War is a state of armed conflict between societies.

It is generally characterized
by extreme collective aggression, destruction, and usually high mortality. An a
bsence of war is usually called "peace". Total war is warfare that is not restri
cted to purely legitimate military targets, and can result in massive civilian o
r other non-combatant casualties.
While some scholars see war as a universal and ancestral aspect of human nature,
[1] others argue that it is only a result of specific socio-cultural or ecologic
al circumstances.[2]
In 2013 war resulted in 31,000 deaths down from 72,000 deaths in 1990.[3] The de
adliest war in history, in terms of the cumulative number of deaths since its st
art, is the Second World War, from 1939 to 1945, with 6085 million deaths, follow
ed by the Mongol conquests[4] which was greater than 41 million.[5] Proportional
ly speaking, the most destructive war in modern history is the War of the Triple
Alliance, which took the lives of over 60% of Paraguay's population, according
to Steven Pinker. In 2003, Richard Smalley identified war as the sixth (of ten)
biggest problem facing humanity for the next fifty years.[6] War usually results
in significant deterioration of infrastructure and the ecosystem, a decrease in
social spending, famine, large-scale emigration from the war zone, and often th
e mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilians.[7][8][9] Another byproduct of s
ome wars is the prevalence of propaganda by some or all parties in the conflict,
[10] and increased revenues by weapons manufacturers.[11]
Contents [hide]
1
Etymology
2
Types
3
Behaviour and conduct
4
History
4.1
Throughout history
4.1.1 Nine largest by death toll
5
Effects
5.1
On military personnel
5.2
On civilians
5.3
On the economy
5.3.1 World War II
5.4
On the arts
6
Aims
6.1
Definition
6.2
Classification
7
Ongoing conflicts
8
Limiting and stopping
9
Theories for motivation
9.1
Psychoanalytic psychology
9.2
Evolutionary
9.3
Economic
9.4
Marxist
9.5
Demographic
9.5.1 Malthusian
9.5.2 Youth bulge
9.6
Rationalist
9.7
Political science
9.7.1 System-level theories
9.7.2 Societal-level theories
9.7.3 Individual-level theories
10
Ethics
11
See also
12
References
12.1
Bibliography
13
External links

Etymology
Mural of War (1896), by Gari Melchers
The English word war derives from the late Old English (circa.1050) words wyrre
and werre, from Old French werre (also guerre as in modern French), in turn from
the Frankish *werra, ultimately deriving from the Proto-Germanic *werz 'mixture,
confusion'. The word is related to the Old Saxon werran, Old High German werran
, and the German verwirren, meaning to confuse, to perplex, and to bring into confusi
on.[12] In German, the equivalent is Krieg (from Proto-Germanic *krgan 'to strive,
be stubborn'); the Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian term for "war" is guerra, de
rived like the Old French term from the Germanic word.[13] Etymologic legend has
it that the Romanic peoples adopted a foreign, Germanic word for "war", to avoi
d using the Latin bellum, because, when sounded, it tended to merge with the sou
nd of the word bello ("beautiful").[citation needed]

The scholarly study of war is sometimes called polemology (American English: / plmldi
-l-mahl--jee), from the Greek polemos, meaning "war", and -logy, meaning "the stud
y of".
Types
Main article: Types of war
War must entail some degree of confrontation using weapons and other military te
chnology and equipment by armed forces employing military tactics and operationa
l art within a broad military strategy subject to military logistics. Studies of
war by military theorists throughout military history have sought to identify t
he philosophy of war, and to reduce it to a military science.
Ruins of Guernica (1937). The Spanish Civil War was one of Europe's bloodiest an
d most brutal civil wars.
Modern military science considers several factors before a national defence poli
cy is created to allow a war to commence: the environment in the area(s) of comb
at operations, the posture that national forces will adopt on the commencement o
f a war, and the type of warfare that troops will be engaged in.
Asymmetric warfare is a conflict between two populations of drastically differen
t levels of military capability or size.
Biological warfare, or germ warfare, is the use of weaponized biological toxins
or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
Chemical warfare involves the use of weaponized chemicals in combat. Poison gas
as a chemical weapon was principally used during World War I, and resulted in an
estimated 1.3 million casualties, including 100,000260,000 civilians. Tens of th
ousands or more civilians and military personnel died from chemical weapon use.[
14]
Civil war is a war between forces belonging to the same nation or political enti
ty.
Conventional warfare is declared war between states in which nuclear, biological
, or chemical weapons are not used or see limited deployment.
Cyberwarfare involves the actions by a nation-state or international organizatio
n to attack and attempt to damage another nation's information systems.
Nuclear warfare is warfare in which nuclear weapons are the primary, or a major,
method of achieving capitulation.
Total war is warfare by any means possible, disregarding the laws of war, placin
g no limits on legitimate military targets, using weapons and tactics that resul
t in significant civilian casualties, or demanding a war effort that requires si
gnificant sacrifices by the friendly civilian population.
Unconventional warfare, the opposite of conventional warfare, is an attempt to a
chieve military victory through acquiescence, capitulation, or clandestine suppo
rt for one side of an existing conflict.
War of aggression is a war for conquest or gain rather than self-defense; this c

an be the basis of war crimes under customary international law.

Behaviour and conduct

The nature of warfare never changes, only its superficial manifestations. Joshua
and David, Hector and Achilles would recognize the combat that our soldiers and
Marines have waged in the alleys of Somalia and Iraq. The uniforms evolve, bron
ze gives way to titanium, arrows may be replaced by laser-guided bombs, but the
heart of the matter is still killing your enemies until any survivors surrender
and do your will.

Ralph Peters[15]
The behaviour of troops in warfare varies considerably, both individually and as
units or armies. In some circumstances, troops may engage in genocide, war rape
and ethnic cleansing. Commonly, however, the conduct of troops may be limited t
o posturing and sham attacks, leading to highly rule-bound and often largely sym
bolic combat in which casualties are much reduced from that which would be expec
ted if soldiers were genuinely violent towards the enemy.[16] Situations of deli
berate dampening of hostilities occurred in World War I by some accounts, e.g.,
a volley of gunfire being exchanged after a misplaced mortar hit the British lin
e, after which a German soldier shouted an apology to British forces, effectivel
y stopping a hostile exchange of gunfire.[17] Other examples of non-aggression,
also from World War I, are detailed in Good-Bye to All That. These include spont
aneous ceasefires to rebuild defences and retrieve casualties, alongside behavio
ur such as refusing to shoot at enemy during ablutions and the taking of great r
isks (described as 1 in 20) to retrieve enemy wounded from the battlefield. The
most notable spontaneous ceasefire of World War I was the Christmas truce.
The psychological separation between combatants, and the destructive power of mo
dern weaponry, may act to override this effect and facilitate participation by c
ombatants in the mass slaughter of combatants or civilians. The unusual circumst
ances of warfare can incite apparently normal individuals to commit atrocities.[
18] Sociologists and historians often view dehumanization as central to war.
History
Main article: Military history
The percentages of men killed in war in eight tribal societies, and Europe and t
he U.S. in the 20th century. (Lawrence H. Keeley, Archeologist)
The earliest evidence of war belongs to the Mesolithic cemetery Site 117, which
has been determined to be approximately 14,000 years old. About forty-five perce
nt of the skeletons there displayed signs of violent death.[19] Since the rise o
f the state some 5,000 years ago,[20] military activity has occurred over much o
f the globe. The advent of gunpowder and the acceleration of technological advan
ces led to modern warfare. According to Conway W. Henderson, "One source claims
that 14,500 wars have taken place between 3500 BC and the late 20th century, cos
ting 3.5 billion lives, leaving only 300 years of peace (Beer 1981: 20)."[21]
In War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Keeley, a professor at the University of
Illinois, says that approximately 9095% of known societies throughout history en
gaged in at least occasional warfare,[22] and many fought constantly.[23]
Japanese samurai attacking a Mongol ship, 13th century
F-15E deploys flares during a flight over Afghanistan, 12 November 2008
Keeley describes several styles of primitive combat such as small raids, large r
aids, and massacres. All of these forms of warfare were used by primitive societ
ies, a finding supported by other researchers.[24] Keeley explains that early wa
r raids were not well organized, as the participants did not have any formal tra
ining. Scarcity of resources meant that defensive works were not a cost effectiv
e way to protect the society against enemy raids.[25]

William Rubinstein wrote that "Pre-literate societies, even those organised in a

relatively advanced way, were renowned for their studied cruelty ... 'archaeolo
gy yields evidence of prehistoric massacres more severe than any recounted in et
hnography [i.e., after the coming of the Europeans]'. At Crow Creek, South Dakot
a, as noted, archaeologists found a mass grave of 'more than 500 men, women, and
children who had been slaughtered, scalped, and mutilated during an attack on t
heir village a century and a half before Columbus's arrival (ca. AD 1325)' ".[26
]
It is problematic, however, to make generalizations regarding prehistoric violen
ce, because the frequency and manifestation of warfare vary greatly in the ethno
graphic and archaeological record.
According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census (1894), the Indian Wars of the 19th c
entury cost the lives of about 19,000 whites and 30,000 Indians.[27]
In Western Europe, since the late 18th century, more than 150 conflicts and abou
t 600 battles have taken place.[28] During the 20th century, war resulted in a d
ramatic intensification of the pace of social changes, and was a crucial catalys
t for the emergence of the Left as a force to be reckoned with.[29]
Recent rapid increases in the technologies of war, and therefore in its destruct
iveness (see mutual assured destruction), have caused widespread public concern,
and have in all probability forestalled, and may altogether prevent the outbrea
k of a nuclear World War III. At the end of each of the last two World Wars, con
certed and popular efforts were made to come to a greater understanding of the u
nderlying dynamics of war and to thereby hopefully reduce or even eliminate it a
ltogether. These efforts materialized in the forms of the League of Nations, and
its successor, the United Nations.
Shortly after World War II, as a token of support for this concept, most nations
joined the United Nations. During this same post-war period, with the aim of fu
rther delegitimizing war as an acceptable and logical extension of foreign polic
y[citation needed], most national governments also renamed their Ministries or D
epartments of War as their Ministries or Departments of Defense, for example, th
e former U.S. Department of War was renamed as the U.S. Department of Defense.
In 1947, in view of the rapidly increasingly destructive consequences of modern
warfare, and with a particular concern for the consequences and costs of the new
ly developed atom bomb, Albert Einstein famously stated, "I know not with what w
eapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks
and stones."[30]
Mao Zedong urged the socialist camp not to fear nuclear war with the United Stat
es since, even if "half of mankind died, the other half would remain while imper
ialism would be razed to the ground and the whole world would become socialist."
[31]
The Human Security Report 2005 documented a significant decline in the number an
d severity of armed conflicts since the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s.
However, the evidence examined in the 2008 edition of the Center for Internation
al Development and Conflict Management's "Peace and Conflict" study indicated th
at the overall decline in conflicts had stalled.[32]
Throughout history
Main article: Wars
Nine largest by death toll
Main article: List of wars by death toll
Three of the ten most costly wars, in terms of loss of life, have been waged in
the last century. These are the two World Wars, followed by the Second Sino-Japa

nese War (which is sometimes considered part of World War II, or overlapping wit
h that war). Most of the others involved China or neighboring peoples. The death
toll of World War II, being 60 million plus, surpasses all other war-death-toll
s. This may be due to significant recent advances in weapons technologies, as we
ll as recent increases in the overall human population.
[33]
Deaths
(millions)
Date
War
60.784.6
19391945
World War II (see World War II casualties) [34][35]
60
13th century
Mongol Conquests (see Mongol invasions and Tatar invasio
ns)[36][37][38]
40
18501864
Taiping Rebellion (see Dungan revolt)[39]
39
19141918
World War I (see World War I casualties)[40]
36
755763 An Shi Rebellion (number exaggerated based on census system, but
not considering the territorial shrink and inefficient census system afterwar[41
]
25
16161662
Qing dynasty conquest of Ming dynasty[33]
20
19371945
Second Sino-Japanese War[42]
20
13701405
Conquests of Tamerlane[43][44]
16
18621877
Dungan revolt
59
19171922
Russian Civil War and Foreign Intervention[45]
Effects
Disability-adjusted life year for war per 100,000 inhabitants in 2004[46]
no data
less than 100
100200
200600
6001000
10001400
14001800
18002200
22002600
26003000
30008000
80008800
more than 8800
The Apotheosis of War (1871) by Vasily Vereshchagin
On military personnel
Military personnel subject to combat in war often suffer mental and physical inj
uries, including depression, posttraumatic stress disorder, disease, injury, and
death.
In every war in which American soldiers have fought in, the chances of becoming
a psychiatric casualty of being debilitated for some period of time as a consequ
ence of the stresses of military life were greater than the chances of being kil
led by enemy fire.
No More Heroes, Richard Gabriel[28]
During World War II, research conducted by US Army Brigadier General S.L.A. Mars
hall found that, on average, only 15% to 20% of American riflemen in WWII combat
fired at the enemy.[16] In Civil War Collectors Encyclopedia, F.A. Lord notes th
at of the 27,574 discarded muskets found on the Gettysburg battlefield, nearly 9
0% were loaded, with 12,000 loaded more than once and 6,000 loaded 3 to 10 times
. These studies suggest that most military personnel resist firing their weapons
in combat, that as some theorists argue human beings have an inherent resistanc
e to killing their fellow human beings.[16] Swank and Marchands WWII study found

that after sixty days of continuous combat, 98% of all surviving military person
nel will become psychiatric casualties. Psychiatric casualties manifest themselv
es in fatigue cases, confusional states, conversion hysteria, anxiety, obsession
al and compulsive states, and character disorders.[16]
One-tenth of mobilised American men were hospitalised for mental disturbances be
tween 1942 and 1945, and after thirty-five days of uninterrupted combat, 98% of
them manifested psychiatric disturbances in varying degrees.
1418: Understanding the Great War, Stphane Audoin-Rouzeau, Annette Becker[28]
Additionally, it has been estimated that anywhere from 18% to 54% of Vietnam war
veterans suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.[16]
Based on 1860 census figures, 8% of all white American males aged 13 to 43 died
in the American Civil War, including about 6% in the North and approximately 18%
in the South.[47] The war remains the deadliest conflict in American history, r
esulting in the deaths of 620,000 military personnel. United States military cas
ualties of war since 1775 have totaled over two million. Of the 60 million Europ
ean military personnel who were mobilized in World War I, 8 million were killed,
7 million were permanently disabled, and 15 million were seriously injured.[48]
Why?, from The Disasters of War (Los desastres de la guerra), by Francisco Goya,
181215. A collection of depictions of the brutalities of the Napoleonic-Peninsul
ar War.
The remains of dead Crow Indians killed and scalped by Sioux c. 1874
Les Grandes Misres de la guerre depict the destruction unleashed on civilians dur
ing the Thirty Years War.
During Napoleon s retreat from Moscow, more French military personnel died of ty
phus than were killed by the Russians.[49] Of the 450,000 soldiers who crossed t
he Neman on 25 June 1812, less than 40,000 returned. More military personnel wer
e killed from 15001914 by typhus than from military action.[50] In addition, if i
t were not for modern medical advances there would be thousands more dead from d
isease and infection. For instance, during the Seven Years War, the Royal Navy
reported that it conscripted 184,899 sailors, of whom 133,708 died of disease or
were missing .[51]
It is estimated that between 1985 and 1994, 378,000 people per year died due to
war.[52]
On civilians
See also: Civilian casualties
Most wars have resulted in significant loss of life, along with destruction of i
nfrastructure and resources (which may lead to famine, disease, and death in the
civilian population). During the Thirty Years War in Europe, the population of
the Holy Roman Empire was reduced by 15 to 40 percent.[53][54] Civilians in war
zones may also be subject to war atrocities such as genocide, while survivors m
ay suffer the psychological aftereffects of witnessing the destruction of war.
Most estimates of World War II casualties indicate that around 60 million people
died, 40 million of which were civilians.[55] Deaths in the Soviet Union were a
round 27 million.[56] Since a high proportion of those killed were young men who
had not yet fathered any children, population growth in the postwar Soviet Unio
n was much lower than it otherwise would have been.[57]
On the economy
See also: Military Keynesianism
Once a war has ended, losing nations are sometimes required to pay war reparatio

ns to the victorious nations. In certain cases, land is ceded to the victorious

nations. For example, the territory of Alsace-Lorraine has been traded between F
rance and Germany on three different occasions.
Typically speaking, war becomes very intertwined with the economy and many wars
are partially or entirely based on economic reasons. Some economists believe war
can stimulate a country s economy (high government spending for World War II is
often credited with bringing the USA out of the Great Depression by most Keynes
ian economists) but in many cases, such as the wars of Louis XIV, the Franco-Pru
ssian War, and World War I, warfare serves only to damage the economy of the cou
ntries involved. For example, Russia s involvement in World War I took such a to
ll on the Russian economy that it almost collapsed and greatly contributed to th
e start of the Russian Revolution of 1917.