybrid-war-into-humanitarian-crisis/ Belarus dictator turns hybrid war into humanitarian crisis] by Alesia Rudnik (November 15, 2021) ''Atlantic Council''.</ref>). The intent of the aggressor in such warfare is to avoid attribution or have plausible deniability.<ref>[https://www.nato.int/docu/review/articles/2014/11/18/deterring-hybrid-warfare-a-chance-for-nato-and-the-eu-to-work-together/index.html Deterring hybrid warfare: a chance for NATO and the EU to work together?] by Peter Pindják (18 November 2014) ''NATO Review''.</ref>

=== Modern adaptations ===
[[File:Three children wounded by a US bomb in Nangrahar province of Afghanistan.jpg|thumb|right|275px|Children wounded by a US airstrike during the [[Afghanistan War]].]]
{{cquote|Sometimes I think war is God's way of teaching us geography.|||various attributions<ref>[https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/05/19/geography/ War Is God’s Way of Teaching Us Geography] (May 19, 2014) ''QUote Investigator''.</ref>}}
In today's [[globalization|globalized]] world, some wars are starting to cross-over between types, where fighters from different states come together in undeclared wars and civil wars spill out past national boundaries.  This can be seen most clearly in the proxy struggles between the [[Soviet Union]] and [[Afghanistan]] in the 1980s, and now in the fighting in [[Sudan]]/Chad/etc.

====Gang wars====
The term "gang war" characterizes ongoing, long-term conflicts between two or more [[gang]]s fighting for control of territory.  It has all the characteristics of a traditional war, except the parties do not represent nations or states.  Gang wars closely represent guerrilla wars in style.

===="War on..."====
[[File:Panama clashes 1989.JPEG|thumb|right|250px|[[Panama]] City aflame during the US' 1989 war on the (formerly US-backed) [[drug]]-trafficking dictator Manuel Noriega. This is what happens when Uncle Sam thinks you're no longer necessary.]]
Modern US media has used the term "war" to define aggressive moves by a government or by various groups of people to end some seemingly unwanted problem in [[society]]. Examples include:

* the [[War on Poverty]] waged by President Lyndon B. Johnson
* the [[War on Drugs]] declared by Richard Nixon
* the ([[Manufactroversy|non-existent]]) [[War on Christmas]]
* the [[War on science]]
* the [[War on terror]]
* the [[War on Women]]

The War on Drugs has led to increased rates of drug abuse. All it has really achieved is to fill up private prisons with people convicted of non-violent offenses who become violent offenders when they are released and ostracized for being convicts.{{cn}}

===Alternate definition===
War is also a card game of pure chance, typically played with one ordinary deck and two players, but extendable to more decks or players. Cards are dealt out face-down to each player, giving each player their own deck. Players cannot look at their deck or anyone else's. In a round, every player flips over the top card of their deck. Whoever has the card with the highest value<ref>Numbered cards = themselves, Jacks = 11, Queens = 12, Kings = 13, Aces = 1 or 14, depending on who you ask.</ref> gets all cards played in that round, to put at the bottom of their deck. If two or more players are tied for the highest-valued card, then a "war" occurs. Each player involved in the tie puts down three cards face-down, and flips over another card, which is compared instead. If one of the cards' values is greater than the other, then that player gets all cards involved in the "war". Otherwise, the war proceeds as before until a resolution is determined. When players run out of cards in their deck, they are out of the game. Rounds proceed as described until everybody except for one player has been eliminated. The remaining player is the winner.

==Causes of war==
In 1946, during the [[Nuremberg trials]], US Army [[psychologist]] Gustave Gilbert interviewed some of the Nazi leadership who were on trial. He and [[Hermann Göring]] had this exchange:<ref>[https://archive.org/details/the-nuremberg-diary-1971-gustave-gilbert/mode/2up ''The Nuremberg Diary''] by G. M. Gilbert (1971 [1948]) Signet Books.</ref>{{rp|255-256}}
{{blockquote|
'''Göring''': Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece. Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia nor in England nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a [[democracy]] or a [[fascist]] [[dictatorship]] or a Parliament or a Communist dictatorship.

'''Gilbert''': There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only [[Congress]] can declare war.

'''Göring''': Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the [[pacifist]]s for lack of [[patriotism]] and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.}}

Underlying reasons for large-scale conflict may get masked by short-term sparks that ignite [[metaphor]]ical tinder. Alliance systems, international rivalries, dreams of revenge, traditional hatreds and economic manoeuvring played a role in causing [[World War I]], but an assassination in Sarajevo sparked the conflict between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in July 1914. Some fundamental causes of war include:
*'''Ideology''': [[Religion | Religious]] fervor may play a part here. It may serve as a cloak&nbsp;— an excuse for collecting plunder or for establishing control. [[Nationalism]] became popular as something worth fighting for in the 19th century.
*'''Resources''': As is the case for other species, humans do engage in conflict over resources they want or need, such as living space or raw materials. Here is a modern example: if a war ever breaks out in the South China Sea, it will because of the fisheries and deposits of oil and natural gas.
*'''Glory''': The fame of successful war-mongers can echo down the centuries. Thus the exploits of [[Julius Caesar]] or of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] were not lost on [[Adolf Hitler]].

==The ever-changing nature of war==
<gallery widths=150px heights=150px>
File:Wolf-Dietrich-Klebeband Städtebilder G 111 III.jpg|[[Eighty Years War]]
File:Dubois-massacre-détail.jpg|[[Protestant Reformation|French Wars of Religion]]
File:Page245 Tillys Einzug in das zerstörte Magdeburg am 25. Mai 1631.jpg|[[Thirty Years War]]
File:Night Bivouac of Great Army.jpg|[[Napoleonic Wars]]
File:DeadCrowIndians1874.jpg|[[American Indian Wars]]
File:DunkerChurchAntietam1862.jpg|[[American Civil War]]
File:Q10378 (cropped).jpg|[[World War One|"The War to End All Wars"]]
File:Nanking bodies 1937.jpg|[[Rape of Nanking|Second Sino-Japanese War]]
File:Malmedy Massacre.jpg|[[World War Two]]
File:Prisoners on ground before execution,Taejon, South Korea.jpg|[[Korean War]]
File:My Lai massacre.jpg|[[Vietnam War]]
File:Iranian killed soldier during Iran-Iraq war with Rouhollah Khomeini's photo on his uniform.jpg|[[Iran-Iraq War]]
File:BUHRIZ 2004 22OCT 080.jpg|[[Iraq War]]
File:Survivors_in_the_rubble_of_destruction_by_the_Islamic_State_in_the_village_Wardik_07.jpg|{{wpl|War against the Islamic State}}
File:Lugansk-2014-06-18.jpeg|[[Ukraine#Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russia's War in Ukraine]]
</gallery>

==External links==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75F5RaU5wSM&list=PLFC559B25020159D6&index=5 "Invasion!"] Song about war from ''{{wpl|Histeria!}}''
*[http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2011/02/21/ Think of an answer.] Poor kid is [[just asking questions]].

==Notes==
<references group="note"/>

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

[[Category:War| ]]
[[Category:International relations]]
[[Category:Politics]]
[[Category:Military]]

Categories: War, International relations, Politics, Military