war

W0026300 (wôr)n.1. a. A state of open, armed, often prolonged conflict carried on between nations, states, or parties.b. The period of such conflict.c. The techniques and procedures of war; military science.2. a. A condition of active antagonism or contention: a war of words; a price war.b. A concerted effort or campaign to combat or put an end to something considered injurious: the war against acid rain.intr.v. warred, war·ring, wars 1. To wage or carry on warfare.2. To be in a state of hostility or rivalry; contend.Idiom: at war In an active state of conflict or contention.

[Middle English werre, from Old North French, of Germanic origin; see wers- in Indo-European roots.]Word History: War can be traced back to the Indo-European root *wers-, "to confuse, mix up." In the Germanic family of the Indo-European languages, this root gave rise to several words having to do with confusion or mixture of various kinds. One was the noun *werza-, "confusion," which in a later form *werra- was borrowed into Old French, probably from Frankish, a largely unrecorded Germanic language that contributed about 200 words to the vocabulary of Old French. From the Germanic stem came both the form werre in Old North French, the form borrowed into English in the 1100s, and guerre (also the source of guerrilla) in the rest of the Old French-speaking area. Both forms meant "war." Meanwhile another form derived from the same Indo-European root had developed into a word denoting a more benign kind of mixture, Old High German wurst, meaning "sausage." Modern German Wurst was borrowed into English in the 1800s.

war

(wɔː) n1. (Military) open armed conflict between two or more parties, nations, or states. 2. (Military) a particular armed conflict: the 1973 war in the Middle East. 3. (Military) the techniques of armed conflict as a study, science, or profession4. any conflict or contest: a war of wits; the war against crime. 5. (Military) (modifier) of, relating to, resulting from, or characteristic of war: a war hero; war damage; a war story. 6. (Military) to have had a good war to have made the most of the opportunities presented to one during wartime7. in the wars informal (esp of a child) hurt or knocked about, esp as a result of quarrelling and fightingvb, wars, warring or warred (Military) (intr) to conduct a war[C12: from Old Northern French werre (variant of Old French guerre), of Germanic origin; related to Old High German werra]

war¹

(wɔr)

n., v. warred, war•ring,
adj. n. 1. armed conflict between nations or factions within a nation; warfare. 2. a state or period of active military operations. 3. (often cap.) a particular armed conflict consisting of a series of battles or campaigns: the War of 1812. 4. armed fighting as a science or profession. 5. active hostility or contention; conflict: a war of words. 6. aggressive competition in business: a fare war among airlines. 7. a struggle to achieve a particular goal: a war against poverty. 8. Archaic. a battle. v.i. 9. to make or carry on war. 10. to carry on active hostility or feel strong opposition. adj. 11. of, belonging to, or resulting from war. [before 1150; Middle English; late Old English werre < Old North French < Germanic; compare Old High German werra strife; akin to war²]

war²

(wɑr)

adj., adv. Scot. worse. [1150–1200; Middle English werre < Old Norse verri worse]

War

See also conflict; killing; weaponry.
angarythe right of a nation at war to destroy the property of a neutral, subject to indemnification.antiterrorismthe techniques, policies, and training of special police who deal with terrorists, especially those who take hostages. — antiterrorist, adj.armisticea temporary cessation of hostilities, by agreement between the belligerents, prior to the negotiation or signing of a peace treaty.bellicismthe advocacy of war. Cf. pacifism. — bellicist, n.belligerencethe state of being hostile or at war. — belligerent, n., adj.copperheadismany expression of sympathy for the Confederate cause in the American Civil War. — copperhead, n.demilitarizationthe process of demilitarization or removal of military activity or control from an area.demobilizationthe process of being demobilized or mustered out of the military.disarmamentthe reduction in size of military forces, by treaty, following defeat, etc. Also Obsolete, disarmature.disarmatureObsolete. disarmament.doveism, dovismthe advocacy of peace or a conciliatory national attitude, especially on the part of a public official. Cf. hawkism. — dove, n. — doveish, adj.gigantomachy1. a war between giants, as in mythology.
2. war between large contestants, as major powers.guerrillaismthe practice and philosophy of guerrilla warfare.hawkismthe advocacy of war or a belligerent national attitude, especially on the part of a public official. Cf. doveism. — hawk, n. — hawkish, adj.hostility1. a feeling or state of antagonism.
2. an expression or act of war. — hostile, adj.insurgency, insurgence1. the state or condition of being in revolt or insurrection.
2. an uprising. — insurgent, n., adj.irenicisman advocacy of peace and conciliation. — irenicist, n.logisticsthe branch of military science concerned with the movement and supply of troops. — logistician, n.martialism1. an inclination to belligerency; bellicosity.
2. the qualities of a military existence. — martialist, n.militancy1. the state or condition of being combative or disposed to fight.
2. the active championing of a cause or belief. — militant, n., adj.militarizationthe process of preparing for war; mobilization of troops or of an area.monomachy, monomachiasingle combat, or a duel. — monomachist, n.naumachia, naumachy1. a mock sea fight, as in ancient Rome.
2. the flooded arena where such fights were conducted.navalismthe maintaining of naval interests. — navalist, n.neutralitythe state or position of being impartial or not allied with or committed to either party or viewpoint in a conflict, especially a war or armed conflict, — neutral, adj.pacifism1. an opposition to war or violence of any kind.
2. the principle or policy of establishing and maintaining universal peace.
3. nonresistance to aggression. Cf. bellicism. — pacifist, n. — pacifistic, adj.pillage1. the act of plundering or large scale robbery, usually accompanied by violence as in wartime.
2. plundered property; booty.poliorceticsthe art of siegecraft. — poliorcetic, adj.sabotagedestruction of or damage to equipment, installations, etc, in an industrial context, as in a labor dispute, or in a military context, as in the action of partisan or resistance movements. — saboteur, n.siegecraftthe science or craft of laying or carrying out sieges.soldierysoldiership or military science or craft.spoliationthe process of robbing or plundering, especially in time of war and on a large scale. See also church; ships.stratographythe art of directing an army. — stratographer, n.tacticiana person skilled in the art of tactics, in a military or other sense.tactics1. the art or science of disposing or managing military forces to best advantage against the enemy.
2. a skill or resource management in other contexts.Titanomachybattle between Titans, referring to the unsuccessful revolt of the family of Iapetus against Zeus.trierarchyan ancient Athenian policy allowing private citizens, as part of their civic duty, to fit out triremes for the defense of the city.warcraftthe science, art, or craft of war.

War

war

Past participle: warred
Gerund: warring

Imperative
war
war

Present
I war
you war
he/she/it wars
we war
you war
they war

Preterite
I warred
you warred
he/she/it warred
we warred
you warred
they warred

Present Continuous
I am warring
you are warring
he/she/it is warring
we are warring
you are warring
they are warring

Present Perfect
I have warred
you have warred
he/she/it has warred
we have warred
you have warred
they have warred

Past Continuous
I was warring
you were warring
he/she/it was warring
we were warring
you were warring
they were warring

Past Perfect
I had warred
you had warred
he/she/it had warred
we had warred
you had warred
they had warred

Future
I will war
you will war
he/she/it will war
we will war
you will war
they will war

Future Perfect
I will have warred
you will have warred
he/she/it will have warred
we will have warred
you will have warred
they will have warred

Future Continuous
I will be warring
you will be warring
he/she/it will be warring
we will be warring
you will be warring
they will be warring

Present Perfect Continuous
I have been warring
you have been warring
he/she/it has been warring
we have been warring
you have been warring
they have been warring

Future Perfect Continuous
I will have been warring
you will have been warring
he/she/it will have been warring
we will have been warring
you will have been warring
they will have been warring

Past Perfect Continuous
I had been warring
you had been warring
he/she/it had been warring
we had been warring
you had been warring
they had been warring

Conditional
I would war
you would war
he/she/it would war
we would war
you would war
they would war

Past Conditional
I would have warred
you would have warred
he/she/it would have warred
we would have warred
you would have warred
they would have warred

Thesaurus

Noun	1.	war - the waging of armed conflict against an enemy; "thousands of people were killed in the war"warfarede-escalation - (war) a reduction in intensity (of a crisis or a war)military action, action - a military engagement; "he saw action in Korea"limited war - a war whose objective is less than the unconditional defeat of the enemypsychological warfare, war of nerves - the use of psychological tactics to destroy the opponents' moralebattle, engagement, fight, conflict - a hostile meeting of opposing military forces in the course of a war; "Grant won a decisive victory in the battle of Chickamauga"; "he lost his romantic ideas about war when he got into a real engagement"civil war - a war between factions in the same countryarmed combat, combat - an engagement fought between two military forceschemical operations, chemical warfare - warfare using chemical agents to kill or injure or incapacitate the enemybioattack, biologic attack, biological attack, biological warfare, BW - the use of bacteria or viruses or toxins to destroy men and animals or foodinformation warfare, IW - the use of information or information technology during a time of crisis or conflict to achieve or promote specific objectives over a specific adversary or adversaries; "not everyone agrees that information warfare is limited to the realm of traditional warfare"international jihad, jehad, jihad - a holy war waged by Muslims against infidelsworld war - a war in which the major nations of the world are involvedaggression - the act of initiating hostilitiesarmed forces, armed services, military, military machine, war machine - the military forces of a nation; "their military is the largest in the region"; "the military machine is the same one we faced in 1991 but now it is weaker"side - one of two or more contesting groups; "the Confederate side was prepared to attack"despoiler, freebooter, looter, pillager, plunderer, raider, spoiler - someone who takes spoils or plunder (as in war)state of war, war - a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply; "war was declared in November but actual fighting did not begin until the following spring"hot war - actual fighting between the warring parties
	2.	war - a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply; "war was declared in November but actual fighting did not begin until the following spring"state of warwar, warfare - the waging of armed conflict against an enemy; "thousands of people were killed in the war"antagonism, enmity, hostility - a state of deep-seated ill-willproxy war - a war instigated by a major power that does not itself participatepeace - the state prevailing during the absence of war
	3.	war - an active struggle between competing entities; "a price war"; "a war of wits"; "diplomatic warfare"warfareconflict, struggle, battle - an open clash between two opposing groups (or individuals); "the harder the conflict the more glorious the triumph"--Thomas Paine; "police tried to control the battle between the pro- and anti-abortion mobs"drug war - conflict between law enforcement and those who deal in illegal drugstrench warfare - a struggle (usually prolonged) between competing entities in which neither side is able to win; "the hope that his superior campaigning skills would make a difference evaporated in the realization that electioneering had become a form of trench warfare"
	4.	war - a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious; "the war on poverty"; "the war against crime"crusade, campaign, cause, drive, effort, movement - a series of actions advancing a principle or tending toward a particular end; "he supported populist campaigns"; "they worked in the cause of world peace"; "the team was ready for a drive toward the pennant"; "the movement to end slavery"; "contributed to the war effort"
Verb	1.	war - make or wage war fight, struggle, contend - be engaged in a fight; carry on a fight; "the tribesmen fought each other"; "Siblings are always fighting"; "Militant groups are contending for control of the country"blitzkrieg - fight a quick and surprising wargo to war, take arms, take up arms - commence hostilitiesmake peace - end hostilities; "The brothers who had been fighting over their inheritance finally made peace"

war

noun1. conflict, drive, attack, fighting, fight, operation, battle, movement, push, struggle, clash, combat, offensive, hostilities, hostility, warfare, expedition, crusade, strife, bloodshed, jihad, enmity, armed conflict matters of war and peace
conflict accord, peace, treaty, co-operation, ceasefire, harmony, compliance, truce, armistice, co-existence, peace-time2. campaign, drive, attack, operation, movement, push, mission, offensive, crusade the war against organized crimeverb1. fight, battle, clash, wage war, campaign, struggle, combat, contend, go to war, do battle, make war, take up arms, bear arms, cross swords, conduct a war, engage in hostilities, carry on hostilities The two tribes warred to gain new territory.
fight co-operate, make peace, co-exist, call a ceasefireRelated words
adjectives belligerent, martialQuotations
"War is nothing but the continuation of politics by other means" [Karl von Clausewitz On War]
"Politics is war without bloodshed while war is politics with bloodshed" [Mao Zedong On Protracted War]
"There was never a good war, or a bad peace" [Benjamin Franklin]
"War makes rattling good history; but Peace is poor reading" [Thomas Hardy The Dynasts]
"He that makes a good war makes a good peace" [George Herbert Outlandish Proverbs]
"O I know they make war because they want peace; they hate so that they may live; and they destroy the present to make the world safe for the future. When have they not done and said they did it for that?" [Elizabeth Smart Necessary Secrets]
"For what can war but endless war still breed?" [John Milton Sonnet, On the Lord General Fairfax]
"Above all, this book is not concerned with Poetry,"
"The subject of it is War, and the Pity of War."
"The Poetry is in the Pity" [Wilfred Owen Poems, Preface]
"As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular" [Oscar Wilde The Critic as Artist]
"In war, whichever side may call itself the victor, there are no winners, but all are losers" [Neville Chamberlain]
"War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men" [Georges Clemenceau]
"War is like love, it always finds a way" [Bertolt Brecht Mother Courage and Her Children]
"During the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man" [Thomas Hobbes Leviathan]
"History is littered with the wars which everybody knew would never happen" [Enoch Powell speech to the Conservative Party Conference]
"Let slip the dogs of war" [William Shakespeare Julius Caesar]
"War is the trade of kings" [John Dryden King Arthur]
"The quickest way of ending a war is to lose it" [George Orwell Shooting an Elephant]
"Sometime they'll give a war and nobody will come" [Carl Sandburg `The People, Yes']
"Since war begins in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed" Constitution of UNESCO
"The next war will be fought with atom bombs and the one after that with spears" [Harold Urey]
"War will cease when men refuse to fight" pacifist slogan
"After each war there is a little less democracy to save" [Brooks Atkinson Once Around the Sun]
"What if someone gave a war and Nobody came?"
"Life would ring the bells of Ecstasy and Forever be Itself again" [Allen Ginsberg The Fall of America]
"In the fall the war was always there but we did not go to it any more" [Ernest Hemingway Men Without Women]Proverbs
"All is fair in love and war"

war

noun1. A vying with others for victory or supremacy:battle, competition, contest, corrivalry, race, rivalry, strife, striving, struggle, tug of war, warfare.2. A state of open, prolonged fighting:belligerency, conflict, confrontation, hostility (used in plural), strife, struggle, warfare.3. A state of disagreement and disharmony:clash, conflict, confrontation, contention, difference, difficulty, disaccord, discord, discordance, dissension, dissent, dissentience, dissidence, dissonance, faction, friction, inharmony, schism, strife, variance, warfare.verbTo strive in opposition:battle, combat, contend, duel, fight, struggle, tilt, wrestle.

Translations

战争进行战争

war

(woː) noun (an) armed struggle, especially between nations. Their leader has declared war on Britain; The larger army will win the war; the horrors of war; (also adjective) He is guilty of war crimes.战争 verb – past tense, past participle warred – to fight. The two countries have been warring constantly for generations.进行战争ˈwarlike adjective (negative unwarlike) fond of, or likely to begin, war. a warlike nation.好战的ˈwarrior (ˈwo-) noun a soldier or skilled fighting man, especially in primitive societies. The chief of the tribe called his warriors together; (also adjective) a warrior prince. 武士，战士 war correspondent a newspaper reporter who writes articles on a war especially from the scene of fighting. 战地记者ˈwar-cry – plural ˈwar-cries – noun a shout used in battle as an encouragement to the soldiers. `For king and country' was the war-cry of the troops as they faced the enemy.作战呐喊声ˈwar-dance noun a dance performed by the people of some primitive societies before going to war. 战前舞ˈwarfare noun fighting, as in a war. He refused to fight, because he has religious objections to warfare.战争ˈwarhead noun the explosive section of a missile, torpedo etc. nuclear warheads.弹头ˈwarhorse noun a horse used in battle. 战马ˈwarlord noun a very powerful military leader. 军阀ˈwarmonger noun a person who encourages war(s), often for personal reasons. 战争贩子ˈwarpaint noun paint applied to the face etc by the people of some primitive societies before going into battle. 战前涂身颜料ˈwarship noun a ship used in war or defence. 军舰ˈwartime noun the time during which a country, a people etc is at war. There is a great deal of hardship and misery in wartime; (also adjective) a wartime economy.战时war of nerves a war, contest etc in which each side tries to win by making the other nervous, eg by bluff, rather than by actually fighting. That game of chess was a war of nerves.神经战

war

→ 战争zhCN

war

war,

armed conflict between states or nations (international war) or between factions within a state (civil war), prosecuted by force and having the purpose of compelling the defeated side to do the will of the victor. Among the causes of war are ideological, political, racial, economic, and religious conflicts. Imperialism, nationalism, and militarism have been called the dynamics of modern war. According to Karl von ClausewitzClausewitz, Karl von
, 1780–1831, Prussian general and military strategist. Clausewitz was an original thinker most influenced by the Napoleonic wars in which he fought.
..... Click the link for more information. , war is a "continuation of political intercourse by other means." As such it often occurs after arbitrationarbitration, industrial,
method of settling disputes between two parties by seeking and accepting the decision of a third party. Arbritration differs from mediation in that the arbritrator does not attempt to find a compromise acceptable to the two parties, but decides in favor
..... Click the link for more information. and mediationmediation,
in law, type of intervention in which the disputing parties accept the offer of a third party to recommend a solution for their controversy. Mediation has long been a part of international law, frequently involving the use of an international commission, in a process
..... Click the link for more information. have failed. War has been a feature of history since primitive times. In ancient states warfare was usually a community enterprise, but as society divided on a functional basis a warrior class developed, and the armyarmy,
large armed land force, under regular military control, organization, and discipline. Ancient Armies

Although armies existed in ancient Egypt, China, India, and Assyria, Greece was the first country known for a disciplined military land force.
..... Click the link for more information. and navynavy,
originally, all ships of a nation, whether for war or commerce; the term navy now designates only such vessels as are built and maintained specifically for war. There have been three major developments in naval vessels. From ancient times to the late 16th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. became component parts of the state. In many instances, both recent and historic, the military has ruled the state. The use of fighting forces as instruments of war became a scientific art with the development of strategy and tacticsstrategy and tactics,
in warfare, related terms referring, respectively, to large-scale and small-scale planning to achieve military success. Strategy may be defined as the general scheme of the conduct of a war, tactics as the planning of means to achieve strategic objectives.
..... Click the link for more information. . Modern war was been even more greatly influenced by industrial development, scientific progress, and the spread of popular education; a new era of machine warfare, prosecuted by masses of troops raised by conscriptionconscription,
compulsory enrollment of personnel for service in the armed forces. Obligatory service in the armed forces has existed since ancient times in many cultures, including the samurai in Japan, warriors in the Aztec Empire, citizen militiamen in ancient Greece and Rome,
..... Click the link for more information. , rather than by rulers and the military class alone, developed after the wars of Napoleon I. Modern total war calls for the regimentation and coordination of peoples and resources; the state is compelled to demand a surrender of private rights in order that unity of purpose may enable it to prosecute the war to a victorious conclusion. Wars are waged not only against a nation's government and armed forces but also against a nation's economic means of existence and its civilian population in order to destroy the means and will to continue the struggle. Organized efforts to end war began with the peace congressespeace congresses,
multinational meetings to achieve or preserve peace and to prevent wars. Although philosophical and religious pacifism is almost as old as war itself, organized efforts to outlaw war date only from the middle of the 19th cent.
..... Click the link for more information. of the 19th cent. and culminated in the formation of the League of NationsLeague of Nations,
former international organization, established by the peace treaties that ended World War I. Like its successor, the United Nations, its purpose was the promotion of international peace and security.
..... Click the link for more information. after World War I and the United NationsUnited Nations
(UN), international organization established immediately after World War II. It replaced the League of Nations. In 1945, when the UN was founded, there were 51 members; 193 nations are now members of the organization (see table entitled United Nations Members).
..... Click the link for more information. after World War II. The threat of nuclear war has created a movement for nuclear disarmament (see disarmament, nucleardisarmament, nuclear,
the reduction and limitation of the various nuclear weapons in the military forces of the world's nations. The atomic bombs dropped (1945) on Japan by the United States in World War II demonstrated the overwhelming destructive potential of nuclear weapons
..... Click the link for more information. ). During the cold warcold war,
term used to describe the shifting struggle for power and prestige between the Western powers and the Communist bloc from the end of World War II until 1989. Of worldwide proportions, the conflict was tacit in the ideological differences between communism and
..... Click the link for more information. the threat of nuclear retaliation has restrained the use of nuclear weapons; instead there was an arms race, a succession of regional wars, and a proliferation of guerrilla wars and counterinsurgency campaigns. The end of the cold war has made arms control a more realistic goal.

Bibliography

See studies by Q. Wright (2d ed. 1965), G. Blainey (1973), J. Keegan (1976), and V. D. Hanson (1989, 1999).

war

See WARFARE.

War

“With reference to wars,” explained V. I. Lenin,“the main thesis of dialectic is that ’war is simply the continuation of politics by other (that is, violent) means.’ Such is the formula of Clausewitz. … And it was always the standpoint of Marx and Engels, who regarded any war as the continuation of the politics of the concerned powers—and the various classes within these countries in a definite period” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 26, p. 224). In war armed forces, as well as economic, diplomatic, ideological, and other means of struggle, are used as the chief and decisive means of achieving political goals.

Marxism-Leninism regards war as a sociopolitical phenomenon inherent only in class socioeconomic structures. Under the primitive communal system there was no private property, division of society into classes, or war in the modern sense of the word. Despite the external resemblance of some of them to war in a class society, the numerous armed clashes between families and tribes were distinguished by their social content. The reasons for such clashes were rooted in the means of production, which was based on the use of primitive tools and did not ensure satisfaction of the minimal needs of the people. This drove one tribe to gain its livelihood by an armed attack on another tribe to capture food, pastures, hunting grounds, and fisheries. The disunity and isolation of primitive clans and tribes and the blood feud based on blood kinship played an important role in relations between communes. The origin of war as a product of social antagonism and a specific form for its manifestation was inseparably linked to the appearance of private property and classes. In the period of primitive communal society’s decay and the transition to a class society, there occurred, as En-gels notes,“the degeneration of the old intertribal warfare to systematic raids on land and sea for the purpose of capturing cattle, slaves, and treasure as a regular means of gaining a livelihood” (K. Marx and F. Engels, Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 21, p. 108). With the emergence of the state, specific detachments of armed men were created: an army and later a navy. The class struggle between the oppressed and ruling classes often developed into popular uprisings and civil wars.

The social essence of a war and its class content are deter-mined by the character of the policy in whose name it is carried out. Lenin wrote:“All wars are inseparable from the political systems that engender them. The policy which a given state, a given class within that state, pursued for a long time before the war is inevitably continued by that same class during the war, the form of action alone being changed” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 32, p. 79). Politics has a definite role in developing a state’s military doctrine and establishing a war’s political goals, which decisively influence its substance and conduct. Politics exerts a guiding influence on planning war and determines the sequence and strength of an attack on an enemy and the measures necessary to strengthen alliances within a coalition. Through strategy, politics controls the course of war and influences the development of military operations. (SeeMILITARY SCIENCE and WAR, ART OF.) With the help of the state apparatus, politics determines the measures necessary for mobilization of the country’s human and material resources.

The Marxist-Leninist theory of war considers the character of every war dependent on its political content: the system of contradictions of a given period and the political goals of struggling classes and states; the dependence of the course and outcome of a war on the socioeconomic and political structure existing in the country, the state’s material and military resources, and the level of scientific and technological development; and the ideology and morale of the people.

The history of war is evidence of the steady growth of the role of the economic factor and the masses in war. Until the 19th century, wars had a comparatively narrow economic base and were waged, as a rule, by rather small professional armies. Since the second half of the 19th century, and particularly during the 20th century, wars have put a tremendous strain on the economy of the belligerents and have involved millions of people in lengthy struggles. More than 70 million people participated in World War I (1914-18) and more than 110 million in World War II (1939-45). The masses are drawn into the war as direct participants and as creators of the material means for waging the war. The growth of the role of the masses in contemporary warfare is the result of their enormous role in material production and their political maturity and organization.

Contemporary wars are associated with vast human and material losses and unprecedented destruction and disaster. A study of the course and consequences of past wars shows a tremendous increase in the human casualties and material destruction accompanying war. Casualties in European wars (killed and dead from wounds and diseases) were 3.3 million in the 17th century; in the 18th century, 5.4 million; in the 19th and early 20th centuries (before World War I), 5.7 mil-lion; in World War I, more than 9 million; and in World War II (including those exterminated in fascist death camps), more than 50 million.

Just and unjust and progressive and reactionary wars. Every war exerts a definite influence on the course of development of human society. The historical significance of a war de-pends on its political content, which defines its progressive or reactionary role in social life. Depending on this, each war is either just or unjust. Lenin always associated the legality and justice of wars with their pr ogres si veness. He stated:“There are just and unjust wars, progressive and reactionary wars, wars waged by advanced classes and wars waged by back-ward classes, wars waged for the purpose of perpetuating class oppression, and wars waged for the purpose of eliminating oppression” (ibid., vol. 38, p. 337). The basis of the Marxist-Leninist division of wars into just and unjust wars is the principle of evaluating them from the viewpoint of the masses’ liberation from social and national oppression and from the viewpoint of their influence on social progress.“The elucidation of a war’s character is a necessary prerequisite for the Marxist, in order that he may settle the question of his relationship to it” (ibid. 9 vol. 26, p. 27).

Wars that are waged by people for liberation from social and national oppression and in defense of national independence and wars waged by socialist countries against imperialist aggression are just and progressive wars. Wars that are waged by the exploiting classes to suppress the liberation struggle of classes and nations, seize foreign territories, and enslave and plunder other peoples are unjust and reactionary. All just wars have played a progressive role in history. However, not all wars that had progressive historical consequences were just. Thus, for example, the annexation to Russia of the Middle Asian peoples in the mid-19th century had progressive significance for them from the viewpoint of their prospects for economic, social, and cultural development. Nevertheless, this annexation was achieved by means of Russian tsarism’s unjust, aggressive wars. In the course of its development, the character of a war may change: a just war may develop into an unjust one. This occurs when, in the course of a war, the interests of other classes or social groups prevail over what were the interests in the first stage of the war. Thus, the just wars of the French Republic at the end of the 18th century in defense of the interests of the broad bourgeois and petit bourgeois strata against feudal reaction developed into unjust, expansionist wars that corresponded to the interests of the big French bourgeoisie. Under con-temporary conditions, the just character of a war is deter-mined by the interests of the struggle for socialism, democracy, and national independence. Therefore, Communist parties decisively oppose predatory, unjust wars; however, they consider legal and support just wars and wars of revolution and liberation against imperialism, which serve the progress of social development.

Historical types of wars. Types of wars are determined by the character of the social contradictions of a given age or its various periods. The classification of war according to types is associated with certain difficulties, since each war has its individual characteristics, and different types of wars often become entangled with each other and rarely appear in pure form. The chief criterion for the classification of wars is their sociopolitical content.

The basic types of wars in slaveholding society included wars by slaveholding states to enslave tribes at the lowest stage of social development—for example, the wars of Rome against the Gauls, the Germans, and other tribes. In addition, there were wars between slaveholding states for the purpose of seizing territory and robbing conquered countries— -for example Rome’s Punic Wars against Carthage in the third through the second century B.C.—and wars between various groups of slaveholders, including the wars of the Diadochi for the division of the empire of Alexander of Macedonia during 321-276 B.C.; Finally, there were slave rebellions, such as the rebellion in Rome under the leadership of Spartacus during 73-71 B.C., and popular uprisings of peasants and artisans (the rebellion of the Red Eyebrows in the first century A.D. in China).

Among the basic types of wars in feudal society were wars between feudal states (the Hundred Years’ War between En-gland and France, 1337-1453) and internecine feudal wars for the expansion of domains (the Wars of the Roses in England, 1455-85). In addition, there were wars for the creation of centralized feudal states (for example, the wars to unify the Russian lands around Moscow in the 14th and 15th centuries) and wars against foreign invasions, such as the wars of the Russian people against the Tatar-Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries. Feudal exploitation gave rise to peasant wars and rebellions against feudal lords (for example, the peasant rebellion under the leadership of I. I. Bolotnikov during 1606-07 in Russia) and uprisings of the urban population against feudal exploitation (for example, the Paris uprising, 1356-58).

Wars in the era of premonopolistic capitalism may be placed in basic categories, including colonial wars of capitalist countries to enslave the peoples of Asia, Africa, America, and Oceania, as well as aggressive wars of states and coalitions of states for hegemony (for example, the Seven Years’ War, 1756-63) and revolutionary, antifeudal wars of national liberation, such as the wars of revolutionary France at the end of the 18th century. Other categories are wars for national reunification, including the wars for Italian unification, 1859-70; wars of liberation of the peoples of colonies and dependent countries, such as the popular uprisings against English rule in India in the 18th through the 19th century; and civil wars and proletarian uprisings against the bourgeoisie—for example, the revolutionary war of the Paris Commune in 1871.

In the age of imperialism the struggle between monopolistic associations has outgrown national boundaries and become a struggle of the major imperialist powers for the forcible repartition of an already divided world. The intensification of the imperialists’ struggle has expanded their military clashes to the dimensions of world wars. The basic types of wars in the age of imperialism are imperialistic wars for the repartition of the world (for example, the Spanish-American War of 1898, the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, and World War I, 1914-18) and civil wars of liberation of the proletariat against the bourgeoisie (the Civil War in the USSR, 1918-20). Wars of national liberation of oppressed peoples are also related to the basic types of wars in the age of imperialism (for example, popular uprisings in Cuba in 1906 and in China in 1906-11).

Under modern conditions the sole source of war is imperialism. The basic types of wars in the present age are wars between states with opposing social systems, civil wars, wars of national liberation, and wars between capitalist states. In view of its complex and contradictory character, World War II occupies a special place among the wars of the modern era.

Wars between countries with opposing social systems are engendered by the aggressive aspirations of imperialism for the annihilation of the social achievements of the peoples of socialist countries or countries that are embarking on a path of building socialism. An example of this is the Great Patriotic War of the Soviet Union (1941-45) against fascist Ger-many and her allies, who had invaded the USSR.

Civil wars accompany the development of socialist or bourgeois-democratic revolutions, or they are the armed defense of popular achievements from bourgeois counterrevolution and fascism. Often, civil wars merge with wars against imperialist intervention—for example, the national-revolutionary war of the Spanish people against the fascist rebels and Italo-German interventionists in 1936-39.

Wars of national liberation are the struggles of the peoples of dependent and colonial countries against the colonialists for the establishment of a state’s independence or its preservation against attempts to restore a colonial regime—for ex-ample, the war of the Algerian people against French colonialists of 1954-62, the struggle of the Egyptians against Anglo-French Israeli aggression in 1956, and the struggle of the South Vietnamese people against American aggressors beginning in 1964. Under contemporary conditions, the national liberation struggle for the achievement of national in-dependence is closely intertwined with the social struggle for the democratic reconstruction of public life. Because of the existence of a world socialist system, conditions have been established for the transition of emancipated peoples to a noncapitalist path of development.

Wars among capitalist states are engendered by the intensification of the contradictions among them in the struggle for world supremacy (World War I and World War II). World War II resulted from the intensification of imperialistic contradictions between the bloc of fascist states, headed by fascist Germany, and the Anglo-French bloc. It began as an unjust, aggressive war, especially on the part of Germany and her allies. However, Hitlerite aggression was the greatest threat to humanity, and the Hitlerite occupation of many countries doomed their peoples to extermination. Therefore, the struggle against fascism became the national mission of all freedom-loving peoples. This led to a change in the political content of the war, which acquired a liberating, antifascist character. Fascist Germany’s attack on the USSR completed the process of the war’s transformation. During World War II the USSR was the main force in the anti-Hitlerite coalition (USSR, USA, Great Britain, and France), which resulted in victory over the fascist bloc. The Soviet armed forces made a basic contribution to saving the world’s people from the threat of enslavement by the fascist aggressors.

In the postwar period a process of economic integration of capitalist countries has occurred. The unification of the forces of reaction against socialism, however, has not eliminated sharp contradictions and conflicts among capitalist states, which in certain conditions might become a source of war among them.

The aggressive imperialistic circles of the USA regard war as the chief means for achieving their political goals in the solution of international questions, and they have a military doctrine corresponding to these goals. Opinions on waging war against the USSR and other socialist countries form the basis of the USA’s military doctrine.

It is thought that contemporary wars may be worldwide or local and general or limited according to the means of destruction employed. Each of these types of war has its particular strategic features. Local wars unleashed by imperialists are closely connected with militant imperialist policy, and wherever they occur, they may grow into a world war in which all methods of fighting are used.

Contemporary bourgeois theories of war. Numerous contemporary ideologists of imperialism try to present war as a supraclass, national phenomenon in order to disguise its sociopolitical essence and causes, paralyze the mass antiwar movement of the working people, and instill the idea that war is eternal and inevitable. Thus, the West German theoretician W. Picht maintains that war is the chief factor in social progress and that all advanced cultures have arisen from war. The English military theoretician J. Fuller regards war as the “dominant factor in history.” In the USA the theory of“absolute nuclear deterrence” is widely held, the essence of which is that the USA must establish world domination by means of using or threatening to use nuclear weapons, above all against socialist countries. Propagandizing the theory of nuclear deterrence, the American general T. Power regards it as the“only acceptable solution to the problem of national survival.” In the theory of“saving civilization,” the authors of which are the American sociologists R. Strausz-Hupe, S. Possony, and W. Kintner, the necessity of“saving” capitalism is based on the idea that“the struggle against the Communist world” is“a war in which national survival is at stake.” The creators of the theory of“survival” (N. Spykman and others), which is widespread in the USA, declare that survival is the paramount goal of a state’s domestic and foreign policy. A condition for“survival” is building up military strength, which permits a country to im-pose its will on whoever does not have such strength. The theory of geopolitics (Mackinder in England, Haushofer in Germany, and J. Kieffer in the USA) explains the causes of war by means of the different geographical locations of coun-tries, according to which nations in straitened circumstances wage war for“living space.” On this basis, geopoliticians of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) try in every possible way to demonstrate the necessity of revising the borders established after World War II. Authors of the psychological theory (for example, L. L. Bernard in the USA) see the source of war in the human psyche, the aggressiveness of the human intellect, and mass psychoses, which supposedly arise from society’s repression of human instincts. Cosmopolitical theories (N. Angell and S. Strachey in Great Britain and J. Dewey in the USA) consider the antagonism between national and general human interests the chief cause for armed conflicts. The source of military danger, in their opinion, lies in the sovereignty of nations; therefore, it is necessary to eliminate the national independence and sovereignty of peoples and create national, regional, and world-wide political organizations. These projects find approval and support in reactionary circles (primarily in the USA), which are striving for world domination. Clerical theories try to support imperialistic military adventurism with god’s authority. The Bible serves as one of the basic theoretical sources of religious propaganda in support of imperialistic wars, by enabling one to interpret war as“god’s weapon” in the struggle against“evil” and for the punishment of“sinners.” In the FRG clerical propaganda is widely used to support the ideology of aggressive revanchism based on religious concepts of the origin of war.

Marxism-Leninism on the problem of war and peace in the modern age. The tremendous disasters and sufferings caused by war have long induced progressive social thought to seek a means of eliminating war. However, before the appearance of Marxism, none of these seekings were connected with the necessity of destroying the antagonistic social relations that give rise to war, and therefore, they were in vain. Marxism showed the true path to mankind’s deliverance from military catastrophes and to the strengthening of eternal peace on earth.“Our aim,” wrote Lenin,“is to achieve a socialist system of society, which, by eliminating the division of man-kind into classes, by eliminating all exploitation of man by man and nation by nations, will inevitably eliminate the very possibility of wars” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 32, p. 78).

The Great October Socialist Revolution opened an age of transition from capitalism to socialism, and by that very fact the revolution began mankind’s movement to a society without war. However, as long as the USSR was the only socialist country, its influence on the alignment of forces for peace and war inevitably had a limited character. The world socialist system formed after World War II changed the arrangement of economic and political forces in the international arena in favor of socialism. Nonetheless, while imperialism exists, there is still a danger of aggressive wars. The USSR and other socialist countries are the chief obstacles to the implementation of the aggressive plans of international imperialism. The monopolistic bourgeoisie of the USA constantly suggests to the people that a world war against the USSR and the entire socialist camp is inevitable, and on this pretense the imperialists urgently prepare their armed forces for war, speed up the arms race and militarization of the economy, and stir up the activity of military blocs. If the imperialists succeed in unleashing a new world war, it will draw many countries and peoples of the world into its orbit and will be a struggle for the very existence of the opposing world systems—socialism and capitalism. The fate of all mankind will be decided in this war. The main, decisive method of nuclear warfare is the nuclear weapon, which will be directed at the annihilation of the opponent’s means of nuclear destruction and the defeat of his armed forces, as well as at mass destruction of vitally important regions and objects that have economic, scientific, military, and political significance. Under such conditions, practically no distinction will exist between the front and the rear lines. The war will have broad unprecedented scope and will be the most destructive in the history of mankind.“Under present conditions, when nuclear bombs can reach any continent in a matter of minutes and devastate vast territories, a world conflict would mean the death of hundreds of millions of people and the reduction of the treasures of world civilization and culture to ruins and ashes” (Mezhdunarodnoe Soveshchanie Kommunisticheskikh i rabochikh partii: Dokumenty i materialy, Moscow, 1969, p. 250). Therefore, the efforts of the peoples of the world must be directed at averting nuclear war in time and not allowing it to break out.

Historical experience shows that wars—especially those that acquire great scope—intensify the contradictions of capitalism, increase the distress of the masses, awaken political consciousness in the people, and create conditions under which the working people rise to the struggle against the bourgeois system. In this sense, war has a definite connection with revolution, which was most characteristically manifested in World War I and World War II. Speaking of World War I, Lenin explained that“in this fire the workers and peasants learned a great deal” (Poln. sobr. soch., 5th ed., vol. 39, p. 406). He also said that this war“was a great director” that hastened the emergence of a revolutionary situation in a number of countries (Russia and Germany). The victory of the Soviet armed forces and their defeat of German fascism and Japanese imperialism created favorable conditions for the victory of socialist revolutions in various countries of eastern and southeastern Europe and Asia. Without a doubt, if a new world war is unleashed by the imperialists, it will exert an even greater revolutionizing influence on the masses than former wars.“The people will no longer endure a system that plunges them into devastating wars” (Progmmma KPSS, 1969, p. 59). However, war between two social systems is not required for the development of the world revolutionary process and the victory of socialism. Therefore, Communists have never considered it necessary to promote the unleashing of war between states for the purpose of speeding up the revolutionary process. Lenin always opposed attempts to instigate revolution with the aid of war.

A deep theoretical analysis of the problem of war and peace is contained in decisions of the congresses of the CPSU, in the Program of the CPSU (1961), and in documents of the International Conferences of Communist and Workers’ Parties in Moscow in 1957, 1960, and 1969. The basis for united actions by antiimperialist forces remains the struggle for the prevention of a world war and for peace throughout the world.“United efforts by socialist countries, the international working class, the national liberation movement, and all peace-loving states, social organizations, and mass movements can avert a world war” (Mezhdunarodnye Soveshchanie Kommunisticheskikh i rabochikh partii: Dokumenty i materialy, Moscow, 1969, p. 316). In order to preserve peace it is necessary to struggle for disarmament, nuclear arms limitation, and the destruction of all nuclear reserves. It is also necessary to struggle to make nuclear weapons illegal and to put an end to their manufacture and all testing. The chief role in the struggle of all peace-loving forces against imperialist aggression belongs to the socialist countries, among which the USSR possesses the greatest military and economic potential. For the first time in the history of mankind, colossal military and economic might is concentrated in the hands of socialist states, which will use it to preserve peace.

In addition to the peoples of socialist countries, other groups struggle for peace, including the international working class headed by its vanguard, the communist parties, the peoples of many countries who have achieved national independence and are preserving it, a number of neutral coun-tries, and hundreds of millions of people who have participated in the movement for peace.“The victory of socialism throughout the world will finally eliminate the social and national causes for the origin of every war. To destroy wars and to confirm eternal peace on earth is the historical mission of Communism” (Programma KPSS, 1969, p. 58). Taking into account the military peril originating in the imperialist camp, the communist parties and governments of socialist countries consider it necessary to strengthen the defense of states of the socialist alliance in every possible way and to maintain their armed forces at a level capable of ensuring the utter destruction of any aggressive coalition.

REFERENCES

Marx, K., and F. Engels. Soch., 2nd ed., vol. 20, pp. 162-89.
Marx, K., and F. Engels. Izbrannye pis’ma. Moscow, 1953. (See subject index under“Voina.”)
Engels, F. Izbr. voennye proizv. Moscow, 1958.
Lenin, V. I. O voine, armii i voenoi nauke: Sb., vols. 1-2. Moscow, 1958.
Lenin, V.I. O mezhdunarodnoi politike i mezhdunarodnom prave.Moscow, 1958. (Collection.)
Programma KPSS (Priniata XXII s—ezdom KPSS). Moscow, 1968. Part 1, section 8.
Programmnye dokumenty bor’by za mir, demokratiiu i sotsializm. Moscow, 1961.
KPSS v rezoliutsiiakh i resheniiakh s’ezdov, konferentsii i Plenumov Ts K, 7th ed., vol. 1. Moscow, 1954. Pages 318-24, 326-29, 356-57, 372-74, 409-18, 567-68.
Rezoliutsiia XXIII s’ezda KPSS po Otchetnomu dokladu Ts K KPSS. Moscow, 1966.
Brezhnev, L. I. Velikaiapobeda sovetskogo naroda. Moscow, 1965.
Marksizm-Leninizm o voine i armii. Moscow, 1968.
50 let Vooruzhennykh Sil SSSR [1918-1968]. Moscow, 1968.
Frunze, M. V. Edinaia voennaia doktrina i Krasnaia Armiia: Izbr. proizv. Moscow, 1965.
Istoriia Velikoi Otechestvennoi voiny Sovetskogo Soiuza, 1941-1945, vols. 1-6. Moscow, 1963-65.
Velikaia Otechestvennaia voina Sovetskogo Soiuza za 1941-1945: Kratkaia istoriia. Moscow, 1965.
Vtoraia mirovaia voina 1939-1945 gg. Moscow, 1958.
Voennaia strategiia, 3rd ed. Moscow, 1968.
Iadernyi vek i voina. Moscow, 1964.
Mering, F. Ocherki po istorii voin i voennogo iskusstva, 6th ed. Moscow, 1956. (Translated from German.)
Clausewitz, K. O voine. Moscow, 1934. (Translated from German.)
Finletter, T. K. Sila i politika. Moscow, 1956. (Translated from English.)
Kissinger, H. ladernoe oruzhie i vneshniaia politika. Moscow, 1959. (Translated from English.)
Grotius, H. O prave voiny i mire … . Moscow, 1956. (Translated from Latin.)
Kant, I. Vechnyi mir: Filosofskii ocherk. Moscow, 1905. (Translated from German.)
See also references under WAR, ART OF and ARMED FORCES.

M. I. GALKIN and P. I. TRIFONENKOV

What does it mean when you dream about war?

A common dream experience if one is a military veteran, a dream about war can also represent conditions that call for aggression (war) or for a resolution (peace treaty).

War

on Poverty U.S. government program of 1960’s to aid the needy. [Am. Hist.: WB, J:120]See: Poverty

War

See also Battle.Amazonsrace of female warriors. [Gk. Myth.: Zimmerman, 19]Ares(Mars) god of war. [Gk. Myth.: Kravitz, 31]Athena(Rom. Minerva) goddess of war. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 44]battle axsymbol of military conflict. [Western Folklore: Jobes, 163]BellonaMars’s charioteer and sister. [Rom. Myth.: Leach, 135]Durgamalignant goddess of war. [Hinduism: Leach, 330]Enyogoddess of battle and attendant of Ares. [Gk. Myth.: Howe, 91]Guernicapainting by Picasso depicting horror of war. [Art: Osborne, 866–867]Huitzilopochtliwar god of ancient Mexicans. [Mex. Myth.: Harvey, 403]IliadHomer’s poetic account set during the legendary Trojan war. [Gk. Poetry: The Iliad]Mahabharatalengthy narrative poem about the great war supposed to have taken place in India about 1400 B.C. [Sanskrit Lit.: Haydn & Fuller, 451]Myrmidonone of the fierce Thessalonians who fought in the Trojan War under their king, Achilles. [Gk. Myth.: Iliad]Nemanform of Irish war goddess, Badb (also Morrigan or Macha). [Irish Folklore: Briggs, 308]Odingod who presided over feasts of slain warriors. [Norse Myth.: Brewer Dictionary, 774]red cloudindicates military conflict. [Eastern Folklore: Jobes, 350]Tyrgod of victory in war. [Norse Myth.: Leach, 1147]ValkyriesOdin’s warrior maidens. [Norse Myth.: Leach, 1154]

WAR

(Web ARchive) A file that makes up a Java-based Web application including servlets, JSPs and other resources. A WAR file is a JAR file (a ZIPPED archive) that is designed to be decompressed to a specific directory structure for execution. WAR files can be unzipped using a PKUNZIP utility. See JAR and EAR.

War

(dreams)Dreaming about a war or a battle suggests that the dreamer has internal conflict. One part of personality or psyche may be battling with another for control, and the dream reflects this internal war. Another reason for dreaming about war is that you may be faced with a situation that requires you to be aggressive or assertive and to come to terms with opposition. War veterans and others who have experienced war first hand may, from time to time, have such dreams based on memory and trauma.

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REFERENCES

What does it mean when you dream about war?

War

War

WAR

War

War

War

War

Executive Military Power

Status and Rights of Citizens

Enemy Intercourse

Requisition of Private Property

Martial Rule

War Powers of the U.S. Government

Cross-references

WAR

war

Synonyms for war

noun conflict

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noun campaign

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verb fight

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noun a vying with others for victory or supremacy

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noun a state of open, prolonged fighting

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noun a state of disagreement and disharmony

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verb to strive in opposition

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Synonyms for war

noun the waging of armed conflict against an enemy

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noun a legal state created by a declaration of war and ended by official declaration during which the international rules of war apply

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noun an active struggle between competing entities

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noun a concerted campaign to end something that is injurious

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verb make or wage war

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war¹

war²