Conventional warfare is a form of warfare conducted by using conventional military weapons and battlefield tactics between two or more states in open confrontation. The forces on each side are well-defined, and fight using weapons that primarily target the opposing army. It is normally fought using conventional weapons, not chemical, biological, or nuclear weapons. This is a partial list of battles that have entries in Wikipedia. ... . ... This is a list of missions, operations, and projects. ... The 1453 Siege of Constantinople (painted 1499) A siege is a prolonged military assault and blockade on a city or fortress with the intent of conquering by force or attrition. ... See also list of military writers. ... This is a list of lists of wars, sorted by country, date, region, and type of conflict. ... This article lists and summarizes War Crimes committed since the Hague Conventions of 1907. ... There are a bewildering array of weapons, far more than would be useful in list form. ... This is a list of military writers, alphabetical by last name. ... For other uses, see War (disambiguation). ... A conventional weapon is a weapon that does not incorporate chemical, biological or nuclear payloads. ... Chemical warfare is warfare (and associated military operations) using the toxic properties of chemical substances to kill, injure or incapacitate an enemy. ... For the use of biological agents by terrorists, see bioterrorism. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ...

The general purpose of conventional warfare is to weaken or destroy the opponent's military force, thereby negating its ability to engage in conventional warfare. In forcing capitulation, however, one or both sides may eventually resort to unconventional warfare tactics. Unconventional warfare (UW) is the opposite of conventional warfare. ...

History

Formation of the state

For more details on this topic, see State#Formation of the state.

The state was first advocated by Plato, then found more acceptance in the consolidation of power under the Roman Catholic Church. European monarchs then gained power as the Catholic Church was stripped of temporal power and was replaced by the divine right of kings. In 1648, the powers of Europe signed the Treaty of Westphalia which ended the religious violence for purely political governance and outlook, signifying the birth of the modern 'state'. For other uses, see State (disambiguation). ... PLATO was one of the first generalized Computer assisted instruction systems, originally built by the University of Illinois (U of I) and later taken over by Control Data Corporation (CDC), who provided the machines it ran on. ... “Catholic Church” redirects here. ... The Divine Right of Kings is a European political and religious doctrine of political absolutism. ... For other uses, see Europe (disambiguation). ... The Ratification of the Treaty of Münster by Gerard Terborch (1648) The Peace of Westphalia, also known as the treaties of Münster and Osnabrück, is the series of treaties that ended the Thirty Years War and officially recognized the United Provinces and Swiss Confederation. ...

Within this statist paradigm, only the state and its appointed representatives were allowed to bear arms and enter into war. In fact, war was only understood as a conflict between sovereign states. Kings strengthened this idea and gave it the force of law. Whereas previously any noble could start a war, the monarchs of Europe of necessity consolidated military power in response to the Napoleonic war. For other uses, see Weapon (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Monarch (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see Law (disambiguation). ... Nobility is a traditional hereditary status (see hereditary titles) that exists today in many countries (mainly present or former monarchies). ... The Napoleonic Wars lasted from 1804 until 1815. ...

The Clausewitzian paradigm

For more details on this topic, see Carl von Clausewitz.

Prussia was one country attempting to amass military power. Carl von Clausewitz, one of Prussia's officers, wrote On War, a work rooted solely in the world of the state. All other forms of intrastate conflict, such as rebellion, are not accounted for because, in theoretical terms, Clausewitz could not account for warfare before the state. Practices such as raiding or blood feuds were then labeled criminal activities and stripped of legitimacy. This war paradigm reflected the view of most of the modernized world at the beginning of the 21st century, as verified by examination of the conventional armies of the time: large, high maintenance, technologically advanced armies designed to compete against similarly designed forces. Carl Philipp Gottfried von Clausewitz (IPA: ) (June 1, 1780[1] – November 16, 1831) was a Prussian soldier, military historian and influential military theorist. ... For other uses, see Prussia (disambiguation). ... Neo Gomanism Manifesto Special - On War Vom Kriege (complete text available here) is a book on war and military strategy by Prussian general Carl von Clausewitz, written mostly after the Napoleonic wars, between 1816 and 1830, and published posthumously by his wife in 1832. ... Look up rebellion in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

Clausewitz also forwarded the issue of casus belli. While previous wars were fought for social, religious, even cultural reasons, Clausewitz taught that war is merely "a continuation of politics by other means." It is a rational calculation where states fight for their interests (whether they are economic, security related, or otherwise) once normal discourse has broken down. Casus belli is a modern Latin language expression meaning the justification for acts of war. ...

Prevalence

The overwhelming majority of modern wars have been conducted using the means of conventional warfare. Biological warfare has not been used since the 19th century (though it is possible that the 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States were bioterrorism), and chemical warfare has been used only a few times. Nuclear warfare has only occurred once with the United States bombing the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end World War II. The 2001 anthrax attacks in the United States, also known as Amerithrax from its FBI case name, occurred over the course of several weeks beginning on September 18, 2001. ... For the use of biological agents in warfare, see Biological warfare. ... The mushroom cloud of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki, Japan, 1945, rose some 18 kilometers (11 mi) above the hypocenter A nuclear weapon derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions of fusion or fission. ... The mushroom cloud over Hiroshima after the dropping of Little Boy. ... For other uses, see Hiroshima (disambiguation). ... Nagasaki ) ( ) is the capital and the largest city of Nagasaki Prefecture in Japan. ... Combatants Allied powers: China France Great Britain Soviet Union United States and others Axis powers: Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Chiang Kai-shek Charles de Gaulle Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tōjō Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead: 33,000...

Decline

The state and Clausewitzian principles peaked in the World Wars of the 20th century, but also laid the groundwork for their dilapidation due to nuclear proliferation and the manifestation of culturally aligned conflict. The nuclear bomb was the result of the state perfecting its quest to overthrow its competitive duplicates. Ironically, this development seems to have pushed conventional conflict waged by the state to the sidelines. Were two conventional armies to fight, the loser would have redress in its nuclear arsenal. Thus, no two nuclear powers have yet fought a conventional war, albeit in 1999 India and Pakistan came close to one in the Kargil War. Though bordering on an allout war and an extended battlezone, it almost saw Pakistan deploying its nuclear arsenal in case of loss. A world war is a war affecting the majority of the worlds major nations. ... World map with nuclear weapons development status represented by color. ... There are currently five nations considered to be nuclear weapons nations, an internationally recognized status conferred by the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). ... Combatants India Pakistan, Kashmiri secessionists, Islamic militants (Foreign Fighters) Strength 30,000 5,000 Casualties Indian Official Figures: 527 killed,[1][2][3] 1,363 wounded[4] 1 POW Pakistani Estimates: 357–4,000+ killed[5][6] (Pakistan troops) 665+ soldiers wounded[5] 8 POWs. ...

Replacement

Conventional warfare, waged by the state, has become something not worthy of a declaration of war. Instead, those capable of fighting underneath the nuclear umbrella (supranational terrorists, corporate mercenaries, ethnic militias, etc.) have now come to dominate the majority of conflict in the post-modern era. These conflicts cannot be explained under the statist system. Terrorist redirects here. ... Mercenary (disambiguation). ... Lebanese Kataeb militia A Militia is an army composed of ordinary [1] citizens to provide defense, emergency or paramilitary service, or those engaged in such activity. ... Postmodernism (sometimes abbreviated pomo) is a term applied to a wide-ranging set of developments in critical theory, philosophy, architecture, art, literature, and culture, which are generally characterized as either emerging from, in reaction to, or superseding, modernism. ...

Samuel Huntington has posited that the world in the early 21st century exists as a system of nine distinct "civilizations," instead of many sovereign states. These civilizations are delineated along cultural lines, e.g. Western, Islamic, Sinic, Hindu etc. In this way, cultures that have long been dominated by the West are reasserting themselves and looking to challenge the status quo. Thus, culture has replaced the state as the locus of war. This kind of civilizational war, in our time as in times long past, occurs where these cultures buffet up against one another. Some high-profile examples are the Pakistan/India conflict or the battles in the Sudan. This sort of war has defined the field since World War II. This article does not adequately cite its references or sources. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... This article discusses the adherents of Hinduism. ... For other uses, see Culture (disambiguation). ...

These cultural forces will not contend with state-based armies in the traditional way. When faced with battalions of tanks, jets, and missiles, the cultural opponent dissolves away into the population. They benefit from the territorially constrained states, being able to move freely from one country to the next, while states must negotiate with other sovereign states. The state's spy networks are also severely limited by cultural factors.

External links

• Changing Nature of Warfare. National Intelligence Council (2004). Retrieved on January 30, 2006.
• Stathis Kalyvas (2003). The Sociology of Civil Wars: Warfare and Armed Groups. Armed Groups Project. Retrieved on January 30, 2006.