Si vis pacem, para bellum
Background. The phrase "" is adapted from a statement found in Latin author Publius Flavius Vegetius Renatus's tract "Dē Rē Mīlitārī" (fourth or fifth century AD), in which the actual phrasing is " Igitur quī dēsīderat pācem, præparet bellum" ("Therefore let him who desires peace prepare for war."). The idea which it conveys also appears in earlier works such as Plato's "Nomoi" ("Laws") and the Chinese "Shi Ji". The phrase presents the insight that the conditions of peace are often preserved by a readiness to make war when necessitated. Derived uses. Whatever the source, the  adage has become a living vocabulary item itself, used in the production of different ideas in a number of languages. Si vis bellum para pacem. For example, historian Louis Antoine Fauvelet de Bourrienne made reference to the foreign policy of Napoleon Bonaparte: Si vis pacem para pactum. In the United States, the National Arbitration and Peace Congress of 1907, presided over by Andrew Carnegie said: Si vis pacem fac bellum. "If you want peace, make war". The solution does not cover the case of the nation that does not desire peace. Imperial Germany went to war in 1914 and was  castigated by Richard Grelling, a German-Jewish pacifist, in "J'Accuse" (1915). In 1918 Grelling wrote again, this time as an expatriate in Switzerland. Citing Woodrow Wilson's "The world must be safe for democracy" speech before Congress on April 2, 1917, Grelling says: Si vis pacem para pacem. "If you want peace, prepare for peace." The great wars of the 19th and 20th centuries were opposed by the philosophy of pacifism, which in the 19th century was associated with early socialism, even though the socialism of the 20th century often lacked pacifistic tendencies, preaching violent revolution instead. The pacifism that  opposed the world wars traced its lineage to Barthélemy Prosper Enfantin, an early French socialist and one of the founders of Saint-Simonianism. As early as April 2, 1841, he had said in a letter to General Saint-Cyr Nugues: with reference to Algeria. By way of elucidation Enfantin goes on to say that war could have been avoided if a proper study of Algeria had been made. The parabellum. The main clause of the adage was used as a motto by German arms maker Deutsche Waffen und Munitionsfabriken (DWM), and is the source of the term Parabellum as applied  to firearms and ammunition (especially the 7.65mm Parabellum and the 9mm Parabellum cartridges). The term is also an antithesis to the American use of "peacemaker" to mean the Colt Single Action Army handgun.