War

War is organized armed conflict between political communities, including states and rival groups. It involves sustained use or threat of force to pursue political aims.

War aims: Political objectives that a belligerent seeks to achieve through war. War’s political purposes determine which military actions count as success.
Causes of war: The political, economic, social, and strategic conditions that contribute to the outbreak of war. This field compares explanations for why organized conflicts begin.
Peloponnesian War: A conflict between Athens and Sparta and their allies from 431 to 404 BCE. Thucydides’ account makes this war a foundational case of rivalry between political communities.
Civil war: A war fought between organized groups within the same state, often over political authority or territory. It is a form of war whose belligerents contest power within one political community.
International humanitarian law: Rules that limit the effects of armed conflict by protecting people and restricting methods of warfare. It regulates conduct during war without deciding whether a war’s political cause is justified.
Military strategy: The design and coordination of military operations to achieve political and military objectives. Strategy connects a community’s war aims to the use of armed force.
Security dilemma: A situation in which one community’s defensive measures make others feel less secure. Mutual fear can produce arms buildups and conflict without either side seeking conquest.
Thirty Years' War: A series of conflicts in central Europe from 1618 to 1648 involving religious and dynastic rivalries. Its shifting coalitions show how local disputes can become a prolonged international war.
Insurgency: An organized campaign by a non-state movement to challenge or overthrow an established authority. Insurgencies can become wars, but their irregular organization distinguishes them from conventional state conflict.
Civilian casualty: A civilian death or injury caused by military action or other violence in armed conflict. Civilian harm is a central human cost and a focus of legal limits on warfare.

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