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"Conflict zone" redirects here. For the 2001 video game, see Conflict Zone. The War by Tadeusz Cyprian (1949), a photograph in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw showing ruins of Warsaw's Napoleon Square in the aftermath of World War II. War is a state of armed conflict between societies. It is generally characterized by extreme collective aggression, destruction, and usually high mortality. An absence of war is usually called "peace". 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 ecological circumstances.[2] Etymology 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 *werzō 'mixture, confusion'. Types Main article: Types of war Behaviour and conduct History In War Before Civilization, Lawrence H. Aims

Related:  World Historyconflict resolution in politics

List of wars by death toll See also: List of genocides by death toll This list of wars by death toll includes death toll estimates of all deaths that are either directly or indirectly caused by war. These numbers usually include both the deaths of military personnel which are the direct results of battle or other military wartime actions, as well as the wartime/war-related deaths of civilians, which are the results of war induced epidemics, diseases, famines, atrocities, genocide etc. See also[edit] State (polity) A state is an organized community living under one government.[1] States may be sovereign. The denomination state is also employed to federated states that are members of a federal union, which is the sovereign state.[1] Some states are subject to external sovereignty or hegemony where ultimate sovereignty lies in another state.[2] The state can also be used to refer to the secular branches of government within a state, often as a manner of contrasting them with churches and civilian institutions. Many human societies have been governed by states for millennia, however for most of pre-history people lived in stateless societies. The first states arose about 10,000 years ago at the same time as agriculture, patriarchy, slavery, and organized religion.[citation needed] Over time, a variety of different forms developed, employing a variety of justifications for their existence (such as divine right, the theory of the social contract, etc.).


Armed forces The armed forces of a country are its government-sponsored defence, fighting forces, and organizations. They exist to further the foreign and domestic policies of their governing body and to defend that body and the nation it represents from external and internal aggressors. In broad usage, the terms "armed forces" and "military" are often treated synonymously, although in technical usage a distinction is sometimes made in which a country's armed forces may include both its military and other paramilitary forces. Armed force is the use of armed forces to achieve political objectives. Category:Peace organizations From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Peace organizations are part of the Peace movement. See also Category:Anti-nuclear weapons movement for organizations which focus on opposition to nuclear weapons and/or nuclear testing.


Ceasefire A truce – not a compromise, but a chance for high-toned gentlemen to retire gracefully from their very civil declarations of war. By Thomas Nast in Harper's Weekly, February 17, 1877, p. 132. A ceasefire (or truce) is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be declared as part of a formal treaty, but they have also been called as part of an informal understanding between opposing forces. An armistice is a formal agreement to end fighting. List of anti-war organizations List of anti-war organizations From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search