Religious war

An armed conflict in which religious beliefs, institutions, or goals significantly shape its causes, aims, or justification. Religious identity may overlap with political, territorial, or social struggles.

Just war theory: A tradition of ethical thought that sets conditions for morally justified warfare. Its criteria show how religious authorities have judged when war may be justified.
Crusades: A series of medieval Christian military campaigns, especially those directed toward the eastern Mediterranean. They became a lasting model of warfare publicly framed as a sacred expedition.
Secularism: The principle that religion should be separated from state institutions or public authority. It offers a political framework that limits religious authority over decisions to wage war.
Peace of Westphalia: The 1648 agreements that ended the Thirty Years' War and reshaped political order in Europe. It became associated with settlement after prolonged confessional conflict.
Religious studies: The academic study of religions using historical, social, textual, and comparative methods. Its methods help distinguish participants' religious claims from later interpretations.
Holy war: A war understood as sanctioned by divine authority or fought for a sacred cause. This narrower idea makes sacred authorization central to warfare.
European wars of religion: Conflicts in early modern Europe driven partly by divisions between Christian confessions. They show confessional allegiance shaping wars among states and communities.
Ethnic conflict: Violence between groups defined chiefly by shared ancestry, language, or cultural identity. Religious and ethnic identities often overlap, but the main explanation for violence can differ.
Edict of Nantes: A 1598 French decree granting limited rights to Huguenots and ending major phases of the French Wars of Religion. It shows how rulers tried to contain conflict through legal toleration.
Political realism: An approach to international politics that emphasizes power, security, and state interests. Realist explanations test whether religious language masks strategic motives.

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Reformation studiesNarrower topic: Reformation-era divisions contributed to conflicts whose motives were also political.