States began fabricating diplomatic pretexts before initiating wars in ancient antiquity
the verdict
INSUFFICIENT LEANING
refutedsupported
the weight of evidence
2 sources for · 0 against
AS REPORTEDno primary record reached; this is what the reporting says
Available historical sources and discussions indicate that ancient civilizations, such as the Greeks, and ancient historians like Polybius recognized the distinction between the underlying causes of wars and the pretexts used to initiate them.
# When did countries begin making up a pretext before starting a war?
Tags: war, political-history
- Score: 26
- Views: 6465
- Answers: 1
- Answered: yes
- Asked by: JonathanReez (4389 rep)
- Asked: 2017-06-19
- Edited: 2017-06-20
- Site: history
## Question
In the past few centuries an unwritten rule has been followed where countries make up some sort of plausible-sounding excuse before starting a war. As an example, Hitler invaded Czechoslovakia in 1939 because he "wanted to protect the Sudeten Germans". Likewise World War I officially began because of the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.
But when did this practice first begin? When did it become necessary to somehow rationalize the use of force?
## Answers
### Answer by sds (score: 57 [ACCEPTED])
I think it has always been done, e.g., 3,000 years ago Greeks justified a war by a kidnapping allegation.
Justification of war is important for one's own troop and population morale, so the theoretical framework has been around for millennia.
Paraphrasing @SPavel, "your people are unlikely to risk their lives just because you are bored, or greedy, or horny".
Note that this does not mean that the justification has to be
Thucydides, Herodotos, and the Causes of War | The Classical Quarterly | Cambridge Core
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# Thucydides, Herodotos, and the Causes of War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 February 2009
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## Extract
All wars have causes; some have pretexts. When Polybios (6. 6. 1–7. 3) distinguishes between the cause, the pretext, and the beginning of war, his language sounds curiously modern. When he summarizes the causes of the Second Punic War the modern reader is not so satisfied. The war was due, in his opinion, to the indignation of Hamilcar Barca, who had to accept peace when he could have continued fighting in Sicily; to the anger of the Carthaginians, when they were forced to surrender Sardinia; and to the good fortune which attended their armies in Spain. A more recent account differs from Polybios not only on matters of detail. ‘It is true that
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