Defensive war

A defensive war (German: Verteidigungskrieg) is one of the causes that justify war by the criteria of the Just War tradition. It means a war where at least one nation is mainly trying to defend itself from another, as opposed to a war where both sides are trying to invade and conquer each other. The right to self-defence in international law is enshrined in Chapter VII, Article 51 of the UN Charter: Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of collective or individual self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by members in exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

War (outline)
Part of a series on

History Prehistoric Ancient Thermal Gunpowder Timeline Post-classical Castles Early modern Military revolution Pike and shot Napoleonic warfare Late modern Industrial warfare Fourth-gen warfare AI warfare
Military Organization Command and control Defense ministry Reserves Ranks Branches: Army Navy Air force Marines Coast guard Border guard Special forces Cyber force Space force Specialties: Staff Engineers Intel Recon Medical Police Diving Pilot Land units: Infantry Armor Cavalry Artillery Special forces Signal corps Naval units: Warships Submarines Aircraft carriers Landing craft Auxiliary ships Air units: Fighters Bombers Command Close air support Electronic-warfare Reconnaissance Combat systems: Fire-control system Fire-control radar Director (military) Combat information center Sonar Radar Historical: Ship gun fire-control Gun data computer Torpedo data computer Development: Basic training Military maneuvers Combat training
Battlespace Aerospace Aerial Airborne Space Land Cold-region Desert Fortification Jungle Mountain Urban Subterranean Tunnel Sea Amphibious Blue Brown Green Surface Underwater Seabed Cyber Information Night
Weapons Air defense Armor Artillery Barrage Biological Camouflage Cavalry Horses Air cavalry Chemical Combined arms Conventional Cyber Denial Disinformation Drone / Robot Electromagnetic Firearms Infantry Loitering Missile Music Nuclear Psychological Radiological Submarine Unconventional
Tactics List of military tactics Aerial Airlift Air assault Airbridge Airdrop Anti-aircraft Anti-sub Anti-tank Battle Cavalry Charge CQC Counterattack Counterinsurgency Convoy Defeat in detail Foxhole Drone Envelopment Formation Guerrilla Naval Shock Rapid dominance Encirclement Investment Siege Swarm Screen Tactical objective Target saturation Trench Withdrawal
Operational Military operation Special Operations research Blitzkrieg Expeditionary Deep operation Maneuver Operational maneuver group Raid Covert Stay-behind
Strategy List of military strategies and concepts Military campaign Anti-access Attrition Commerce raiding Counter-offensive Culminating Defense in depth Fabian Empty fort Mosaic Deception Defensive Depth Goal Nuclear Naval Offensive Scorched earth
Grand strategy Asymmetric Blockade Broken-backed Class Cold war Colonial Conquest Containment Divide and conquer Economic Endemic Fleet in being Irregular Liberation Limited Network-centric New generation Perpetual Political Princely Proxy Religious Resource Strategic Succession Technology Theater Total war World war
Administrative Branch Policy Staff Training Service Sociology
Organization Area of responsibility Chain of command Command and control Doctrine Order of battle Principles of war Economy of force Medicine Engineers Intelligence Ranks Technology and equipment
Personnel Recruitment Conscription Draft evasion Mobilization Training Specialism Soldier Morale Volunteer Women Children Transgender Harassment Conscientious objector Conscription and sexism Counter-recruitment
Logistics History War economy Arms industry Materiel Train Supply-chain management Defense industrial base Base MOB FOB Outpost
Science Power projection Loss-of-strength gradient Lanchester's laws Force multiplication Morale
Law Belligerent Occupation Armistice Ceasefire Court-martial Desertion Geneva Conventions Geneva Protocol Islamic rules Justice Lawful / Unlawful combatant Perfidy Regular / Irregular Jewish laws on war Right of conquest Right of self-defense Rules of engagement Self-determination Martial law War crime War and genocide War treason Warlord
Theory Air supremacy Appeasement Command of the sea Deterrence theory Full-spectrum dominance Overmatch Just war theory Principles of war Philosophy of war Security dilemma Tripwire force Wargaming Simulation Exercises Combat effectiveness Center of gravity
Non-warfare Arms control Counter-insurgency Deterrence Disaster response Gray-zone Gunboat diplomacy Humanitarian aid Law enforcement Low-intensity conflict Military engineering Peacekeeping Peacebuilding Peace through strength Show of force
Culture Awards and decorations Battle cry Warrior War film Military science fiction War novel Anti-war movement Foot drill War song Psychology Uniform Wargame Militarization / Militarism Antimilitarism Camp follower
Books Seven Military Classics The Art of War De re militari Strategemata On War Summary of the Art of War
Related Women in war War resister War studies Horses in warfare Wartime sexual violence Fifth column Mercenary Pacifism Privateer Private military company Soldiers are murderers
Lists Battles Military occupations Military terms Operations Sieges War crimes Wars by death toll Weapons Writers
v t e

A defensive war (German: Verteidigungskrieg^[1]) is one of the causes that justify war by the criteria of the Just War tradition. It means a war where at least one nation is mainly trying to defend itself from another, as opposed to a war where both sides are trying to invade and conquer each other.^{[citation needed]}

The right to self-defence in international law is enshrined in Chapter VII, Article 51 of the UN Charter:

Nothing in the present Charter shall impair the inherent right of collective or individual self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to maintain international peace and security. Measures taken by members in exercise of this right of self-defense shall be immediately reported to the Security Council and shall not in any way affect the authority and responsibility of the Security Council under the present Charter to take at any time such action as it deems necessary in order to maintain or restore international peace and security.

History

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (August 2025)

American supporters of the war against the British argued that the War of 1812 was a defensive war, citing British harassment of American merchant shipping and impressment of American sailors on the high seas as well as armed support to Indian tribes resisting American expansion in the Midwest in order to create a pro-British Indian barrier state.^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7]

Views

[edit]

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding missing information. (August 2025)

The Islamic scholar Sufyan al-Thawri (716–778), who was described as a pacifist by Majid Khadduri (1909–2007), maintained that jihad (holy war) was only a defensive war.^[8]

References

[edit]

^ Simeon Zahl (25 November 2010). Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: The Holy Spirit Between Wittenberg and Azusa Street. A&C Black. pp. 138–. ISBN 978-0-567-64591-3.
^ Troy Bickham (1 June 2012). The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire, and the War of 1812. Oxford University Press. pp. 95–. ISBN 978-0-19-994262-6.
^ Stagg, Madison's War, p. 4.
^ Carlisle, Rodney P.; Golson, J. Geoffrey, eds. (2007). Manifest Destiny and the Expansion of America. ABC-CLIO. p. 44. ISBN 9781851098330.
^ Pratt, Julius W. (1925). Expansionists of 1812.
^ Heidler, David; Heidler, Jeanne T. The War of 1812. p. 4.
^ Tucker, Spencer. The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812. p. 236.
^ A. Al-Dawoody (2011). The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations. Springer. p. 80. ISBN 978-0-230-11808-9.

Sources

[edit]

Cécile Fabre; Seth Lazar (20 February 2014). The Morality of Defensive War. OUP Oxford. pp. 129–. ISBN 978-0-19-150531-7.
Dorset Michael (26 April 2016). An Essay on Defensive War, and a Constitutional Militia: With an Account of Queen Elizabeth's Arrangements for Resisting the Projected Invasion in the Year 1588: Taken from Authentic Records in the British Museum, and Other Collections. BiblioLife. ISBN 978-1-354-70317-5.
Robert Greene; Joost Elffers (14 December 2007). The 33 Strategies of War. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 27–. ISBN 978-1-101-14734-4.
Stagg, J. C. A. (1983). Mr Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830. Princeton University Press]. ISBN 0691047022.

This military-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by adding missing information.

Defensive war

History

Views

See also

References

Sources