What is war? War is defined on Dictionary.com as a conflict carried on by force of arms, as between nations or between parties within a nation. For as long as we have been a species, wars have been fought, won and recorded in the histories as we read about them today. There have been many different wars, and different types of wars. Our government has taken it upon themselves to label our altercations as "wars" or "conflicts" depending on the circumstances. Officially, World War II was the last "war" we took part in, but the term is used for other military events since then.
Since then, we have been involved in several military operations, including Vietnam, Korea, the Gulf Wars, and Iraq/Afghanistan. None of these are labeled by the government as a "war", but they do have many of the characteristics of a war. People still disagree over whether a conflict was a "war". Many people consider Vietnam a "war", but many refer to it as a "conflict". Not all violent conflicts can be called a war. For example, the Battle of Mogadishu in Somalia in 1993 ended very violently, yet is was not a war. Over 100 UN and US Army casualties were suffered, making it the bloodiest battle since Vietnam, but it wasn't a war. It was an isolated event, which, even though the US suffered losses, could not be called a war.
Wars do have have to violent though. Even though it would seem they have to, they can be fought without bullets. The most prevalent example is the Cold War. There was not a shot fired the entire 20+ it was happening, yet it was one of the most intense, frightening conflicts in recent history. The threats between the US and USSR of nuclear war and the Cuban Missile Crisis came very close to violence, but thankfully a nuclear holocaust was averted. This conflict is a prime example that not all wars must be violent and can be fought with words and pictures.
Wars can also be fought against an idea or ideal. Many of our past wars have been fought against an idea. The Civil War was fought over states rights, which is an idea. One of the most destructive and bloody wars in our history was fought over an idea. Ideas can be extremely powerful and very important to many people, as evidenced by The Civil War.
War is a very hard thing to define. We have so many examples but still fail to capture the exact circumstances and numbers that can be described as a "war". Conflict is the human nature, and we are doomed to it.
http://novaonline.nvcc.edu/eli/evans/his135/Events/Somalia93/Somalia93.html
http://warincontext.org/2009/01/05/editorial-wars-against-ideas-always-fail/
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I completely agree with Christian about his post. I think it is interesting that the technical definition of war and what our country considers war seem to be two different things. If you use the dictionary.com definition, "conflicts" such as Vietnam, Korea and the First Gulf War certainly seem like war. According to what our country considers war, the president must ask Congress to declare war. In my opinion, for something to be a war, it doesn't have to be officially commissioned as a war. Usually, any prolonged, violent conflict between two or more factions is what I consider the definition of war. However, by violent doesn’t have to mean using bullets, tanks and guns to enforce your point. It is possible to use strong and powerful words to fight a war. An example of this is Dr. Martin Luther King. He was fighting a war against racial segregation, but even when faced with violence, he never stooped to that level.
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