View source for Defensive war

{{Short description|Type of war justification}}
{{War}}
A '''defensive war''' ({{langx|de|Verteidigungskrieg<ref name="Zahl2010">{{cite book|author=Simeon Zahl|title=Pneumatology and Theology of the Cross in the Preaching of Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt: The Holy Spirit Between Wittenberg and Azusa Street|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ioGw0zPbjTQC&pg=PA138|date=25 November 2010|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-0-567-64591-3|pages=138–}}</ref>}}) 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|date=November 2016}}

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

<blockquote>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 [[United Nations Security Council|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.</blockquote>

==History==
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 [[international water|high seas]] as well as armed support to Indian tribes resisting American expansion in the [[Midwestern United States|Midwest]] in order to create a pro-British [[Indian barrier state]].<ref name="Bickham2012">{{cite book|author=Troy Bickham|title=The Weight of Vengeance: The United States, the British Empire, and the War of 1812|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QM755oY5k98C&pg=PT95|date=1 June 2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-994262-6|pages=95–}}</ref>{{Sfn|Stagg, Madison's War|page=4}}<ref>{{Cite book |title=Manifest Destiny and the Expansion of America |url=https://archive.org/details/turningpointsact00carl_912 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2007 |isbn=9781851098330 |editor-last=Carlisle |editor-first=Rodney P. |page=[https://archive.org/details/turningpointsact00carl_912/page/n64 44] |ref={{SfnRef|Carlisle and Golson}} |editor-last2=Golson |editor-first2=J. Geoffrey}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Pratt |first=Julius W. |title=Expansionists of 1812 |date=1925}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Heidler |first1=David |title=The War of 1812 |last2=Heidler |first2=Jeanne T. |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Tucker |first=Spencer |title=The Encyclopedia of the War of 1812 |page=236}}</ref>

==Views==
The Islamic scholar [[Sufyan al-Thawri]] (716–778), who was called by [[Majid Khadduri]] (1909–2007) a pacifist, maintained that ''[[jihad]]'' (holy war) was only a defensive war.<ref>{{cite book|author=A. Al-Dawoody|title=The Islamic Law of War: Justifications and Regulations|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bd5dAQAAQBAJ&pg=PP80|year=2011|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-11808-9|page=80}}</ref>

==See also==
* ''[[Battleplan]]'' (documentary TV series)

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Sources==
*{{cite book|author1=Cécile Fabre|author2=Seth Lazar|author2-link=Seth Lazar|title=The Morality of Defensive War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g8TRAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA129|date=20 February 2014|publisher=OUP Oxford|isbn=978-0-19-150531-7|pages=129–}}
*{{cite book|author=Dorset Michael|title=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|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GW30jwEACAAJ|date=26 April 2016|publisher=BiblioLife|isbn=978-1-354-70317-5}}
*{{cite book|author1=Robert Greene|author2=Joost Elffers|title=The 33 Strategies of War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dBldXrykXI8C&pg=PT27|date=14 December 2007|publisher=Penguin Publishing Group|isbn=978-1-101-14734-4|pages=27–}}
* {{Cite book |ref={{SfnRef|Stagg, Madison's War}} |last=Stagg |first=J. C. A. |title=Mr Madison's War: Politics, Diplomacy and Warfare in the Early American Republic, 1783–1830 |url=https://archive.org/details/mrmadisonswarpol0000stag |date=1983 |publisher=Princeton University Press] |isbn=0691047022 }}

[[Category:Wars by type]]
[[Category:Warfare by type]]

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